Congratulations, you’ve finished your book. The writing, revision, editing, proofing and polishing is all done. You finally get to take a breather and bask in your accomplishment. Feels good, doesn’t it?

Well, if you’re self-publishing the journey has only begun. You’ve got the product – your book – but what about all that other stuff? As a self-publisher, you have many steps to take to get your book to market and spread the news, and utlimately get sales and reviews. It can seem totally overwhelming when you think about it all at once, which is why I recommend listing everything. It will keep you organized and help you to complete the overwhelming task.

Following is a checklist to use as a guideline to help take the next steps in getting your book to market.

1. Write: copyright page, dedication page, disclaimer page, acknowledgment page and new bio, and back matter, and add to final manuscript

2. Secure book cover/book cover artist to do a book cover (for print and ebook)

3. Purchase ISBNs from Bowker

4. Format or have your book formatted to Mobi and ePub files

5. Decide on distribution (will you go exclusive or publish wide?)

6. Set up accounts with distributors such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo

7. Do your keyword and category research for your book

8. Write a product description for the book (also known as a book blurb)

9. Gather your email list

10. Open an email marketing account for your mailing list such as Mail Chimp, Aweber, or Mad Mimi

11. Create an email announcement for your book

12. Develop or review your marketing strategy (including refreshing yourself on all the marketing information you’ve been gathering)

13. Apply for a copyright for your book (this can be done online)

14. Have a professional author photo taken. Make sure it is high resolution (300 dpi) so it will display properly online without looking grainy or pixelated

15. Update your blog or website with your book information

16. Get an Author Central page or update with new photo and new bio. Also set up author page on Facebook, update headers on social media accounts, and bios to include your book

17. Send out advanced reading copies of the book so you can have reviews when you publish

18. Determine publishing date (set up pre-order if that is part of your marketing strategy)

19. Publish eBook version of book

20. Set up print manuscript for your book (set up account with Create Space or IngramSpark)

21. Determine distribution for print book

22. Publish print version of book

23. Send out your email announcement

24. Rinse and repeat.

You can always add to the list

This list is by no means complete. Depending on your book, your audience, your genre, and your preferences, you will do some of these things and not others. You may have other steps to add. Self-publishing is definitely a work in progress. But the list does cover most of the basic steps you need to take. And probably drives home the fact that you are not just a writer anymore – you are also a publisher.

But by having a checklist, you can stay on track and get all those large and small steps done.