I find myself intrigued lately about the idea of self publishing. It amazes me that the technology is there to write a book, edit it, package it up and distribute it online through Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, wherever. My NanoWriMo book, originally started a few weeks ago as a fun hobby, has become a preoccupation – something I’ve been laboring away at and I really don’t want to give it up.
First of all, it is a long way away from being in readable form. And obviously, I’d like to try the get an agent and find a traditional publisher route first.
But I have to admit, the self publishing possibility is like a security blanket for me. The idea that if the inevitable rejections come in, I could, at the very least put the book out there and who knows what happens after that but at least I’d be able to cross a big life’s goal off the ole bucket list. If only 5 people read it, so be it. At least it didn’t collect dust.
Does anyone have any self publishing success stories? Any self publishing nightmares? Any thoughts, tips, comments, etc.? It is a topic I’d love to learn more about so please feel free to share.
Some questions of the top of my head:
1) Where to find a good editor? Someone who can read through the book, correct errors, give me ideas on how to make it better.
2) Where to find a cover artist? I feel like covers have so little to do with the book and yet they can make or break the book. They can make the book awesome, make readers go, “Wow, I need to read that!” or they can make a good book look cheap, like it was produced by some fly by night operation if they aren’t produced well.
3) Suppose I wanted to build a fan site for the book. Where could I find some artists to draw some quality pictures of different characters to post on the site?
4) Promotions – any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Bookshelf Battler
Bookshelf Battle 