Liz Meldon's Blog - Posts Tagged "self-publishing"
Just Keep Swimming
I feel like today is the first day I can come up for air before being sucked back into the Sea of Self-Publishing.
It's been a little over two weeks since The Maenad of Manhattan has been published. Today, however, everything is officially on sale. Smashwords and Amazon both have it listed as $1.99, though I know some of Smashwords's premium retailers still have it listed as free--I suspect it will take some time to get everything on the same page.
Thus far, self-publishing has been all-consuming. I feel that if you did your research beforehand, you can expect to feel like this has become a part-time job for you, and that's exactly where I am. I'm lucky, in a way, that my work has such frugal hours to dish out to their staff lately. I mean, I'm not exactly padding my bank account with much, but at least I can market my book. I can work on its sequel. I can make fun graphics to promote the series. I can... wait for readers? Yeah, that's it.
I've met a lot of wonderful indie authors in this process, and I'm sure you'll see them make an appearance at one time or another on my website promo page. This month we have Rosanna Leo, Deirdre Riordan Hall, Ashley R. Carlson, and Kelly Clemmons promoting their work, and I'm thrilled to have them.
As for myself, I'm still trying to grasp marketing techniques that work for me. I have a huge fear as coming across as someone who is just screaming, "BUY MY BOOK, PEASANTS!", and that's not cool. I feel, so far, the best way to garner readers is to be a reader. I've been fortunate enough to find a lot of really talented indie authors since I started looking, and some of them have been kind of enough to give Maenad a look too. It's not a requirement. It's not a marketing strategy that guarantees results, but it feels like the most fun and the most natural to me.
Some other things I've learned about self-publishing so far:
- Don't publish your book on the day you advertise--do it the night before. It seems to take most distributors a little while to get everything sorted, and it's easy to feel like a big ol' spotlight is resting on you while you twiddle your thumbs and wait for everything to sort itself out.
- Smashwords price changes take a little while to reach premium distributors.
- You get to tackle fun tax situations as an indie author, even if you aren't an American. Note to self: get an EIN.
- Checking and refreshing your book stats is borderline obsessive and unhealthy behaviour. Stop it, you.
- Book reviewers are swamped, and you probably won't hear back from the majority that you email. It's like querying agents, but not quite as disheartening.
All in all, I'm happy (so far) that I chose to self-publish. A lot of my fanfiction readers were able to enjoy my work for free, and I had a heavy hand in the final product. I may be singing a different tune in a few months, but for now, I'm just enjoying the ride.
Sometimes.
It's been a little over two weeks since The Maenad of Manhattan has been published. Today, however, everything is officially on sale. Smashwords and Amazon both have it listed as $1.99, though I know some of Smashwords's premium retailers still have it listed as free--I suspect it will take some time to get everything on the same page.
Thus far, self-publishing has been all-consuming. I feel that if you did your research beforehand, you can expect to feel like this has become a part-time job for you, and that's exactly where I am. I'm lucky, in a way, that my work has such frugal hours to dish out to their staff lately. I mean, I'm not exactly padding my bank account with much, but at least I can market my book. I can work on its sequel. I can make fun graphics to promote the series. I can... wait for readers? Yeah, that's it.
I've met a lot of wonderful indie authors in this process, and I'm sure you'll see them make an appearance at one time or another on my website promo page. This month we have Rosanna Leo, Deirdre Riordan Hall, Ashley R. Carlson, and Kelly Clemmons promoting their work, and I'm thrilled to have them.
As for myself, I'm still trying to grasp marketing techniques that work for me. I have a huge fear as coming across as someone who is just screaming, "BUY MY BOOK, PEASANTS!", and that's not cool. I feel, so far, the best way to garner readers is to be a reader. I've been fortunate enough to find a lot of really talented indie authors since I started looking, and some of them have been kind of enough to give Maenad a look too. It's not a requirement. It's not a marketing strategy that guarantees results, but it feels like the most fun and the most natural to me.
Some other things I've learned about self-publishing so far:
- Don't publish your book on the day you advertise--do it the night before. It seems to take most distributors a little while to get everything sorted, and it's easy to feel like a big ol' spotlight is resting on you while you twiddle your thumbs and wait for everything to sort itself out.
- Smashwords price changes take a little while to reach premium distributors.
- You get to tackle fun tax situations as an indie author, even if you aren't an American. Note to self: get an EIN.
- Checking and refreshing your book stats is borderline obsessive and unhealthy behaviour. Stop it, you.
- Book reviewers are swamped, and you probably won't hear back from the majority that you email. It's like querying agents, but not quite as disheartening.
All in all, I'm happy (so far) that I chose to self-publish. A lot of my fanfiction readers were able to enjoy my work for free, and I had a heavy hand in the final product. I may be singing a different tune in a few months, but for now, I'm just enjoying the ride.
Sometimes.
