The Self-Publishing Guide

One Mango at a Time

For Indie Authors Who Are Figuring It Out As They Go

A no-pressure, no-nonsense guide to publishing your book, protecting your work, and building your readership, written by someone who is figuring it out right alongside you.

by Leah T. Williams  |  leahtwilliams.net  |  @kittiwriter1

Picture this. You're standing under a mango tree, the kind that leans over the fence like it already knows it's the best one on the block. The sun is warm on your shoulders. You reach up and pick the one that looks just right, with that blush of red and gold creeping across the green skin, and you bite in before you even think to wipe it off. The juice runs down your wrist. It's warm and sweet and a little messy, and for one second everything in the world is exactly as it should be. That's what it feels like the first time someone you don't know buys your book.

Now picture the other mango. It looked just as good from the outside. Same blush, same shape, maybe even bigger. You bite into that one and your whole face changes. It's sour, or worse, it's rotten right in the middle where you couldn't see it until it was too late. You spit it out and maybe you say a word your grandmother wouldn't approve of.

Here's the thing though. You don't stop eating mangoes. You don't swear off the tree because one piece of fruit let you down. You get smarter about which ones you pick. You learn to check for the soft spots. You learn which branches give the sweetest fruit. And you keep going, because the good mangoes are still out there, and they're still worth it.

Self-publishing is that same tree. Some of what you try will be sweet right away. Some of it will be sour, or it'll look perfect on the outside and turn out rotten once you bite in. We're going to talk about those rotten ones, the ones that dress themselves up nice. But you don't stop. You get smarter. And you figure it out, one mango at a time.

You do not have to pay anyone to self-publish your book. Not one cent.

Every step in this guide, from getting your manuscript ready to getting it into readers' hands, can be done for free or close to it. If a service tells you that you need them to be a "real" author, that's your first soft spot. We'll show you how to spot the rest.

"One, one, mango full basket."

Pick a topic, or read straight through

1.One Mango at a Time 2.Put Your Name on the Tree 3.Sweet Talkers and Sour Mangoes 4.The Mango's Birth Certificate 5.Polishing the Fruit 6.Don't Judge a Mango by Its Skin 7.Getting Your Mangoes to Market 8.Selling Mangoes Without a Stand 9.Sharing the Harvest 10.Fence Around the Tree 11.The Tree Keeps Growing 12.Let the Mango Talk

Here's the truth nobody tells new authors enough: you don't need permission to start. You don't need an agent's blessing, a publishing house's logo, or someone with a fancy title telling you that your book is "ready." You just need to start, and you'll figure the rest out along the way.

I'm not writing this guide because I'm a publishing expert with a degree in it. I'm writing it because I've stood under this tree, picked plenty of mangoes, and bitten into a few that made me make a face. This guide is everything I wish someone had handed me when I started, written the way I'd actually explain it to you over tea.

I'll be honest with you too. I'm still learning, same as you. So if you read something here and think "wait, that's not quite right" or "she's missing something," you're probably right, and I want to know. Tell a sis. Send a message, leave a comment, whatever's easiest. This guide gets better every time someone tells me what I missed.

How to use this guide: Read it straight through if you're just starting out, or jump to whatever topic is biting you right now using the menu above. This guide gets updated as things change (and in publishing, things change a lot), so bookmark it and come back.

Here's some good news first. The moment you write your story down, you own the copyright to it. You don't have to do anything to "get" copyright. It's yours automatically, the same way the mango belongs to the branch it grew on.

So why do people talk about registering copyright then? Because if someone ever steals your work and you need to take them to court over it, registering with the U.S. Copyright Office is what gives you the strongest legal footing, including the ability to go after statutory damages instead of just trying to prove your actual losses. Think of it less like getting permission to own your mango, and more like getting a notarized photo of you standing next to the tree, dated, in case anyone tries to say it's theirs.

So what does it actually cost?

This is where a lot of authors get confused, including me at first. The fee isn't based on whether your book is a novel, a poetry collection, or an audiobook. It's based on how the registration is filed:

  • $45 if you're registering one work, you wrote it yourself, you're not registering it as a "work made for hire," and you're the only author and the only claimant. Basically, you wrote it solo and you're filing as yourself. This covers most of us, most of the time.
  • $65 is the standard fee for everything else. That includes things like co-authored books, works made for hire, or registrations with more than one claimant.
What does "work made for hire" mean? It's a legal term for when a work is created by someone as part of their job for an employer, or when it's specifically commissioned under a written agreement that says it counts as work made for hire. In those cases, the employer or the person who commissioned the work is treated as the legal author for copyright purposes, not the person who actually wrote it. Most indie authors writing their own books are not in this situation, but if you've hired a ghostwriter or co-written something under contract, it's worth understanding before you file. It also matters when you hire an audiobook narrator: you'll want your agreement with them to specify the recording is a work made for hire, so you own the finished audio outright instead of the narrator holding rights to their own performance.

