Resources for Self Publishing Your Book

I started self-publishing in 2011. At first I knew nothing about how to do anything! Now, it's pretty easy. I enjoy self-publishing for the creative control it gives me and the direct payoff in higher royalties vs. those I'd get from being published by someone else. Here are the resources that either helped get me on my way or help me turn my ideas into real print books, ebooks, and an audiobook.

Formatting

In 2011 Steven Lewis had online tutorials on formatting for Kindle. I believe he focuses more on social marketing today. I found his books about the self-publishing industry helpful, too. http://taleist.com/#home

 

I use the free formatting software, Calibre, to format my ebooks in formats for all readers and devices (ePub for iPad and Nook, mobi for Kindle, etc). Its UI has options for building a Table of Contents, testing your format out in a device simulator, and so on. I test drive all my ebooks with Calibre before actually publishing. The Calibre ebooks are also the files I give to reviewers. http://calibre-ebook.com/

 

Social Media and Marketing

 

I built my author platform across social networks mostly through Shelley Hitz's webinars. For instance, I learned how to set up a Facebook Fanpage and Twitter presence, and use tools to streamline my social marketing efforts. She packs extras into all her service packages and recently expanded her service offering. http://www.trainingauthors.com/

 

Guy Kawasaki is a social media guru. The best advice I got from him was on what and when to tweet. http://guykawasaki.com/

 

On my blog, for publicity purposes I have events that include random drawings for prizes. Rafflecopter is the web service that powers that: https://www.rafflecopter.com/

 

My New Releases Newsletter is facilitated with MailChimp: http://mailchimp.com/

 

Book Production

 

I cannot stress the importance of hiring an editor, getting professional cover design, and having a great back jacket book description. If you're going to spend money, spend it on this and don't flinch at the cost. I mean, don't you want your book to be the most professional product possible? Think how much brain sweat you put into writing your book. Don't you deserve to see your idea beautifully polished? Some reviewers of my books say that my book cover or my book description made them buy the book (and that's some motivator, considering that they'd never heard of me).

 

Derek Murphy designed for my vampire novels, Bloodroom and The Bad Death. He's stopped taking new clients (for now, anyway) but is branching into DIY design advice. http://www.bookcovers.creativindie.com/

 

 Daniele Serra designed covers for my short stories and my anthology Night at the Demontorium. His work has won several awards. http://www.multigrade.it/

 

Editing! OMG don't you dare publish your book without one! Pick up a book published by a big NYC publisher, read the acknowledgements, and you'll probably read the author thanking up to three editors. At least do yourself the favor of hiring one.

 

Glen Krisch edited my novel, The Bad Death, and my anthology, Night at the Demontorium. He cured me of some bad habits. He's also a writer. https://glenkrisch.wordpress.com/

 

Linda Wasserman edited my novel, Bloodroom. She's a grammar and sentence master. She's also a publisher. http://www.pelicanpresspensacola.com/id4.html

 

ACX is the audiobook wing of Amazon's publishing services. In a way it's like match.com for writers and narrators. You can call for auditions or you can browse for a narrator that offers the type of voice you're looking for and then listen to their audio samples. I'm not gonna lie; it was expensive, but I'm so happy with my audiobook! http://www.acx.com/

 

Marketing and Publishing Industry Wonks

 

I follow the blogs of writers who keep their ear to the ground in terms of how the big publishers are doing business, how self-published authors can get noticed in the ocean that is Amazon, and issues related to these topics.

 

In addition to crusading against sharks and reporting on latest industry developments, David Gaughran writes weird, thoughtful short stories and wrote a South American adventure novel. https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/

 

In addition to advising on writing and making money from writing, JA Konrath writes thrillers and is hugely successful. http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/



 



Is it too Late to Clone Myself?

I'm obsessed with publishing and publicizing. If I could just take one day to insert end matter into my Demontorium short stories, I could devote all my energy to accepting Linda's line item copy edits to my novel, Bloodroom. And I could create my Facebook page and do all the things Shelley Hitz taught us in her webinars. The strategy she teaches is very thorough and implementing seems as full time an enterprise as my other tasks. It's not just the time, but the mental focus. I haven't written anything in my new novel, House of the Apparently Dead, for about two weeks now -- which I tell you, there's an eager little racehorse in me wanting to bust out the gate and write the next scene. I tell myself, this big publishing push is a temporary switch in focus. There's a lot to do at first because I'm establishing a platform. The stories I have already written deserve the best support I can give.

Onramp to Normalcy

This morning, we suddenly got a lovely rain outside. The sun was still shining bright. I felt happy, which is so weird. How can I be content on the couch, watching the rain, with a cat curled up on my feet, when at the same time I miss my babies so much? How can I feel grateful, as I do? But it's a good life. There's no denying it.

I wrote Tuesday night the scene where Gilbert comes in. I like it very much. I'm going to write tonight and tomorrow night. Saturday, I'll catalog and network on www.librarything.com. Sunday, I'll try to publish to Kindle again. Last night I tried this a second time and still my short story previewed in Amazon's viewer not as story text but as straight HTML. This is maddening. If I can't publish a 4-page short story, how will I ever publish an entire novel? I remembered that I vowed to pay someone to do anything I found to be a pain in the ass. I took the vow back because I worried about mounting costs. But now I feel ready to reconsider the vow. I really understand Amanda Hocking's decision to be NYC published despite her success self-publishing. She said on her blog (http://amandahocking.blogspot.com) that she'd made the decision partly because of her frustration over time-consuming publishing chores. She said she'd once spent an entire day trying to get a program to give her the right page margins. She'd rather write and social network with readers. I know just how she feels. Writing brings me joy; wrestling with publishing tasks does not. And publicizing through social networking results in new friendships, which is just wonderful.

My friend Maria, who is a powerhouse consultant, sent me two cover ideas she'd designed for a book on marketing she intends to self-publish. I'll tell her which one I like best. I think I'll tell her to drop the "by" before her name; no one seems to use it anymore. And I could warn her about her title, which is something like "Leadership Uncensored". It had better be uncensored if she promises it. What does she mean to tell them? Her failures? Client mistakes? Will she name names? Mostly, I should say to her "good for trying". Really. Good for us. We could be passive consumers. Lots of people opt out that way. An epitaph on every tombstone should read, "Here lies so-and-so. Good on her for trying." Life is beautiful but so damn difficult.