How to Write and Self-Publish an eBook for Free

Publishing your first book can be scary. Sometimes, thoughts of whether people will like, and actually buy your book may stop you from publishing a book. For some, publishing an e-book seems impossible. In reality, it is possible to self-publish an eBook for free. All you need is a story, patience, and determination.


In the past, it’s not easy to run after book agencies to get your book published. However, because of the changing technology, you can easily learn how to write and self-publish an eBook for free in just a few clicks. (Well, that can be an exaggeration, but assuming you have already finished a book and done all the proof-reading, you’re good to go.)

As an indipendent publisher, you would have to do all the work, from writing to editing, publishing and marketing your book. Now, that’s a lot of work. But determination and patience is the key here.

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This elephant has just finished a book. Give him a break!

Take for example the Indie Author E.L James. She started out by writing fan fictions for the Twilight series. She soon turned her writings into the well-known and best-selling 50 Shades of Grey trilogy. Her first books were published as an e-book, and according to The Richest, she had an estimated net worth of $60 Million.

Now let’s go back and talk about you. I know, it might sound impossible to beat her, but you don’t have to do that yet. Because today, you just want to be an indie author who wants to self-publish an eBook for free- that’s achievable!

What if I’m Struggling to Finish My Book?

Don’t worry. Most of us have been there, too. I was still in high school when I started writing short stories for my classmates to read. I like how they react, and I soon realized that I’m the kind of writer who loves not-so-happy endings. They hated that, though, but still they can’t stop reading.

It’s not easy to complete a novel, but you may want to consider finishing a few short stories that you can compile into one book. Readers will read anything that moves their imagination.

Try Joining NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is a fun writing program that will encourage you to finish writing a 50,000-word book within 30 days.

Skeptics would comment that a 50,000-word book written in just 30 days has a low quality. For NaNoWriMo, their goal is to help you write your draft. If you submit a 50,000-word book after 30 days, you win. (That means that your book will be printed and sent out to you.) After that, the proof-reading season starts.

This program seems to work for starters since a lot of writers get to win every 30th of November. There’s not a huge prize, but you sure would be really happy for finishing your first novel and showing your friends a hard-copy of it. (You get 5 copies, by the way.)

I joined this program once, but I finished my book without reaching the target word-count. I felt bad, of course, but I’m happy I finally have a complete story.

What About Writer’s Block?

Writer’s block is your worst enemy. It’s hard when you really want to write something, even if it’s just a few paragraphs and you’re facing a dead-end.

Chris Mandeville has formulated 52 exercises to get out of your writer’s block.

Mandeville writes in a conversational style with a light and lively pace. Her book is a quick and easy resource to jumpstart your creativity. You can read these fast moving chapters from start to finish, or you can focus on a category or a specific exercise. All are written with insight, humor, and advice. This is a must read for writers at every level.

I’m Done Writing, Now What?

Yay! You're now ready to self-publish an eBook for free! Make sure you make a back-up of your manuscript. I usually write on Google Docs so my updates are saved online. That way, I can access it wherever I am.

After that, turn off your computer. Grab some food. Travel. Spend time with your family.

Forget about your novel for a while and focus on different things. When you get back to it after a few days, or weeks even, you will be able to look at it from a different perspective.

Now start reading your book. Focus on how you structure the events. Then take note of your grammar and how you have written your sentences. You might find the Hemingway App useful for grading your sentence structure.

Reading aloud can help you spot awkward sentences. When you find errors and scenes that seem out-of-place, don’t be afraid to remove them from your novel.

Ask a trustworthy friend to read your book and let them criticize it. When they comment, view them as a reader, not someone who should be approving everything you do. Think about the things they have pointed out and stay open-minded.

Don’t get mad at them for having negative thoughts about the book that you work hard on. Remember, they’re doing you a favor for giving the first reviews. If they noticed some errors in your book, you don’t want your readers seeing those as well.

Designing Your Book Cover

Your book cover is as important as your story. This is the first thing that a potential reader will see while looking for a new book to read.

I use Canva.Com to design my book covers because it is easier to use than Photoshop. Canva also has preset sizes for different graphics, including regular and Kindle e-book covers.

I find it easier to use high-quality images as backgrounds instead of designing my own. I then choose a font that I think would suit my book and the background image.

This is the second book that I self-published, by the way.



If you’re publishing with Amazon Kindle Direct, they have a cover creator that you can use.

How to Self-Publish an eBook for Free on Amazon

I choose Kindle Direct as a publishing platform because Amazon is a huge website. The drawback is you’ll find yourself in the middle of millions of indie writers who are also hoping to venture the writing world. Worse, some of them have already established their brand.

Knowing this about KDP publishing, I told myself that I have my own story, and I want to put it out there. If someone notices it, then that’s good. In the end, we all have our own stories to tell.

There are different ways you can upload your manuscript to the site. Check them out here. The easiest is by uploading a Word file (.DOC or .DOCX).

Some formatting notes to consider:

• Make sure you have correctly formatted your file. You don’t have to worry about the font because Kindle will use their default font after processing your file.


• On the first page of your manuscript must be the book title and your author name. Use page break or hit CTRL+ENTER on your keyboard to start on a new page without the spaces.


• Make sure there is a page break after every chapter so your book will look organized after processing.
  


• You don’t have to add pages on your manuscript file.


• Don’t add your cover photo in the manuscript.

After uploading your manuscript, you will have to upload your book cover and fill in important information about your book.

Sell your book with your book description. It’s not an easy job to do, but Bryan Hutchinson gave some good tips on how you can do that.

Done Uploading?

Congratulations on publishing your very first e-book! You’re now a certified indie-writer. Go ahead and share that download link to your friends and family through social media and e-mail.

These are the steps that I followed so I can self-publish an eBook for free. I never paid for anything for the 2 books that I published on Amazon. However, some writers may choose to pay someone to design their book cover, proof-read or format their book. Some even buy services to promote their newly launched e-book. There's nothing wrong with that, what's important is, you have a good book with your name on it.

Note: I never promoted my books aggressively, but sometimes, I share them on Twitter. Without promotions, I still get to earn per month for selling a few books. Also, I get to earn from Amazon’s KENP (Kindle Edition Normalized Pages) Read. This program allows writers to share earnings according to how many pages were read from their books for free.

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About Terinah Doba

Terinah Doba is a passionate blogger who loves to share the things she learn from the daily challenges of life.