Compulsively Writing Fiction: My experiences in Self-publishing in 2011
Taken from http://katepolicani.com
by Kate Policani
Published by Kate Policani at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Kate Policani
Discover other titles by Kate Policani at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/katepolicani
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This book is dedicated to you. I wrote it for you. Publish your book, OK? You can do it!
INTRODUCTION
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 publishing the traditional way. 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. I have read in every blog and website on self-publishing I could
find. Self-published authors need to promote themselves. Through this
process I learned an enormous amount and had to try things I had
never known existed online.
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 have lots of links to
share, but not all will exist if you read this months or years after
I publish this collection. Things are constantly changing online and
what I have gone through may be entirely different for you.
One of my reasons is illustrated in the chart below, posted on TMZimmerman’s article.
NOTE: Links that are represented by text have been changed to prevent ebook crashing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1-FIRST STEPS
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. There is no way you can read them all, and often they carry information that is repeated. Just read until you feel comfortable with your personal plan of action, and then do it!
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 went this route for my cover art also and I was very happy about what I ended up with. I did have to say “no” to an artist, which was hard. These are two things that I was willing to spend money on, even at the beginning (and totally unprofitable) stage of my writing.
Everybody wants to give you free tips on how to self-publish–even Wiki-How. I went the lowest-cost route with my first book. Even though I aimed 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.
My chores list for self-publishing my book
(This is where I established the Table of Contents):
1. Publicity, publicity, publicity. I originally had this after publishing on my list and that was a mistake. Promote while you are writing the book you’re planning to publish. Start as soon as you can because you’ll need that web presence for book sales later. Also, write the book.
2. Choose a pen name. You’ll want all your online activity to feature this name. Your name is your brand just as much as your books’ names. Also, write the book.
3. Establish an email address, a WordPress site, a Facebook profile, and Twitter account for my pen name and a Facebook profile for my book. Also, write the book.
4. Write the book
5. Get 6 or more friends to read the manuscript and give me feedback and work the book over
6. 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!
7. 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. Heidi and Erik were awesome!
8. Sign up on CreateSpace with my pen name and new email.
9. Work with my cover artists to fine-tune the cover.
10. Once my editor has finished, implement her changes to my manuscript. (This took a lot longer than I thought. I recommend establishing a deadline whether or not you need your book quickly.)
11. Finalize contracts with my editor and cover artists.
12. Publish my book on CreateSpace. CreateSpace provides an ISBN number for my book. (Complicated and easy at the same time!)
13. Register my copyright at http://copyright.gov/ . This can be done online and there is a small fee. (Still have to mail in a copy.)
14. Submit my book to popular book blogs for them to review. (Also took longer than I thought)
15. Possibly publish my book on additional publishing sites.
15. Resarch appropriate websites and expand my web presence for publicity.
16. 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: