This is Not a Learning Curve – Self-Publishing (6)
No, my friends, this is a learning cliff, which I’m trying to scale with my bare hands.
Does that sound kind of fun to you? You just might be ready to try self-publishing!
Does it sound terrifying, and impossible? You might want to take things slowly …
Some things have been easier than I thought they’d be, and some have been harder.
And, just like in traditional publishing, the hardest things are those that are out of my control. That involve me sitting, and waiting, for somebody else to do something. I. HATE. THAT.
Easier than I thought:
(1) Everything to do with the cover. Finding the image, working with the designer – not a problem.
(2) Learning the HTML necessary to format an e-book. So, no, I’m not formatting this book myself, because I don’t feel quite ready for that, but I have done a chapter (the one I’m giving away on Noisetrade), and I think I’ll do my next e-book. It’s picky, and fiddly, but not that hard.
(3) Using CreateSpace – slick, easy, intuitive, with amazing customer service and a beautiful final product. Also consistently faster than advertised (although already promises quick delivery).
(4) Finding advice, support, etc. It’s everywhere. Other self-publishers are SO generous. They provide tonnes of information FREE. If that information’s really popular, they sometimes compile it into books which are dirt cheap. They answer emails. They are generous and big-hearted. Particular shout-outs to David Gaughran whose blog I read and whose book, Let’s Get Visible, I was able to download from Noisetrade. Also, Guido Henkel, whose step-by-step e-book formatting blog posts rock, and who answered my emailed question in about twelve (overnight) hours, and who has just expanded his free blog posts into a book Zen of E-Book Formatting.
(5) Dealing with the IRS! Who knew I’d have to deal with the IRS? I didn’t … talk about intimidating. But, since CreateSpace is a U.S. company, if you’re not a U.S. citizen, they’ll automatically withhold 30 per cent of your royalties for tax purposes. That’s a big chunk of your hard-earned money! To avoid this, you need to call the IRS, and get an EIN or an ITIN – you then enter this magic number in your account information and – voila! – the withholding tax rate drops to zero! How did I ever figure this out? Well, it’s that welcoming group of self-publishers again. This post walks you through the whole thing. It took me less than fifteen minutes, including hold time, to get this sorted out. Do you think the CRA would be that fast?
Harder that I thought:
Really there’s just one thing here. And you might be surprised to hear what it is. I definitely was. It’s getting my print book available on Amazon.ca in Canada. That’s right – getting it to the U.S. is easy-peasy. The UK, instantaneous. France – all of Europe, for that matter – India, etc. no problem.
But Canada. Hmmm … now that’s tricky. Because, you see, CreateSpace (Amazon’s self-publishing arm) doesn’t actually deal directly with Amazon.ca. I know! I couldn’t believe it either. I felt stupid for not knowing this but, then again, it’s a pretty stupid state of affairs.
What this means is that the print book will launch pretty much EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD in a heartbeat, but will have to go through Ingram first, and then be picked up by Amazon.ca. Crazy.
So, whatever, like I said – this falls under the “things I can’t control” category. These things do kind of drive me crazy, but I try not to let them.
It just means the e-book will launch first, and the print book later. When Amazon.ca can manage to get it. And, in a few months, I probably won’t care at all. And the next time, I’ll be prepared. But, for this time, this has been my hardest challenge.
In the spirit of making things easier for other self-publishers, please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions you might have. I really want to pay my good experiences forward …
