Have you ever dreamed of publishing your own e-book and making it big — like the best-selling authors Colleen Hoover and Andy Weir? Not everyone has such success, but plenty of writers have found an audience online with platforms, like Amazon Kindle Publishing and Barnes & Noble Press, that allow authors to freely upload their books and sell them. While you may not get as much exposure by skipping traditional publishing methods and releasing your book yourself, you do retain more control over your work and royalties, which can be up to 70 percent of the sale price. If you’re inspired, here’s a basic overview of the process.

Prepare Your Manuscript

You don’t need special software to write a book — pretty much any modern word-processing program will do — although some people find apps for organizing plots and characters useful. However, your text should be as mistake-free as possible, so take full advantage of any and all proofing tools you have. Apple’s Pages, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Zoho Writer and several other programs include spelling and grammar aids in their desktop editions; options may be more limited on mobile devices.

ImageGoogle Docs is just one of the many word-processing apps you can use for writing your book. The Android version, shown here, and the browser-based Google Docs software include tools for proofreading and exporting your text into different file formats.Credit...Google

Some programs have add-ons that use artificial intelligence to analyze and suggest improvements to your writing; Zoho’s free Zia assistant and Microsoft’s new $30-a-month Copilot tool for its Office suite are two examples. Third-party A.I.-powered apps like Grammarly and ProWritingAid have free basic editions with the option to level up for additional help for $10 to $12 a month.

ImageGrammarly is among the programs that use artificial intelligence to analyze and make suggestions for improving your writing.Credit...Grammarly

If you’d rather have a human advising you (and you have the budget for it), hiring a professional editor can also help improve your book. The American Copy Editors Society has a freelancer directory, and you can find editors available for hire on sites like Upwork and Fiverr.

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