Anyone can write a book, but can you publish one for free? The short answer is yes, but there is a caveat that I’ll explain in a bit. Nonetheless, you can write, edit, and publish a book without spending money. If you have a knack for storytelling, then it’s all the better.
Writing a “good” book is subjective to an audience, and no one can guarantee the success of any title. Anyone telling you otherwise simply wants your money.
However, I can show you the tools and steps to publish a book for free. It’ll be up to you to tell a good story.
How to Publish a Book for Free
Now, before we get started, I would like to point out that there are a lot of products and services you might want to invest in to write a good book. Although it’s true that a well-written story can make up for bad grammar in some cases, sometimes spending a few bucks can make a world of difference.
Also, keep in mind that I’m referring to publishing a book for free. Marketing it well is going to take some money. You can only do so much advertising for free, and many free methods mentioned by “experts” usually don’t yield very good returns compared to premium services.
With that being said, it is possible to write, publish, and market the book without spending a single dime.
1. Writing the Book
First, you need to write the first draft of the book.
According to a few experts, most people who want to write a book never make it past the 20,000-word mark for a variety of reasons. Life, work, family, and pure frustration are often the most common culprits of stopping progress.
I personally know someone who can’t finish his book because he keeps overwhelming himself with the world-building details.
To be a successful author, you need to be able to tell a story that keeps the reader flipping the pages. Unfortunately, not everyone who has a great idea can do that, hence why ghostwriters exist.
It takes a great deal of motivation, determination, and perseverance to be a good author. Don’t assume that you’ll be able to crank out an entire book in less than 90 days.
Now, there are a lot of free methods you can use to write your book before you publish it. Some people like using LibreOffice or Word. The best writing app really depends on the writer. Some might prefer Vellum while I prefer Reedsy Studio.
Using Reedsy Studio
Reedsy Studio is a free app that has everything I want in a writing tool. From the planning board to setting writing goals, Reedsy has a lot of great functionality. So far, I’ve written three books using the app and plan to write a lot more.
Out of all the pros and cons of Reedsy, I think the lack of formatting options is perhaps the greatest drawback. However, I’ve published Kingmaker using nothing but Reedsy and it came out great.
Using Grammarly Chrome Extension
If you’re using a web-based writing platform such as Reedsy, the extensions of your web browser usually work perfectly. For instance, the free Grammarly Chrome extension works great in Reedsy and helps with spelling and grammatical errors.
Using an automatic grammar checker like Grammarly or ProWritingAid will save you a lot of time editing. For example, Grammarly will automatically fix a word if you make a small misspelling it recognizes. You don’t have to backspace to fix it.
2. Take a Break
Once the book is complete, it’s best that you take a break. Tom Bromley suggests taking a four to six-week break before you start making edits. This is to help refresh how you think about the book.
You’ll be amazed by how many issues with your writing you’ll come across after taking a break from the manuscript. It’s one of the reasons why I often come back to published blog posts a few months down the road. Grammar-checking apps are only going to do so much.
You’ll also come back with a bit of a fresher perspective. This allows you to work on character development, location, and plot details to improve the quality of the work.
When I finished writing the first draft of Shadows of Atlantic City, I sent it off to beta readers while I spent the time working on my next book in the Witcham series. You don’t have to immediately jump into a new manuscript, though. You can take the time off from writing altogether.
3. Return for Editing
You should never edit your own book if it can be avoided. But since you’re trying to publish a book for free, you need to use what is available. And although the free version of editing apps is often limited, they are worth using if they help you put together a better story.
One of the reasons I like using Reedsy is because of the collaboration feature. You can invite anyone to help you edit the book directly from the platform. It works similarly to Google’s collaboration function in Docs, which you can see changes almost immediately.
So, if you have a friend or family member who is an avid reader, they can help you tighten up the manuscript.
Regardless of how you do it, editing is vital. Before you publish any book for free, it’s best to go over it several times to ensure it’s the highest quality you can provide. The idea is to get four and five-star reviews, which isn’t going to happen if your book is poorly written or confusing.
4. Use Beta Readers
Volunteers can make a difference in the success of anything. In this case, you can share your story with beta readers to get their input on what needs to be changed, removed, or added. They can be exceptionally beneficial for putting together a great book.
Beta readers should be those who read the genre in which you write. You wouldn’t want to throw a romance reader into the pages of a horror novel. Well, unless there is a romantic scene in which you want a good opinion.
