So the manuscript is done. Maybe it took six months, maybe six years. Now come the questions nobody warned you about. Do you need a publisher? Where does an ISBN come from? And how do you get real, printed copies without spending lakhs or signing up for a package you don’t fully understand?
Here is the quick version. To self-publish a book in India, you edit the manuscript, lay out the pages, get a cover designed, apply for a free ISBN from the government’s ISBN agency, print copies with a book printer, send the legally required copies to four public libraries, and then sell. You stay the owner of the book throughout. None of these steps needs a publishing company, although you can pay for help with any of them.
Below, we go through each step in the order you’ll actually do them.
What self-publishing really means
When you self-publish, you are the publisher. You own the rights, decide how the book looks and what it sells for, and choose where it’s sold. A traditional publisher takes the financial risk and a large share of the earnings. When you self-publish, you pay for the services you need and keep what’s left.
In India the term gets used loosely. Plenty of companies sell “self-publishing packages” that bundle editing, design, an ISBN, printing and distribution for one fee. Some authors find these useful. But a package is one way to self-publish, not the only way. A lot of authors manage the process themselves and pay only for the parts they can’t or don’t want to do.
Three routes, side by side
| What changes | Doing it yourself | Publishing package | Traditional publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who pays upfront | You, service by service | You, one bundled fee | The publisher |
| Who makes the decisions | You | Shared, within the package | The publisher |
| ISBN | Your own, free | Often the company’s | The publisher’s |
| Printed copies | From any printer you choose | Usually printed on demand by the company | Printed and distributed for you |
| Time to publish | As quick as you are | Depends on the package | Often many months after acceptance |
If you want copies in your hands for a launch, a workshop or simply for family and friends, and you don’t mind making a few decisions, doing it yourself is usually the simplest and cheapest route.
The 9 steps
1. Edit the manuscript properly
Self-publishing is not a reason to skip editing. At the very least, get one full proofread from someone other than you. You stop seeing your own mistakes after the third read. For a novel or a longer non-fiction book, a structural or line edit is worth thinking about too. Readers will forgive a simple cover much sooner than a typo on every other page.
2. Decide on print, ebook or both
Print is what you need for launches, gifting, events and bookshops. Ebooks cost very little to distribute but are hard to sell if nobody knows you yet. Many first-time authors start with a small print run and add an ebook later.
3. Choose the size, paper and binding
Make these decisions before anyone starts laying out pages, because they affect the page count, the look and the printing cost.
A5 (148 × 210 mm) is a popular size for novels, memoirs and poetry. A4 works better for workbooks, manuals and anything with large illustrations. We also print Letter and Half Letter sizes if your book has been set up for those.
For text-heavy books, uncoated 70 or 80 GSM maplitho paper is the standard choice. The 80 GSM feels a little more substantial and you’re less likely to see text from the next page showing through.
Perfect binding gives you the familiar paperback with a flat, glued spine, and it’s what most books with a decent page count use. Saddle stitching, where the pages are stapled through the fold, suits slimmer books, booklets and short poetry collections. And unless your interior has photographs or illustrations that need colour, print it in black and white.
4. Lay out the interior
This step is called typesetting. It turns your Word file into proper book pages, with consistent margins, a readable font, page numbers and chapters that start cleanly. You can hire a typesetter, use book layout software, or do it yourself in Word if the book is straightforward. Either way, you should end up with a single PDF at your chosen book size. Our guide to preparing a print-ready PDF covers the details that trip most people up.
5. Get the cover designed
Online, your cover is a thumbnail the size of a postage stamp, and it still has to make someone click. You’ll need a front cover, a spine and a back cover with a short description and space for the ISBN barcode. The spine width depends on the number of pages and the paper, so finish the interior first. Our calculator works out the spine width once you enter your book’s details.
6. Get your ISBN (it’s free)
An ISBN is the 13-digit number that bookshops, libraries and online marketplaces use to identify your book. In India, ISBNs are issued free of charge by the Raja Rammohun Roy National Agency for ISBN through its portal at isbn.gov.in. Self-published authors apply under the “Self Published by Author” category.
Each format needs its own number, so a paperback and an ebook of the same book get separate ISBNs. If a company offers you an ISBN as part of a package, check whose name it is registered in. If it’s theirs, they are the publisher on record, not you.
You don’t need an ISBN to print a book. You will need one if you want most bookshops and marketplaces to list it.
