Self Publishing - My Story So Far

Part Five

Five

Things I’ll do better next time.

So what have I learned?  A great deal.  Will I give self publishing a go next time?  Maybe.  Self publishing is certainly a legitimate way for any author to promote themselves.  In fact some very famous authors have turned this way to get more control over their work.  Stephen King has reportedly done this and Mathew Riley certainly self published his first work Contest.

The first thing that I have learned is that make sure that the book is worth self publishing in the first place.  As you can see, self publishing involves a very large amount of work and money from the author.  If your goal is, as mine is, to make a living out of doing this then you have to have the right product to sell.  Places like wattpad, Autonomy and Goodreads are all excellent proving grounds for your beloved work.  They all involve a large amount of work as well, but at least they don’t cost anything and they can help you grow and develop as an author.  You can generate a kindle version of your book for nothing using a multitude of programmes on the internet.  So get your work in front of people and see what they think.  And don’t be angry if they tell you stink or need a lot of work.

The second thing I will do differently next time is make my structural and copy editors different people.  I used the same lady and by the time she was finished she was just as sick of looking at it as I was.  It helps to get a fresh pair of eyes in for every different step.

The third thing I’ll do differently next time is marketing.  The best marketing tool that any author can use is social networking in places like Facebook, wattpad, twitter and the like.  But people get very sick of you very fast if all you talk about is “Read my book it’s great!”  You can grow a very large following on these places by using them for what they meant to be used.  Talking and sharing with other like minded people.  Grow your network first, then put the shout out for your next book.   When I launched my wizards I wasn’t even on Facebook.  Now I’m on Facebook, twitter, Authonomy, Goodreads, wattpad and I even have my own website.  I am trying to grow my network by using them like they intended to be used.  Not just “Hey you read my book”.

So was my Wizards worth self publishing?  Only so that I could hold that first copy in my hand and say that I’d done it.  Apart from that, probably not.  Will I rewrite it?  Maybe.  But for now I am enjoying sharing things like this story with people like you on wattpad.

Happy Reading

If you want to know anymore about my experiences, both in traditional and self publishing, drop me a pm on my profile.