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There’s never been a better time to self-publish! In this article, the OddsMonkey team takes you through how to get started with self-publishing your first book, including how to choose your genre and niche, how to edit and design your book, and all the handy tips and tricks you should know to maximise your chances of success with a self-publishing side hustle.
The process of producing books for sale can be roughly divided into two categories: traditional publishing and self-publishing.
Traditional publishing is what most writers think of when they talk about becoming a published author. The author writes the book, and a professional publishing company (e.g. Bloomsbury or Penguin) takes charge of everything else, from editing to cover design to marketing.
An author is paid a percentage of the money made from book sales, which is usually pretty low – typically 7.5-10%. However, they’re not responsible for any of the costs of producing a book, meaning that they’re free to get on with writing.
The problem with traditional publishing is that it’s hugely competitive, meaning that getting a book deal is a long, drawn out process – and you could easily write books all your life without selling a single one.
Self-publishing involves the author taking on all the work involved in producing a book for themselves. They’re in charge of editing, cover design and marketing (although they may decide to hire outside help for these tasks).
Because the author is doing so much of the work themselves, they keep a far higher percentage of their sales – up to 70% of the retail price of their book, depending on the platform they use. The downside is that much more work is involved, and there’s still no guarantee of success.
On the bright side, modern technology has made it incredibly easy to self-publish. With platforms like Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) it’s simpler than ever to produce a book to professional standards.
If you’ve got a great book idea just waiting to be written, self-publishing could be the perfect way for you to make money online.
Technically, you can self-publish absolutely any kind of book you like – but certain categories and genres are better suited to self-publishing than others. We’ll cover some of the most profitable options below.
Fiction is the most popular category of book for self-publishing, but certain genres are more successful than others. Literary fiction and children’s fiction, for example, don’t tend to perform well when self-published – but other genres are highly suited to self-publishing. Some of the best genres are:
Non-fiction can do very well when self-published, but it’s important to be taken seriously as an author, and this means you should be an expert in your field. You’ll need to demonstrate your authority on the subject you’re writing about, or it’ll be difficult to convince people it’s worth buying your book.
If you do have expertise and experience in a particular field, however, capitalising on it by writing non-fiction is a no-brainer. Some non-fiction genres that perform especially well when self-published include: self-help, health and wellness, memoir and biography, cooking/food, and art and photography.
If you’re less interested in writing and more interested in quickly producing a publishable book, low content self-publishing is something to consider.
A low content book quite literally has less content than a novel or non-fiction book – it’s often something that the reader fills in themselves, such as a journal, planner or sketchbook.
Because this is such an easy way to produce a book, there’s a lot of competition out there. So, if you’re planning to self-publish a low content book, you’ll need to make sure yours stands out from the crowd by investing in the design, both in terms of the cover and the internal formatting.
For a lower effort option than writing an original novel from scratch, but which does involve some creativity on your part, you could consider rewriting or repackaging existing material that’s no longer under copyright. Typically this applies to works published before 1923, but some books published up to the 1970s may be in the public domain.
This might mean a retelling of an older story, or repackaging an existing work, perhaps by adding your own notes, an introduction, or even just a shiny new cover.
Of course, you won’t be the only one doing this, so you should consider what will make your repackaged book stand out, and how to make a reader choose to buy it over the thousands of other options available.
This is quite a difficult question, as self-published authors’ earnings vary wildly. It’s possible for your books to really take off, in which case you could earn an excellent living from self-publishing.
However, it’s much more likely that your books will result in more modest earnings. In 2022, the median income for authors in the UK who cited writing as their primary occupation was just £7000. That said, if you’re planning to self-publish as a side hustle, rather than as your main income, you might consider an extra £7000 a year to be a fantastic added bonus.
All things considered, self-publishing is unlikely to earn you a fortune – but there’s a reasonable chance that it’ll bring in enough extra income to be worth the time you put into it.
Self-publishing can be a great way to make a little extra cash – but it can also be a lot of work, and it’s definitely not for everyone. If you’re not really the bookish sort, there are plenty of other fantastic side hustles out there.
You could become a photographer, start an Etsy shop, or even try your hand at Matched Betting, arguably the best online side hustle out there.
*DISCLAIMER: We’re legally required to state that there is no guarantee of specific results each month. The amount of money that you earn can vary dependant on the time and effort that you commit each month.
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