: Re: How to self-publish? I couldn't find anything to do with self-publishing. Could someone explain this to me and how I could do it? I know that I should know about this but I sadly don't.

@Speyer920

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I don't know why you think you should know anything about this if you've never done it. Everybody needs to start somewhere, and you are taking a good first step by asking for help. There isn't any short and simple answer, but there are a few steps that you can take to help get yourself started.

You might want to consider joining a writer's forum where you can get advice from other writers who are self-publishing. One that I recommend is the Kindle Boards Writer's Cafe. You can find a lot of helpful information, including a Directory of Author's Services at the top of the first page. This is a good place to go to find people who can design your cover, format your book, or provide editing or other services.

Assuming you have already written your book, the next step would be to get it formatted for the appropriate type of book. You need to decided if you want to create an e-book or use print on demand (POD), or both, but each will use different types of formatting. You can hire someone to do this for you, but it is simple enough to learn how to do it yourself.

For an e-book, I would recommend using this guide by Guido Henkel. He will take you through a step-by-step process that will help you get your book formatted. He provides good examples and recommends free tools that you can download to help you get your book formatted. Even if you have no previous experience in working with html or any of the recommended tools, he does a good job of explaining everything.

Once you have your book formatted, you will need to upload it to a distributor, such as Amazon. You can create an account with their Kindle Direct Publishing service, and it will guide you step-by-step through the process of uploading your book and making it available for sale. There are several other distributors, such as Nook, Kobo, and iTunes, but I would suggest starting with KDP and then branching out as you become more comfortable. Each distributor has their own process, but they are all pretty similar.

If you want to make your book available in print, then I would suggest using Amazon's CreateSpace service. Their site has a lot of information on how to submit your book, but one of the most useful things is their templates. They provide preformatted Word documents in different sizes to match whatever size you want your book to be published in. You can basically copy and paste your book into one of these templates and then do a little tweaking to get it ready for publishing.

All of this sounds pretty simple and straight forward, but there is a lot of work involved. Also, your work doesn't end with getting the book published. If you want it to sell, then you'll need to do whatever you can to promote it and let people know about it. A writer's forum is a good place to get advice and suggestions on how to do that.

The bottom line is that you will get out of this what you put into it. If you are willing to work for it, then you can eventually make a living out of it, but it won't be easy. Just believe in yourself and take the time to learn the trade, and you'll find it gets easier over time.

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