Things I’ve Learned About Self-Publishing over the Last Year

Wowsers, this last year has seen such a learning curve for me.

Since I decided to drag my dusty, old, dog-eared manuscript out in Lockdown 1.0, I’ve been trying to glean information on everything to do with self-publishing. There is soooo much to learn and it's fair to say my learning curve is somewhat on the steep side. Things have moved on immensely and it’s no longer just about writing a great book and getting everyone to read it. Every day there are approximately 20k books being released on Amazon and attempting to get your book (number 20,001) noticed, is a feat in itself.

Here are a few of the things I've learned in the last 12 months, through podcasts, blogs, YouTube vids and general Googling stuff.

Editing & Publishing

Publishing wide or on KU - As a complete newbie to self-publishing, I had no idea what the difference was but now I know it’s either putting all your eggs in the Amazon KDP basket or spreading them wide to reach a more extensive audience. With KDP you will get paid per page read, but you have to be exclusive to Amazon. I’m pretty sure I’m going to go Wide, so I can drop my ovum into Kobo, Nook, Apple Books etc

Beta readers - I’ve had a couple of fabulous Beta Readers and a couple of not-so-fabulous Beta Readers, for various reasons (see previous blog posts). I advertised for mine on appropriate FB groups - make sure the rules of the group allow you to do this. Most will help for free and, once you get over the fact that you are sending your life’s work to a complete stranger, their feedback can be invaluable.

Different types of editing - There are various types of editors. As far as I understand, Developmental Editors will discuss your story and your character arcs while Copy Editors will edit your sentence structure and line by line editing. There are loads of articles about editors by writers who know a lot more than me, here are just a few that I've been using.

• Ask Alli (Alliance in Independent Authors)
• Reedsy - Helpful advice and connections with freelance professionals
• Joanna Penn - The Creative Penn blog & and great friendly podcast

Useful Writing Tools

Scrivener - As a Mac user I discovered Scrivener was a good fit for me. I have several ideas floating around at any one time and Scrivener allows me to file it all away neatly. It costs about £50 but I’ve found it to be worth every penny. You can also use it to format and compile your manuscript when it’s ready to be published.

PWA - Pro Writing Aid - Such a useful tool! There is a free edition but I find the monthly £20 subscription invaluable for basic editing. Just whip your chapters through PWA and it will pick up typos, overused words, cliches, sticky sentences and many other things I haven’t explored yet.

Social Media & Author Platforms

Your Author Website and your Social Media Platforms will ultimately be a way for your readers to find you, connect with you and potentially lead them to buy your books. Ideally, these should be set up before you’re ready to publish so you can start to gather followers and prepare the world for the release of your masterpiece. Ok, you might not have much to say, I don’t either, hence I just waffle on about my author journey and what I’m learning along the way.

Whether you want a blog or not, most author experts recommend that you set up an Author Platform. An author website can be as little as a landing page, merely a place for readers to find out who you are, leave comments and if possible, a facility to buy your books. A website is also a great way of collecting email addresses for potential fans and potential book purchasers. By a stroke of luck, my Hubster has his own website and marketing company, so that has saved me a couple of quid. I knew I married him for a reason. I do write a blog for my day job though, and that is through Wordpress. It’s pretty easy to set up, there are lots of YouTube tutorials to get you through it.

Social media platforms can also be helpful in promoting your books. Personally, I don’t like Twitter as everyone seems a bit mean to each other, but I did set up Facebook and Instagram accounts that I am slowly trying to build. Some FB groups have ‘Social’ days where you can offer ‘Follow for Follow’ or ‘Like for Like’ which can help build your network. If you’re not already following me and you would like to, click here…

• Amelia Short Instagram
• Amelia Short Facebook

Joining Facebook Groups is always helpful to find like-minded authors. Many groups will not only help you with author queries but can help with blurb feedback, book cover review and general promotion of your works. Join a group in your genre and participate in chats. wherever you think it’s helpful. I must admit that at this time I find it difficult to offer advice as I am still learning myself. I leave those in the know to share their help, but I do try add 'Likes' and comments where I can.

Still a Lot to Learn

Writing the above, I feel I have come along way since this time last year, but I still have a mountain to climb. Here are just a few things I need to find out about.

A very long list of things I need to do before I launch my book

How do I launch my book? Yep, quite important this one. Does it require a party with Prosecco?

Formatting - I think I can get Mr Scrivener to do this for me, just need to work out how.

Amazon Author Page & Amazon Ads - essential requirement, must get on it.

Sort out pricing, decide on genre and sub-genres.

Keywords - I’ve read a bit about these, need to find out more.

Mailchimp - I’ve set this up on my website to get subscribers. Just need to work out how it works.

Book Funnel - something to do with sending ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies)

Book Sprout - Not sure what this is

Good Reads - I think this is mainly for readers to leave reviews. I need to investigate further.

Ingram Spark - I believe these can create a paperback version of your book, must find out.

Bookbub - For advertising

How to get more followers, buyers, reviewers. The eternal question!

ISBNs - Must sort this out if I’m going to publish wide.

Taxes - Do I have to work these out myself? I’d better find this out before Mr Taxman comes a-callin'.

So it looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me, how on Earth do people find time to write?!

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