I self-published on Amazon. I got inspired by an author friend who had like 20 books on Amazon and quit his job to write full-time.

Steps I took:

- research the science for my story

- write an outline of my novel

- read a book on how to write a compelling story, for me it was "Writing the Breakout Novel" by Donald Maass

- write the novel

- edit the novel iteratively, hiring an editor if necessary (strongly recommended for most people)

- send out copies to friends and family for feedback

- convert to Word doc to an epub file

- hire a cover designer

- publish on Amazon

- run ads on BookBuB, Facebook, Amazon