Advice on self-publishing

[annathepiper]

I’ve been having an uptick lately on people coming to me for advice on how to go about self-publishing your work. This is simultaneously flattering and kind of startling.

Flattering, because, gosh, people seem to think I know what I’m doing. Startling, because wait, what, you people think I know what I’m doing? *^_^*;; When did that happen?

But, be that as it may, okay, yeah, I am starting to get asked questions often enough that I’m going to do a series of posts on the overall topic of self-publication, just so I can have something I can point people at in case they need advice. As y’all know I can blather with the best of ‘em, but it helps if I have to blather only once. So. Consider this an announcement of posts to come.

I’m thinking I’m going to break them down into these sub-topics:

1. Write the book. No, seriously, write the book
2. Get the book beta-read and edited
3. How to build your own ebooks
4. Where you should deploy your ebooks for sale
5. What sites you can employ if you don’t have your own skills for building ebooks and/or who will deploy your ebooks for sale for you
6. What to do if you want to self-pub in print
7. Commissioning cover art
8. Kickstarter and other crowdfunding services–should you use them?
9. You’ve deployed the book for sale–how do you help readers find it?
10. Should you also try to traditionally publish as well as self-publish?

Do also please keep in mind that I’m real small-fry in the overall publishing picture; I’m lucky if I sell a couple dozen copies of anything in a month. (By which I still mean, a couple dozen copies of Faerie Blood; Valor of the Healer is still too new to have any real, definable effect on my monthly sales yet.) So if you try to enact any of my advice, please understand that I am not going to hand you the path to fortune, glory, and becoming a Big-Time Author(TM). What works for me may not work for you. Or it may work way better for you. Or you may find something else that works way better for you. Your mileage may vary!

But all that said: does anybody have any general self-pub topics you’d like me to add to this list? Or any specific questions in any of these areas you’d like me to address in a forthcoming post? Please let me know!

Mirrored from angelahighland.com.

Comments

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

I know you attend cons and advertise there, but have you considered attending local book or craft/street fairs and set up?

[annathepiper]

Not really, for a couple of reasons.

One, I do actually have a full time job. ;) Going to fairs and things would require actually allocating time off for them, and there are other things I'd rather be spending my vacation time on. Like going to music festivals. Or writing.

Two, they'd pretty much be oriented around me having a physical product to sell. While I do have print editions of Faerie Blood, and I will also have print editions of Bone Walker, they will be limited in number. My current plans for those books are still primarily oriented around selling them digitally, and printing them according to the amount of demand for them. Which is still pretty low, to be honest. Printing the copies does require some monetary investment. I've only done two print runs of Faerie Blood to date, and the first one was as large as it was so that I could satisfy the demand of my Kickstarter backers. I have not yet exhausted my pool of copies from the second print run. I won't be doing a third until I see enough sign that people actually want to buy them.

Probably what will happen with the remaining seven copies I currently have is that I'll sell them at the next couple of conventions I go to, at which point I'll do another small print run of 25 or so, and then sell those at more conventions. Rinse and repeat.

Three, book/craft fairs aren't really the target place for me to be selling SF/F anyway. My target audience is not going to be hitting those places. They WILL be hitting SF/F conventions.

Good question though so thank you for asking. :)