Steps to Self-Publishing

Happy 2013. Since self-publishing in March 2011, many exciting things have happened to me. If you learn your craft and put in the hard work, exciting things can happen for you, too! 
 

After you self-publish your first book, I recommend spending most of your time on writing your next book. It's by far the best promotion you can do.

 

Listed below are the steps I used when I first began my journey to self-publishing in March, 2011. Things are changing fast, including the way books are formatted, but this easy to follow list should get you started. There are many cover artists out there and many copy editors and proofreaders. If you write romance, I suggest you join Indie Romance Ink to see what other authors are doing. If you don't write romance, no worries, WG2E has lots of tips for writers who are thinking about self-publishing. EMS for Authors also offers lots of advice and helpful tips. These are truly great sites that can help you, but if you're new to self-publishing, you have a lot of reading to do.

For the first three months of my journey, I was learning everything I could...reading blogs and soaking in any and all information I could find. I suggest you do the same. Use your instincts when making a decision about when or where to advertise. If ten people tell you not to go FREE, you should try it for yourself before you decide if it works for you. There is no one-step process to self-publishing. Every writer will have their own journey. I know plenty of successful Indie authors who don't spend a dime on advertising.

When it comes to self-publishing, what do you have to lose? Maybe you won't sell hundreds of books right away...you need to be patient. If you're passionate about writing, write another book while you let readers discover your first book. Nobody is going to believe in your stories more than YOU.

Becoming an independent author has been life-changing for me. I now get to write every day. For the first time in 20 years, I am making money doing what I love best. If you want to succeed, you must work hard. Never stop learning and growing. Good luck!

Here are the steps I took:

1.Write a great book.

2.Hire a proofreader. I use Faith Williams at Theatwatergroup. Send her an email and get a quote. More editors and proofreaders are listed below.

3.Find a cover artist. LFD Designs for Authors has done all of my covers. She offers premade covers from $20 to $60 and custom covers now start at $100.

4.Hire a formatter. For $40 you can hire Lucinda Campbell at LK-E-Book Formatting Services to format your manuscript for Amazon (KDP), Barnes & Noble (Pubit), Smashwords, and Kobo (Writing Life). Go to Lucinda's website and email her to get a quote and get started. In a matter of weeks, depending on her schedule, she can have your manuscript ready for download.

5.Register at AMAZON (KDP) by going to KDP.AMAZON.COM and download the prc file that your formatter sends you. KDP = Kindle Direct Publishing

6.Register at BARNES & NOBLE (PUBIT) by going to PUBIT.BARNESANDNOBLE.COM and download the epub file that your formatter sends you. Before the end of 2013, PUBIT will become NOOK PRESS, so you might as well register on NOOKPRESS.COM to download your books to Barnes & Noble.

7.Register at SMASHWORDS.COM and download the word doc file that your formatter sends you.

8. Once you have published, you can copyright your book for a fee of $35. Go HERE.

9.You can also buy ISBN'S FROM BOWKER if you want.
Go HERE to learn about International ISBN’s.

I did buy the $10 Smashword ISBN for Smashwords. And I let B&N and Amazon assign an ISIN #. When I used CreateSpace for my print on demand books, I used their FREE ISBN. The reason I spent $10 for the ISBN at Smashwords is because I wanted my name to show up as the publisher…not smashwords.

10.If you want a print book, it's easy and free if you do it yourself. Register at CreateSpace.com. Use CreateSpace to help you with book covers, formatting, and editing for a fee, or you can go to the site, register for free, download a FREE template and then copy and paste your manuscript into the template one chapter at a time. CreateSpace will provide you with a FREE ISBN number.

TIPS FOR PUBLISHING A PRINT BOOK (provided by Dana Delamar)
If you need help, Bob Sanchez walks you through the process HERE. Ignore the part about the Pro Plan, since that is no longer available.

11. Start a Twitter Account

12. Start a Facebook Account

13. Make a FREE website using Blogger or WordPress. Talk about whatever makes you happy!

14.Once I began to make money, I used Pixel of Ink (no longer available for authors to buy sponsorships), The Romance Reviews, Cents-ible eReads, The Frugal eReaders, Digital Book Today, and EYE ON ROMANCE and JUST ROMANTIC SUSPENSE to advertise. To see more about how I spent my advertising dollars go HERE to see an article I wrote for WG2E.

