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@booksandbeakers
Traditional publishing. A traditional publisher won’t charge you anything, they’ll only take a cut of the profit when your book sells. Spending money on marketing would be the only expense.
Yes, I used KDP. I tried IngramSpark for my last book and gave up because it was such a pain and way more expensive, so I went back to KDP. Formatting is quite a pain, but, yes, worth it. And if you decide to indie publish over the long run and learn to format well, that’s an excellent investment for future books. The short stories I formatted and published were great learning experiences and would almost certainly have enabled me to format my novel if I’d wanted to deal with the headache myself.
I can’t say for sure what the impact is of self-publishing and then pursuing traditional publication, but I can’t imagine gaining a readership would hurt (and indie publishing is beneficial to that end). It may still be prudent to refrain from that if the quality wouldn’t be great, but I doubt it would completely ruin your chances anyway.
I’m a freelance line editor, and I know a number of other freelancers I could refer you to for all different kinds of edits. (What the different types of edits are and why they’re important is another post series on my blog, if you want to look into that down the road.)
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
@booksandbeakers Apparently it did. Weird. It’s never done that before…
It’s draft2digital.com!
You’re so welcome! 😀
the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel
- Rank: Wise Jester
- Total Posts: 76
@gracie-j I checked out the website! It looks amazing!
@booksandbeakers Glad you think so! It really is!
the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel
@booksandbeakers I believe my introduction post also vanished into the “pending moderation” void, which is why I may appear to have popped up unannounced. 🙂 I’ve also chosen the self-publishing/indie publishing route, and honestly, the formatting for paperbacks on KDP is not that bad. I did it myself in Microsoft Word, and while KDP told me my fonts weren’t embedded (they were), they came through fine in the print copy. So it’s definitely doable. I also formatted my own e-books in HTML. Most people use sites like Smashwords and Draft2Digital for that, I believe, but once you learn the HTML, it really isn’t hard, and it ensures that your e-book file won’t do wonky things on later Kindle devices or off-brand e-readers. If that’s something you want to try on your own, let me know and I’ll send you my e-book formatting guide.
I also highly recommend Thomas Umstattd Jr.’s site, AuthorMedia. It is chock full of articles and podcast episodes for all kinds of publishing questions. You may feel as if you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole, but it will be worth it. Start with his two articles/episodes “How to Get Traditionally Published” and “How to Publish Your Book Independently” (I’ll try to link those below). Those will answer a lot of your questions about the financial differences, the processes for each kind of publishing, etc. Indie publishing some of your material should not affect your ability to traditionally publish later; many successful authors have some books indie published and some trad published. AuthorMedia also has articles on things like how to find a good editor. 🙂 Like @r-m-archer, I’m an editor myself and have some insider knowledge, so let me know if you want to know more about editors and how to find them.
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comHow to Get Published with a Traditional Publishing House
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comHow to Publish Your Book Independently
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comI have a question….if you don’t mind….
I have a finished first draft of a 14,113 word novelette and I was wondering at what point would you suggest I hire a professional editor? I want to do some revisions, line editing, and have it Alpha read, but that’s about as far as I’ve planned.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
@booksbyjayna I have a question….if you don’t mind…. I have a finished first draft of a 14,113 word novelette and I was wondering at what point would you suggest I hire a professional editor? I want to do some revisions, line editing, and have it Alpha read, but that’s about as far as I’ve planned.
@felicity I don’t mind at all. I recommend this order:1. Self-editing first
2. Then alpha readers (if you’re using them)
3. Then revisions based on alpha feedback
4. Then beta readers
5. Then revisions based on beta feedback
After that, you can move on to professional editing. The idea is to present your editor with the absolute best version of your manuscript, which will save her time and save you money. Keep in mind that a first draft usually needs several rounds of self-revision before it’s ready for editing. Alpha readers can help with that, but you’ll want a more polished draft before you move on to beta readers.
If your beta readers are good and you ask them specific questions about the plot and character development, you may not need a substantive/developmental/content edit for a novelette. A deep copyedit/line edit will probably do the job. Then you’ll want a final proofreading pass, preferably after formatting, before publishing the story.
Does that help? Let me know if I’ve created more questions. 🙂
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.com@felicity I forgot to mention—my primary fiction genre for copyediting is historical fiction, so if that’s the genre you’re working with, I’d be happy to give you a free sample edit any time. My editing website is booksbyjayna.com/editing.
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.com- Rank: Wise Jester
- Total Posts: 76
@booksbyjayna Thank you! I felt kind of overwhelmed at first, but it doesn’t SEEM like rocket science (we hope). Formatting is the place I feel like I’d have the most trouble, anyway.
Thank you, it clears up the can-you-self-publish-and-then-traditional-publish question!
Also, Felicity’s question helped me too.
Is Smashwords like Draft2Digital?
Thank you so much! Yes that was very helpful!
I will certainly keep your services in mind, since I mostly write Historical Fiction. 🙂
He must increase, but I must decrease.
Thank you so much! Yes that was very helpful! I will certainly keep your services in mind, since I mostly write Historical Fiction. 🙂
@felicity I’m glad it was helpful. If you enjoy historical fiction, you might like the short story I offer to my newsletter subscribers at https://subscribepage.com/booksbyjayna.Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comThank you! I felt kind of overwhelmed at first, but it doesn’t SEEM like rocket science (we hope). Formatting is the place I feel like I’d have the most trouble, anyway. Thank you, it clears up the can-you-self-publish-and-then-traditional-publish question! Also, Felicity’s question helped me too. Is Smashwords like Draft2Digital?
@booksandbeakers It’s not rocket science. 🙂 Just takes a lot of perseverance. I believe Draft2Digital recently acquired Smashwords; since I haven’t used either service, I’m not sure how their services overlap.
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.com@booksandbeakers, I believe my introduction post also vanished into the “pending moderation” void, which is why I may appear to have popped up unannounced. 🙂 I’ve also chosen the self-publishing/indie publishing route, and honestly, the formatting for paperbacks on KDP is not that bad. I did it myself in Microsoft Word, and while KDP told me my fonts weren’t embedded (they were), they came through fine in the print copy. So it’s definitely doable. I also formatted my own e-books in HTML. Most people use sites like Smashwords and Draft2Digital for that, I believe, but once you learn the HTML, it really isn’t hard, and it ensures that your e-book file won’t do wonky things on later Kindle devices or off-brand e-readers. If that’s something you want to try on your own, let me know and I’ll send you my e-book formatting guide.
I also highly recommend Thomas Umstattd Jr.’s site, AuthorMedia.com. It is chock full of articles and podcast episodes for all kinds of publishing questions. You may feel as if you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole, but it will be worth it. Start with these two articles: https://www.authormedia.com/how-to-get-published-with-a-traditional-publishing-house/ and https://www.authormedia.com/how-to-publish-your-book-independently/. Those will answer a lot of your questions about the financial differences, the processes for each kind of publishing, etc. AuthorMedia also has articles on things like how to find a good editor. 🙂 Like @r-m-archer, I’m an editor myself and have some insider knowledge, so let me know if you want to know more about editors and how to find them.
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.com
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