The process of self-publishing can be really overwhelming, especially if you’ve never been involved in the publishing industry—not knowing where to start is only natural. Fortunately, we interviewed Jenna Moreci, expert self-published author, who gave us some amazing tips for you!

Tip #1: Self-publishing is a business

Sure, writing is an art, but if want to sell art… well, that’s a business now! Publishing is an industry, so it’s essential to educate yourself on the publishing landscape. And this goes for both self-publishing and traditional! Knowing the industry standards is a must. So get reading books and articles, and talk to authors if you can, to understand the business side of things.

It’s also very important to start thinking about this from the very beginning of the writing process. If you wait until your book is done, you won’t know what to do then. So start researching the industry as soon as you can!

Tip #2: Hire a professional editor for self-publishing

So many self-published books out there don’t follow this tip—and it shows! If you want your book to look professional in quality, you need an editor. And an editor is not just someone who claims to be good at spotting typos. They are a trained professional, like any other job! If you know anyone involved in the publishing world, ask them to recommend you an editor. When you have one, you need to make sure they’re good enough. Go to their website and make sure it looks professional. And compare their rates—you don’t want to be paying too much! And if they’re too low, they might not actually be a real editor. Usually, you can find past projects the editor has worked on, so look them up on Amazon and use the preview feature to see how the first few pages look.

Tip #3: Lacking motivation? Just write!

Writing is like any other job, in that some days you just don’t have the motivation to keep going. But if your goal is to self-publish your book, you’ll need to get over that and keep writing anyway! Yes, it sounds hard, but if you keep at it, motivation will find its way back to you—maybe not on the same day, but eventually, it will. Now, if days pass and you can’t find a sliver of motivation anywhere, it might be time to stop and assess your work. Sometimes, our preferences change, so go back and ask yourself why you’re writing this story. Maybe you need to change your approach to the plot or to the characters!

Listen to the full interview!

Jenna had so many more tips for us! So, head over to Spotify or YouTube to listen to the full podcast!

Who is Jenna Moreci?

Jenna Moreci is a best-selling self-published writer, author of The Savior’s Series. She also has a YouTube channel, where she posts amazing advice—so if that podcast wasn’t enough, go check out her channel! Or, to learn more about her and her books, check out her web site.

Want to get more tips from professionals like Jenna? Subscribe to our podcast! And in the next episode, we talk with Wolfgang Baur and Celeste Conowitch about pocket dimensions!

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