Self-Publishing Courses: Top 12 Online Publishing Courses

After you have finished writing your book, it is time to get it published. One of the best options for new and old authors is to self-publish your book. The challenge is learning how to get started. This is exactly where a self-publishing course can come in handy.

If you are looking for an online self-publishing course, you are in the right place since I am going to do a deep dive into the best self-publishing courses. Most of these courses offer video lessons. They allow you to work through the self-publishing classes at your own pace. In addition, some give you the 1-on-1 help from an instructor you will need to succeed.

What is a Self-Publishing Course?

A self-publishing course is a course where you learn how to publish your own book. Unlike traditional publishing, you will have to do many of the tasks yourself. Though, the rewards are enormous if you can learn how to self-publish online.

There are a variety of author courses designed to help you get started on your journey to learn how to publish your own book online. Self-publishing books online alone can be quite daunting when you are first getting started. This is the main reason that book publishing courses are right for most people.

The best online self-publishing courses have several things in common: 

  • They will show you how to publish your own book
  • They show you the tools you will need to do it yourself
  • They will answer questions you have as you work through the course
  • They will give you your money back if you don’t succeed
  • They will help you find the best website to self-publish a book to

Online self-publishing doesn’t have to be so difficult. In fact, it can not only be easy but also fun. You have what it takes to learn how to become a self-publisher and publishing courses online will ensure you reach your goal. 

It has never been easier to get your book published and it is best self-publishing online. One of the main reasons it is such a great idea is because the Internet is packed with eager readers who are looking for books to buy. This is also the reason I like self-publishing online best.

The course that you decide to take should show you how to publish a book online and also where to publish a book online. It should also cover choosing the right genre and keywords, book production and marketing of your book. In the end, the course should show you everything you need to know for publishing books online.

Benefits of a Self-publishing Course

There are a number of benefits of choosing the best self-publishing course. They will make the entire process much easier than if you were going to try to figure it out. Some writers are just getting started and are looking for the best writing courses. Other authors are looking for a “do it yourself book publishing” process.

One key here is just getting a grip on the self-publishing process itself. That is one of the reasons that the best online self-publishing sites will have a series of offers that make it possible to find out which offer works best for you. If you don’t have much money, you can explore the best free self-publishing companies. 

However, I would not recommend going with them since they usually are free for a reason. The value they are offering is much less than going with a premium self-publishing course. I also personally prefer taking publishing short courses where I get the information I need and can start using it right away.

Here are the top 12 self-publishing courses on the market: Why you should consider self-publishing courses

I have not chosen any specific order since each of these courses is right for a different audience. In addition, some of these courses have extensive ebook publishing programs. Though, this is the most comprehensive list of best writing courses you should consider. In the end, you need to figure out “what course is best for me?” That is what I am hoping to do for you below.

#1 - Self-Publishing School with Chandler Bolt

This course was started by Chandler Bolt back in 2014 and has a wide variety of offerings. The reviews are favorable. This is definitely a favorite course for top self-publishers. If you are on a budget, the $6000 courses may pose a challenge.

#2 - Book Formatting Made Easy with Chris Baird

This course was designed specifically for authors who need to get their books formatted for all of the major sites. The course includes a series of videos that take you through the use of the amazing tool Jutoh to make sure your books are ready for self-publishing Kindle success.

You will be given everything you need to get your book published and you will also receive 1-on-1 help if you find anything difficult and need additional instructions. Videos are added to the course to make it easy to ensure you get your book right the first time.

By the end of this course, you will have your manuscript ready to post in any of the best self-publishing platforms. This includes, but is not limited to, Amazon, Lulu, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, or Smashwords.

This course is by far one of the best online publishing courses on the market with 1-on-1 help all the way making the main difference. His courses are promoted by authors of famous self-published books.

 #3 - Self-Publishing 101 with Mark Dawson

When I was publishing my very first book, I was in touch with Mark Dawson regarding his Facebook marketing program. Since then, he has moved on to selling courses showing the entire self-publishing process.

His courses cover the three main areas of self-publishing:
Craft
Production
Marketing

His clear way of communicating and easy-to-follow lessons make this a program definitely worth considering. He gets right to the point of how can you publish your own book.