An audiobook is registered as a "sound recording," which is its own application, but the same $45 versus $65 logic applies depending on your authorship situation. Same goes for a poetry collection. The genre doesn't change the fee. Who's claiming the work does.

Always double-check before you file. Government fees get reviewed and can change. Go straight to copyright.gov and use their electronic registration system (it's faster and cheaper than mailing in a paper form).

And here's the part nobody likes to hear: do your own research before you submit anything. Google is free, and copyright.gov has answers to most of the questions you'll have. If you make a mistake on your application, the Copyright Office isn't going to hand your money back so you can fix it and resubmit. You'll have to file again and pay again. So slow down, read things twice, and look it up if you're not sure. If something goes wrong because you rushed it, that's not on them. It's on me too, sometimes, if I'm being honest. We're all learning.

The seasoning

You don't have to season the pot for it to be food. But if you're planning to serve it to anybody, you'll want to.

Before you publish, make sure you've:

  • Written "Copyright © [year] [your legal name or pen name]" on your copyright page
  • Decided whether you're registering with the Copyright Office before or shortly after publishing (both are fine, just don't wait years)
  • Kept drafts, dated files, or emails that show your writing timeline, just in case

Let's say it again, because this is the section where it matters most: you do not have to pay anyone to self-publish your book. Not for a "publishing package." Not for a "marketing bundle." Not for an "exclusive author opportunity." If a stranger reaches out wanting money before they've done a single thing for you, that's not an opportunity. That's a sour mango wearing a nice peel.

Here's the simplest filter you'll ever need: if it costs you money, it's most likely a scam. Real opportunities, real agents, real publishers in the traditional sense, they pay you, not the other way around. Keep that one sentence in your back pocket and most of these emails sort themselves out before you even finish reading them.

The flattery email

You finish your book, maybe you post about it online, and within days your inbox has a message that starts with something like "We came across your work and were blown away." It feels amazing. Someone noticed you. Except they didn't really notice you, they noticed your social media activity, scraped a little information, and sent the same message to a hundred other authors with your name swapped in. These companies use tools now that personalize these messages automatically, which makes them feel a lot more real than they are.

Wha sweet in goat mouth sour in he tail. What goes down sweet (the compliments, the excitement, the feeling of being "discovered") can turn sour fast once the invoice shows up.

Vanity presses

A vanity press is a company that makes its money from authors, not from selling books. The warning signs tend to look like this:

  • They accept your manuscript instantly, with no real editorial feedback, because they're not actually evaluating it
  • They charge a big upfront fee, often bundled so it's hard to tell what you're actually paying for
  • They mark up basic services. If a company wants $200 to "register your copyright" for you, remember you just learned it costs $45 to $65 to do it yourself
  • Their contract has vague language about rights, royalties, or who owns the ISBN
  • Once you pay, communication slows down or disappears

The "exclusive book club" trick

Another one going around is an invitation to join a "book club" or "reading community" with thousands of members, but to be "featured" you need to pay a spotlight fee. Real book clubs are built around what readers want to read, not around what authors are willing to pay to be seen. If a club's social media has a huge follower count but barely any comments or shares, those numbers probably aren't real either.

How to check before you sign anything

Run this list on any offer that lands in your inbox:

  • Search the company name plus the word "scam" or "complaints" and see what comes up beyond their own website
  • Check Writer Beware, run by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, which tracks publishers, agents, and services with patterns of complaints (sfwa.org)
  • Look at the email address itself. If someone claiming to represent a publisher, agency, or literary scout is emailing you from a regular Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook address instead of their actual company domain, that's a rotten mango for sure
  • Look for a rights reversion clause in any contract, meaning you can get your rights back if things don't work out
  • Ask yourself if they're pressuring you to decide quickly. Real opportunities don't expire by Friday
  • Remember that a real literary agent never charges you upfront. Agents earn a commission from sales they make for you, period

And if you do bite into a sour one, don't let it sour you on the whole tree. Take what you learned, brush it off, and keep going. The good mangoes are still out there.

