HECK YEAH! E-publishing is E-xhausting & E-xhilerating

For 26 years I was a crazed, angst-filled, traditionally published author. Deadlines loomed. Editors lay in wait to knock me down a peg.  Agents doled out favor based on the size of advances.  If my books were all over the bookstore I worried; if they weren't I worried. Still, I had no idea what tired and cranky really was until now. Which brings me to the topic of the day: E-publishing, E-xhileration and 24/7 E-xhaustion.
      I decided to digitally publish my first book because I had hit a bump in the publishing road. New York was tightening up, I had parted ways with my agent and the project I was working on wasn't getting a warm welcome in the Big Apple (more on that later). So, I published one of my 23 books out of curiosity and a niggling sense that if I didn't, I would be missing out on something. Little did I know, I was dipping my toe into a roiling sea and would soon be drowning in challenges and opportunities of indie publishing.
            After eighteen months, four of my books are still on the Kindle legal thriller bestseller list (they were on the Barnes & Noble Nook top seller list for four months). Before Her Eyes, a novel I believed in but one which had received conflicting and cool rejections from New York has been graced with multiple five star reviews. My creative gut, it seemed, was working just fine. Readers were willing to take a chance on the book I loved, but without digital publishing it never would have seen the light of day.*
    It took a year and a half of non-stop work to properly post 18 of my 23 books. And, as happens in any new venture, the more I learned the more overwhelming the task of taming E-publishing seemed.
    Amazon is not alone in offering indie publishing opportunities. There is Pubit! (indie authors outlet on Barnes & Noble) and e-publishers like Smashwords.com.  There is the Apple bookstore and don't forget Google books. There are backlist purveyors and indie author sites that allow click through to your sales sites. An author must have a manuscript and a cover (to the correct format), reversion letters if you are posting your backlist, an understanding of DRM, a sense of what price the market will bear. Add to that, the fact that you and you alone are responsible for all marketing worldwide, that readers are extraordinarily vocal and you must still write.  Suddenly you are working 24/7, first to get noticed and then to grow your fan base.
    So, to keep you authors from going bonkers, here are a few tips; for readers, we have a couple of favors to ask. Together, we can make E-publishing an
 E-xquisite, E-xceptional E-xperience. 

AUTHOR TIPS:.           Pace yourself.  Publish on one site at a time until it is done correctly.
·         Spend more time editing than writing. 
·         Follow Smashwords.com formatting guidelines.
·         Have fun designing covers.
·         Become a part of discussion groups, not just an advertiser.
·         Choose the most efficient marketing opportunities.
·         Make friends with bloggers who want to interview authors.
·         Return the favor on your own blog.
·         If you market more than you write or talk to your family, stop.
·         Check your sales figures once a week not every hour.
·         If you make a top seller list, let people know.
·         If you get a great review let people know.
·         If you get a bad review don't argue or lose sleep.
·         Twitter and Facebook but don't spam.
·         Don't be discouraged. Readers will find you.

READERS, THANKS FOR THE HELP Let us know about typos privately. We'll love you for being kind and probably send you another book for free. If you like our work, we appreciate reviews. If you don't like our work, we'll take your constructive criticism to heart. Know that we appreciate you even when we're E-xhuasted     Now, everybody get some rest. Tomorrow authors will write and publish, and readers will give us all a chance to entertain them. We'll intersect at some point, make new friends, discuss books, writing and reading. Heck yeah, it is going to be a busy day.

*If any editor would like to take a look at Before Her Eyes, I'm happy to gift them an E-copy or send the manuscript! Feel free to check out the 5 star Amazon reviews!