As a self-publisher, you also effectively become a project manager, overseeing your novel from first draft to post-publication. With this in mind, I’ve put together a few thoughts and project management tips for self-publishers.

Keep control

The clue is really in the name: self-publishing. You are publishing your own book and are responsible for the entire process, so even if you bring others on board to help you with certain things, make sure you keep control over the decision-making.

Get organised

Being a good project manager means being organised about things; you need to know what needs to happen when to complete your book. You might also find yourself balancing working with a few different services at the same time, so you’ll need to work out how to juggle conflicting demands.

Know what you’re able to do yourself

The name self-publishing implies that you’ll be doing at least a fair proportion of the work yourself. It’s worth sitting down and deciding exactly what you can achieve yourself, as well as identifying gaps in your knowledge and skills that might need to be filled in by others. Self-publishing isn’t necessarily about using only your own resources; it’s more about using your resources as effectively as possible and knowing where someone else could do something more effectively than you.

Decide what you’re going to get others to do

Once you’ve decided where the gaps are, work out exactly what you’ll be asking others to help you with. For instance, do you need someone to give your book an in-depth edit, or simply someone to proofread? If you’re hiring a tech-minded person, will they need to sort out the formatting of your novel as well as the cover design?

Know your budget

You might not be able to control absolutely everything about self-publishing, but as a project manager it’s important to be on top of the finances. If you’re hiring outside help for certain aspects of the publishing process, shop around to get the best deals. It’s also worth deciding right at the beginning how much you can afford to spend as this will shape how you go about publishing your book. Self-publishing doesn’t have to cost a lot (especially not if you’re doing the vast majority of it yourself), but there are some costs you’ll need to be aware of.

Don’t scrimp on quality

As the author, self-publisher and project manager, it’s your responsibility to make sure the book you publish is as good as it can possibly be. Don’t settle for second best or something that’s probably good enough: it needs to be great. If things go wrong, fix them. If you think something could be better, make it better until you can’t make it any better. It’s your book, and while other people will undoubtedly be able to help you along the way, ultimately it’s down to you – so never scrimp on quality.