An ISBN is the unique number that identifies your book, like a birth certificate for that specific edition. Here's the part that trips people up: every format needs its own ISBN. Your ebook, your paperback, your hardcover, and your audiobook are each treated as a different "edition" and each gets its own number.

The free option

If you publish through Amazon's KDP, they'll offer you a free ISBN. It works, but there's a catch: it lists KDP as the publisher of record, and you can't use that same ISBN to publish the same edition anywhere else. If you're only ever going to sell on Amazon, that might be fine. But if you want to be wide (meaning your book is available on Apple Books, Kobo, in libraries, and so on), a free platform-issued ISBN won't travel with you.

The "buy your own" option

In the U.S., the only place to legally buy an ISBN is Bowker, at myidentifiers.com. A single ISBN costs more than people expect, but buying a block of ten works out to a much better price per number, and authors who plan to publish more than one book or format almost always come out ahead buying the block. When you buy your own, you're listed as the publisher, and that ISBN is yours to use anywhere, forever.

Bowker, and only Bowker. If anyone else, anywhere else, offers to sell you an ISBN, that's a sour mango waiting to happen. At best you're paying a markup for something Bowker sells you directly. At worst, the number isn't properly registered to you at all, and that's your name on the cover of a book with a birth certificate that doesn't actually say it's yours.
Quick gut check: if you only ever plan to sell one ebook on one platform, the free ISBN is fine. If you're publishing in multiple formats, multiple platforms, or you plan to publish more than once (and let's be honest, you probably will), owning your own ISBNs gives you more control and looks more professional to libraries and bookstores.

Even the sweetest mango benefits from a little polish before you hand it to someone. Editing is the same. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get your manuscript reader-ready, but you do need more than one set of eyes on it.

Free and low-cost editing help

  • Critique groups and beta readers. Sites like Scribophile and Critique Circle connect writers who trade feedback. Beta readers (often other readers in your genre) can catch plot holes, pacing issues, and "wait, why would she do that" moments before anyone pays for anything.
  • Trading services with other authors. If you know a few other indie authors, swapping a developmental read for a developmental read costs nothing but time.
  • Grammar and style tools. Free tiers of tools like Grammarly or ProWritingAid can catch a lot of small stuff before a human editor ever sees it. They are not a replacement for a human editor, especially for big-picture issues, but they're a solid first pass.

When it's worth paying

A professional copyedit or proofread, even one round, makes a real difference, especially once you're charging readers money. Marketplaces like Reedsy let you compare editors, see their rates upfront, and read reviews from other authors, which makes it much easier to budget for.

Formatting

Formatting is turning your manuscript into the actual file that goes on Kindle, into print, and so on. You have free options here too:

  • Draft2Digital has a free formatting tool that creates clean ebook and print files
  • Reedsy's free book editor formats and exports manuscripts at no cost
  • Paid tools like Atticus or Vellum (Vellum is Mac only) are one-time purchases that give you more design control if you publish often

You and I both know that what's inside the book is what matters. Readers don't know that yet. They're scrolling past a tiny thumbnail on their phone, and your cover has about half a second to make them stop scrolling. So while it isn't fair, your cover is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Budget-friendly routes

  • Pre-made covers. Designers sell pre-made covers (sometimes called "pre-mades") for a fraction of a custom design. You pick one that fits your genre and they add your title and name.
  • Canva, with caution. Canva can work for a budget cover, but be careful with overly generic templates that a hundred other books are also using. If you go this route, customize it enough that it doesn't scream "template."
  • Custom design when you can. Marketplaces like Reedsy let you compare cover designers and see sample work and pricing before committing.
Watch your stock photos. If you're DIY-ing a cover, make sure any image you use is properly licensed for commercial use. A pretty photo you found through a Google search isn't automatically free to use, even if there's no watermark on it.

Look around your own community first

Some of the most talented people you know might not call themselves "cover designers," but they can absolutely create something beautiful. My covers are actually designed by the art teacher at my school, who's wildly talented and was happy to help. Look around at the artists, art students, and creative people already in your circle before you go searching for strangers online. It keeps things personal, it keeps the money local, and you might be surprised what someone you already know is capable of.

This is about where your book actually shows up so people can buy or borrow it.