This is another element that I love about the Reedsy Studio. It’s easy to share the link to a read-only version of your manuscript with your beta readers. Just make sure you trust those who are helping you write a good book. The last thing you want is someone to steal the idea.
My beta readers helped me make vast changes in Kingmaker for the better. One of the main characters had a complete make-over throughout the entire book and several scenes were added to improve the flow. They pointed out some great opportunities and what didn’t work.
5. Book Cover Art with Canva
Book cover art is going to be important for enticing someone to read your book. I know they say that you should “never judge a book by its cover,” but a lot of folks do anyway.
With a free account with Canva, you can put together something nice that is eye-catching. However, it’s a bit taboo to use stock image photos for book covers. It’s always better to have something unique.
Still, there are all kinds of ways you can edit fonts and images to create something semi-unique in Canva. With its easy-to-use interface, it wouldn’t take long to create something visually appealing.
I’ve been using Canva for various purposes for a very long time. It’s what I know the best outside of Photoshop. And a lot of authors love Canva for similar reasons. However, there are other cover creator apps you can use to put together a stunning book cover.
6. Export the Book from Reedsy
After writing and editing your manuscript and uploading the cover, it’s time to export the book. Reedsy offers ePub and PDF versions of your files when exporting, which is the common platform for most book distribution services.
Reedsy has a few free formatting options available before you export the book to publish it. Although these options are great for beginners, they pale in comparison to the formatting capabilities of something like Atticus. Unfortunately, Atticus isn’t free.
In any case, I wrote and published Kingmaker using the Reedsy formatting options, and the book came out great.
If you’re not using Reedsy, there are a variety of ways you can format the book using your writing app of choice. You’ll have to dig a bit in Google, but they’re available.
In the worst-case scenario, you can always use Kindle Create to format the book. But I found Kindle Create to be a severe pain in the rear to use in most cases. It’s been a while since I’ve used it, so Amazon may have fixed it up a bit.
7. Use Book Distribution Services
One method a lot of self-published authors use to expand the book’s reach is to use distribution services. For instance, you can upload your book to Draft2Digital to get it into Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and several other outlets.
Using services like Draft2Digital lets you spread your book to various platforms without having to manage each one directly. In other words, it can save you a lot of time from setting up all of those accounts and logins.
If you use Draft2Digital, you’ll get a landing page that shows all of the places where readers can find your book. Use it to share on social media, in blog posts, email newsletters and more to improve the chances of making a sale.
Free distribution services like these should be the first step you take after you publish the book. Most will take a cut of the sales but are free to use and set up an account.
8. Market Your Book!
Lastly, and perhaps among the most important, you need to make sure you spend adequate time marketing the book. No one will buy it if they don’t know it exists. And marketing can take up a great deal of time if you’re doing it for free.
Out of all the services to pay for, I’d say marketing and editing are the two most vital for any book’s success. When you have a few bucks saved up, these are the two you want first.
There are a variety of ways you can market the book for free after you publish it.
For example, you could:
- Share the links on social media regularly
- Use KDP Select to boost promotions (which cuts into your royalties)
- Write a guest blog post with a link to your book
- Promote the book on your blog or email newsletter
- Appear in various book or writing podcasts
- Keep a Goodreads profile maintained
- Create a free Facebook page for the book or for yourself as an author
These are just some of the methods you can market a book for free. For greater reach, however, you’ll definitely want to save a bit of money for things like ads, tables at book fairs, or even hiring a marketing expert to help.
Out of all the free methods of marketing so far, I’ve made the most sales from Facebook and YouTube. Though, admittedly, I haven’t spent a lot of time marketing my books at the time of this blog post.
Marketing & Editing Will Make a Difference
As I mentioned earlier, marketing is going to be the make-or-break element of your book. Although some would say that editing is imperative, people wouldn’t know to buy the book to complain about bad editing if they don’t read it in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong, editing is immensely important, especially if you want to get some good reviews. But without marketing, no one would know the book even exists.
The free methods to market a book may help you generate a few sales here and there. But most will require a great deal of time invested. You can’t merely post a single link to Threads and cross your fingers.
Then consider how a lot of these social apps seem to bury external links among regular posts. I know I get far more engagement and visibility posting random questions about writing than I do from a link to my book on Amazon.
You can publish your book for free to get you started as a self-published author. But keep in mind that you should save some money to pay for marketing services and editing. Both of these will help enshrine the success of future books.
