Have you ever wondered what would happen if everybody in the world was capable of doing everything, without needing one another? If our entire existence was created for a sole purpose and that is to do everything? It will be boring because there would be no uniqueness, besides one's ability to get it done differently.
Well, that is what self-publishing is not.
Self-Publishing is the modern way of getting stuff done, how you want it, when you want it, and allowing the rest of the world to choose whether they want it and if you haven’t figured it out as yet, I am referring to that book you just wrote, or the piece of poetry you have locked away in your cupboard, or those diaries you have kept in the shoebox on top of your cupboard collecting dust. There are a lot of wants in that paragraph, but the question remains, what is self-publishing, and how do you get it done right the first time without a loan?
I am smiling right now because I know exactly what you could be thinking. Daunting. I know, all you want to do is write, but if you don’t share, then what is the point of writing? Sharing is caring, and you care to share your work, so they care enough to read it and so the cycle begins and everyone lives happily ever after.
Andy Rooney said it best: Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.
So let’s begin our climb. How to Self-Publish my book the right way, the first time around.
Write and write again, then repeat until you ARE at most 70% sure it is the best story you’ve written because after 14 books published, I can tell you there is no 100% certainty when it comes to writing, there is always a better word and always a more interesting chapter so let it go, put it away, hide it under lock ‘n key, or in Locke n Key. Yes, you heard me correctly, I said STOP, the book is done. When I say done, I mean you have obviously finished 3 rewrites, or edits and the book makes sense, which brings me to our next step.
Read, read, read. You have to read the book you wrote, and it has to make sense. So I would suggest, and I am no Mental expert, say before you read your book, take a day or two to read another book, maybe read a children’s book, or that book you have hidden in your kindle at the bottom, or you go to read. But read something else, do something to take your mind off of the book. A fresh pair of eyes always sees stuff from a new vantage point. And whose eyes would you trust best but your own? Even with double lenses. Your eyes and mind are the best tools you have when it comes to reading. Once you are all relaxed, read your book for the final time, make your changes, but don’t spend too much time on it. You are not going to master your first book, besides making it legible and error-free. Once you are satisfied, I am going to suggest the next step, but this one is a take it or leave it and I will explain why shortly.
Hire an Editor, if you can’t afford one, go to the University or College and get one of the students who are studying to be the person who could one day help you. It costs less, and they are good at it (most of the time) and they need the money. Besides, a long working relationship with someone who could one day be the CEO of a major Publishing House never hurt, right? But as I said in my previous point, it is not a must. Yes, you read this correctly, not a must. Not everyone has $400 to use on an Editor for a book that might or might not sell. It is a big risk, but a brilliant one, but if you are a parent trying to make a small living and don’t have the cash, I would suggest you search for other ways, the harder path and google ‘Editing Apps.’ Join Facebook groups and social media platforms or ask ArtsKeeper to put your story out there that you need help, someone might give you the route to take or a number to call, but help is out there. But if you can’t afford an editor, don’t leave your work on a shelf, do it yourself. All those Editors were once trained and these are the modern times, where Google exists and so does the play store, of course, let us not forget Youtube, we got to love Videos.
I suggest while you are deciding on the editing of your book and the path in which you are going to take, you focus on the next visionary step. What is your book going to look like? Are you smiling? Have some idea? Maybe a feeling of an idea? That is where the other creative juices begin to flow and where you, the self-publisher decide what you want your book to look like, how cool is that? You have all the say, YOU ARE THE BOSS.
But the question is how do you do that? How do you create a good book cover? Easy for some, not for others. You have three options which would save you time and money. Create your cover – it isn’t rocket science, you need a name, title and oh wait, a picture, that is where it might get a bit tricky. Copyrights, licenses, ISBN, aya aya. What if I told you all that can be done for free? Your pictures can be chosen off Copyright Free Sites, there are quite a few. And yes, if you are capable of writing a book, or poem, you are capable of creating a decent first book cover. Unless you have $150 for a pre-made one, of course. But if you are looking for a high-quality book cover design I suggest chatting to other self-published authors and letting them recommend someone for you and if you are lucky some of those people even offer formatting which leads to our next step.
Formatting your document is a crucial part of your book, the format you choose needs to be legible, and I suggest be spaced out and emphasized in a way that grips the readers because you have written the book, and maybe you wrote it for yourself but if you want people to pay the price, you have to make it worth their while. If ArtsKeeper likes my post, maybe they will ask me to write another one, which I would suggest be about formatting your books. But if you have no experience on Docx and want most of the formatting DONE by the click of a button, I suggest using Draft2digital, you can google it. Once the interior of your book is complete, I say the next step would be to put your book together and decide where you would like to publish it, whether you are going to purchase an ISBN or use the free one provided for you on numerous publishing sites? Are you going to focus on selling Print copies, Audible or Ebook? Or just publish all of them? And most importantly, what is the price of your book going to sell for. When I say sell, I mean you need to consider a decent price that is not extremely cheap that people think you add no value, and not too expensive that your neighbor calls you crazy. Now once all of the above is in order, the next crucial part of publishing would be to take your Authorship Ways and freeze it and become a Business Marketing Strategist, because you are going to need it to sell some books. Marketing for Authors is extremely difficult, but with a few tricks, you should be able to navigate through what fits for you. And while many blog posts would discuss with you the usual, social media, signup for newsletters, blog swaps, etc, I am going to tell you two secret tricks that work.
Public Writing – Writing online for free, creating good blog content for yourself or magazines, adding comments on published written works, reviewing books you’ve read and my favorite, Live Novels, poetry, stories. The best thing about writing a page a day and sharing it with the public is it does two very important things for you as a writer.
You become a better writer. You gain a following of people who admire what you are doing and a lot of them would buy your books, they would love your words and that is what you want. A lasting relationship with people who lift you, and you need a lot of those to get you somewhere in this rat race. I hope my blog post helped you with some guidance and if you need advice on anything or want to join my writing program starting April 2nd then pop me an email, and we can talk. shanRk@zoho.com A huge thank you to ArtsKeeper for allowing me to write this post and share some insight into self-publishing. All the best Shan R.K NB: FOR THE BOOK LOVERS OUT THERE, HERE ARE SOME LINKS TO MY BOOKS. PLEASE CHECK THEM OUT AND MY WEBSITE. Books by Shan R.K: https://www.amazon.com/Shan-R-K/e/B01EQMMF8M/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
Website: Shan.com
Please tell me how to participate in "Live Novels, poetry, stories." Exactly what is this?