Self-publishing is Exhausting!

When I read that Indie Princess Amanda Hocking had sold a 4-book series to St. Martin's for over $2 million, I'll admit that my first thought was "She sold out!" But she explained to readers that she did it because she wants to spend her time writing, not doing all the other things that self-published authors have to do.

Now that I am knee-deep in the self-pub process, I completely understand what she means. It's downright exhausting (hence the picture of our kitty Sam when he was little- isn't he cute??).

My book will be "released" on June 1 and in order to kick off a book blog tour on that date, I need to have ARCs to bloggers by the first of May. That means that the book has to be polished and ready to go by the first part of April so I have time to get a proof, check it, and do another if needed.

Formatting the book for print and ebook is an undertaking (I am currently stuck in header/footer hell), not to mention the work that goes into making an attractive cover (I will spill more news on that in the coming days). But that's not the whole of it.

The truly exhausting part of self-publishing is the marketing.

Besides blogging and Twitter, I created a Facebook author page and spent hours trying to figure out how to add "like" buttons and widgets to the blog. You can see that I have been unsuccessful in that endeavor. :(

Here are some other items on my to-do list:
Create a book page on GoodreadsCreate an author page on GoodreadsCreate an author page on AmazonCreate an author profile on MySeattleNightOut.comRecord a reading of the intro chapters of my book for the radio spotCreate my own website since I now have the domain http://www.cynditefft.com/Finish creating my YA author and blogger list on TwitterSolicit more reviewers to participate in the book blog tour/review ARCsSet up an "event" on Facebook regarding the book releaseSet up giveaways on GoodreadsPost details about the release on group forums in Goodreads and LinkedInSet up a reading with my local bookstoreReach out to reviewers who liked it on Authonomy, Wattpad and InkpopAll of this is while doing the editing and production prep for the book. Don't even get me started on the fact that what I really want to do is to get the sequel whipped into shape!

Yep, I think if I were Amanda Hocking, I'd take the $2 million, too.

What about you? Are there marketing pieces on your list that I have missed on mine?