Wide versus exclusive

Amazon's KDP Select program puts your ebook into Kindle Unlimited and gives you access to certain promo tools, but in exchange your ebook has to be exclusive to Amazon. Going "wide" means your book is available on Amazon and everywhere else: Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and library platforms. There's no universally right answer here, it depends on your genre and goals, but wide means more shelves, even if each individual shelf might sell a little less.

Getting wide without doing it all manually

  • Draft2Digital (D2D) is a free distributor that gets your ebook and print book into Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and also into library and subscription services like Hoopla and OverDrive, which a lot of authors don't realize is even possible without a traditional publisher.
  • IngramSpark is especially useful for print, including hardcover, and for getting your book into the systems that bookstores and libraries actually order from. There are small per-title fees, but no fee to upload or store your files.

Libraries

Libraries can order books through Ingram's catalog, and many also accept direct outreach from authors, especially local ones. A short, friendly email introducing yourself and your book (plus a link to where they can find it in their ordering system) can go a long way, particularly with your local branch.

Personally, I like seeing my books everywhere, because I'm an everywhere shopper myself. If a store or platform exists, I want to be on the shelf. But that's just me. Do what works for you, always. There's no wrong answer here as long as it fits your goals.

You don't need a marketing budget to get your book in front of people. You need consistency, a little courage, and a willingness to show up where readers already are.

Bookstagrammers and BookTokers

People who post about books on Instagram and TikTok are, generally, just readers who love talking about books. Many of them are genuinely excited to discover new authors, especially in genres or communities that don't get a lot of attention from big publishers. Reach out the way you'd want to be approached: introduce yourself, say a little about your book and why it might be a good fit for what they read, and offer a free copy. Don't mass-blast the same message to fifty people in one night. A handful of genuine connections beats a hundred ignored messages.

Don't be afraid of a bad review

This one is hard, but it matters. At some point, someone is going to read your book and not love it. That can sting. But here's the flip side: that person read your book. They engaged with it enough to have an opinion. A book with only five-star reviews, or worse, no reviews at all, doesn't look real to other readers or to the algorithms that decide who sees your book next. A mix of reviews, including a few critical ones, is what an active, real book looks like. One person's "too slow" is another person's "I didn't want it to end."

Growth, not gloom. If a review points out something you can actually learn from, take the lesson and leave the rest. If it's just unkind, that's information about the reviewer, not about your worth as a writer.

Build your list

Social media accounts can disappear or change overnight. An email list is yours. A free download in exchange for an email address (a short guide, a printable, a bonus chapter) is one of the most reliable ways to build a group of people who actually want to hear from you.

Your book is your business card

Always have a copy or two with you. You never know when you'll be standing in line, at a family gathering, or at a community event, and someone asks what you do. Hand them a book, and you've made a connection no ad could buy.

Look around your own circle

You probably know people whose talents could help your marketing too. Someone going to school for marketing might love the real-world practice. A friend or relative who's naturally great with social media might post a Reel that does better than anything you'd plan for hours. Ask around. People generally like to feel useful, and your next collaborator might be sitting at your dinner table.

Some of the best parts of this whole journey happen offline, face to face, with a table, a stack of books, and a little hand-lettered sign.

Local book fairs and vendor events

Libraries, schools, churches, and community centers host vendor and craft fairs all the time, and many welcome local authors, sometimes for free or for a small table fee. These events are a great way to meet readers in person, get immediate feedback, and build relationships in your own community. Keep an eye on local community boards, library newsletters, and social media groups for your area.

Donations and tip jars

Some readers want to support you beyond just buying a book. A simple donation or "tip jar" link through something like Ko-fi or Buy Me a Coffee gives people an easy way to say "I loved this and I want to help you keep going," without it feeling like a sales pitch.

Giving back

Donating copies to a school library, a classroom, or a community program costs you a little, but it builds real goodwill and puts your book in front of readers who might not have found it otherwise. Word of mouth from a teacher or librarian who loves your book is worth more than almost any ad.

And giving doesn't only flow one direction. There are book donation programs everywhere looking for books to put in the hands of kids and readers who don't have easy access to them. Don't just take support, give some too when you can.

When you donate copies, a small touch goes a long way: a sticker inside the front cover that says something like "Donated by Leah T. Williams, not for resale." It does two things at once. It marks the book clearly as a donation, so it doesn't end up back on a shelf for sale somewhere it shouldn't be. And it puts your name right in front of a brand new reader, who just might go looking for your next book.

