Written by You decided to self-publish – Congratulations!
Here are some simple steps that we all need to do – how you do it is your own vision.
- Write your book to the best of your ability – use the professional standards for good story writing.
- Edit the story. Use professional service or look for an expert you can ask to beta read, or maybe barter, or become good friends with an editor…use your imagination if you don’t have funds.
- Design the book’s formats and covers using the best visual aids available, seek professional services or advice and learn the professional standards.
- Create a platform (utilize social media, newsletters, blog posts, interviews, radio spots…whatever you feel good doing)
- Market your work using your platform and anything you are comfortable doing. No one will buy the book if they don’t know about it – so research various marketing techniques and make a plan. The best strategies are worked out in advance.
These are all common sense steps and each of these steps requires an amount of research. Often we can become bogged down by the endless list of things to learn (and it is endless) and we forget that this creative journey needs to remain enjoyable so we can flourish and keep creating art.
Each day you will be challenged, you will sometimes have conflicting information and will need to make tough decisions.
Discover good mentors, and read the best in the field to learn good skills. Don’t overwhelm yourself, but instead enjoy the learning experience. Challenge yourself not as a job, but as a learning opportunity. Remind yourself everyday that learning is great for your mental health and long-term thinkers live longer – not kidding! You will make mistakes – we all do. Accept that as another learning experience, dust yourself off and start again.
You just took control of your work. Now what?
You can answer that question by researching the many websites and blogs that give you advice and other author’s sharing their story.
You may read it all and wonder – How am I going to do all that? That’s when we get overwhelmed by the immense number of things we must do to manage our own work.
No worry – this is supposed to be a creative adventure, and your business will grow better if you remain calm. Develop lists to help you stay focused.
When you decided to self-publish you put on many hats, (author, editor, publisher, marketer, accountant) all which have responsibilities and actions you now have to undertake. It can be overwhelming, but worry makes the job more difficult.
Instead remind yourself that this is a process with many steps, and like in any business, you need to take one step at a time. There is no easy way to get things done.
Each small task is important to the overall product – YOUR BOOK.
- Use the information you discovered in your research to your advantage. No one’s path will be the same, so pick and choose the steps that make sense to you.
- Utilize your strengths and develop your weaknesses. Not only will your book become better – but you will grow as a person, always a
good thing. - Organize your thoughts, make lists, check things off.
- Give yourself the recognition when you do things right.
- Don’t evaluate your work by others praise and standards, but instead judge your progression by your values.
In the end what matters is what YOU think of your work and accomplishments. You are the boss after all.
Best wishes to you, and if you need some help finding resources to begin your journey check out some helpful links here –
Chris Eboch on Perfecting Your Plot
20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes
7 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Book Design Right Now by Joel Friedlander
Keep reading – Keep writing!
We all get our inspiration from somewhere. Some say they have dreams – others just a point they want to impress. Whatever the reason, what we write is personal and we choose to share it. We all have inspirations. Here is a great interview with Dean Koontz on how he got the idea for INNOCENCE