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

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Your list looks good to me.

A couple of resources you might find useful:
Crowdfunding references
crowdfunding community

Re: Hmm...

[annathepiper]

I know about those, yes, but thanks for the reminder. I'll link up to 'em when I get to the post about crowdfunding and how to go about deciding whether or not you need to do it. For me that answer was yes; for others it may not be. But those are good places to check, so again, thanks. :)

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Glad I could help.

Also, it's not just about a person,
but a particular project.
Crowdfunding works well for some
things and not for others, and
different types of crowdfunding
work for different types of project.

Re: Hmm...

[annathepiper]

Indeed.

Which fits in with what I'm going to say about what I'm going to post in general: i.e., that these will be things that worked for me in particular and which may or may not work for others. "Your mileage may vary" applies to just about everything in life, but I've found it particularly applies in writing.

Which is crazy-making sometimes, but true!

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I find it useful to look for patterns,
though admittedly that's hard when
a field is as new as crowdfunding.
Some useful ones are starting to
emerge, though, and I write them
up as I see them -- or link to them
if somebody else does first.

Re: Hmm...

[annathepiper]

Cool. :)