The Self-Publishing Checklist
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The following content comes from a free FriesenPress training session broadcast live on March 11, 2026 (edited for length and clarity). Register here to join us live on our next broadcast!
Hello, and welcome to The Self-Publishing Checklist webinar with FriesenPress.
My name is Christoph Koniczek, and I’m a Publishing Consultant and employee owner here at FriesenPress. I’ve been at FriesenPress for 13 years and have worked on over 2,000 books to date, so I’ve seen just about every sort of book you can imagine.
If you’re not familiar with what we do here at FriesenPress, we are an employee-owned publishing service provider founded in 2009, and we’ve helped over 11,000 authors self-publish their books. Our support ranges from professional book coaching to editing and design, to worldwide distribution and book promotion support.
Planning Your Journey
Embarking on your self-publishing journey is like setting out on an adventure, you need a plan and a guide to be successful. As you chart your course, defining your basic plan will help you find the best publishing path for you and your book. A little preparation and forethought will help you a great deal.
We’ve broken this down into four planning steps:
1. Determine Your Budget
Your budget is one of the most important early decisions, it shapes nearly every choice you’ll make. And it’s not just about money, it’s about time. Taking the DIY route can save costs, but requires a significant investment of time and energy to learn technical skills like formatting, design, and marketing. For some authors, that trade-off works. For others, outsourcing allows them to focus on writing while professionals handle the rest.
DIY can be challenging, and while AI tools are useful in some contexts, they can create risks in publishing—particularly around copyright and quality. In most cases, your options come down to hiring professionals or learning the process yourself.
2. Consider Your Publishing Goals
Before making major decisions, clearly define your goals. Why did you write your book? Who is it for and why would they (and bookstores) care? Your answers will guide decisions around format, marketing, and publishing approach. Some authors want to build a writing career or generate income. Others aim to establish authority, preserve a story, or reach a specific audience.
There’s no single path to success, but having clear goals helps you choose the right strategy.
3. Decide on Your Formats
Choosing your formats early helps ensure a smoother publishing process. Planning ahead allows you to coordinate print, eBook, and audiobook releases, giving readers options from day one and improving discoverability across platforms. It also prevents unnecessary rework. Print and digital formats have different requirements (for example, print covers include a spine and back cover, while eBooks do not), and interior formatting varies as well. Making these decisions early keeps production efficient.
4. Choose Your Publishing Path
There are three primary self-publishing paths:
DIY: You manage everything yourself: writing, design, formatting, distribution, and marketing. Often you’ll use platforms like Amazon or IngramSpark. It’s cost-effective but requires wearing many hats.
Hybrid: These publishers offer professional support but typically require upfront costs, shared royalties, and some loss of rights or control.
Publishing Services: You hire professionals to guide and produce your book while retaining full ownership and creative control. You pay for services, but keep your rights and make all final decisions.
Preparing Your Manuscript
Before choosing a publishing path, you need a finished (or nearly finished) manuscript. At this stage, you’re not just writing, you’re preparing a product. A polished manuscript sets the foundation for everything that follows. The stronger your draft, the more efficiently editors and designers can enhance your work rather than fix avoidable issues.
Here are 4 ways to best prepare your manuscript:
1. Ensure originality
Your manuscript should be primarily your own work. If you’ve used generative AI tools, disclose it clearly to avoid copyright issues. Distributors may flag or remove content that appears duplicated or unoriginal. It’s also helpful to research comparable titles to understand your genre and audience expectations.
2. Cite your sources
Always credit external ideas, quotes, or materials. In commercial publishing, citation alone is often not enough—you may also need permission to use certain content, especially images or extended excerpts.
3. Conduct a thorough self-edit
After finishing your draft, step away before revising. Returning with fresh eyes helps you spot issues with clarity, flow, pacing, and consistency. Aim to make your manuscript as clean as possible before professional editing.
4. Format your manuscript properly
Keep formatting simple and consistent. Use standard fonts, clear spacing, and proper chapter breaks. Save your file as a DOCX to ensure compatibility with industry tools and avoid technical issues later.
Invest in Editing
Editing is one of the most critical stages in preparing your book for publication. A professional editor strengthens clarity, structure, tone, and flow, while catching issues you may miss, and raising your manuscript to the standard expected in a competitive publishing market.
Choose the right editor:
Look for an editor familiar with your genre and audience, whose approach complements your writing style, and who can help elevate your work to a professional level. Consider their qualifications, rates, turnaround times, and whether they offer coaching or guidance to discuss edits.
