Saturday, October 8, 2011

Lessons Learned in Self-Publishing, Part 1...In the beginning

I reflected on how much has happened in the past year.  How much I have learned. What I would do different. And what I could pass on to help someone else planning to self-publish.

About a year ago I was happily coasting along with my two tween books in the hands of the literary agent. Despite nibbles and almost an offer, the books remained unpublished. We talked about approaching small press and--the word that turned my blood to ice--self-publishing. The small press struck me as just a step above self-publishing. Granted the publisher would take responsibility for getting the book in print, the promotion was still up to me.

Like leaving home for the first time, not sure where I was going, I pulled the two books from the literary agent.  I spent the first four-plus months of the year researching how to do this.  I also watched mistakes others have made. My own mistakes would become evident later.

In May I launched PENELOPE AND THE BIRTHDAY CURSE on Smashwords and followed up with Kindle. As of writing this blog entry, SW does not appear to have any working arrangement to put an ebook on Amazon. From the SW website: "Ship date TBD. Smashwords and Amazon are working to complete technical integration." By June, PATBC was out in paperback, published at Createspace and available just about everywhere. 

My next goal was to get PENELOPE AND THE GHOST'S TREASURE published.  By end of September, it is available on Smashwords and Kindle.  I am still waiting for it to show up on Barnes and Noble. By end of October, the paperback will be out.

I mention all this as over the next few weeks I will chronicle some of the lessons learned. The kind of stuff that may be good to know, but not self evident.. Basically how to become a pro at self-publishing.

Penelope and The Ghost's Treasure is available at Amazon. Be sure to check out Penelope's blog.

  

1 comment:

  1. I am still waiting on Ties of Blood to show up on Barnes and Noble, too. It has been published on SW for over a month now. I mailed them and was told it would ship "probably next week then take two weeks to show up on B&N's site". I have since made a Pubit account and am now waiting for the account to be "processed" so I can get the book up. ERGH!

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