MISCELLANEOUS

SUSAN KAY QUINN'S SELF PUB-BASICS (4 parts)
ISBN FAQ
Author E.M.S. Sites where you can PROMOTE
Copyright your work
Joan Reeves Archives - Lots of info
Quick guide to HTML for Kindle

Bob Sanchez walks you through making a print book using STEP BY STEP SELF-PUBLISHING

Kimberly Killion - Writer Resources
iStock Photos - pictures and music for covers and/or making book trailers
Brenda Hiatt - Show Me the Money
The Book Deal - An inside view on publishing - lots of great articles
Tools For Writers - Pam Roller
Joe Konrath's A Newbie's Guide to Publishing
Jennifer on Writing - print vs. Epub Article Review sites: tips, resources, What's new in e-publishing
Author EMS - Writer's Resource for EVERYTHING.
The Writer's Guide to Epublishing - One of my favorite places!

EDITORS
Proofread and More, Alicia Street
Proofreader, Faith Williams @ The Atwater Group
Freelance Editor, Pat Thomas
Freelance Editor - Glen Krisch
Victory Editing
Laura Morrigan
Copyeditingsaveslives.com - Vickie Taylor
Annie Seaton

FORMATTING
Lucinda Campbell
Formatting4U - Judi Fennell
Brett Battles
Formatting - Rik Hall
Guido Henkel talks about formatting for kindle on your own
Take Pride in Formatting your Ebook by Guido Henkel

COVER ARTISTS
LFD for Authors - My cover artist!
Kimberly Van Meter
Kim Killion
EarthlyCharms
WickedSmartDesigns


REVIEW SITES
Tracy Riva Reviews
Journey of a Bookseller
We Write Romance Everybody Needs a Little Romance
The Indie Book Review - Huge list of MANY reviewers!

Caroline Clemmons

Sales Update

Sales #'s as of August, 2012

ebooks sold thru Amazon                                    345,253        
borrows thru Amazon                                           19,855
Free books thru Amazon                                       301,344

ebooks sold thru B&N                                            16,555

ebooks sold thru Smashwords                                 1,052

total ebooks sold in 18 months:               360,860


I have not offered freebies since June, 2012, and have no plans to do so in the future

Abducted and Dead Weight were sold to Thomas & Mercer on March 27, 2012

Abducted alone has sold over 151,000 books

The most books sold in one month: 50,000 books in February 2012

I plan to release four books a year

Will be released: December 2012

At this time, I plan to focus on writing contemporary romance and thrillers

I just finished writing Book 3 of the Lizzy Gardner series, which is to be released early 2013

I am working on a collaboration with DD Scott (a short christmas story) to be released in 2012

I have two contemporary romances (cover art above and below) that I will be releasing in 2012

I plan to release Book 2 and 3 in the Baylor Family series in 2013 (sequels to Having My Baby)


Although I continue to experiment and try new things, I do feel a need to focus. In 2013, I plan to spend more time writing and less time speaking and attending conferences.

Advice to writers thinking about self-publishing. Give it a try! What do you have to lose? It's only overwhelming if you allow it to be. Take it one step at a time. Don't spend all of your time worrying about what other writers are doing. Try different things and see what works for you. If you don't want to spend time learning about formatting and making cover art, hire someone. Go to my LINKS tab to see who I use for cover art and formatting. Be professional. Spend money on an editor/proof reader. Most of all...HAVE FUN! You can do it!

Coming soon!

Thanks to all my readers. None of this would or could have happened without you!

My Indie Journey So Far

Since March of 2011 I have sold over 350,000 e-books. Hopefully I will have an exact number by the time my two-year anniversary rolls around. I love making lists and so I thought I would share some of the highlights since I published Return of the Rose last year:

I began to receive incredible emails from wonderful readers
A Knight in Central Park was selected by Pixel of Ink as one of their Top 10 bestsellers in 2011
A Knight in Central Park was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, print and e-edition
A Knight in Central Park hit the Top 100 All Kindle Best Sellers List twice
Abducted hit the Top 100 All Kindle Best Sellers List twice, making it as high as #5
Taming Mad Max and Dead Weight hit the All Kindle Top 100 List
I was interviewed on USA Today's HEA blog
I was approached by some wonderful agents, foreign sales people, and two movie producers
I received mentions in Amazon's Press Release and KDP Newsletter
I was mentioned in PC Magazine on February 29, 2012 among others
Return of the Rose and A Knight in Central Park remained in the Top 20 in Time Travel Romance for over a year
Abducted received a wonderful review from Kirkus Revews.
Abducted was given 4 1/2 Top Pick in the April 2012 Romantic Times magazine.
Abducted was selected as one of the BEST for 2011 in Suspense Magazine.

