A New Point of View about Self Publishing

Today I have a special guest for the New Author. Catherine Ryan Howard just released her new book but before that could happen she exhausted all of her options of traditional publishing and went the way of self publishing. Below is her account and lessons learned during her journey to self publication.

5 THINGS I’VE LEARNED FROM MY SELF-PUBLISHING EXPERIENCE
by Catherine Ryan Howard

Having just self-published her first book using Amazon’s POD service, CreateSpace, Catherine Ryan Howard, a self-confessed former self-publishing snob, reflects on the lessons learned. She used Amazon’s CreateSpace, a Print on Demand (POD) service, to publish her travel memoir, Mousetrapped: A Year and A Bit in Orlando, Florida.

1. It’s a lot more work than you think it’s going to be

Back in the naiveté of my pre-self-publishing days, I thought this would be easy. I’d written the book, hadn’t I? I’d spell-checked it. Surely all I needed to do now was insert some chapter headings and write my Acknowledgements - right? I thought it could be done in a Saturday afternoon. In reality, I’d never been more wrong about anything in my entire life. First, there were decisions to be made. Which trim size? What colour paper? How about a distribution plan? Print and electronic editions, or just print? Once those headaches were out of the way, I hired a proof-reader who discovered approximately 23,012 errors in my 65,000-word manuscript, 23,011 of which I wouldn’t have even known were there. Next up, formatting the interior. Tip: never indent your paragraphs with tabs - trust me on this! Then there was cover design, checking the proof copy and - take a deep breath - okaying it. Self-publishing has a bad reputation because people don’t put in the work and it takes a lot of it to make your book look good.

2. It’s going to cost a lot less than you think it will

A few months ago I read an article about a children’s author who allocated €10,000 ($13,500) for self-publishing his book, and I gulped like a cartoon character. My budget was barely enough to buy a copy of his book! But when I started investigating POD, I couldn’t believe just how cheaply it could be done. Your IBSN is free (the POD provides it) and the only thing you absolutely have to pay for is the single proof copy you must check and okay before your book gets officially published. I chose to pay for a proof-reader and a cover design, but if you can do this yourself or have friends in the business who can help you out, you can self-publish your book for about $20.

3. It’s possible to make a POD look professional

POD gets a bad rap because writers - despite having read hundreds if not thousands of books in their lifetime - seem to forget every single thing about what they’ve seen in them once they come to make their own POD book. They leave out title pages, start their chapters at the very top of the page, have a ‘1’ on the first page, fail to have the book properly edited or proof-read and then, worst of all, put them in covers that make your eyes bleed. Take the time to comb through the interior. Take a few books off your shelf, see how they’re laid out and copy them. Don’t use the cover templates provided by your POD service - they all scream ‘self-published’! Have someone help you with cover design or purchase something like BookCoverPro, reasonably-priced cover design software that is easy to use. Size is also really important. I found that most people were choosing books 6 x 9 inches in size, but most novels I buy in brick and mortar bookshops are 5.5. x 8.5., which is what I made my book.

4. Your most valuable asset is you.

Mousetrapped did the rounds of one literary agent and four publishing houses and they all said the same thing: they really enjoyed it, but there wasn’t enough of a market for it to warrant mainstream publication. It was a book about working in Disney World - how many people, realistically, would be interested in that? Probably not too many. So when I came to self-publish, I focused - unconsciously, at first - on getting people interested in me, in my writing. I started a blog, Catherine, Caffeinated, that brought everyone along for my self-publishing ride. I started using Twitter, but confined self-promotional tweets to Mondays (#mousetrappedmondays!) - you have to remember that those kind of tweets are not what your followers are following you for. I was also blatantly honest about my reasons for self-publication; I didn’t pretend it was because I wanted ‘more control’ and or that it was my first choice. I think honesty goes a long way in all aspects of life and by just being myself I’ve made some fabulous new friends and got promotional help from all sorts of unlikely places.

5. When it’s all over, you’re going to need a long vacation.

It’s a long, exhausting process that never stops - even after publication, you’ll have to make an effort everyday to sell your book. But it’s totally worth it and if you do take a long vacation - if you can take one; we all know self-publishing isn't going to make you rich! - you never know, it might form the basis of your second book...


LINKS:

Official MOUSETRAPPED Site (incl purchase info): http://mousetrappedbook.com
Catherine’s blog, Catherine, Caffeinated: http://catherineryanhoward.com
Read all about Catherine’s self-publishing adventures in excruciating detail: http://catherineryanhoward.com/selfprinting
Follow Catherine on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cathryanhoward