The manuscript is done — now what? First-time publishers almost always underestimate how many decisions are still ahead that have nothing to do with the actual writing. Here's a sober list, sorted by what actually comes first.
1. Where to publish — exclusive or wide?
The biggest fork in the road: Amazon KDP Select (exclusive to Amazon, in exchange for access to Kindle Unlimited) or wide distribution (Amazon + Kobo + Apple + others in parallel, but no Kindle Unlimited access). Kindle Unlimited doesn't pay per sale, it pays per page read (KENP — Kindle Edition Normalized Pages), currently around $0.004–0.005 per page. A fully-read 300-page novel earns roughly $1.20–1.50 — comparable to a sale at $2.99 with a 70% royalty. For genres with high read-through (romance, thriller, fantasy series) that can add up to more over a month than individual sales; for standalone nonfiction it's often less.
2. Understand Amazon royalties before setting your price
Amazon pays a 70% royalty on prices between $2.99 and $9.99 (minus a small delivery fee depending on file size). Outside that range — whether cheaper or more expensive — the royalty drops to 35%. A book priced at $12.99 actually earns less per sale, percentage-wise, than one at $8.99, despite the higher list price. That's why so many indie titles land exactly at $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 — those aren't arbitrary prices.
3. Languages — one book, multiple markets
A German-language book reaches roughly 130 million potential readers. Add an English translation and that's roughly 1.5 billion. That's the core reason translation is even an economic consideration for indie authors, not just a creative one.
4. Audiobook — yes or no?
Only worth considering once the book is running as text. AI audiobooks are now technically and financially accessible (starting in the low double digits per book), but distribution isn't equally easy everywhere — Audible/ACX currently doesn't accept AI narration in its standard process, while Spotify, Apple, and Google Play explicitly allow it. For a start: not a must, but a channel that becomes more worthwhile as your backlist grows rather than at debut.
5. Cover — don't underestimate it, don't DIY it
The cover is the single biggest factor in click-through rate in a store — ahead of even the title. Options range from marketplaces for pre-made professional covers (cheap, but reused by other authors) to custom commissions from cover designers who specialize in your genre. Genre conventions matter more here than personal taste — a fantasy cover that looks like a business book sells poorly, no matter how good the book is.
6. ISBN — buy your own or use Amazon's free one?
Amazon's free ISBN effectively ties the book to Amazon as "publisher" in the metadata. Anyone planning to go wide later (Kobo, Apple, others) needs their own ISBN anyway — buying it upfront saves the switch later.
In short
The order that causes the fewest detours: decide on a distribution strategy → understand the price/royalty model → commission the cover → decide if and when to translate/narrate. Writing is often the part beginners prepare for most — everything else usually gets learned along the way, but that costs time that a bit of upfront planning could save.