If you have ever dreamed of writing and publishing your own book, you can realise that dream through self-publishing. Self-publishing is the route many writers choose these days to make their works available to the reading public. Self-publishing today is different from what it used to be many years ago when authors had to spend a lot of money to publish their book. Today, authors can self-publish their book for free or for as little as $100 depending on the self-publishing platform they choose. As a soon-to-be author, the first thing you need to do to self-publish a book is to know your genre. One of the rules of writing is that you should write about what you know. If you have a specific genre that you enjoy reading, chances are that that is the genre you will want or like to write about. Consider your interests and the types of book that you read before you decide on the genre you want to venture into. Your major aim of writing a book should not be to make money. It should be about something you have interest and passion for. There a lot of genres available in both fiction and non-fiction writing. Before you start writing your book, have a plan of what the book will be about and the genre it will fit in. You need to focus on a specific genre when you are writing a book so you can market it. Some books may cross genre lines, such as paranormal and romance books, while some books will fit neatly into a genre. What your book is about should be very clear to the would-be reader so they will be interested in what you have written to want to buy the book. Most readers have the types of books they like to read and have a habit of sticking to a few genres. There are different genres for both fiction and non-fiction books. You need to make sure your book stands out from other books in the same category. If you are writing a romance novel, for instance, how do you make it stand out from other romance novels that are already in the bookstores? This is a question you must answer.Once you have determined your genre and know exactly what you want to write about, you should begin to think of marketing your book. Make it something that prospective readers will choose when they see it in bookstores or online. This will set it apart from other books of the same kind and lure readers to buy it. You can make a career out of self-publishing your books and marketing them to the right audience. After you have decided on what you are going to write about and what will make your book stand out from the rest, you can then begin to outline your book. You should write down an outline of the book and the points you are trying to make. Well-written books convey a message. Make sure your book conveys a good message to the readers that they can take away from the book. While you may like the free-form method of writing, which is writing without doing any sort of outline, you must still have an idea of the ending of the book in mind. If you are writing a fiction book, characters come alive as you write. The ending you have in mind may change as you rewrite the book, so it is important to be very flexible. The way you write depends on the type of person you are. If you wish to have everything ironed out for your book, then you must write down an outline that will tell you where you are heading. This is like having a roadmap for a car trip. Get a copy of this well-written book to learn all you need to know about self-publishing and how you and use it to your advantage.