Self-aware authors know they're taking on a challenge when they choose to self-publish a book, a rewarding and exciting challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. With advancements in technology and opportunity, and a lessening of the bias against self-publishing, every author now has a chance to succeed in the publishing space doing it on their own.

Marketing plays a huge role in any book’s success, but this is especially true for self-published books. Before you publish a book (or before you even start writing it!), it’s important to think about who you’ll be selling your book to—and how. Digital marketing is constantly changing, and it can be tough for authors to keep up with the top trends. We've rounded up the top digital marketing strategies to help both new and savvy indie authors understand how to market self-published books.

Updated February 10, 2025

If you intend to make a business out of self-publishing a book, be sure you understand the key elements of the book publishing process. Once you have an understanding of these basic publishing terms, you’ll be more prepared to succeed in this business we call the book business.

Updated February 7, 2025

A crucial element of your book marketing and sales strategy needs to be making your book easy to categorize and discover. You achieve this with good book metadata. Successful self-publishers know how to incorporate as much quality metadata as possible into their publishing strategy, and while you don't have to include all of the following elements, consider incorporating those that are applicable to your book and your potential audience. Following are the metadata components that impact book sales most.

Considering converting your print book into an ebook? Offering your book in multiple formats is one of the easiest ways to reach more readers. While some readers prefer to read in print, some prefer to read ebooks only. Not offering your book in ebook format is a guarantee your content will never reach them, so why limit your book's distribution?

Social media marketing is important for almost every industry. Consumers use it to make purchasing decisions and see what non-marketers are saying about a person, brand, or idea. Authors and publishers use social media marketing to direct consumer awareness in the online community.

Updated November 25, 2025

Your IngramSpark account setup is complete – now what? The first step on your publishing journey is to upload your book to your account, and we’re here to guide you through the process!

One thing many indie authors must come to terms with is that they’re not just publishing a book; they’re starting an author business. It is one thing to say you want to publish a book and become a published author but another to actually do it. And with advancements in technology and resources, many people can publish a book, but it takes a bit extra to start your own book publishing business, even more for it to be a successful one.

It has to be said that print on demand (POD) has changed the way the publishing industry does business. But before we talk about the wonders of POD, let’s define what it is. In a nutshell, it's the process by which a book is printed when an order for that book is received. With POD there’s no inventory being stored or anticipated demand being measured—get a book order, print a book, one at a time.

The author and publishing world has been abuzz with the recent news from Amazon that its CreateSpace print-on-demand business has now been folded into its Kindle Direct Publishing program that launched officially a few years ago. Whether or not this action will be a positive move for authors will inevitably be seen in time. But today, IngramSpark client support is blowing up more than usual with questions from authors asking us what it all means. The question we used to get most often was, "What's the difference between IngramSpark vs. CreateSpace?" Now it seems the question will be, "What's the difference between IngramSpark vs. KDP?" So, I will attempt to help clarify with as much information as I have.