Posts Tagged With: Author

What do I do when I am waiting on other people? Research, publicize, network, encourage the people who have what you are waiting for, and write MORE STUFF,! I already have my next book in the works. There is no need to wait around cooling my heels since there is so much to do between now and PUBLISHING DAY! My new pen name email address is filling up with delicious traffic from all the research blogs to which I am subscribing. I am meeting new authors all the time and helping current author friends to all the juicy information I am finding.

Here is a tidbit for you! This one helped me figure out about pricing. I am a big proponent of the cheap ebook. Everybody should be able to read it and not think twice about the price since it is so small!

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2009/06/amazon-kindle-numbers.html

My chores list for self-publishing my book (X indicates finished):

1. Write the book (this took 5 months but it was bare-bones)  X
2. Get 6 or more friends to read the manuscript and give me feedback and work the book over (8 months) X
3. Find an editor and give her the manuscript–I posted a request on Facebook and a social website and found several within a few hours! Thanks Kathleen and Kathryn! X
4. Find a cover artist–my social website was full of these guys and I found two great artists who are working as a team on my cover. I can’t wait to see what you are cooking up Heidi and Erik! X
5. Choose a pen name X
6. Establish an email address, a WordPress site, a Facebook profile, and Twitter account for my pen name and a Facebook profile for my book.(3 days) X
7. Sign up on CreateSpace with my pen name and new email. X
8. Work with my cover artists to fine-tune the cover. X
9. Once my editor has finished, implement her changes to my manuscript. X (This took a lot longer than I thought. I reccommend having a deadline whether or not you need your book quickly.)
10. Finalize contracts with my editor and cover artists. X
11. Publish my book on CreateSpace. CreateSpace provides an ISBN number for my book. X (Complicated and easy at the same time!)
12. Register my copyright at http://copyright.gov/ . This can be done online and there is a small fee. X (Still have to mail in a copy.)
13. Publicity, publicity, publicity. (This is what the WordPress site and Facebook profile are for!)
14. Submit my book to popular book blogs for them to review.
15. Possibly publish my book on additional publishing sites.
16. Resarch appropriate websites and expand my web presence for publicity.

Here is a great checklist (simpler than mine) and a comprehensive website about self-publishing complete with extra services you can buy if any of this is too much for you.

http://www.self-publishing-coach.com/self-publishing-books.html

So once I decided to self-publish what did I do first? I researched a whole lot. There are countless blogs and websites all about self-publishing. There are even books published on self-publishing! Don’t worry, though. There are plenty of people out there who are more than willing to give you all that information (and opinion) for free.

Also I found a great suggestion from a blogger: get 6 “booky” friends/family to look over your book before you turn it loose on the public. I have a bunch of people that I bug all the time and forward endless revisions of my book. I call them my “Think Tank” because I love stupid labels. One of my Think Tank has even been inspired to start her own book!

An important bit of advice that I really appreciated was to have any book EDITED before it is ever seen in public. That means publishers also. Some people recommended that you find your own editor, rather than relying on one from whatever company you decide to publish with.

Finding an editor was insanely easy! I posted on Facebook and on another large community website I am part of, and I found two editors within 24 hours. One of them was a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in a while. I now have the opportunity to employ and promote a friend while promoting my own work! I am working on this for my cover art also. These are two things that I am willing to spend money on, even at the beginning (and totally unprofitable) stage of my writing.

Here is my link for this post:

http://www.wikihow.com/Self-Publish-a-Book

See: everybody wants to give you free tips on how to self-publish–even Wiki-How. I am going to go the lowest-cost route with my first book. Even though I am aiming strictly for the web-publishing market, there are fantastic tips in every article I have found. Don’t miss them by focusing only on the ones that fit your intended market.

Why did I decide to self-publish? I guess the basic answer to that was that it was easiest at the place I am in my life. With three kids, I wasn’t prepared for lots of travel or meetings, which could result from getting published. I could wait until my youngest went to school, or I could start now on my own.
I couldn’t do it without my laptop and my tech and web savvy hubby. Don’t try this if the internet seems like a fathomless jungle to you. To succeed, I have read in every blog and website on self-publishing I could find, you need to self-promote.
I really wouldn’t have finished any books without my laptop. If I had to do it all with actual paper and a clunky typewriter, it never would have happened. My laptop makes everything easy and I can see, over the top of the monitor, what kind of trouble my kids are getting into. (This is vital).
My hubby researched and so did I. I looked up Amanda Hocking’s blog. Hearing the self-publishing story from a new sensation in Amazon Kindle ebooks, I thought, “I can do that!”
I am really excited right now because the grind is over and I am ready to risk it!
At the end of each installment of my saga, I’ll insert a link or two (or more) from places I liked with good advice. My “Publishing” folder in my web browser favorites is packed and growing.
Here you go:
http://reviews.cnet.com/self-publishing/
I put it in the “links” section too.