SELF-PUBLISH FOR DUMMIES…and SCREENWRITERS

Jamie Nash
6 min readJul 23, 2019

I’m a screenwriter. I had dabbled in short-stories for many years. I always wanted to write a novel. I finally did.

I rewrote it.

I rewrote it again.

10 years later. I finally got tired of trying to query the book agents and stuff and just self-published. Btw — many people are surprised making a paperback and eBook is just as easy and can be done for FREE (I paid a little bit for stuff as you’ll see below).

I’ve had a lot of writers ask me about it — I think many of them don’t know how easy it can be. So, writer-to-writer…here’s what I wish I knew…

STEP 1: Write the book. The hardest part. Or the easiest depending on your perspective. Maybe you already have a book sitting on your hard drive. Good. You’ve done by far the hardest part.

STEP 2: Amazon time! There are other ways. But Amazon is probably the most straight forward. You sign up for an Amazon KDP account (Kindle Direct Publishing). You add bank details (to get paid) and fill out all the info about the book. You set prices. You can change this stop at any-time.

STEP 3: Format! You format the book according to some guidelines(using free tools). You create a cover (or hire someone to do so). Bam! You have a book. You want a print book? You can do that too? Amazon will print the book ‘on demand’ and ship it out to people. When you’re done all your formatting…you upload your cover and files and you’re ready to go.

If for any reason you’re holding off because you’re worried about the technical side, DON’T BE. It’s as easy as ordering underwear from Amazon.

STEP 4: (optional) Amazon even has very user-friendly ways to audition voice actors and create an audiobook. Again, it’s ‘free’ if you split the profits with the reader on the audiobook.

Honestly, anyone can handle this part…not to say anyone will buy your book…but if you want a book the hardest part is writing it (or marketing it).

Here are some other things you need to know:

YOU PROBABLY WON’T MAKE MONEY

It might even cost you money. There’s a lot of tedious jobs with small learning curves or skillsets that I farmed out. You can do all the grunt work by yourself to reduce your costs if you have time and interest.

Here are the things you might pay for(that I paid for):

Developmental Edit $700–$2000 — This is a round of detailed notes on the story, structure, characters from a pro. You’re essentially paying a professional for what a publisher would do for you. Honestly, I chose to skip this…largely because I’m a professional writer who teaches story structure and character and all the other stuff. I actually do this for screenplays. And mostly…it’s expensive and my book probably will only make $1000….so paying someone $2000…no matter how valuable is hard for me. I’m not saying not to do it. In fact, I think it’s probably the right thing to do. But I’m cheap and this is self-publishing, I personally skip this step. If I was making big bucks I’d probably splurge for a strong editor.

Copy Edit $500–$800 — I do pay for these. Usually focuses on style and sentence structure and stuff. More than a proofread, this one is offering creative instruction…not just grammar corrections. Because I still feel I’m making the transition from screenwriting to prose (5 years and 3 books in!)…I still love getting a copy-edit.

Proofread $400-$600 — You know if you need it. You probably do. I did.

Book Design $250–500 — This is laying out the internals of the book. Choosing a font size, determining the flow, etc. The designer will deliver you the specific EBook and/or Printbook file you need to upload to Amazon. There’s a bit of an art to this. You can do it yourself and many authors do. I find the price is cheap enough I’d rather someone else to do it. Amazon has tools to do this.

Cover Art + Cover Design $200-$600 — Really two separate things that often go together. Front and back covers…again delivered in the form you need for Amazon. Amazon has free tools to help you do this yourself. If you have a design background or can do your own photoshop/illustration…you might save yourself some cash.

ISBNS — $125–500 — Amazon actually will give you an ‘amazon assigned’ one or you can buy them from Bokers…they’re kind of expensive.

Honestly, you could spend a couple of thousand bucks on all this or nothing. It’s an ala carte depending on your skills patience.

I typically spend $800–1200 for this stuff before I print.

I tend to get a Copy Edit, cover design, book design.

E-BOOKS HAVE THE BEST MARGINS

The cost of printing books is expensive. Hence, the margins suck. Bad example…my last book…if I sold it for $10.00 print, I might only make $2.30 or 2.40. But my Ebook at $5.00 might net me $3.00.

Certain genres are better in the E-Book game.

For example, it turns out kids tend to prefer print books (and the big bucks is selling them to libraries).

More adult topics — non-fiction, romance, erotica, sci-fi, horror — do better in the eBook market. Fans of those genres spend lots of $$ on E-Books.

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE $$

You might want to skip the self-publishing route and go the traditional publishing path — query agents, submit books, revise based on notes, land a huge deal, get more notes, rewrite, get more notes, release book…

Of course, it’s hard. And it will take a long time. You won’t have the total control you have in self-publishing…but you might actually have a career and be the next Stephen King or JK Rowling…but probably not.

IT’S REALLY HARD TO GET PEOPLE TO CARE

A good cover and an awesome concept helps. But the reality is without a platform(fancy word for ‘fan following’) aside from your family and friends it really takes a lot of effort to rise above the deluge of entertainment choices these days.

I’ve done Amazon ads, Facebook ads, begged for reviews, given away free books. All of them can work…I’ve had mixed results with everything. You’ll probably need to budget another $500 for various ads just to get the word out.

WHY DO IT?

The one big enticement for screenwriters in self-publishing has is control. My screenwriting career is largely about taking orders. I get rewrite/polish assignments, I write original scripts that managers/producers/directors ‘have ideas’ for. The job has me constantly being replaced or at best my movie gets made but morphed into something different in production or editing(or even after testing).

Having control of everything from the cover art to the layout to the marketing and not being FORCED to take notes from everyone is a breath of fresh air.

If you end up in the traditional model — it’s a lot like screenwriting. You’ll have agents with notes and editors with notes and then the book will take 2 years to finally come out and you will have zero control over release and marketing. On the flip side, there’s no denying this gauntlet may produce your best work. Just go into it with your eyes open.

If you’d like to buy NOMAD — it’s available on Kindle and Paperback (free to read for Kindle Unlimited People)…here’s a link:

Buy The Book on Amazon! — and if you buy, please, please leave a review!

If you’d like to read the screenplay, I’m giving it away to anyone who joins my very unobtrusive mailing list…

Join my mailing list!

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Jamie Nash

Jamie Nash is the screenwriter of several films. He writes about pop-culture, writing, and being a dad of a cool kid with Autism. Follow him — @Jamie_Nash