Invest in the right level of editing:
Manuscripts each have different needs according to their genre, length, and complexity. They will move through multiple stages of editing, each with a different focus, to produce a professional book. Content editing refines structure and flow, copy editing tackles grammar and punctuation, and proofreading provides a final polish. Your editor will be able to advise you on the types of editing and number of rounds recommended to reach your publishing goals.
Revise as needed:
It’s common for your completed work to differ from the idealized version in your head, but multiple rounds of editing will help to refine your ideas and sharpen your writing. Perfect does not exist. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s to create the most polished, impactful version of your work that will best connect with readers.
Invest in Design
Your book’s design is pivotal in both attracting readers and ensuring a smooth reading experience. A compelling cover grabs attention and aligns with market trends, while a professional layout enhances readability. To succeed with readers, you need to ensure your book is not only visually stunning but also market-ready.
Work with a professional designer:
A professional book designer brings more than just an eye for aesthetics. They understand the publishing industry and acknowledge market trends. They know how to craft a cover that is visually striking while appealing to your genre’s audience, and how to format your interior layout for a cohesive, polished look.
Create a compelling cover:
The front cover should capture your book’s essence, spark curiosity, and draw readers in, while the back cover delivers the hook and essential details to encourage a purchase. Together, a thoughtfully designed front and back cover enhance your book’s overall appeal and marketability. Beta testing multiple cover designs with your network is a great best practice and something I generally recommend. If you can get 2-3 different cover designs, this product development process will allow you to really settle in with a preferred style and further workshop the end result to best effect.
Write effective back cover copy:
The back cover of your book is more than just space for a summary, it’s a key marketing tool that can make the difference between a reader picking up your book or giving it a pass. Your content should deliver a concise and compelling overview that hooks potential readers, providing just enough intrigue to spark curiosity without revealing major plot points or surprises.
Format your interior professionally:
A thoughtfully designed interior is essential for creating a professional, enjoyable reading experience. This includes choosing readable fonts, setting proper spacing, and designing pages that flow naturally from start to finish. Proper interior formatting ensures your book looks polished, meets industry standards, and functions well across multiple formats, from print to digital e-readers.
Discoverability
Making your book easy to find is crucial for connecting with readers. By enhancing your book’s searchability and classification, you improve its chances of being noticed in a crowded market. A little thoughtful preparation will make sure your book reaches the right audience and gains the visibility it deserves:
Get ISBNs for each format — Each format of your book (eBook, paperback, etc.) needs its own ISBN. Your ISBNs (International Standard Book Number) are unique to each format of your book and are essential for retailers to order stock, enable point of sale, and track interest in both searches and sales.
Choose relevant BISAC codes — Your BISAC codes (Book Industry Standards and Communications) provide one to three categories, appearing either on a book’s copyright page or back cover, that tell a retailer where your book belongs. This will ensure they accurately shelve your book, which helps in digital categorization. In this digital age, it’s possible to be simultaneously “shelved” in more than one category.
Research relevant search keywords — Your book’s keywords should be words or short phrases that potential readers might search if looking for a book like yours. Research and incorporate keywords in your book listings and websites that potential readers might search for. Make sure they are specific enough to narrow the field (i.e., “cooking” could bring up cooking utensils, cooking shows, cooking traditions) but general enough that someone has searched for that term before. Your keywords should be uploaded to your book listings and your website.This will help improve your searchability and relevance in search results. Researching these, and getting advice from your editor in this area is key as well. I’ve seen books misfiled/ labeled and can make your book harder to find and purchase.
Complete your book’s metadata — Accurate and detailed metadata is necessary for making your book discoverable online. Key details like the title, author name, genre, keywords, and description help search engines and retailers categorize your book, improving your chances of reaching your target audience.
Distribution and Pricing
One of the final steps in your publishing journey is getting your book into readers’ hands—but success here depends on making informed decisions. From printing methods to pricing and distribution, each choice affects your book’s reach, appeal, and profitability.
Choose your printing option
Print-on-demand (POD): Offers flexibility and low upfront costs, making it ideal for wide distribution. However, it allows for limited customization and can result in slight variations between copies due to differences in printing equipment and materials. For highly visual books requiring precise colour (like photography or art books), POD may not be the best fit.
Bulk print runs: Require a higher upfront investment but give you greater control over quality and features—such as premium paper, foil covers, or special inserts. While these copies aren’t typically used for wide distribution, they’re excellent for events, pre-orders, and direct sales.
