Choosing

 Hello from Michigan! This morning it’s already 34 degrees F.

There are so many things I’ve been thinking about discussing here, it’s hard to choose what comes first.  Logically, one should start at the beginning, but is that my writing process or publishing?  Since I’ve learned the most about self-publishing, I will start with my decision to self-publish with Amazon.

Like most aspiring authors, I tried the traditional route first.  I spent hours writing queries to agents, researching which agents would be interested in my genre, and then sending off the personalized-as-possible email.  Weeks would pass and I would either hear nothing, or I would finally get the “It’s not the right fit at this time.”

I received very little constructive feedback, but when you start digging into the process, that’s hardly surprising.  Some agents receive hundreds of queries a day.  How can they possibly look at all those, much less take the time to say ‘why not?’  On one site, a former agent discusses the odds in more detail.

It made me discouraged, to say the least.  I started reading up on ways to get noticed in the “slush pile.”  Having a robust social media following was one of the top answers.  Without having anything published, how was I to attain 500,000 followers?  What was I supposed to talk about?

Don’t get me wrong, having a large following is also important with self-publishing, but at least I have something to post about now. 

I had written an entire prequel trilogy, and the first and second novels of the current trilogy before I got fed up waiting to get noticed.  I started looking more seriously at self-publishing with Amazon.  Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) has a ton of information on its website to help people just starting out.  They have answers to everything I needed to know directly on their site, and I had a lot of questions.  KDP has a program called Kindle Create, in which you upload your book and BAM, eBook.  Okay, there was some tweaking and minor editing, but nothing onerous.  The paperback was a lot more work, but they have templates for formatting, explaining exact margin sizes etc. (more on that later).

There are serious pros and cons to self-publishing, and just as many blogs are devoted to hashing them out.  For me, as an author, I like to write about what I want to write about, when I want to write about it.  Traditional publishers pay you upfront, but they are buying your rights.  They can give your book whatever cover and publicity they want and then give you a deadline for the next book.  Even if your book sells really well, your publisher will make the most money and give you a small percentage of royalties.   

Amazon KDP lets you keep more of the royalties (70% of eBook sales, for example).  You can publish what you want when it’s ready, no rushing to get something done to send off.  The caveat is that you have to do all your own marketing, and advertising costs can add up quickly.  So is it really free to self-publish?  Kind of. 

I had to pay for a website domain, my cover’s photo license, and the cover design (the first time around but more on that later).  I chose to create an advertising campaign with Amazon, which is a lot more complicated than I imagined and I’m still getting the hang of it.  Amazon has an entire course to teach you about the options and how to get the most from your money. 

Then, when you do manage to get a customer to click on your book, how do you get them to buy it?  The book blurb (similar to the back cover), the reviews, and the cover are the most important to your readers.  The book blurb is deceptively hard to write and there are entire books available on Amazon about it.  I’ve revised mine about eight times and I still don’t consider it the best it could be.  I looked at what other authors did with similar content and genre and tried to incorporate it, as well as watching videos on YouTube.  Dale L. Roberts has hours of great information on the subject.

Overall, I have been happy with my decision.  I’m not ready to retire from my day job just yet (HA!) but publishing a book is a long-game.  It takes time to develop a following.  One of the books I just read was first published in the 1980s.  Don't be discouraged.  As Cody Johnson says "If you've got a dream, chase it, because the dream won't chase you back!"  

Check out my book here! à www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKBV51XN ;)

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