How I Self-Published My Poetry Book: A Complete Guide

• Legality
• Book formatting (typesetting or book interior design)
• Publication platforms

Legality

First, the million-dollar question: what type of business entity do I want to publish the book under? Sole proprietorship, DBA—Doing Business As (if you’re not using your name), and LLC are the most common for authors. You can learn more about these business entities and more at NerdWallet. I was conflicted for a time between Sole proprietorship and LLC. I was concerned about a potential lawsuit where it’s not a unique place in America to be summoned to the court system. 

I know I have nothing of concern to warrant this fear, but you never know when greed or disdain takes root for others to exploit. What ultimately helped me stick with Sole proprietorship, at least for now, was  an article published on Kindlepreneur website that cites if you meet any of the below requirements, they recommend you create a publishing company as an LLC:

• You make more than $2,000 a month in book sales
• You write in technical areas or health areas that could put you at risk of legal action
• You want to publish other people’s books
• You’re selling more than just books, such as courses, physical products, etc.
• You’re an American citizen, but you live outside of the US and want a base of operations.

Remember, when you operate as a Sole proprietorship, you’re using your legal name on the business and a book’s copyright page. If you decide on DBA or LLC, you can create any name that isn’t registered. 

The next step involved registering copyright (critical and I recommend), registering an LCCN—Library of Congress Control Number (not required but essential if you want your book in libraries), and registering a book with an ISBN (you will need a unique ISBN for each book format: hardcover, paperback, ebook (technically not require but recommend you), and here some additional info when you need an ISBN or don’t:

• Situations Where You Need A New ISBN
  • For any variation of the print books, for example, if you choose a 5 x 8 and a 6 x 9, you’ll need separate ISBNs
  • If you decide to produce a book with large print, you’ll need a different ISBN
  • Foreign languages need different ISBNs
  • Any significant changes to text/content need a new ISBN
  • The difference in the title needs a new ISBN
  • Changing the binding requires a new ISBN
• When You Don’t Need A New ISBN
  • Change of price
  • Minor corrections to the text
  • New cover
  • Changing vendor who prints books

That would sum up the least glamorous part. Yet, there is peace of mind in completing these steps in a book’s journey and solidifying that this is a small part that contributes to delivering the published book to the hands of the reader one day.

Book cover & interior design

I go at length in the design collaboration post about the book cover & interior design with a designer. In short, you want a minimum of a title, author name (either full name, pen name, or abbreviated parts of the name), subtitle if nonfiction or optional in some fiction titles, and a description of what the book is about: book blurb. 

Although you may first write the book for yourself, at least most authors do, the collaboration process is moving towards creating a visual language that the reader can understand what theme, genre, and mood the book cover conveys—especially when it’s accompanied with a book blurb, which I’ll cover in the marketing post.

The part I should have covered in the design collaboration post is the book’s front and back matter, which is required for the designer to complete the book’s interior design. This article published on Kindlepreneur covers all the essential parts found in a front and back matter. You don’t need some parts, and in my case, my book only included these bits:

• Title
• Copyright
  • Publisher
  • LCCN
  • ISBN 
  • Collaborators 
• Table of contents
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• The body content of all poems
• Acknowledgments
• Author bio
• Coming soon/read more
• Please review book

As per usual, the title is the first piece introduced in the front matter and followed by what I call the copyright page that includes additional bits such as who the publisher is; in this case, it’s me as registered as a sole proprietor, not my pen name but my legal name: Jose A Santana with the website address and physical location of publisher. The following pieces are ISBN numbers you assigned to each book type (hardcover, paperback, and ebook—audiobook if you have one) and LCCN. Finally, the name of the collaborators who have contributed to the book’s project, typically the editor and designer you worked with.

The table of contents is self-explanatory; the dedication and acknowledgment page are standard in the front matter. I preferred to push my acknowledgment in the back matter because it was lengthy. Plus, Amazon only allows up to 10% interior preview of the manuscript. So I wanted to give readers more content to assess than rob them with an acknowledgment page that adds less value to their buying decision. In short, the dedication says, “who do you dedicate your book to”? And I kept it simple by dedicating it to my family and friends. 

They have been an active influence in my life, plus my muse, for allowing me to get into the creative flow during my writing sessions. Following that is the epigraph (I learned later that authors should not pen their quotes), in which I wrote my own succinct quote about what the book is:

• The vices of love are the scorching flames of the sun and the chilling frost of the poles, and the virtue of both is the basking warmth of sunrays and the cooling breeze of zephyr. —J.A. Santana

The introduction page is to help orient the reader about what to expect from the book, insight into the author’s sources of inspiration, structure, and theme, and their philosophy on the topics and why they wrote this book. Following the introduction is the body content, the bit readers came for and hope to experience, whether it’s entertainment, information, inspiration, education, insight, wisdom, or resonance. 

This varies from reader to reader. In my book, I aim to convey love and its nuances by helping the reader relate, glean wisdom and insight, and develop compassion. How complicated and how much we need love can be no matter how old you’re and your experience with it. Now we reach the back matter, with the first being the acknowledgments. There is no limitation on who you want to acknowledge; I struggled with who to include. 

Ultimately I decided on every source that has influenced, inspired, and informed my outlook on life. From there, I started with the closest members of my family to friends, contributors in the knowledge domain of humanity, artists of culture, the writing community, collaborators, and the divine. 