Set your price
Pricing should reflect your production costs, distribution fees, retailer discounts, and desired royalty. Aim for a price that balances profitability with market expectations. Your book should feel appropriately priced for its length, format, and genre while still delivering value to readers.
Select your distribution channels
Choose platforms based on your audience and formats, whether online retailers, digital platforms, or local bookstores. Each channel offers different advantages in terms of reach and margins.
Working with a single distribution partner can simplify royalty payments and make it easier to manage sales and retailer relationships.
Make your book returnable
Returnability is key for bookstore placement. It allows retailers to return unsold copies, reducing their risk and making them more likely to stock your book. While it involves an annual fee, offering returnability can significantly improve your chances of getting onto physical shelves.
Publish Your Book
Before officially releasing your book, take a final moment to review every detail and catch any last-minute issues. Once everything is in order, you can celebrate your achievement and step confidently into this exciting new chapter as a published author.
Final review — Carefully check your manuscript, design, and metadata, every detail matters, from the big-picture elements to the smallest formatting touches. Making sure everything is correct now can save time, money, and headaches later.
Finalize your online listings — Craft a concise, compelling book description, choose the right categories, add relevant keywords, and include a professional author bio. These elements ensure your book is discoverable and appealing across all marketplaces.
Publish and announce your release! — Once you’ve officially hit “publish” to release your book to the world it’s time to celebrate! Share your launch across social media, your email newsletter, and any other platforms to reach readers and generate excitement.
Q/A Section
Q: Can an author set up their own publishing house and use you as in FriesenPress to produce it?
Christoph: Yes, we have in the past done that for a number of different authors and companies. It depends on the scale. We do white labeling, but also I believe that we have worked with authors who have kind of created their own imprint.
I think for some of those, most of them we've had like the FriesenPress logo on the book. So, it's still technically a FriesenPress book, but that would be a more nuanced discussion.
Q: What kind of lawyer should I consult when referencing real people or places?
Christoph: Great question. Typically, you’re looking at intellectual property or copyright lawyers, as well as defamation or libel specialists. It depends on the situation, but those are the two main areas where these issues tend to fall.
Q: How can I protect my manuscript when sharing it with beta readers?
Christoph: This comes up a lot. At a basic level, you can register your intellectual property, through Library and Archives Canada or the Library of Congress in the U.S., to establish ownership of your work. There are different layers to protection, intellectual property copyright protects your ideas, product copyright applies after publication, trademarks are more complex and situational
It's going to depend on how deeply engaged you are with these folks. An editor, for example, you’re covered under their business practice, right? You're commissioning them to do a service.
Q: How many poems do I need to publish a poetry collection?
Christoph: Technically, about 24–32 pages is the minimum for printing. But I wouldn’t recommend aiming for the bare minimum. A very short collection can be hard to market—it may not even have a wide enough spine for the title. Instead, look at comparable books in your genre. Many poetry collections fall in the 50–100 poem range, which provides a stronger value for readers.
Q: Where do BISAC codes and metadata actually appear?
Christoph: Most of that information operates behind the scenes. It’s passed from the publisher to distributors and retailers to help categorize and position your book. Readers don’t usually see this directly, but it plays a major role in how your book is shelved—both physically and online. That’s why choosing the right categories and keywords is so important.
Q: Can you publish board books?
Christoph: Board books are great—but they’re highly specialized. Unlike standard books, they require unique manufacturing processes, including custom cutting and assembly. They’re typically produced in specialized facilities and often involve higher costs, large print runs, and more complex logistics like shipping and warehousing. It’s not impossible, but it’s a much bigger undertaking—especially for first-time authors.
Q: If I cite sources in a nonfiction book, am I safe from copyright issues?
Christoph: Not necessarily. This is where commercial publishing differs from academic writing. In academic work, citation is often enough. In commercial publishing, you may also need permission, especially for longer excerpts, images, or specific materials. If you don’t secure permission, you risk takedowns or legal challenges. It’s always best to get written permission when possible, consult an editor early, be cautious with potentially sensitive or defamatory content
Also, be careful with URLs, web content changes quickly, and links in your book may become outdated. Hosting references on your own website can be a more flexible solution.
Want more expert insights to help navigate your publishing journey?
Join our next free webinar! Presented by FriesenPress’s Debbie Anderson, Demystifying the Edit pulls back the curtain on the entire editing process to show you why editing is a collaborative partnership designed to polish your vision, not change it.
