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Publishing Self-Help Books with Palmetto

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Publishing a book can feel like a monumental task, especially when you do it on your own. There’s a whole world of design choices, marketing strategies, and printing options that you need to navigate before your book finds its audience. Count on Palmetto Publishing to guide you along the way.

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Your Guide to Writing and Publishing Self-Help Books

Books in the self-help genre are popular choices for readers everywhere, bringing assistance and advice to numerous aspects of life. From mental health to finance books, self-help books bring real insight that readers can apply to their everyday lives, helping them reach their goals, overcome challenges, and more. Writing and publishing a self-help book is a challenging yet rewarding process, with the potential to help thousands of people and help you grow your career.

While self-publishing a self-help book have many benefits, including total creative control, it can be hard to know where to start. Luckily, Palmetto Publishing offers numerous publishing services for independent authors to guide them through the entire book publishing process.

Read on to learn more about the self-help book genre, as well as how to publish self-help books and an overview of the industry-leading publishing services that Palmetto Publishing offers.

What Is the Self-Help Book Genre?

Self-help books are nonfiction guides that help readers solve problems or improve different areas of their lives. Also known as “self-improvement” books, they often give advice on how to improve yourself mentally, physically, financially, etc. Common self-help topics include mental health, finances, personal organization, confidence boosting, and strengthening relationships.

As seen from these examples, many self-help books can also fall into other genres, like how-to, inspirational, or memoir. Yet, the overarching similarity among them all is that they are nonfiction books providing guidance on how to improve an area of the reader’s life or inspire them to try something new. Self-help books also typically relay knowledge from author’ lived experiences, sharing guidance that worked for them personally.

Writing a Self-Help Book

Writing a self-help book is more than just sharing advice — it’s about guiding readers toward meaningful change. To write a successful self-help book, you need to provide clear solutions to common problems so your readers can take actionable steps toward improvement. Here are some steps for how to write a self-help book.

Identify a topic

Pick a topic you’re passionate about and have experience with. Your book should address a specific issue or challenge your readers are facing.

Research

Dive deep into your topic to make sure your advice is backed by reliable information and best practices.

Define your audience

Understand who your readers are and what they need. Tailoring your messages to a specific audience makes your book more impactful.

Create an outline

Arrange your ideas in a clear and organized way. This will help your book flow logically from one section to the next.

Define the problem

Clearly explain the problem your book will solve. Readers should quickly understand what problem you’re helping them solve.

Describe the history of the problem

Provide background on why the problem exists. This helps readers see the bigger picture and why solving it is so important.

Set up the audience to take action

Encourage your readers to take proactive steps. Use motivating language to inspire action and change.

Give the reader action steps

Break down the steps readers can follow to overcome the problem. Clear, actionable advice is the answer to a successful self-help book.

Review problems or issues the reader might encounter

Prepare your readers for potential roadblocks and offer solutions to overcome them. Anticipate challenges to keep your readers on track.

Include real-life examples

Add personal stories from your own experiences to demonstrate how your advice works in real-world situations.

Make a promise

Set an expectation for what readers will achieve by following your advice. A defined promise will keep them motivated to keep reading.

Make a list

Lists simplify complex ideas by breaking them down into easy-to-follow steps or tips. They help readers easily follow along and retain information.

Motivate

End each section with an encouraging message. Remind your readers of their potential and keep them energized throughout the book.

Publishing Self-Help Books

Every book genre has its own approach when it comes to publishing, marketing, and formatting, and self-help books are no exception. For self-help books, you’ll want a captivating title and an eye-catching cover to attract readers. Overall, the publishing process for self-help books involves these steps:

  • Editing the book for grammatical errors, cohesiveness, etc.
  • Designing the front and back cover of the book
  • Professionally formatting the book’s interior
  • Printing physical copies
  • Marketing your book

Self-help books are usually self-published, which is a great way for new authors to start their careers and reach niche audiences. Independent authors can follow these steps for self-publishing themselves or partner with experts to guide them through the process. Working with a professional publishing company like Palmetto Publishing ensures your self-help book stands out from genre competitors.

Benefits of Self-Publishing

Compared to traditional publishing, self-publishing your self-help book comes with a lot of perks. While going the traditional route can offer some credibility, it often means long wait times, lower royalties, changes to your content, and less control. Self-publishing, on the other hand, lets you:

  • Publish your work quickly
  • Retain full control over creativity, content, and design
  • Publish books for niche audiences
  • Start marketing whenever you’re ready
  • Earn higher royalties from your sales
  • Be a published author

While self-publishing is no easy feat, the rewards make the process worth it. Plus, professional publishing service providers for independent authors are here to help make the process a breeze.