Marketing gets the book in front of more people. Editing helps boost your book’s star rating. Those star ratings help others decide to buy your book. It’s a symbiotic relationship that will make the difference from a few sales per year to a few sales per day.
Paid Services That Can Help Publish a Good Book
The internet is full of paid services that may make a difference in book sales. While you can publish a book for free, some of these services will easily contribute to the book’s success.
A few of the services you might want to consider include:
Premium Book Cover Art
A unique and attractive book cover catches the eye. It’s one of the reasons why so many people buy certain books – because it looks nice. While you can put together an attractive cover for free using Canva, some designers and services are next level.
You can pay for a designer directly, or you can use services like The Book Cover Designer and get something that was pre-made. Costs for either of these methods can range from $100 to $1,000 depending on the artist and website.
The point is that unique and attractive art can tempt your target reader to buy your book. Just make sure the cover is relevant to the story.
Editing with AutoCrit
To improve your manuscript, AutoCrit is an AI-driven editing system that can help you tighten your prose. It will scan your manuscript and highlight the most common errors authors make in their manuscripts. Then, you can fix them to improve the readability of the story.
I am very anti-AI-generated content. One of the things I like most about AutoCrit is that it only points out the errors. The AI doesn’t write a single line of text. I still have to make the fixes should it make sense in the story.
Keep in mind that no automated editing system is going to be perfect. Always consider the context of the scene before making adjustments.
In any case, AutoCrit will run you about $30 per month or $180 per year. It has a free version you can use, but it’s extremely limited compared to the Pro version.
If you don’t have thousands of dollars to throw at a human editor, AutoCrit is one of the better and more affordable options.
How to Write a Novel Masterclass
Going outside of services, even if you plan to publish a book for free, improving your overall writing and storytelling prowess is a huge bonus. And Reedsy has one of my favorite courses learning how to write a novel.
Tom Bromley has an incredible knack for helping even the most novice of authors understand the ins and outs of what makes a good book. Plus, he demonstrates how other authors use those techniques in their works. Some of them are award-winning titles.
Yes, the link above is an affiliate link, and I earn a commission from every sale. Still, completing the masterclass was probably one of the best things I’ve done to improve my books overall. It was easily the best three months I’ve spent learning and honing my skills.
What About Marketing?
Paid marketing services have the potential to increase your sales once the book is published. However, no one can guarantee any marketing method will make you the most amount of money. Every situation is unique.
In other words, what works for one author won’t necessarily work for another.
For instance, Andy Maslen has said how Facebook ads generate the most sales for his books. Yet, I’ve met a few authors who couldn’t sell a single book on Facebook.
I sold about six copies within an hour of sharing the link on Facebook once A Freelancer’s Tale went live. But I also spend time trying to cultivate a social presence.
In any case, there are so many services available for marketing that I could probably write an entire book on the subject. I suggest testing the waters and finding out which one works best for you.
You’re Not an Author if You Use AI, Sorry
Now, you’ve probably seen some YouTube videos or read a few blog posts about using AI to write and publish your book for free. However, doing so means you’re no longer an author – the AI writing the story is.
If you use AI to write any portion of your book, you’re nothing more than a prompt jockey. You’re removing the human element and style of why people like to read books in the first place.
What if you can’t write? Learn.
I became a success as a writer by spending hours upon hours scouring Google and learning how to write. This was long before I took the How to Write a Novel masterclass.
Artificial intelligence is fast, but it denies you the experience and pride of accomplishment. You’ll have to share that glory with whatever AI you’re using.
I am a strong proponent of education and learning your craft. Using AI removes that aspect and you don’t learn what it takes to be a good author for your audience.
This isn’t to mention how unethical it is to use AI to write a novel because the materials are based on the works of others. Or, how the vast majority of authors look down at AI creators as being lazy bottom-feeders.
Anyone can learn to write well. All it takes is an investment in yourself to improve your abilities. The best part is that you can learn nearly everything you need to be a good author for free by spending time searching everything on Google.
So, before you publish an AI-generated book for free, think about the implications to your reputation and pride. Is it really worth sacrificing just so you can put a book up on Amazon tomorrow?
It’s Better to Invest In Your Book
While it is completely possible to write, edit, and publish a book for free, it’s always better to invest in your manuscript. As I pointed out above, there are several online services that can make a vast difference in how it’s accepted by your target reader.
I get it; not everyone has deep pockets to toss at something that doesn’t have a guaranteed return. But you can always publish your first books for free and build momentum.
Start saving up now to afford some of the finer paid services that will give your book the best chance of success.
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