#4 - Your First 10k Readers with Nick Stephenson

Nick Stephenson offers several courses with a high level of focus on marketing your books. If you are interested in going into the deep end of the marketing pool for your book, this course may be right for you.

These courses won’t go into how to publish the book itself, but rather how to market it. So, you have to gauge which step of the self-publishing process you are at.

#5 - Content Marketing Made Easy with Chris Baird

This course covers everything you need to start building an audience organically. Marketing is a challenge for most authors new and old. That’s why this course was created. You will learn how to use video, podcasts, and blogs to ramp up your audience and drastically increase sales for your books.

There are no shortcuts if you want to see your book rank among the most successful self-published books on the market. By the end of the course you will know, without a doubt, how to sell your own book.

#6 - My Self Publishing Blueprint with Emeka J Ossai

 I have purchased and been through much of Emeka’s course and the content is solid. He teaches the ins and outs you will need for the best self-publishing online.

Emeka will teach you exactly how to publish your own book.

#7 - Authority Pub Academy With Steve Scott and Barrie Davenport

I personally was in contact with Steve Scott and can vouch for his knowledge and skill as a self-publisher.

 #8 - Real Fast VIP With Daniel Hall

Daniel is focused on building passive income and teaches you how to leverage the power of Kindle as well as many other paths to build wealth through passive income sources.

Daniel offers a series of bundles for your annual fee that includes courses as well as services where they will look at your covers and give you feedback.

The positive side of this offering is that you will learn some of the key issues necessary to get your Kindle books produced and selling. The downside is that he covers a large number of topics that are spread out. So, his expertise isn’t in exact self-publishing, but rather harnessing the power of self-publishing to build passive income (which is a great direction).

#9 - How To Become a Bestselling Author on Amazon Kindle With Tom Corson-Knowles

This course covers a wide variety of topics around Amazon Kindle publishing from learning how to write the ebook yourself, formatting and even marketing your book.

The course is offered through the Udemy platform and includes nearly 10 hours of content that you can view with your lifetime access.

 #10 - The Creative Penn Self-Publishing Courses with Johanna Penn

Having personally listened to many hours of her podcast I can vouch for the quality of her instruction. She offers multiple courses covering writing fiction/non-fiction, marketing, as well as course creation, and creating streams of income.

She has a straightforward approach and an analytical way of thinking that sets her apart from many other instructors. Johanna doesn’t just tell you how to self-publish your book, but also how to write your own book and publish it.

#11 - Self-Publish Strong Courses With Andrea Pearson

Andrea offers a course that covers what you need to know about launching and relaunching your book. She breaks down how the Amazon algorithms work and how you can take advantage of the system to improve the ranking on your book with a proper launch or relaunch.

Unlike many of the other courses covered in this list, her course holds a laser-like focus on a single topic to ensure you get everything you need to properly launch your book. She has no problem answering the key question of how do I publish my own book?

#12 - Author Ad School with Bryan Cohen

 Bryan has been in the self-publishing game for many years. He has niched down on helping authors with running their book ads correctly on Amazon.

His podcast is extremely helpful to me in learning how to write my own book.

His course covers all of the key topics including setting up your Amazon ads account. You will learn about keywords and bidding strategies and how the Amazon algorithm works.

One of the best parts of the course is that he regularly updates the contents of his course and shows when each piece of content was last updated. So, you won’t be stuck with old strategies and such when it comes to setting up your ads.

How to Publish your own Book

When considering how to publish your own book, you need to first figure out your target market and the reason they will want to read your book. This is the single most important thing, as an author, you need to consider to set yourself up for success.

Some of the courses listed above will help you answer this key question. Often, you just want to know how to write your own book. Though, considering the exact sub-genre you will be writing in is too important to overlook.

Once you have succeeded in finding the right market you then will move to the issue of how can I publish my own book? That is a great question that brings us back to the courses above. Some will show you what is necessary to get your book published quickly.

If you invest the time needed to get a quality book into the correct formats, you don’t ever need to know how to print your own book. The reason is because Amazon will do that work for you. Gone are the days of having huge piles of books in your garage.

While not covered in these courses, how to start your own publishing company, is also an option. The training will give you all of the basic elements you will need to get up and running. What is missing is the business side of things. You will need to go to other courses for those skills.

You don’t even need a publishing company if you want to learn how to publish your own book. That was a question I wondered about when I was first getting started.