7. Print your first copies
This is where first-time authors tend to overspend. Think about where the first copies will actually go: the launch, review copies, family, a local bookshop, perhaps a school or organisation you’re connected to. For most first books, somewhere between 50 and 200 copies covers all of that, and you can reprint once they sell. We’ve written a separate piece on what 50, 100 and 500 copies actually get you if you’re stuck on the number.
You’ll also need to decide between ordering a batch and using print on demand, where a platform prints one copy each time someone orders. Our comparison of small run printing and print on demand explains which suits which kind of author.
On FastBookPrint, you upload your cover and interior PDFs, choose the size, paper, binding and quantity, and see the price straight away, from 50 copies upwards. You can preview the book before ordering. Most orders ship within 7 to 10 working days of confirmation, and we deliver across India.
Upload your PDF and see your price, or get a quote from your specifications if your files aren’t ready yet.
8. Send the legal deposit copies
Almost nobody mentions this one. Under the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954, the publisher of every book published in India has to send one copy, at their own cost, to the National Library in Kolkata and one each to three other public libraries, within 30 days of publication. If you’re self-publishing, the publisher is you. Keep four copies aside for this when you plan your print run.
9. Sell it, and keep talking about it
Self-published authors in India usually sell in a mix of ways. Direct sales at launches, readings, workshops and literature festivals tend to come first, along with orders through your own website or social media. Independent bookshops will often take a few copies on consignment. Online marketplaces need an ISBN and a seller account. And if your book connects to a school, college, community group or company, bulk orders can be worth chasing.
Promotion takes more effort than most authors expect. Start talking about the book before it’s printed. Send review copies early. Take plenty of photos at the launch, because you’ll be posting them for months.
What it costs
That depends almost entirely on how much you do yourself.
| Cost | Can you do it free? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Editing and proofreading | Partly | The thing most worth paying for |
| Typesetting | Yes, for simple books | Outsource complex layouts |
| Cover design | Possible, but risky | A good cover usually pays for itself |
| ISBN | Yes | Free from the national ISBN agency |
| Printing | No | Depends on size, pages, paper, binding, colour and quantity |
| Legal deposit | No | Four copies plus postage |
| Marketing | Partly | Early on, it costs time more than money |
Printing is usually the number people want first. Averages won’t tell you much, because your page count and choices change everything, so put your real details into a calculator instead. Our book printing cost guide explains what pushes the price up or down.
Common mistakes to avoid
Ordering far too many copies is the big one. Boxes of unsold books in a cupboard are easy to end up with and hard to get rid of. Start smaller and reprint.
A few others come up again and again. People pay for an ISBN they could have had free. They pick the book size after the pages are already laid out and have to redo everything. They get the cover designed before the page count is final, so the spine comes out the wrong width. They skip the proofread. And they forget about the four legal deposit copies until the stock has run out.
One last thing: always look through the preview of your printed book before you approve it. It takes ten minutes and catches problems that are expensive to fix later.
Questions authors often ask
Can I publish a book in India without a publisher? Yes. You can act as your own publisher, get a free ISBN in your own name, print with any book printer and sell directly or online.
Is an ISBN really free in India? Yes. The Raja Rammohun Roy National Agency for ISBN issues them free through its online portal.
How many copies should I print the first time? For most first books, 50 to 200 is enough for a launch, review copies, gifting and early sales. Your specifications stay saved on FastBookPrint, so reordering later is simple.
How long does it take? Editing and design take the longest. Once your files are approved, most of our orders ship within 7 to 10 working days, and delivery within India generally takes 3 to 7 business days after dispatch.
Do I need to register copyright? Copyright exists automatically once you create the work. Registering with the Copyright Office is optional, though some authors do it as extra proof of ownership. For anything specific, speak to a lawyer.
Can I print a slim poetry book? Yes. Short collections often suit saddle stitching, and longer books suit perfect binding. You can compare both in the calculator before you order.
Getting started
Self-publishing in India is more within reach than it looks from the outside. The ISBN costs nothing, the legal steps are simple once you know about them, and you don’t need to order thousands of copies to get a fair price any more. Edit carefully, make sensible choices about the format, start with a run you can actually use, and build from there.
When your files are ready, upload your cover and interior PDFs to see your price and preview the book. Still working on the manuscript? Get a quote from your planned specifications so you can budget for it now.