At the time of writing, my first book is ranked # 8 in its category, with 7 x 5 reviews * (I took a screenshot to prove it). I’m excited! I never imagined it would qualify!

Amazon’s sales range is somewhat of a mystery. I oversimplify, but it seems to be based on the number of sales per hour, with a weight to adjust for long-term bestsellers like Harry Potter.

Okay, so I don’t know how many other books are in the ‘sales and marketing’ category, or how long it will stay in the top 10 (so far it has been in and out at least three times that I know, not that I follow it endlessly!) . And, to be fair, I still don’t know if that represents sales of 2,000 books, 20 books, or 2 books! My printer, Lulu, prints books on demand (minimum quantity 1) and should send the “creator’s income” to my PayPal account after 6 to 8 weeks.

That said, I think it is still an impressive achievement. In fact, it is an understatement, as I also sell direct copies, so they are not counted in the Amazon ranking.

‘The Little Fish Guide to DIY Marketing’ is my first foray into publishing – it’s a compilation of the tips and stories that have been published in my newsletter over the past few years. The book was available from June 2010, but people only started buying it when it was “launched” on Amazon in October. It’s like it suddenly came true as soon as it became available on Amazon.

So this is how I did it.

Let’s say you already have a good idea, a title, a target market, some writing skills, and someone to design the book for you. Although the content took me about two years to complete, fitting in with everything else I do, I found it to be the easiest!

Get testimonials

When selling anything, what other people say is more compelling than anything you say yourself, so I knew my book needed testimonials to be printed inside and on the back cover. I sent PDF copies to the volunteers, but found that less than half of them actually contributed their comments (hopefully due to lack of time, not because they didn’t have anything good to say!). Of course, it is difficult to “chase” people when they are not paid, thus causing another delay in the process. Finally, I picked up some lovely reviews and was finally ready to print.

The next stage was a great learning process, with a number of key decision points along the way.

Traditional publishing or desktop publishing

First of all, you need to decide whether to seek a publisher / agent or self-publish.

If you want to find a traditional publisher / agent who takes care of everything for you (and takes a percentage), your best bet is the latest copy of the Writers and Artists Yearbook (available at all good bookstores) and there are plenty of other resources at line.

If you need help with your content, there are several book trainers / midwives, freelance book publishers, and short run printers / publishers for you to choose from, for a fee (email me for a list of recommendations).

Despite warnings on the internet about their customer service deterioration, I decided to post for myself via Lulu.com. I also found an email address of someone who was tremendously helpful (although there was always a delay in exchanging messages between the UK and US time zones).

If you do the same as me, then you must decide whether to self-publish or let Lulu be your editor. Being a bit of a control freak, I decided to become an editor as well as an author.

Buy ISBN numbers (or not)

To do that, you must purchase a block of ISBN prefixes from Nielsen BookData (the minimum quantity is 10 which currently costs 111.86GBP inc. VAT). You have to download, print and fill out a 4 page form, but it is not difficult (except you have to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words like ‘title page upside down’ – it is the inside page that goes back to the title page and includes publisher’s name, copyright, and ISBN details).

Search “nielsen isbn” for everything you need to know.

Please note that issuing your ISBNs takes a while, so you cannot rush this part of the process. Also note that, as the publisher, you are also required to send a copy of the printed book to Nielsen and the British Library Legal Deposit Office within one month (instructions are sent to you along with ISBN information). If / when you make changes, you must publish another edition of your book with a new ISBN, so make sure everything is perfect before passing the final proof.

Tip: If you are also producing an e-book version, you need your own ISBN. When setting your prices, keep in mind that printed books do not attract VAT, but e-books do.

If you don’t want to go through all of this, let Lulu be your editor and get your ISBN for free.

Designing the cover

Next decision: Are you making your own cover design or using Lulu’s Cover Design Wizard? Happily, I have access to a talented graphic designer who worked with me on the beautiful cover of my book. Lulu automatically produces the barcode for your ISBN, which you then download to include on the back; it should go in the lower right corner with a ‘quiet zone’ around it. Between us, we designed my book cover (using royalty-free images, of course) and uploaded the print-quality artwork to Lulu.

To make a one-piece (envelope) cover yourself, you need to download Lulu’s ‘cover image templates’ for your book size and overlay them on the left and right sides of your design. Adjust the size and margins of your page to match. Use Lulu’s ‘Spine Width Calculator’ tool and add that measurement in the middle.

More information can be found in Lulu’s “Book Cover FAQs”.

Designing the inside pages

Compared to that, dealing with the inner pages was relatively easy: they were already designed and saved in PDF format (individual pages, not spreads). I just had to make sure the title page and the title back page were included on the front (which changed all the numbers on my page) and upload the file. If you don’t have access to design skills, you can upload Word files instead, for Lulu to convert to PDF. Then you have to ask for a ‘proof’ of the book and ‘approve’ it when it is finally perfect (I did this several times and sold the proof copies at a discount).

Tip: Authors pay slightly less when they order their own books, and Lulu has monthly specials that may be worth the wait for.

Enter Amazon

My next decision was easy: I wanted the book on Amazon, so I paid Lulu around 50GBP for Global Reach Distribution. (If you choose Lulu as your publisher, you get free extended reach distribution instead.)

Here, I ran into a downside. I had originally designed my book in A5 size, with beautiful white paper, but it turns out that you can only have a few sizes to distribute, and A5 is not one of them. I had to change the artwork to fit the US business size, I just added larger margins and reloaded. The problem is, it couldn’t be that size on white paper, just cream.

I found that the explanation for Lulu’s sizes is not very consistent. In some places they refer to the name of the size, in others they mention inches and in others centimeters.

For more information, search Lulu’s Help for “What books are eligible for distribution?” And “What role will my book have for the cover and inside?” The information you need is scattered throughout the online Help, so email me for my handy overview of paper sizes and colors that are eligible for Lulu’s global reach distribution.

Once all size, paper, and layout have been worked out, it takes 6-8 weeks for your book to appear on Amazon. I found that almost unbelievable in this internet age! And then I found out that it takes a while to activate ‘Look Inside’ too, even after you’ve uploaded another PDF of your entire book to Amazon. But finally my book was online and sales suddenly started pouring in.

Tip: Other sellers may offer your book as ‘used’ or ‘as new’ at a discount. If you don’t reduce your margin too much, you could also establish yourself as a discount seller to compete with those sales.s.

Marketing your book

As a self-publisher, you must do your own marketing. I invited everyone who bought the book to review it online (happily, everyone has loved it so far). I did online marketing at no cost, using social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. For example, I ran a Twitter retweet competition that promoted it to new followers. I also did local public relations and announced it in my newsletter. And finally, I keep a small reserve of books to sell at the events I attend (such as training courses and local networking meetings). People love the glossy cover and sometimes even ask me to sign my book – like a true best-selling author!

Disclaimer: Please note that these instructions apply to the UK. Even if you do exactly what I did, I can’t promise that your book will become an Amazon bestseller.

Tip: You can track sales on Novelrank.com (it’s fascinating, but don’t get too obsessed!)