This section is general information, not legal or tax advice. Laws and rules vary by location and change over time. For anything specific to your situation, talk to a licensed attorney or accountant.

Business structure basics

Most indie authors start out as sole proprietors, meaning your author business and your personal finances are essentially the same thing in the eyes of the law. As your income grows, some authors choose to form an LLC, which can offer a layer of separation between your personal assets and your business activities. Whether that makes sense for you depends on your income, your location, and your overall situation, which is exactly why this is a conversation for a professional.

Get it in writing

Anytime you hire someone, a cover designer, an editor, a narrator, get a simple written agreement that spells out what they're delivering, what you're paying, and that you own the final product (sometimes called a "work made for hire" arrangement). This protects both of you and avoids confusion later.

The disclaimer page

If you write fiction, a standard disclaimer along the lines of "this is a work of fiction, names, characters, and incidents are products of the author's imagination" helps make clear that any resemblance to real people or events is not intentional. It's a small thing that's worth including.

Keep your records

Income from KDP, Draft2Digital, Gumroad, and any other platform is income, and it needs to be tracked for tax purposes. Keeping simple records of what you earn and what you spend on your author business (editing, covers, ISBNs, ads) from the start will save you a headache later.

This guide is a snapshot, not a final answer. Platforms change their rules, fees get adjusted, new tools show up, and some of what's true today might shift next year. That's not a reason to feel overwhelmed, it's just the nature of the tree. It keeps growing, and so do we.

Stay connected

Organizations like the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) keep a close eye on industry changes, scam alerts, and best practices, and can be a good ongoing resource as things evolve. Writer Beware is worth bookmarking too, especially before signing anything.

Connect with other authors too, locally and online. Writing groups, indie author communities, and local meetups are where you'll hear about new tools, upcoming events, and yes, the latest scams making the rounds, usually before anyone writes an article about it.

Pay it forward

Somebody, somewhere, helped you figure out at least one thing on this list, even if it was this guide. When you learn something new, share it. Answer the question in the author group. Tell the newer writer which tool actually worked. None of us got here alone, and the tree is better when more people are tending it.

Thank you for reading. If this guide helped you, the best thing you can do is pass it along to another author who needs it, and come back when it's updated. We're all figuring this out, one mango at a time.

An audiobook opens your story up to people who "read" with their ears: folks on a commute, getting through chores, or winding down at night. It's a different audience than your print or ebook readers, and sometimes it's a much bigger one than people expect.

Hiring a narrator

The two platforms most indie authors use are ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange, run by Audible and Amazon) and Findaway Voices (often just called "Voices," now part of Spotify). Both let you post your project, listen to auditions from narrators, and pick someone whose voice fits your story.

Keep the money within the platform. When you hire a narrator, pay them through the platform's official system, whether that's ACX or Findaway Voices, rather than sending money directly outside of it. The platform keeps a record of the agreement and can step in if something goes wrong. If someone you've never worked with asks you to wire money or pay through a personal payment app before they've started, that's a soft spot. Keeping the payment inside the platform protects both you and the narrator.

How narrators get paid

There are generally two models. Pay-per-finished-hour means you pay the narrator a flat rate upfront based on the finished length of the audiobook, and you own the production outright from day one. Royalty share means there's no upfront cost, but the narrator earns a percentage of the audiobook's royalties going forward, often for a set number of years. Which one makes sense depends on your budget and how confident you feel about the audiobook's sales potential.

Exclusive versus non-exclusive

ACX gives you a choice here. Going exclusive means your audiobook is only sold through Audible, Amazon, and Apple, but it usually comes with a higher royalty rate and access to certain promotional tools. Going non-exclusive (sometimes called going wide for audio) means you can also distribute through Findaway Voices to places like Spotify, Kobo, and library platforms, but the royalty rate on each individual platform may be lower.

This is different for everyone. Whether exclusive or non-exclusive makes more sense depends on your genre, your audience, and your goals, and honestly it can change from book to book. Do your own research on the current terms for each option before you decide, since the details can shift over time.

Leah T. Williams

Caribbean and Black YA and middle grade author, writing the stories I needed when I was younger, one mango at a time.

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© Leah T. Williams. This guide is provided for general informational purposes and is not legal, tax, or professional advice. Always verify current fees, rules, and requirements with the official sources linked throughout. This guide is updated periodically, so the version you're reading may not reflect the very latest changes.