Could the next great novel be written in your history class? While self-publishing has exploded in popularity, only a handful of those authors are students walking the same halls as you. But there are writers out there that were students who have tried and succeed. Among these few, one notable example of a self-publishing student is author of the well renowned novel The Outsiders, S.E Hinton. Hinton wrote the story when she was just 15 and got it published at the age of 18 while she was still in high school!
There are young authors who are looking to follow Hinton’s footsteps and self publish a story themselves, but are unsure how to proceed given they are just students. Self publishing as a whole is not easy, but it isn’t impossible either in this new digital age. When Hinton self-published The Outsiders, she had to go through a more rigorous process with obstacles like adult competition or gender biases. While publishing still isn’t considered any easy feat, access to the internet has proven to make this process much more straightforward.
The process of self-publishing for anyone, student or not, always starts with rereading and revising, a rather self-explanatory aspect. Regardless if a book is typed online or written on paper, it is important to maintain consistency with editing your own work.
The next step is to send the project to beta readers or to professional editors for feedback. For a student trying to self publish, their editors vary, but in the case of an UMHS student, editors could be teachers in the English department who have personal experiences with professional editing. An additional optional step in the self-publishing process is choosing whether or not to use a pen name, something that should be decided before proceeding to any other steps. After the editing and gaining feedback processes are complete, the next step of self publishing is to prepare the story for publication.
When it comes to publication itself, there are three parts if it’s done digitally. Those three parts go as follows:
- Choosing a publishing platform: Two beginner-friendly ones include Amazon KDP and Lulu, platforms that help regardless of whether the book will be printed, digital, or both.
- Designing a cover: One way to go about this step is simply creating a cover on Canva. Another option is using a site like Fiverr to hire a professional designer, but most students prefer to go down the route of making their own cover to save the trouble of editing delays.
- Formatting the book: Printed books are usually set as PDFs, while e-books tend to be EPUB files. File requirements can vary depending on the publishing platform. Another part of formatting is getting an ISBN, something that can be obtained from buying one from Bowker or getting one for free on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). (An ISBN is a unique 13-digit code that identifies a book, its specific edition, publisher and format.)
The next step after formatting is to publish and distribute the story. This part is short and straightforward and it includes uploading the file and cover design to the platform you chose, then adding the book details such as the title, subtitle, and author name. After that, the student should set the price and choose whether the distribution should be exclusively published on one platform or multiple. However, before launching the story, the author should order a personal copy to check for any format/design errors before moving onto the very last step.
The final part of self-publishing is marketing, which includes developing a strategy to promote the book, reach the target audience, build an online presence to engage with readers, gather reviews, use online resources for additional tips, and self promoting through school, local community events, online communities, and other places. For those who have ideas and stories you feel truly impassioned about and would like to share with the world, these steps to self-publishing are sure to help you in doing so.
As a high school student working through a similar process for my own book, Gem of Nostalgia/GON, as well as its 5 side stories, parts of this process were also part of my personal experiences while working on it, such as the editing and revising, and these steps overall have assisted me in sharing the book to the world.
The process has taken time and effort, but the results have given me purpose and direction. Writing is tough. Publishing is a risk. Both are worth it.
