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Nour Zikra is the author of the urban fantasy novel Divinity Falling, which she self-published in 2019. She has a BA in creative writing and has a channel on YouTube where she shares writing and publishing advice, whether you're traditionally publishing or self-publishing.

To denote which comments are from her, I’ll preface them with her initials (NZ), and denote my own comments with my initials (AM).

Without further ado, here is our conversation on how to self publish a book, the cost to self publish a book, and the overall pros and cons of the self-publishing process:

Pros of Self-Publishing

AM: My first question today is: What made you choose the self-publishing route for your first novel?

NZ: So when I wrote Divinity Falling, my intention was to traditionally publish it. But I was very busy with work while writing the novel and it took me two years to complete the manuscript. Then it was a couple of months of editing before I felt it was ready for submission. However, because it took me so long to complete the manuscript, I started getting impatient, so after a few months of querying literary agents I decided to just self-publish the book. This way I was able to have readers enjoy my book without waiting more years.

But my goal in the long run remains to traditionally publish. I think both traditional publishing and self-publishing are great in their own ways, but it would definitely be nice to have a team work with me to get my book out into the world, rather than me doing all the work myself with every book I put out.

AM: That makes a ton of sense. The length of time it can take to find a literary agent and then find a publishing house through the traditional publishing process can be really frustrating, especially if you have already spent years and years writing your book. So now that you've gone through it, what do you see as the main advantages of self-publishing over traditional publishing?

NZ: There are a couple of advantages of self-publishing over traditional publishing. For one, you have complete control and rights over your work. You get to decide what you keep and what you change in your story, you get to choose the cover you want, and you can decide where to distribute your book, and so on.

With self-publishing you also don't have to wait years and years for a literary agent or a publishing house to pick up your book. You can just publish the book as soon as you think it's ready. You should still get the book professionally edited, of course, but after that you could publish the book whenever you feel like. Plus, if you're a fast writer, you could publish books quicker than you might with traditional publishing.

Now, this isn't always a good thing if you're just pumping out poor quality books. But if you know what you're doing and write professionally, you could essentially make a decent income with a good readership to back you up.

AM: You're so right, self-publishing gives you, as the author, total control over the process as well as the timeline for publishing your book.

Cons of Self-Publishing

AM: Now, I want to hear a little bit more about some of the challenges you faced going through the self-publishing process, as well as things that maybe you wish you had known going in for the first time.

NZ: My biggest challenges when it came to self-publishing my novel were overworking myself and not figuring out all the marketing I wanted to master. When it came to all the work months before the book was released, I became obsessed and worked non-stop. I didn't mind it at the moment because I loved working on all the things book related, but now that I think about it I wish I gave myself more rest days. Even though I enjoyed what I was doing, doing too much wasn't good for my mental health and I wish I knew to take it easy back then.

As for the marketing, my book did far better than I thought it would, but I didn't really figure out marketing on Amazon or Facebook through paid ads. I got some sales through my marketing efforts, but the majority of my sales came organically through the people who watched my YouTube videos and wanted to read my book. This is great, but I still wish I knew more about paid ads. If I tinker with paid ads in the future, I will probably reach out to a professional for guidance.

AM: I'm so glad that you brought that first point up, actually, because I feel like burnout is something we really don't talk enough about in the writing and publishing community. People think that because you're following your passion and your dream, you can't be exhausted by it. But writing and even editing can be really taxing, so I'm glad you made that point. You have to be honest with yourself and take time for self-care when you need it.

How to Self-Publish a Book

AM: Now, I want to learn a bit more about the actual process you followed to self-publish your book. What did you look for in the editors and designer that you worked with, and how did you ensure that they were the right match for your project?

NZ: When it came to finding my book editors which I hired, I went to a website called The Editorial Freelancers Association. The website only lists editors with experience in the publishing industry and have worked in publishing houses in the past. From there, I put my criteria, such as that I'm looking for an editor who works on fantasy novels and edits English works.

There were hundreds of editors listed, so I looked at about 20 that showed up first in the search results. From those I chose the ones that stood out to me, and if they worked on books similar to mine, I selected them. In the end I had about ten editors to contact.

