Adventures in Self-Publishing
So you know when you have a plan? And the plan is a really great, well researched plan? But then the plan doesn’t well, it doesn’t go as planned?
That’s my experience this year with self-publishing. Or specifically, my venture into self-publishing via an online membership business model. As it turns out, people love reading books in the way they are accustomed. Namely, they like reading books in book form. Or on Kindles or Nooks. Know what people aren’t too excited about? Reading a novel on their phone or laptop.
Only a few months after I launched the online version of Taking the Long Way Home, it became apparent that folks were interested in visiting my website and learning more about the book but not so keen on buying access to the membership page. So, I did what any enterprising business person does, I went to plan B. If folks want books, I decided to give them books. Real books. Like, on Amazon, books.
For the past few months I have dug deep into the wormwhole of online self-publishing. I may have even earned a certificate from one of the big print-on-demand companies, Ingram Spark. I borrowed a checklist from several self-publishing entrepreneurs and got to work.
But isn’t self-publishing easy? I suppose it could be. But I’m a creature of high standards so no, it has not been easy. It’s also not been cheap. In case you are considering dusting off that manuscript you started in college and are interested in my process, here’s a quick overview:
How to Self-Publish a Book in 6 not so easy steps
Write your Book
Ok, maybe this is obvious but you need an edited manuscript to start with. And because I don’t think I’d officially quantified this before, here you go. I started this novel in 2014 and it’s now 2022. Also, I used book coaches and contracted for several rounds of editing before I thought the book was ready for launch.
Cost: ~ $4000
Turn Around Time: 8 years (will depend on the writer)
Proofread your manuscript
And I thought I had proofread this sucker! Upon the advice of several published authors I’ve talked to and all of the online resources I reviewed, hiring a professional proofreader is a must. There are a ton of free-lance editors out there. Heck, there are even several match-making sites to help you find your free-lance editor, for a cost. I went with a one-stop-shop, eBook Launch for my own proofreading. Since my book had already been line edited and copyedited, I skipped straight to this part and it was humbling to see how many errors my editor found. She was freakin’ fast and thorough and even caught a gun-owner terminology mistake so in my opinion, worth every penny.
Cost: ~$900
Turn Around Time: ~ 3 weeks
Format the interior of your manuscript
So once it’s proofread and in final final final version, you will need to think about typesetting and formatting the inside of your book. Ingram Spark and Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing both have manuscript templates you can use but this was my first baby and I wanted someone who really knew what they were doing. Choosing a font and how your chapter titles are laid out, how section breaks are delineated - that’s an art! It is essential to the reading experience and I wanted it to be done well. So I hired another expert. eBook Launch offers this service too, but I went with a solo consultant, Sarah Hoggatt with Book Layout Biz, so I could get personalized handholding and access to lots of revisions if I needed them. I’m glad I did. Also, Sarah is a poet and a true artist - I loved working with her.
Here’s what I wasn’t expecting about this part. I had to read my novel again. Line by line. I had just read it to review all the track changes from the proofreader the week before. But reading it to check for spacing, for hyphenated word spreads across lines, for paragraph indentions, etc. Whew. It was probably the hardest re-read I’ve done. And I’ve now read my own book at least 15 times. And I still like it. I guess that says something.
Cost: ~ $850 for print and ebook layout
Turn Around Time: 1 month
Design your Cover
I already had cover art I loved by the talented Nicole Cullum. What I didn’t have was a cover that met all the specifications of KDP and Ingram Spark’s requirements. And I don’t know anything about bleed or adjusting for spine width or creating a bar code. So again I turned to eBook Launch. They offered a significant discount since I already had cover art and designed the back cover, formatted everything the way it’s supposed to be, generated the bar code, and made it look real pretty. And they did it really fast. If you are working from scratch, they have artists and graphic designers that can help create a cover for you. I’m personally glad I already had that part taken care of as the options are so very endless it would have definitely piqued anxiety for me.
Cost: ~$200
Turn Around Time: 1 week
Determine your Metadata and ISBNs and other fancy sounding stuff
The gritty details. Both print-on-demand publishing sites require you to enter your genres, sub-genres, and keywords before you print. This is the stuff that goes into their algorithm machines and can ultimately have enormous impact on how your book is presented to buyers. There are hundreds of courses you can take or books you can read about getting metadata right. It was a trifle stress-inducing. I’m not sure I ended up with the right keywords or genres or if my back-of-the-book content will be exactly right to land in readers’ searches. But I gave it my best shot.
ISBNs are the identifying number assigned to all published books. They are usually on the barcode on the back or inside flap of any book you buy. I didn’t know this. Now I do and I own three of them. Also, you know all that gobbeldy-gook about copyright, and permissions, and legalese, and publisher imprints on the inside of books? I had seen it before but I had to create all that. Actually, I just had to answer some questions and my book formatter, Sarah, created it all. But it took some work on my part and a reconfiguration of my logo. All of which took time and, of course, money.
Cost: $300 + hours of research
Turn Around Time: 4 days
Upload to your Print on Demand publisher
I did it… I went with Amazon first. Hear me out - this was an ethically difficult decision to make. BUT - Amazon is not run by Jeff Bezos anymore. It happens to employ my dear brother and sister in law. It is free and thus has played a huge part leveling the publishing game for underrepresented authors. And yes, it may someday take over our brains and our very lives, but…it’s also where a lot of people go to buy books. So I went with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Very soon, I will have my own author page and you will be able to buy Taking the Long Way Home as a paperback or Kindle ebook and can charge it along with your dog food, lightbulbs, and other shopping needs to your Amazon Prime account.
What was the process like? The wonderful Sarah walked me through this. It took maybe an hour. It was easy. It was intuitive. It was free. Damn you, Amazon! Why are you so good?!!
I will also be using Ingram Spark for paperback versions that bookstores can procure. But this is a 2023 project. The local book stores I talked to said they would only buy from Ingram Spark’s catalogue. They wouldn’t even say the word “Amazon”. The conversation had a very Harry Potter-Voldemort feeling about it. So maybe in the next year, you will see Taking the Long Way Home in your local bookstore (which you should be supporting) and you can say, “Hey! I know that book!"
Cost: Free on Amazon, $49 on Ingram Spark
Wow! This was a long and detailed post!
But I’m happy to share any of the lessons learned with other people who are interested in undertaking this process themselves. It was so helpful to hear what other writers had to say, even if the answer was typically…”it depends” or “you’ll need to figure out what works for you and your book.” Post questions in the comments section and I promise to answer!