How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017
Forget all the tooling. There are two battles:<p>1. To write the best book you possibly can<p>2. To print, market and sell that book<p>Far and away the most important thing is No. 1, because No. 2 cannot happen effectively without that. And the bar is high - very high. So in many ways the battle is lost or won by the time you&#x27;ve put down your pen. Yes marketing and distribution are incredibly important. Design too. But none of it is going to do much good unless the book really works. And making a book work is not hit and miss. It&#x27;s the product of a very exact type of knowledge and skill - this is especially true of genre work. Of course, there have been a few tremendous exceptions - but you&#x27;ll know if you&#x27;re one of those.<p>So with self-publishing, as with ordinary publishing: first write a great book.<p>For that the tools you need are:<p>1. Someone who can give you tough feedback and who knows what they&#x27;re talking about<p>2. A writing group for softer, more regular feedback<p>3. Long practice in writing shorter work<p>4. Long practice in critical reading of other people&#x27;s work, especially unpublished work. You&#x27;ll never make a mistake once you see that mistake and understand it in someone else&#x27;s work.