How Palmetto Can Help

Self-publishing your self-help book can be challenging because there are so many steps to get it just right. Not only do you have to write your book, but you must also learn how to format, print, and advertise it. Working with a professional publishing company like Palmetto Publishing takes you through each of these steps with ease, helping your book succeed. Take a look at our industry-leading publishing services below to learn how we can help get your book into the hands of your readers fast.

Writing

Palmetto Publishing supports you right from the start. We provide countless free writing resources to guide you through the writing processes for any genre, including self-help books. You can find helpful information on content writing, organization, storytelling plot development, working through writer’s block, and so much more. Our guide, “Book Writing Process 101” is a great place to start, as it provides many helpful tips for becoming a better writer.

Editing

Calling on a second pair of eyes to edit your book is essential for a self-published author. Palmetto provides book editing services to refine your self-help book. With this service, our team of professional editors read and polish your work, checking for grammar, cohesion, tone, and typos, and assessing your work compared to market research for your genre.

Cover Design

It’s no secret that people judge books by their covers — literally. Having an eye-catching cover on your self-help book is essential to reach more readers, and working with an expert cover designer can help. Palmetto’s cover design services help authors create the perfect covers for their finished works, with consultations, revisions, and premium stock images included.

Interior Formatting

Interior formatting is what makes your book look professional and legitimate, so it’s important to get it right. Palmetto’s interior formatting services ensure your self-help book is up to the genre’s standards. We offer à la carte services for your unique formatting needs, from e-books to custom formatting packages.

Illustrations

Palmetto’s book illustration services are excellent for self-publishers who are looking to bring their stories to life. With this service, authors can choose from a variety of our in-house illustrators to match with their ideal artists. After consultations and revisions, the completed work is ready to be added to your page(s).

Printing

Once your self-help book is ready, it’s time to get it into your readers’ hands. Palmetto Publishing takes pride in printing the highest-quality books and providing a seamless, exceptional printing experience for independent authors, bringing your words to life on the canvas of a professionally printed book.

Marketing

Marketing is no easy task, and it requires extensive time and research to be effective. Working with a book marketing expert like Palmetto can help you successfully spread the word about your book. Our marketing services include marketing copy, press releases, Newswire articles, Publishers Weekly spotlights, author websites, and more.

Write Your Book and Let Us Handle the Rest

Self-publishing a self-help book can be challenging, but the potential benefits make it worth your while. Partnering with a professional publishing company like Palmetto Publishing allows you to focus on what you do best — writing. We take care of the editing, formatting, printing, and marketing processes for you so you can reap the rewards of your written work.

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Get Started With Palmetto

After you write your book, the next step is to publish your story and get it into the hands of interested readers. If you want to retain maximum control over your book, consider self-publishing it. This method allows you to make the final decisions about everything from the cover design to printing. Additionally, you can earn higher royalties than you would if you published your book with a traditional publisher. Self-publishing may sound intimidating, but the process can be easy and fast with the help of a top-tier publishing company like Palmetto Publishing. We offer a variety of services to support writers through the self-publishing process, including:

Book Cover Design

We create genre-appropriate book covers that will catch readers’ attention. We offer several different packages to fit every budget and artistic need.

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Editing Services

After you have spent countless hours writing and revising your book, your familiarity with the text can make it difficult to pick out continuity and grammar errors. Our book editing team will provide comprehensive feedback, from copyediting to in-depth developmental editing.

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Marketing

One of the most challenging aspects of publishing is making sure that readers can find and purchase your book. We provide book marketing services that make it easy for you to share your book with a diverse audience. For example, we can design intriguing back cover text and produce a custom author website.

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FAQ

Below are answers to common questions to help give you a better understanding of how to write a self-help book that resonates with readers.

What’s the best way for beginners to write a self-help book?

Start by identifying a problem your readers face and offer clear, actionable steps to solve it. Keep the language simple, structure the book with an outline, and provide real-life examples to make your advice relatable.

Who can write a self-help book?

Anyone with personal experience or expertise in solving a specific issue can write a self-help book. You don’t need to be a professional in the field, but you do need to have valuable insights to share.

What is an effective format for a self-help book?

Self-help books typically follow a structured format, starting with an introduction to the problem, followed by chapters that outline steps or strategies for solving it. If you want to engage readers, make sure to include actionable advice and real-life examples.

How long should a self-help book be?

A self-help book can range from 20,000 to 80,000 words, depending on the topic’s complication. Strive to thoroughly cover your subject without overwhelming the reader.

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