Self Publishing Inquiry

~ beetleypete

Help for Maggie, please. Many of you have self-published, please give her some advice. Thanks in advance.

Bookshelf with books

I know many of you have self-published books and shared that experience on your blog. I am dipping my toes into the water and would appreciate re-reading what your experience has been.

I do not expect anyone to tutor me, but if you would leave links to any blog posts you wrote about your experience, I would appreciate it more than I can say.

Thank you in advance!

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23 thoughts on “Self Publishing Inquiry”

  1. Hi Pete. Somewhat belatedly, a couple of links for you; the first is a page on my personal website, with a lot of gumf about how I went about writing the book, but in one of the later sections, I mention ISBNs, which a self-publisher will need [please ignore the part about helping other people publish their books: I need to edit that section, because I don’t think I have the energy to do that now]; and also ignore your browser when it tells you my site is unsafe — it isn’t, they only say that because the URL starts with HTTP and not HTTPS]:
    http://www.jonrisdon.co.uk/wilfredbooks.html

    The other link is from my WordPress blog, and it’s about a writing competition, which might be a good way to encourage a self-publisher:

    Promotional Post

    I hope these might be of some help. cheers, Jon.

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  2. KDP is an obvious choice with plenty of ways to put your hard work out there. They also help with promotions and offering subscribers the ability to borrow your book. Getting someone to format is an obvious route, unless you’re very techie. My number one tip is to only use a single file used by the formatter and yourself when editing. The company I used would transcribe my corrections on the file, with the inevitability of mistakes. If you need any more help contact me at:

    Contact

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  3. Kindle Direct Publishing works for me, and it’s free! The bugbear is actually marketing the books afterwards. For that I use BookFunnel and Mailchimp and pay a small annual fee for these. I don’t sell hundreds of books anymore, because Amazon stopped their free advertising, but I’m happy with the sales I get using BookFunnel, and by using this I’ve also gained 2000 subscribers to my mailing list.

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  4. Things you have to decide: ebook and/or paperback? Amazon KDP exclusive or wider (probably via Draft2Digital)? Publishing is pretty straightforward once you have a complete and polished manuscript. Formatting (especially for printed books) is fiddly but doable. After that it’s a matter of launching and marketing the book. I have almost no expertise in that, unfortunately.
    You can hire people to edit, design covers, or format.
    Publishing your own works is a way better option than endless querying and dealing with rejections, but it’s a personal choice.

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  7. The only experience I have had NOT self-publishing a book, was when I created one for a company I worked for. It turned out great and even won a national award within the organization, but in the end, I have found more satisfaction in self-publishing.

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  8. I have never published but I support authors on Unbound.com. Have you ever heard of them. They are a British company. I like the idea of supporting authors I like.

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  9. Pete:
    It largely depends upon what your goals are. If you want to make money, go with a regular publisher. Self publishing may be the route to meet non-financial goals. I know a fellow who simply has a couple of books printed (at a large cost) to put on his and his children’s book shelves.
    Warmest regards, Ed

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