Self-publishing

@e-k-seaver Oh my gosh, YAY! I hate to be overly enthusiastic (not really), but I’m so glad to hear that you’re considering self-publishing!!!!! Wahooooooooo!

Ahem. You’re right. There is a lot of corruption in the traditional publishing industry, not unlike the government, and that’s something I’ve noticed over the last few years.

I know I’ll probably end up repeating everything @r-m-archer said, but just know it wasn’t intentional. XD

You’re right–it takes a lot to succeed with SP. Instead of gaining the attention of agents and publishing companies, we work with algorithms, reviewers, and the book-buying market itself. We’re solely responsible for all of the marketing and PR for our books–and that’s a bigger task than it seems.

But it’s worth it, because you don’t have to go through years of rejection. Your manuscript doesn’t collect dust on your computer just because a particular agent or publisher didn’t like it. It gets out there, into the hands of real readers who will enjoy it! Yeah, indie/self-pubbed books and authors don’t have a very good rap, but that’s quickly changing as traditionally-published authors are making the switch to get their stories told the way they want and when they want.

The legalities, freedoms, and royalties that self-publishing affords is leagues above traditional publishing. You can edit or unpublish or update your book whenever! You can add more to it or take it out. You can use the characters and world however you not–not how a contract dictates. You have complete control over the content and close to twice the royalties (at least with KDP).

However, self-publishing has its cons. The biggest one is that no one may ever find or buy or read or review your book.

But you can avoid that.

Start by building a readership, even before you publish. You have a blog (great start), so get a mailing list. Get a schedule (when you submit the manuscript, when it’s available for preorder–which you can do through KDP–when it releases) out there so that people know you’re serious and can keep track of everything.

Publish a lot. The best thing to do (which, sadly, I did not) is to start small. Put out a collection of short stories or a novella (like R.M. did, which will definitely work in her favor once she publishes CG) and establish readers before you put out your big novel. You need a foundation. Even traditionally-published authors have a foundation–usually their resume, full of college degrees and magazine publications. The indie author has to present a resume to their readers–and that’s all kinds of stuff, from a professional website and newsletter, to beautiful covers, to several stories already published.

Get reviews. Put out a story you don’t mind sharing, and then get friends, family, and strangers to review it! Since I’m not too attached to the money I make off of my debut novel, Held Captive, I’ve been giving free review copies to generate reviews. The more reviews, the better. You’ll get recognized by Amazon’s algorithms and by readers on Goodreads.

Influence!!! Influence yourself and your books in whatever way you can, from social media to your own blog. Jenna Terese hasn’t published her book yet, but because of her blog and social media presence, she’s established a readership that will jump at the chance to purchase her book once it releases. Do things like launch teams and giveaways–they’re great ways to get people involved, even if they aren’t sure they want to read your book yet. And ARCs are a must! BookSprout is a free outlet for sending out ARCs, and I’ve had random people download and review my books, so I know it works!

I suggest checking out Kellyn Roth and Hannah Linder (Willowy Whisper). They’re both young indie authors who have done exceedingly well, even though they’re only in their early twenties! Kellyn teaches writing, and she has a fantastic blog post all about the mistakes to avoid making as an indie author. Hannah is a writer and a cover designer and a photographer who’s done very well for herself just through independent businesses.

Which brings me to my next point.

Don’t be afraid to put in a little bit of money. Book covers (which, yes, everyone judges) is one example of where spending a little is worth a LOT! Getting a beautiful cover will boost sales, and that’s proven! Hannah Linder is a FANTASTIC designer for very, very cheap.

Last point… Get integrated in the indie community. Like R.M. said, the indie community is so close-knit, and being so, there are many outlets in which to influence your book. One of those in on Goodreads, through which you can find other outlets by joining an author’s group or two. Also, BookBub (where are the big-name traditional authors hang out) is free to join. It costs to feature your book, but recommending/reviewing other books and establishing a presence there is free and helps a lot!

Anyway…those are my pointers. To be specific, those are the things I’ve done later on in my “career” that I should’ve done in the very beginning. Hopefully that will help! I’m so excited that you’re interested in self-pubbing! I highly recommend Kindle Direct Publishing, which you can do paperbacks and Kindle eBooks through. There’s even a way to do audio books…I just haven’t figured that one out yet! XD Of course, research, research, research!

@e-k-seaver You can let go of the social anxiety, girl! What I mean by getting integrated with the community is basically what you’ve already started doing as a blogger, by joining this forum, etc. Whether you choose indie or trad, you can always weasel your way into the ranks of author writing in your own genre. Review their books. Join their launch teams. Do author interviews (I actually got to interview a bestselling, Christy award nominated author who I really admire this month, and all it took was reaching out!). Join Goodreads groups. Do guest posts on other blogs (you’re always welcome to be featured on mine!). Join writer’s forums and blogs (check!). Have social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest (again, check).

Act like you’re one of them (a popular author in your genre) and soon you’ll become one! Okay…that sounds a little conformist. XD You know what I mean–you wrote a dystopian fantasy novel, so you own it! Reach out to other authors and readers in your genre and prove your worth as a fantasy author!

Does that make sense?

@reaganramm Amen!

@e-k-seaver Well… making money off of your work is going to be kind of unpredictable regardless, I think. But as long as you can figure out who your target audience is and market to them, the extra personal aspect of self-pub marketing is actually likely to serve you well. The nice thing about indie publishing is that you can write what you want and market it to people who are going to like it, and you can really focus on what makes your story yours and use that to draw in the readers who are going to most appreciate it. This means that you might be slower in finding your people, but they will be your people, which means they’ll be the readers who are going to most want to buy your book(s) and invest in your career because they’ll be very interested in what it is that you write. And, if you do a good job of being personable and interactive, they’ll likely be invested in you as a person, as well. Half of the reason I support the indie authors in the Phoenix Fiction Writers collective is because I like the authors themselves and I want to support them and their work. So while readers of traditionally published books might simply appreciate an author’s writing style and stories and not really know the author themselves, and therefore consider those books more of a splurge item, a reader of indie-published books might be more likely to invest in those books because they feel invested in the author and they feel like they’re helping to support someone rather than just buying a book to enjoy. (This is at least how it’s been in my experience. As a reader, I’m way more likely to buy myself indie books than traditionally published books, for the above reasons. And the traditionally published books I buy myself tend to be from authors that I connect with.)

I don’t know if that helps any. I might have just gone off on a useless tangent. XD But yeah. In short, the personal aspect of indie publishing, both in what you write and in how you market, can be a huge asset when it comes to selling books.

@godlyfantasy12 I’m only familiar with KDP, personally, so I can’t help you much when it comes to self-pub routes. I think Ingramspark does hardcovers, so that might be a good option since that’s important to you. But I don’t know anything about Barnes and Noble Press, so it might be another workable option for that. The proof bar is annoying. XP It wasn’t an issue back when CreateSpace was its own thing, but since CreateSpace and KDP merged it’s unavoidable. It’s just so that you can’t sell your proof copies (which I think is also kind of silly), but it is frustrating. The proofs serve their purpose all the same, though.

I would guess that she just picked a name and got a logo and uses it so that her book seems more professional. I personally don’t bother. I’m comfortable with my books being self-published and just under my pen name, no fancy extras. But I think it’s not that difficult to do if you have a name and you can get a logo. It just gets put on your book/cover, as far as I’m aware, and potentially in the information on your book when you set it up in KDP or whatever other service you choose to use.