I wrote each editor an email and asked for their prices, as well as to create a sample edit of the first couple of pages of my novel. Based on their sample edits and prices, I selected the two that aligned with my budget, writing, and voice. The reason I chose to have two editors was simply to have two sets of eyes. One editor did line editing and light developmental editing, and the other did two rounds of proofreading.

Now when it came to finding my cover designer, I actually didn't do that much work. I turned to the AuthorTube community and got the name of a design company that many authors had used. Then I looked at their portfolio and went from there.

Unfortunately, this design company is no longer active, but if I self-publish again in the future I intend to do more research to see what's out there. But I'm pretty happy with how my book cover came out.

AM: I'm so glad that you brought up the importance of having multiple rounds of editing and multiple editors, because that's something I really believe in. It's super important both for the self-publishing route and the traditional publishing route.

If you end up going through a major publishing house, you're going to have at minimum three different editors. First is your developmental editor, who's going to be your main point of contact at the publishing house and your main editor. After you work on your manuscript with them, it goes through a separate copy editor and another separate proofreader just to make sure there are enough eyes on the story to ensure there are no mistakes and that it is as strong as possible.

Once you have your manuscript that you want to self-publish edited and polished and you feel good about it, how do you go about choosing which platform to publish on and what factors you need to consider for choosing self-publishing platforms?

NZ: I did a lot of research and watched a lot of review videos, and I ended up choosing Amazon KDP and IngramSpark, each for a specific distribution. IngramSpark distributes all my paperback and hardcover copies to all bookstores, while Amazon KDP distributes my ebook version to its own website.

The reason I decided on this route is because IngramSpark does great quality prints, plus their books are accepted by most bookstores and libraries. Amazon KDP is great because it pays a big royalty compared to other ebook distribution channels and a lot of people purchase ebooks on Amazon.

AM: It's great to know that you can use different platforms for different formats of your book because, as we know, some readers still prefer to have a print copy and other readers prefer electronic. So once your book was published, you had it on different platforms. What marketing strategies did you use to promote your novel?

NZ: I used a lot of marketing strategies to promote my novel. As I mentioned earlier, I used paid advertisements like Facebook and Amazon. I also spoke about my novel on my YouTube channel, and that's where most of my readers came from.

I also utilized Goodreads and social media. I did a lot of book posts on Instagram with snippets and teasers from my book, and my husband–who was my boyfriend at the time–created an animated book trailer to share on my channel. I hired an artist to draw my characters and then I hired voice actors to do a couple of lines, but my husband took the drawings and animated them with his magical design abilities. The animated trailer is still up on my channel if anyone would like some inspiration for their future books!

AM: I love that your husband helped you out with the book trailer for your novel! I checked it out and the graphics were really awesome.

My last question here is: What one piece of advice would you give to an author who is trying to decide whether to go the traditional or self-publishing route?

NZ: One piece of advice I would give to writers trying to decide whether to self-publish or try traditionally publishing is to research both and do what makes sense. Both avenues have their pros and cons. If you want to put in all the work yourself and have the budget for it, then self-publishing isn't a bad option. However, if you want a literary agent to guide you every step of the way and a team to back you up, then traditional publishing is fantastic for that.

There's no right answer, so just follow your gut. Besides, if one doesn't work out, there's nothing wrong with trying the other. Just don't query literary agents with a book you already self-published. Only query unpublished manuscripts.

AM: I completely agree that there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing between traditional or self-publishing. It is all about what your individual priorities and goals are.

I also love that you mentioned the tip of not querying literary agents with a book that you have already published, because that is spot on. Agents will not accept any manuscript that has been published in any format, online or otherwise.

Thank you so much Nour, for giving us all your amazing insight on the self-publishing pros and cons and how to self-publish a book. I certainly learned a lot that I didn't know about self-publishing and am so glad that you were able to make the time to educate us.

Whether this article confirmed your choice to self-publish, or offered you more tips and tricks on the process overall, I hope you found her insight to be just as interesting and educational as I did.

Thanks for reading, and happy writing!

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