Kaylee Beyea from Nebraska picked ME as an America Author to write about

I signed my first Publishing Agreement with Amazon

I love working with my editor, Alan Turkus, with Thomas & Mercer

I attended my first BEA (Book Expo in New York) and I spoke on my first panel

I was interviewed by Bernard Starr at the Huffington Post

Having My Baby hit the All Kindle Top 100 List and hit #48 at B&N

I signed a seven-book contract with Audible

I will be speaking at the Idaho Book Extravaganza on November 10, 2012

I was invited to attend Amazon's Press Conference in Santa Monica where I was lucky enough to be one of three featured authors on the video shown 

I was invited by D.D. Scott to post once a month on the incredible WG2E blog.

I am working on my first collaboration, a short Christmas story, with D.D. Scott

I have met so many wonderful authors and professionals in the industry 

 

Although I have moments of feeling overwhelmed, I have never had so much fun! I am also learning to make more time for writing. That's my priority. I have four finished novels I could release, but as far as I'm concerned, they need more work. I refuse to publish a book until I feel it's the best it can be. More than anything, I want to work on my craft and become a better storyteller and a better writer because there is always room for improvement. I recently finished book 3 in the Lizzy Gardner series and I'll be sending the book to my editor next week! yay! 

 

If you're a new writer just starting out, don't look too far ahead into the future. Don't write for money or fame, write because you have a story to tell. Live in the moment and write that book one page at a time. You can do it!

 

Got Book?

If you are thinking about self-publishing, here are a few great places to start.

AUTHOR E.M.S. - ENTREPRENEUER.MANAGEMENT.SOLUTIONS

BUSINESS RESOURCES FOR AUTHORS

Authors today are faced with a changing industry, evolving technology and growing competition. Tired of trying to find all the answers on your own? We're here to help. Author E.M.S. is a growing online community designed to help you streamline your business time without sacrificing the creative artist within.

~~~

INDIE ROMANCE INK

New members must be ***ROMANCE WRITERS*** who have self-published or are indie-curious. We're a genre-focused group by and for romance authors, and we do not allow self-promo. Author service providers and other industry professionals are welcome as long as they are ALSO romance writers.

If you are not a romance writer, consider the Indie Authors Forum The IAF admits writers of all genres as well as industry professionals.

