Hello, and welcome to the blog of a self-published author. Today I would like to discuss what exactly that means and entails. I think a lot of people don’t realize the amount of time, work, and effort that goes into self-publishing, needless to say the anxiety of having your work out there in the public domain for everyone to see. But hey, that was the point of self-publishing right?
Writing the book – First the book needs to be written. An idea comes. For me, my story was inspired by dreams and mist. I was wondering if you could travel to another world. In that world, you would have dreams that led you to your destiny. My character’s destiny is to free the white wizards from their stone prisons. How did the wizards get trapped in stones? This is one of the questions I needed to answer. I am a bit old-fashioned so I start with a hand-written outline, and then handwrite the story with good old pen and paper. As I type the hand-written story up, I embellish and make any necessary changes.
Edit the book – The next step is editing. It is always suggested that an author gets someone else (a co-worker, friend, a fellow author) to assist in this process. I had my son look over my book. I also hired a professional editor.
Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite – At this point, I go back and fix any mistakes with grammar, storyline, or things that just don’t “flow” right.
Format the book– The book needs to be formatted to the size that many self-publishing companies desire, including Amazon.
Get a book cover– This was actually one of my favorite aspects of writing the book. I worked with a great graphic artist for a cover of my book. I love how the cover gets the feel of the mist, and of course my main character Miranda. I feel that in draws you in, and the it is just beautiful to look at. Plus, if you look carefully you can find the symbols for all six wizards depicted on the cover.
Market the book – I worked with book bloggers, book reviewers, and my fellow writing community to help get the word out about my book. I also visited the Boys and Girls Club and the Girl Scouts. I did a writing presentation along with bringing copies of my book. I was also very blessed to have support from a local book store in my area. I entered an online library program and was able to get my book into the local library in my area on the e-book site of the library. This is the most tricky part and I am still learning, and navigating my way with this.
Keep up– This is an area where I have been a little lackluster. On average, a self-published author sells 250 copies, and 90% sell less than 100 copies. Last I checked, I was at the 200 count. These statistics are from this online article:
As you can see or read, self-publishing is a lot of work, but I have had a lot of fun with it. I met some really cool people, sold some books, and gained a world of knowledge I did not have before.
If you would like to check out my book series here is the website: https://mlmurraymurray.wixsite.com/mirandasdreams
Thank you for reading and please feel free to comment or contact me with any questions.
michellemurrayauthor 