Edit your book. Before formatting and publishing your story for the world to see, take the time necessary to edit your work. Pay attention to things such as spelling and grammar. You may also find scenes you skipped or rushed through that need filled in. Once you've finished your edits or hired someone to edit your narrative, you're ready to publish.
Format your book. Depending on the self-publishing company you choose, you may have to change the page layout or dimensions of your book. For e-books, this isn't crucial; however, if you want to publish a soft cover book that's 8 inches by 5 inches, you'll have to change things such as the page size and margins. By default, documents written in programs such as Microsoft Word and Open Office are measured at 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches in size. You'll have to change those measurements if you aren't publishing a book in the same size.
Convert your files to the Portable Document Format, also known as a PDF. These files are most common when it comes to submitting your work to digital printers as well as uploading your story for things such as Amazon's Kindle. To change your story from a text document to a PDF file, you can use programs such as Adobe's Acrobat, Primo PDF or Cute PDF. Once you've converted your file into a PDF format, you're ready to upload.
Create a new account on a self-publishing site. The sites you register with will all come down to how you'd like to be published. For example, you'll need an account on Amazon if you wish to upload your story as a Kindle electronic book. A self-publishing company or digital printer will take your files and publish a hard copy for every order they receive. They are essentially a way of printing on demand instead of printing hundreds of copies at a time.
Upload your files. For electronic books, you'll want to upload a file for your cover as well as a file for the interior or story of your book. You'll then get to see a preview of the book on your computer screen. Take a moment to check the formatting and make sure the spacing is correct before making it public. When it comes to using a digital printer, upload a file for your cover as well as one for the interior of your book. Once they're uploaded, you can ask the printer to look over the files for you. If for any reason, they cannot publish the work due to a difference in size or missing pages, they'll ask you to do some edits. Once your files are formatted correctly and are acceptable, you can order a single copy of your book, also known as a proof, to look over.
Order a proof from your digital printer. Some self-publishing sites will not make a book or project public until the author has ordered a proof and approved it for release. The proof is the author's way of seeing what their book will look like once it's printed. If the colors on the cover are wrong or if the writing is too large or too small, they can then make the necessary edits, upload their new PDF files and order another proof. Once the author is happy with how the proof looks, they can then approve your book for production.