How To Avoid Getting Overwhelmed When Self-Publishing

Writer’s Relief
3 min readSep 21

Here’s one of the best things about self-publishing: You get to make all the decisions about your book! And here’s one of the most difficult things about self-publishing: You have to make all the decisions about your book! From formatting to proofreading to cover design and more, navigating every twist and turn of the self-publishing process on your own can be tricky and daunting. Before you’re completely buried by an avalanche of tasks, check out these tips from the experts on how to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Avoid Getting Overwhelmed When Self-Publishing

When self-publishing a book, the best way to protect yourself from becoming overwhelmed is to outline a plan before you even begin. Determine which self-publishing platform you want to use and read up on how it moves through the process. Research other writers’ self-publishing experiences for insights, and if you know an author who has self-published, ask for some pointers!

Use a checklist. A great way to keep yourself organized is to follow a self-publishing checklist. You can also refer to the many informative articles on the Self-Publishing Relief blog. Here are just a few:

How To Ace Self-Publishing Your First Book

What You Must Know Before Self-Publishing

6 Great Self-Publishing Podcasts You Should Listen To

15 Weird Words Self-Published Authors Should Know

Create a timeline. Next, you should estimate how long it might take to complete your self-publishing journey. Building a timeline for your project allows you to visualize the complete process and start planning for each step.

Choose tasks to outsource. Once you have your checklist and timeline squared away, you’ll be able to see if you should outsource some of the self-publishing tasks. Self-publishing is a big project, and it’s okay to get help — in fact, we encourage it! Outsourcing some of the necessary tasks to experts will help prevent burnout and embarrassing mistakes. You’ll still have the final say about your self-published book, but without the stress and aggravation that would come from trying to do everything yourself. Book trailers, cover design, formatting, and even…

Writer’s Relief

Author’s Submission Service Est. 1994. We help authors reach their publishing goals with targeted submissions to literary agents and editors.