How Long Does It Take To Self-Publish A Book?

Whether you've got a finished draft or you haven't typed the first word of a book yet, a question that may be running through your mind is how long does it really take to self-publish a book?
Publishing traditionally can take years to both find an agent and then go through the publishing process, but how much time (if any) do you save if you do all the work yourself?
Here are 4 aspects to self-publishing to keep in mind when planning for the time you'll need to wait:
-Drafting
-Editing
-Pre-Publication Set-Up
-Marketing
In this video I go through each phase, give some insight on what will take up the most of your time, and give you an estimate of time you may need to plan for before your book launch.
You can check out more videos with tips and tricks for your self-publishing journey in my Indie Author Behind-the-Scenes playlist here: • Indie Author Behind-th...
Have any tips or tricks to save time without sacrificing quality? Or questions about other aspects of the Self-Publishing journey? Leave them in the comments!

[@davestinson2323]

Thanks for that info, my first book took me 3 months to finish in draft and a year to get it down on computer and edit edit edit hahaa ( nmare). Just in the latter stages of editing now for my second book and I honestly have found this harder to write than the first.

[@KatherineDGrahamAuthor]

Thank you for watching! Second books are so hard! I think this is why I lean toward duologies... Good luck!

[@johnparnham5945]

My first book took 15 months until publication but now, I'm not satisfied with it and it will need some revision, a new cover and a winning blurb. My second book, I drafted in six months but the editing phase has taken a long time. and I have to wait for my designer to be free to do the cover and illustrations, so it might take a while yet.

[@KatherineDGrahamAuthor]

The first book seems to take many authors the longest, by far. Once you have all your contacts in place and a process down, it gets a little smoother (not easier, per se, but smoother). Best of luck on your revision and the launch of book two!

[@johnparnham5945]

@@KatherineDGrahamAuthor Thank you for your good wishes. I still don't understand how you can market a book that doesn't exist yet, especially if the first book didn't sell many copies, and you didn't manage to build a readership. What if the book that you are writing doesn't materialize? What about all the unknowns in a book that is not finished? I know that pre-marketing is the general advice but even with my second book, which has gone through the developmental phase and is now being self-edited, before going for copy editing, I don't know how to market an unfinished book. I have to say that my second book took only six months to write the first draft and it's way better than the first.it's the editing phase that;s taking the longest. Selling an idea of a book instead of a finished article seems to be a difficult concept for me.

[@KatherineDGrahamAuthor]

@@johnparnham5945 With my debut epic fantasy, I had the book completely finished before I started marketing for the release. I know several other authors who do the same. You can finish the book and/or series before setting up the pre-order and starting the marketing process, if it makes you more comfortable to do so (absolutely nothing wrong with that). Then you don't have to worry at all about things going wrong, etc. Overall, though, giving yourself over a year to build a platform and start marketing (for first-time authors) before the release date of the first book is so very helpful... I did 8 months and it was nowhere near enough. At some point, though, writers seem to find a 'cycle' (one book being drafted, one being edited, and one prepping to publish) where they can release books more quickly. My goal for 2023 is to find that cycle. Ultimately, there's no wrong way to do this. The beauty of self-publishing is you choose your own deadlines, and you can usually adjust them (except for Amazon, where they only left you adjust a deadline one time). From a technical aspect, with WHAT to market, I use excerpts from the book, introduce characters, etc. You can see some examples of this on my Instagram here, if you're interested: instagram.com/katherine_d_graham/