The following section is a brief author bio of me. It includes links to my website, email address, and social media accounts. Following that, I offer a reader magnet link that invites readers to subscribe to my newsletter in exchange for a free copy of inspirational poems and information about my upcoming books and personal life. 

The final section politely asks readers who read the book to leave an honest review on Amazon, whether positive or negative, as long as the review is constructive.

Publishing platforms

We finally reach the last topic of discussion, which I have mixed feelings about yet needs to be addressed: the publishing platforms and what strategy works best for you. There is no one size fits all solution regarding the publishing process. It varies where you’re in your author life—do you have a couple books published or several books with some in a series? 

There are some general recommendations on going exclusive or wide (sell book on multiple platforms and global markets) with your ebook if your goal is brand awareness or more opportunity for cash flow. The former is great for new authors who need to build brand awareness and establish trust and word of mouth from readers by taking advantage of the fact Amazon is the largest ebook retailer, with a whopping 83% of US ebook purchases in 2016. You can use their free promo day up to five every 90 days if you wish to continue with their exclusivity. You can combine their free promo day and schedule with promo sites like BookBub and FreeBooksy, and blast on social media and email about the promo.

However, you cannot distribute the ebook on platforms like Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, or other markets. Going wide allows you to make the book available beyond Amazon with Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play Books, and international markets. So you increase the chances to earn more money and take a marginal hit on brand awareness primarily because of the free ebook exposure with Kindle Unlimited and Free Book Promotions. 

On the plus side, this does not affect print copies (paperback and hardcover) except for one minor detail when you publish print copies on Amazon KDP, there is an option to allow Amazon for extended distribution (Large book distributors can make your title available to other online retailers, libraries, universities, and booksellers) to various bookstores and markets; however, it’s preferable to use IngramSpark for two reasons: better print quality and not only they also handle extended distribution—you can offer a bulk discount which increases a retailer, library, etc. taking a chance to put your book in their store without a hefty upfront cost, plus most retailers and markets have some ire with Amazon being the dominant player for book sales and instead work with IngramSpark to find new titles (from my search I don’t believe Amazon offers a bulk discount). 

Suppose you publish your ebook to the big five book retailers (Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Play Books). In that case, those are five accounts you have to manage. Suppose you prefer to operate with Amazon only while delegating the other four. In that case, you will need an aggregator “that uploads your book to various retailers for you. In exchange, they’ll take a portion of your royalties or charge you an upfront fee. We’ll call the first type “royalty-share aggregators” and the second type “flat fee” aggregators.” 

I have yet to go this route, and one day I will when I do go wide, as some aggregators have greater reach in specific markets. One more publishing option is an audiobook, with two major players: Audible and Findaway Voices; the former is owned by Amazon, while the latter was recently acquired from Spotify. 

I have not published an audiobook version yet but what I know is Audible gives you their highest royalty if you go exclusive with them; otherwise, you earn less per sale, and Findaway Voices, much like IngramSpark, make it easier to make your audiobook available beyond Amazon Audible into platforms like Chirp by BookBub, Storytel, Scribd, and Kobo Audio to name a few. My publishing strategy was:

• Amazon ebook exclusivity for brand awareness is my goal by taking advantage of features: Kindle Unlimited and free promo day—I go into detail about the marketing strategy I use with book promo sites. Also, publish a print copy in their store.
• I’ve used IngramSpark to reach the remaining distribution networks with print which is well over 40,000 globally.

As far as registration goes for the book, you will have to, unfortunately, upload each book type—yup, the ebook, paperback, and hardcover on Amazon; paperback and hardcover on IngramSpark ($50 fee for each print type). Besides that, you have to set up one-time payment information with tax information, either your social security number (if sole proprietor) or tax ID (if registered as a business); I’m sure you want to get paid.

The Gist

• Although copyright law says when you create something on a tangible medium like text on paper or in a digital doc like Google Docs, you’re the owner/originator of that work. However, we don’t live in a perfect world. There are plenty of lawsuits to show people go to court who owns the rights to a body of work, and unfortunately, there are a few bad apples.
• Suppose you want your books to reach libraries, universities, and colleges. In that case, you will need an LCCN from the Library of Congress, and ISBN is required for all storefronts that are not Amazon as they assign their ASIN number; plus, you want to have the rights to your book with each unique ISBN for each book type.
• I go into length regarding book cover and interior design in a separate post; the part I forgot to mention in it is the front and back matter, which is a component that cannot be ignored, and there are some mandatory parts like title, copyright, and body content—including bits like introduction, author bio, and reader magnet newsletter sign-up to encourage readers to stay in touch so they can be informed about upcoming books and more.
• When it comes to registering the fundamentals, such as payment information, and enrolling each book type, publishing is uncomplicated. However, it is vital to consider what goals are most important to you: brand visibility or increased chance for revenue flow. Whether you’re a debut author or have published a few novels already will rely on your experience level. If the former most authors recommend going exclusive with Amazon for ebooks, selling print on their store, and using IngramSpark for print for all other distribution networks, which is 40,000 strong.
• If you’re an existing author or prefer to go wide, then go for it; just remember you have to manage multiple accounts for each online retailer, whereas using an aggregator like Draft2Digital can take care of that for a small upfront fee or royalty-fee.