The Truths about Self-Publishing

For those of you who think self-publishing is simply slapping your manuscript up on an e-pub site, let me be the first to educate you.

Just because you wrote a story, it doesn't mean it's ready for the big time.  Just because you read your rough draft and fixed a few errors, it doesn't mean it's ready for the big time.  Just because you allowed your family and friends to read your story (and they gushed . . . unlike my family who simply ignores me), it doesn't mean it's ready for the big time.

Once you finish that first story, you heave a big sigh, you can't wipe that huge grin of your face, you set it aside for a week or six, and you tell those near and dear that you finished your novel . . . and then the real work starts.

The creative portion of your work is out of the way, now you have to get analytical.  Yes, you have to be logical and think about how to improve your story and make it more marketable.  You need to see what's selling in your genre. You need to read your target genre VORACIOUSLY.  You need to know what length of book is acceptable for your particular genre.  You need to know what is morally acceptable in your particular genre. Pushing the limit on certain topics might work for your story, but be simply be AWARE. You might have a book that talks about abuse, drugs, and sex, but if it's for a Young Adult novel you need to approach it with a delicate touch.  YA's don't want preachy, they want real and if you can educate them at the same time then good for you.

And now you need to rip your story apart--RUTHLESSLY.  Cut any crap that doesn't move the story forward.  Cut any chapter/paragraph/sentence that doesn't show growth in your character, expand the plot, or reveal information. Cut any sentence that you have to read twice--if they confuse you, they will certainly confuse the reader. You need to be analytical about your story's pacing, characterization, and dialogue, which should reflect the style of each character (age, dialect, syntax).

If you think your story is ready to publish--think again. Do this 3-4 times before you even let anyone look at your story. Now is the time to call in your trusted writer friends, your critique buddies, or beta readers.  Let them know what is expected from them.  Do you want big picture items? Pacing, characterization, plot.  Or do you want them to find the nit-picky stuff? Grammar, punctuation, word choice (this is HUGE, especially with characterization). It's a waste of EVERYONES time if you have a CP fix your grammar and punctuation problems, if you have to cut an entire chapter or two because your pacing is off. 

REMEMBER: Fix the big stuff first and then work down to the little stuff.

You need to come up with a decent title.  It's up to you to find a title that conveys what your story is all about. Put on your thinking cap, brainstorm with your group of CP's, or simply jot down every crappy title you can think of until the most obscure thought pops into your mind.

Once you have a viable story and title, you need to come up with a blurb, synopsis and logline. A blurb is what you would find on the back of a physical book. It identifies the main character(s) and their conflict.  A synopsis (long-5-10 pages and short-1 page) describes your story in detail (some e pub sites require both).  And a logline is a way to convey your story idea in less than 30 words. Think of the TV blurbs in the paper or TV Guide. If you can't develop an 'elevator pitch', then you aren't ready for the big time. The Smashwords site requires a short blurb of less than 400 characters, not words, characters including spaces.  How would you tweet your story concept?  Condensing your 90,000 word story into 30 words is HARD.  You have to think about the core story, and then choose the words carefully to convey what that story is about.

THIS IS THE POINT WHERE YOU WOULD QUERY AGENTS AND EDITORS WITH YOUR STORY.  YOU ARE ALSO READY TO PITCH TO AN AGENT/EDITOR, TOO.
Now you need to think about your cover concept.  What is the impression you want the reader to have when they first see your cover?  Is it dark? Romantic? Thriller? Fun? Fantasy?  If this story is the first in a series, you need to think about the series logo, idea, or concept.  This idea will carry through all the books in the series, so spend some time thinking about your 'look'.  And if you have zero artistic talent, take a crowbar to your wallet and spend some money. 

Why?

Think about it.  What is the first thing a prospective reader sees when looking for a book?  The cover.

And now you have to think about tags.  Those are the words that will be searched on by a prospective reader. (for GNOME, I used, gnome, goblin, witch, magic, fantasy, etc)

You've checked all of the above and you think you're ready.

Think again.

Now it's time to format your story.  Get rid of all those stupid extra spaces that snuck in when you weren't looking.  You know the ones.  They're insidious.  Some times they crop up at the beginning of a paragraph or they multiply in-between sentences, or they'll even show up at the end of a sentence. This includes those extra ENTER keystrokes, which translate into blank pages in an e-book. You might not think it matters, but it does when your manuscript converts to the computer formats used by various e-readers. This is a good time to slowly go through your story AGAIN.  One trick is to go through it backwards to keep yourself from getting caught up in the story and missing things.

Verify each chapter number--trust me on this. Been there, done that. I forgot that I cut a chapter, which made everything wonky. If you changed a character's name, or left ??? where you meant to check something or find a more appropriate noun or verb.  Or simply left a word out of a sentence (and it had been missed by you AND THREE OTHER PEOPLE!). 

Take a deep breath and realize that you are now ready.  Look beginnings of other e-books that are in your genre.  Did they have a cover page, write a disclaimer, add licensing notes?

Now, you're ready.  Go through the instructions.  If you don't have a cover image the correct size, then fix it BEFORE you upload the image.  If you need to add a teaser chapter for your next book be sure to add it to your copy before you upload the document.

Then you have to fill out the legal forms and "sign the contract".

And all you have to do is wait for the money to roll in, right?  Be real, remember your you're (and this was after I proofed it 3 TIMES!) already in the hole . . .

Uh, think again.  Now comes the marketing part of the equation.

I don't know about you, but I'm beat.

So this is all for today!

Later Peeps!