~~~

WG2E - TIPS, RESOURCES, REAL NUMBERS AND NEWS

E-Publishing is here to stay. We’re here to provide answers to all your E-Publishing questions. We’re using real numbers, real data, and real examples from our experiences. Sit down, settle in, and breathe in the future.

~~~

If you want to see what I did when I first self-published click on the LINKS tab on the top of my site or click HERE.

I first self-published in March of 2011. Not every writer who self-publishes is going to sell a million books. They might not even sell a hundred books. If you are serious about being a writer, though, and you put in the hours and the time and you refuse to release any book that isn't the best it can be, then I believe you have as good a chance as anyone of being a success. 

Be a positive force. Enjoy your journey. Believe in yourself.  

MONEY TALK

For nearly two decades I wrote nearly every day, but I didn't make one dime. Self-publishing has changed all that. Come join me on WG2E today where we're talking about money!

"The very best thing I ever did was realizing that my books are a PRODUCT and I am BUSINESS WOMAN. Last December I made a twenty-three page business plan. I realized that I could actually make real money selling my books. I came up with an amount of money I wanted to make each month ($6000) and how many books I had to sell to make that happen. Instead of just putting out books whenever I got them done, I planned release dates. I have my editors booked through the end of 2012. I have firm, hard dates that I hand my manuscripts over. I work very, very hard. I have high expectations for myself and my work output. My business comes before a lot of things in my life, but I've never been happier."

--Denise Grover Swank, bestselling author of The Chosen series.

Interviews with Indie Authors

A short interview with Tim Ridgway, co-author of Interviews with Indie Authors compiled by Claire Ridgway and Tim Ridgway.

When did you first get the idea to interview indie authors and make it into a book?

To answer that question fully, you need a little bit of background about me and my wife Claire. At the beginning of 2012 Claire and I were inspired to produce our first books, and began researching all there was online and in bookstores about self publishing. We knew from asking around that our original book idea would not be picked up by "traditional" publishers ... the market was too small. However we had our own email list to market to from a website we had been running for three years. So self-publishing was the way to go. By the end of February, the book was ready to go. Claire had written it, and I had laid it out for print (CreateSpace) and for Kindle too. So we hit "go" and began publicizing the book to our list and on our websites. To our amazement, it was a HUGE success! So we rapidly put together a second book, for publication in May. Again, this book was the result of years of research on our websites. And again, the same thing happened ... another HUGE success!

At around that time we began to wonder what other self-published authors were doing. How they were going about writing, publishing and marketing their own books. We wanted to know what made an author a runaway success. We've always believed in finding out what successful people actually do, and trying to discover what their "secrets" are so that we can learn to do the same. So we started compiling a list of the top self-published authors on the market at the moment, and we began digging deep online to find out what was working.

Like all good ideas, the book "Interviews with Indie Authors" was the combination of this research, people suddenly asking Claire for her own advice on self-pub, and us remembering reading a great book called "Conversations with Millionaires" that was inspirational to us maybe ten years ago (there aren't any new ideas ...!). The idea to interview top indie authors and put the results into a book was born. So we set about putting together an interview to send out to our top 100 list. We knew the result would be an amazing book because it filled a need that we ourselves had.

Was it an enjoyable process? Did you run into any problems?

As you can imagine, keeping track of what turned out to be over 100 new contacts was quite a large organizational job. I enjoyed sending out emails to these amazing authors, asking for their help in the book, and trying to convince them that I wasn't crazy! I was genuinely blown away by how helpful the world of self-publishing is. In the end we got 34 amazing full interview responses back, and a 34% response is pretty great in my opinion. Even more astonishing is that the majority of the authors who responded were from those near the TOP of our list. It definitely seems that successful people are the most helpful too... probably a lesson to be learned for all of us! Of course, there were many who got back to me saying that they were incredibly busy with their next book, and I completely understand that... after all, they didn't know me at all. I'm so glad that the interviews we got cover so many different genres and give so many incredible insights. They really show what works and what doesn't work. I've read and re-read all of the interviews many times now and I still see new things each time.

Was it enjoyable? Absolutely. I've got to chat with some amazing people, and have now gone on to discover their books for myself. It was also our first joint publishing project as husband and wife. We've managed not to kill each other!

Did we run into any problems? Not huge ones! The trickiest part was keeping track of authors, their photos and their book covers. It really wouldn't do to have the wrong photo next to an author's name. It seems that we've managed to keep it all together! Other than that, no, there were not really any problems. All thirty-four of the authors have been really forthcoming and helpful throughout the process. It is an amazing feeling to see someone who is so well known Tweeting about our book, or mentioning it on their website. Thank you to each one of you!

 

Do you have plans to publish more books on self-publishing in the near future?

Claire is really busy blogging about her findings about self-publishing on the Interviews with Indie Authors blog and this is where our focus is at the moment. We don't have any plans on publishing any more books on self-publishing for a while, partly because  there are loads of "How To" books on the market at the moment, and I find that they go out of date so quickly. The entire world of self-publishing is changing so rapidly that any steps you write down now won't be useful in a year's time. In a way, that is why "Interviews with Indie Authors" is special - the tips and ideas are not tied to any specific technology or time. The ideas will always be useful for someone who wants to publish their own book.

 
So, for now, Claire is concentrating on her next self-published Tudor history book project, and I'm running along behind doing the layout and setting up websites for it all. It keeps us busy!
 
If there is anything else you would like to add, please do!

As I've said above, we'd like to take the opportunity to send out a MASSIVE thank you to all the authors involved, and especially to you Theresa. Everyone was so giving in both their time and the advice they shared. Their stories are inspiring and motivating, and will definitely help other authors.

 
As a final comment, we decided early on that since we didn't write the interviews ourselves, it was only right that there was a charity element to the book. That's why we are giving 50% of royalties to charity. The money is being split between two charities – ROPE (Relief for Oppressed People Everywhere) and Goal for the Gambia. We hope that in some small way, those who are not as well of as we are will benefit from this work.
 
We've set up a page on the website with links to all the retailers: http://www.interviewswithindieauthors.com/buy-the-book/

The Amazon link to the book is HERE

Thanks so much for this opportunity to talk about the process behind the book.

Tim Ridgway

Having My Baby

Having My Baby is now available at Smashwords, Kobo, Amazon and Nook!

I have always been fascinated by fertility drugs, test tube babies and companies that provide sperm for women who, for whatever reason, need a little help having a baby of their own.

Growing up, Jill Garrison never daydreamed about having the perfect wedding. Instead, she dreamt about having a baby. Boy or girl, it didn't matter. Unfortunately, her fiancé can't have children. Determined to realize her lifelong dream of having a baby, Jill spends years searching for a company (CryoCorp) that provides high quality donor sperm. Everything is right in Jill's world until her wedding day when her fiancé leaves her at the altar to be humiliated before friends and family. She doesn't waste any time moving from New York City to California to start over. And she keeps her appointment with Cryocorp. She may never have the wedding or the husband, but nothing is going to stop her from having a baby. She's tired of everyone telling her what to do. The baby she's carrying is hers and hers alone. Nobody can take that away from her.

Or can they?


Look for two more contemporary romances coming soon. More Baylor Family novels will be out in 2013!

Happy Reading...