How To Publish A Book In 2022

In this digital age, publishing a book is profoundly different from how it was just two decades ago. Thanks to the modern technologies enabled by the internet, publishing a book is easier now than ever before.

This is generally a good thing—if you’re good at writing, you don’t need additional skills in marketing and sales to succeed anymore. There are sites to sell ebooks where you can post your final draft that also advertise books online for you.

But, there’s one caveat: competition. This ease is not only for you; anyone with good writing skills can sell ebooks online. Your book has to stand out if it is to succeed. There are certain things that you need to consider publishing a book in 2022.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to publishing a successful book in 2022.

Step 1: Choosing a Topic/Title in 2022

Right off the bat, your topic has to be catchy, even provocative if appropriate. The general population today has a much shorter attention span than was the case in the 2000s. In this age, when the population is so used to scrolling past catchy posts on social media, everyone is going to judge your book by its cover.

This is well justified. There’s so much information out there on the internet that one can’t afford to spend more than a few seconds judging whether a piece of content is worth their time. With so much content out there that’s not relevant to us, we’ve trained ourselves to instantly judge and reject. In Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari says,

“Today, having power means knowing what to ignore.”

Even with excellent writing, a catchy title can mean the difference between success and failure. For stories (fiction, biographies, etc.), a good title would be something mysterious or something that makes the reader curious to read more. Examples of some catchy biography/fiction book titles are:

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
• Life After Lifeby Kate Atkinson
• Becoming by Michelle Obama

If you’re writing a nonfiction book, you may find giving it a catchy title a bit cheeky, but it’s the norm these days. Even some of the most descriptive books published recently use catchy and provocative. Some of the best examples are:

• How Not To Die by Gene Stone and Michael Greger
• Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
• Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To by David Sinclair
• The Inflamed Mind: A Radical New Approach to Depression by Edward Bullmore

Step 2: Writing for Today’s Audience

The same considerations you take while choosing a title also apply to the book’s contents. The few pages of the book—i.e. the preface, the introduction, and the first chapter—need to be particularly captivating. These sections should give a clear idea of what the reader can expect from the book. If the title captures the reader’s attention, the introduction maintains it.

These pages are your only chance to make an impression. Try adding a powerful prologue if you’re writing fiction or biography. End the prologue in a cliffhanger that makes the reader desperately curious to read more.

On the other hand, if you’re writing a nonfiction descriptive book such as a self-help book, try to build authority in the initial sections. Layout the gist of all the lessons you want to include in the book while also promising a lot of detail in the body of the book.

Using jargon in these sections may seem like a good way to build authority, but it’s not. The reader needs assurance that they will be able to understand the book easily, and technical language will only push people away. Instead, share ideas in simple language. Don’t shy away from “giving away” your best ideas right in the introduction. They’re no good sitting somewhere in the ninth chapter if no one reads your book.

If you write the first sections right, you can be a bit blander in the rest of the book. Once your readers are already invested in the story or the book’s topic, they’ll be more motivated to put more effort into it if needed.

One way to keep your audience amused throughout the book is by using creative titles for chapters and sections. Yuval Noah Harari’s “21 Lessons for the 21st Century Yuval Noah Harari” is one of the best examples of a descriptive book with catchy headings. Some of the titles and subtitles in the book are; “The end of history has been postponed,” “Never underestimate human stupidity,” “Acknowledge your shadow,” and “Change is the only constant.”

Step 3: Presentation: Formatting and Cover Art

The presentation may be an afterthought, but that doesn’t make it any less essential than the elements discussed so far. For starters, your book has to look professional. This means that it should be formatted according to the industry standards consistently throughout. It goes without saying that your book can’t afford spelling or grammatical errors. Minor errors were passable in the past, but now that there are AI-powered tools that can accurately spot all the errors in your book, there’s no excuse for a single one.

Your cover art must also be up to standards. You can let your creativity run free but here are some points to keep in mind.

1. The cover art must be a high-quality image; it should not look pixelated. Use vector graphics instead of raster graphics whenever possible.
2. Less is always more. Unnecessary details only distract the readers from what’s important. Consider using minimalist art, and don’t let it outweigh the title.
3. Make it relevant to the contents and the mood of the book.

Step 4: Publishing and Choosing a Marketing Strategy

Today, publishing just means uploading your book online ebook selling website. It’s the marketing that determines how well your book does. If you’re already a popular author or an acclaimed authority on the topic, marketing just means announcing the book to your followers. But if you’re not, you’ll need to use various tools, including SMM and SEO, to get your book out there.

We can help you here. For all the books published on the Dollie Wrinkle website, we provide free tools for marketing, distributing, and sales record keeping. You can focus your energy on what you do best and let us handle everything else. Reach out to us now for more details.