For some time now, I’ve wanted to create a series of posts about my journey into self-publishing and the lessons I’ve learned.
Up until about a year ago, if you’d asked me whether I’d ever considered self-publishing, I would have stuck my nose up in the air, made one of those huffing sounds fat old British gentleman make, and answered you with a firm and superior sounding, Of course not!
So, what changed?
I could say the publishing industry changed, but a more precise answer would be:
EBooks changed the publishing industry.
EBooks have given authors the opportunity to publish their work for, if not totally free, then at a minor cost. Authors now have the opportunity to not only maintain control of their work but to also receive a higher percentage of the proceeds. In addition, with print on demand publishing services like Amazon’s CreateSpace, an author can offer a paperback version, as well, without needing to make space in their garage for cases of books that have set them back a second mortgage or two.
Does all this sound too good to be true? I’m going to surprise you and say, “No.” However, if you think you can whip out a book, upload it to Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, or one of several other outlets on the internet, and then sit back and wait for the money to roll in—think again. Since I uploaded WHEELS to Amazon, I’ve never worked so hard.
Let me put it this way…In addition to writing the book, you, the self-published author, are also in charge of:
- Art Direction: You must either create your own book cover or find and hire an artist to create a cover for you.
- Formatting: In order to upload your book to Amazon, iBooks or any of the other services that sell eBooks, you will need to format your book (or, once again, hire someone to do it for you) to fit their criteria. This includes Mobi, ePub, PDF and possibly a few other formats.
- Copy Editing: You’ll try to do this yourself to save money – or you’ll ask friends and family to help you – but in the end, you really should hire a professional copy editor if you want to be taken seriously.
- Publicity: Prepare to have this take up a good 75% of your time.
- Send out review copies
- Research book bloggers who will review self-published authors
- Research their submission requirements
- Send out appropriate letter and attachments…as well as, the correct edition of your book (ePub, Mobi, PDF or Paperback)
- Responding to requests for an author interview and book giveaways (ie answering lots of questions!)
- Creating a website to promote your book(s)
- Maintaining an author blog (optional)
- Maintaining an author page on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, SnapChat, Instagram, etc… (pick two)
- Send out review copies
And that in a nutshell has been my life for the past few months. Oops… I forget the most important thing:
Find time to write another book!
But fear not, dear authors, over the next few weeks, I’m going to share some lessons I’ve learned–many most of them from my own failures—and begin providing you with links and resources to help you on your own journey into the world of self-publishing.
Thanks for posting a fair and balanced look at self-publishing. It’s a lot of work to publish your own book and the work doesn’t stop once your book hits the virtual shelves. I chose to go with small press publishing. I didn’t have to do copy edits or cover design or deal with the layout and formatting (although I know how). I did spend a lot of time editing and revising and polishing. And I spend a lot of time marketing and promoting. Just like a self-pubbed author. I’d love advice.
Now if only I could convince people that POD is a printing method, not a publishing model…
Thanks, Jaleta. After everything else is done…the marketing really is 90 percent of it. Or, at least, feels like it!
You nailed it… and the fact that all e-books are not the same, makes the trudge to making them a dysfunctional lesson in new technology not meshing for the masses! [sigh]
There are some good, as well as easy to use, programs out there that help make conversion to the different formats easier. I’ll talk about some them in future blog posts, but for now, if you’re looking for one, I suggest calibre. Not sure if it works with PCs, but it does work well with Macs.
I’m leaning towards self-publishing too. Looking forward to your lessons. 😀
Thanks, Sonia. What I’ve learned from being both traditionally published and going the Indie route, is that you’re pretty much on your own with publicity for both. So, whatever your decision, that part should be helpful. You’ve already got a great start–your blog, http://doingthewritething.wordpress.com/, is wonderful…and you’re on twitter 🙂
I think there is a mid-level between self-publishing and traditional publishing: Indie Publishing. Indies are not the do-it-all-alone crowd, they will source professional cover design, thoroughly edit their works, and approach the publication process like they are setting up a small business. Self-publishers are more along the lines of the real vanity projects intended for friends and family, but not the population-at-large.
the landscape is definitely changing, and while ebooks are empowering authors like never before, the increased quality in print-on-demand (POD) services is helping even more.
It’s a good time to be a reader and a writer. The opportunities are endless.
Interesting. I’ve always defined Indie publishing as self-publishing. Since indie stands for independent, they basically say the same thing. As you’ll see, if you continue to read my posts on this topic, learning to source out things like art and editing is an important part of becoming a successful indie/self-published author. Additionally, I plan to provide links to help people either access or find out more about these services. (Personally, I think people use indie publishing because it sounds cooler than self-publishing…but I could be wrong:)
Vanity publishing, in my mind, is reserved for those who don’t want to do the work associated with self-publishing. As you noted…perfect for projects intended only for family and friends.
Whatever definition you use, you’re right, it’s a great time to be a reader and a writer! I appreciate your comment…I’d love to know what other people think.
I consider myself an Indie author though I’m published through small presses. I don’t do the cover art, or pay for the editing, or pay for anything or put the book out there. The publisher does that for me in exchange for a portion of the income.
But I still do most of my own marketing.
I’m new to the Lorijo Metz fandom. I bought WHEELS after we became Twitter-buddies and although I just started reading it I already love this story.
I’m even more psyched to see you’re giving advice about self-publishing. Even though my favorite author is an indie (I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Addison Moore) and I read just as many books by indie authors as traditionally published ones, it seems so hard to get authors to divulge any real information about their self-publishing journey.
My MS will probably never see the light of day but I will definitely be following your blog from now on to see what helpful info you provide. Thanks so much in advance for sharing. Now I must go back to reading WHEELS!
Thanks, Amber. My goal is to provide you some resources so that your MS can see the light of day.:) I’m going to go download an Addison Moore novel right now!
Thanks, Jaleta. The truth is, even with “large” publishing houses you still have to do most of your own marketing. Thinking like an indie author–or rather, working like an indie author–will help you no matter what.
Is that all there is to it? Sheesh! I thought it would be hard….NOT! Great write, LJ, busting with relevant information. I look forward to more on this topic! 🙂
LOL! Thanks, Karen.