How can I work with you?
I’m available to consult about Publishing 101 matters. This will set you back $50US for a 45-min Skype/Zoom call at a mutually convenient time. Contact me here if you’re interested in a consult.
How do I publish a book?
Write it, format it, create an account at your distributor/s of choice, upload your files, ta da! …Not quite the helpful answer you were looking for? 😀 See the next couple of questions, or head to google 🙂
Self-publishing versus using a traditional publisher?
Short version, traditional publishing means you lose all to nearly all control over the book and have little say in anything at all once you’ve turned the manuscript in. You need to write the whole book first, then usually convince an agent to take you on, and they will then try to convince an editor at a traditional publisher to take you on. You’ll get a set percentage or dollar figure per sale, you may or may not get an advance (some upfront money) – these days it’s trending away from advances, especially for new authors – and you may or may not get some budget allocated to your book for marketing. On the other hand, you don’t have to make any of the decisions, you don’t have to track sales (assuming you’re happy to trust that other people will do that accurately for you), you don’t have to do covers or format or upload, and you don’t pay a cent upfront.
Self publishing involves an outlay of money upfront, though less money the more skilled you become, so personally I recommend spending money on classes and courses that will up-skill you and lead to you needing to outlay less money in the future. Learn to use Photoshop and study cover design. Learn to format – it’s fiddly but actually very easy, and I literally do all my formatting in Microsoft Word, because it’s free. (Well, I probably paid for the software at some point, but I’m not paying now so it’s not an additional cost or on-going cost.)
On the other hand, a subscription to Photoshop is pricey these days, so if you’re not publishing more than a handful of titles each year, it MAY actually be most cost effective to pay someone to do your covers! (On the other-other hand, the Inkprint Writers series covers were done in Canva, so you know. They cost me about $2 each using free software and took less than an hour each.)
See? These are the kinds of decisions you need to be prepared to make with self publishing, also called indie or independent publishing these days.
Basically, to indie publish, you need to be willing to deal with the money (and personally I prefer this). You need a good head for business or be willing to learn. You get to make all the decisions, you get to set the deadlines, you foot the bills – and you get all the royalties and don’t have to share them with anyone else, plus you have complete control over when and where your book is available.
Why did you choose independent publishing?
Because my day job has nightmarish deadlines and I couldn’t stomach adding someone else’s deadlines on top of that, initially. I still really value the flexibility these days – I can write a book and have it out less than two months later, if I want to, or I can sit on it for several years until the series is done and release them all together!
I also value the creative control – I invested in learning Photoshop and studying copywriting (blurbs), and I like being able to do those things. Formatting is soothing, blurbs are a fun puzzle challenge, covers are satisfying.
And finally, I really, really value being the one in charge of the money. By self publishing, I cut out two middle people, which means less opportunity for error and more of the money for me.
On the other hand, it means my advertising budget is still currently around about zero, :’D, but that’s okay: I’m in this for the long run, not to be an overnight sensation.
eBooks versus print books?
Both. Both is good. <– insert That Meme.
eBook is easier as an indie author because you can just go straight to Draft2Digital, upload once, have it go to all the main online stores, and get paid via PayPal, easy peasy.
Print is a little more fiddly – more formatting, a back cover, and an account either with Amazon (who pays either into a US bank account or cheque – or at least those are my options here in Australia!) or with Ingram Spark (will pay to my Australian bank account, but requires a membership to the Alliance of Independent Authors in order to avoid paying significant fees for the upload of every single book).
You can google “how to publish a book on Draft2Digital” or Amazon KDP or Ingram Spark or Kobo or Apple or Nook (from main/easiest to less main/hardest in that order, IMO) to get specific information.
What’s the process for publishing a book?
- Write the book.
- Edit the book (variable; some of mine go through multiple heavy rounds of changes, some just get a light proofread).
- Format the book, write the blurb, create the cover.
- Upload the book to All The Places as an ebook preorder. You’ll need to know which category (genre) the book is (here are the industry standard ones), plus have some keywords (search terms). Here is where you set the price for the book as well. Google for instructions for each specific platform.
- Upload as a print and order a proof copy. (Again, google for specific instructions for either Ingram Spark or KDP/Amazon.)
- Check the proof copy for errors. Make changes as necessary. Re-upload to All The Places, including print.
- Promote/let people know it’s available, ta da! Book published 🙂
You can google for more in-depth resources on any of the above, and/or check out my Everything I Know About Publishing course.