From conceptualising the contents, to getting your book onto the Amazon store; none of it needs to cost you any money. Underneath is a guide of the tools for each stage of creating your book.
Publishing your book
I’m going to cut straight to the chase, as you’ve probably stumbled upon this article only looking to find this out.
To self-publish, I use Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) by Amazon.
Through KDP you can publish digital books to the Kindle book store and paperback books to Amazon itself. No need to look for a book printer, KDP prints your book on demand.
Realistically, if you’re selling a book, you want it on Amazon. Because of this, KDP is the natural choice for publishing. With Amazon’s own advertising tools and more available for promoting your book, KDP is a clear winner for self-publishing.
Writing the book’s content
Google Docs is easily my favourite word processing software. It’s easy to use, and you can export the document in a range of different formats including PDFs and Microsoft Word (.docx).
Whilst it does lack some of Microsoft Word’s features, none of these are a necessity for writing a book.
Creating your book cover
Honestly, creating a nice front cover is pretty difficult without paying for design software. Whilst Kindle Publishing Direct does have some design tools available (Kindle Cover Creator), they’re not ideal. However, if you’re wanting to get your book published for £0, it’s definitely not the end of the world.
For free photography for your cover, I recommend Unsplash and Pixabay. Generally speaking you can find stunning photography on there for pretty much anything. You can use these in conjunction with Kindle Cover Creator, and you’ll have a generally acceptable cover.
There are other design software options available for free, but honestly this is the one aspect where it might be worth spending some money.
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One response to “How to independently publish a book for free”
[…] If you’re writing to make money, give up. Writing a book takes a long time, and if the purpose is to make profit, you’d be better spending time trying another side-hustle. You can learn more about how to start publish a book by clicking here. […]
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