Collecting all the info and metadata for your book can take time. As if writing the book wasn’t enough, you’ll need to write a blurb, find keywords, and collect other info needed by the distribution site of your choice before you can finally hit publish. To make it easier, we’ve collected all the info you should know before you embark on the journey get your book listed on Draft2Digital.
We are currently working on our Amazon KDP checklist so stay tuned!
Congratulations! You wrote and (hopefully) edited your book! It is ready to go out into the world. Just one more thing. You’ll need to collect information and data to make the distribution a success. If you chose to go wide with distribution, one of the sites for easily doing so is Draft2Digital.
This is the distribution site I use, but I am not sponsored by them nor an I receiving any compensation to write this piece.
Let’s get started!
#1 Title and metadata
The first questions that will always be asked on any site you choose to publish your book will be anything that identifies the book in searches.
- Title
- Authors
- Publisher (most places will let you leave blank when self-publishing)
- Subtitle (if the book has one)
- Genre
- Keywords
- Blurb
All of this information is used to promptly and correctly publish your book in a way that readers and an audience can easily find it. The point is to always get your book in front of those most likely to purchase it. That’s what makes identifying genre and provided SEO tested keywords so critical.
The part of this that will take the most time is the blurb. Don’t think that once your manuscript is done, you’re going to publish within minutes. A good blurb, or an effective blurb, takes time and multiple attempts to perfect. Many writers agree that writing the book is almost as easy as writing the blurb.
If you want tricks to writing your blurb, I’ll have an article on that soon, so stay tuned.
I always write my blurbs as if I’m trying to query my manuscript to an agent. Start with the protagonist and what they want. Next, introduce what gets in the protagonist’s way of getting what they want. And to tie it up, hit hard on what they’ll have to do now to achieve that ultimate goal.
Your blurb should NOT give away the ending, but it should introduce the premise and main conflict of the book in a way that pulls the reader in. It’s your hook. Doing so in so few words is what makes writing the blurb a nightmare for writers that don’t have much practice, and it’s especially difficult for any over-writers out there.
#2 Physical Book Stuff
Once you’ve dealt with the metadata, you need to get all aspects of the actual product in order. This includes the following:
- Book Cover
- Upload Manuscript
- ISBNs (if you have assigned any to the book you are publishing)
As far as the book cover is concerned, you’ll need to upload in a .png format (some other formats may be accpeted). It also needs to meet a certain resolution. I always choose a professional cover artist to ensure the best outcome. Book covers sell books, don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.
When uploading your manuscript, ensure you are using that which is the most recent. Also ensure that you have already polished it to the best of your ability. Once published, you have to wait 60 days to make any changes to a novel in a paperback or hardback format unless you are okay with paying a fee.
ISBNs are tricky. In some countries, the cost is little to none. In the US, ISBNs can be quite costly. And you must remember that each format of your book has to have its OWN ISBN. That means 3 ISBNs for a book with a format available in ebook, paperback, and hardback.
If using Draft2Digital, do not have your cover artist place the ISBN on the cover, the site will do so automatically. Draft2Digital will also provide a free ISBN if you don’t wish to purchase your own. Do note that this ISBN given by Draft2Digital CANNOT be used on any other distribution site. If you wish to add your book to any other site, you CANNOT choose the free option from the distribution site.
#3 Formatting
After you upload your manuscript, you get to take a look at the formatting, checking to ensure that there are no funky spaces, skewed chapters, or odd blank pages in middle of the book.
This is all made very simple on Draft2Digital as they provide many tools for formatting when you get to this part of the process. My biggest complaint is how they eliminate spacing between paragraphs that need some indication of passage of time. Hopefully they will find ways to make their formatting better in the future, but I’ve found some work arounds for my own novels.
Once the book looks how you want it, be sure to save any changes before going to the final step.
#4 Pricing and Choosing Distribution
Next it the fun part: Choose your price!
Draft2Digital is fully transparent about taking 10% in royalties in order to distribute through them, but this percentage is much smaller than if you were to go through a publishing company.
They also make it super easy to decide in which marketplaces you wish to sell your book. Here are a few to choose from:
- Barnes and Noble
- Kobo
- Apple
- Smashwords
- Amazon
I always choose as many as I can, including any book lending sites or libraries that are available for selection. The only site I leave out is Amazon (which I have a checklist for distributing through them soon, stay tuned). Some places take longer to stock your book than others, so if you wait until too close to launch, it may not be available through all of the vendors selected come publication day.
Conclusion
And there you have it, all you need to know to publish on Draft2Digital. Self-publishing can be scary, but that doesn’t mean you have to go into it completely blind. There are loads of articles and posts about self-publishing that will help you reach the finish line.
But publishing is just the first part of the race! Many novels will need effective marketing to make an impact and find an audience. Not to mention, releasing more novels is just as important. A backlog is critical for any self-published writer. And when you do have those next books done, Draft2Digital could be your go to for distribution now that you know the steps!
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