Self-Publishing: My Story

Previously posted on  November 27, 2017

Earlier this year, I published my first novel. That is to say, I (myself) published my novel. I made no attempt to secure an agent. I sent no copies out in hopes of attracting a publishing deal. I did enough research to make an informed decision and with full confidence clicked the button that said Publish and it was done! I had become a published author.

More than a month later, I have sold very few copies, made very little money, and remain unrich and unfamous. And I am okay with that. I wanted to tell a little bit about what I’ve learned and share my thoughts about the whole self-publishing process. Consider it free advice and as with all free advice, you should probably listen and learn, but remember it is true, you generally get what you pay for. (Or as a published author ought to say, you generally get that for which you have paid.)

Let me be honest and say that I would love to see my novel be discovered and become a runaway bestseller, and if that happens, I will gladly take and keep every penny earned. On the other hand, if it never sells another copy, I still think it is a wonderful story with a positive message and I am very proud of having brought it to life. Despite having read it multiple times, there are still passages that come close to bringing me to tears. There are passages that I think are brilliant, so well written that I marvel at their source. So, I’m glad that the book has been published and if you ever come across a copy, I would highly recommend that you read it.

Now for the whole truth. I taught high school English for many years. I write well and I have a good command of the language. I did my own editing and proofreading. I hope I caught all of the mistakes and typos. One of my beta readers is another former English teacher. She also found some errors and pointed out some inconsistencies in the plot and a few poorly worded sentences and paragraphs. Two other beta readers gave me suggestions, as well. In the end, I felt the book was finished. I could have continued to make minor changes and reword certain words and phrases forever, but at some point you have to stop, so I did.

For the ebook, I used Pronoun Publishing and had a very positive experience. I am sad to know that they are closing. I am researching a few options for my next endeavor and am currently leaning toward Draft2Digital. By using an aggregator, you can easily make your book available on multiple platforms. For the paperback, I chose to go with Kindle Direct Publishing. Many people will recommend CreateSpace and one particularly obnoxious soul never fails to offer his opinion that you should never use KDP for your paperback. Because both are part of the Amazon family, they are very similar to use. Most believe that CS will eventually be closed and everyone forced to move over to KDP which admittedly still has some kinks to work out. I chose to go with the one that will be around the longest, I hope.

I ignored all the advice to pay for a professional cover designer. I wanted to do it myself. No one knows the story better. I think it turned out well. Formatting was difficult. Again, I did lots of research and hoped for the best. Until I held the first copy in my own hands, I was scared to death that it would look amateurish and I would be embarrassed beyond redemption. In the end, it came out very well and I love it. And yes, holding an actual copy does make you feel like a real author.