Seven months ago, my life changed...and in a good way. I self-published my very first book. And no, I didn't just wake up one day and say to myself, "Hmm...I think I'm going to write/publish a book today."
I'm here to tell you, it doesn't (and CAN'T) happen that way. Reading and writing has been my favorite past time ever since I was a kid. In high school, our English teacher had us keep a journal that we had to write in the first five or ten minutes everyday, and while most of my peers groaned about having to do this, I couldn't wait. By the time she told us we could stop writing, I'd have several pages written, while some of my classmates had struggled to write even one paragraph.
Growing up in a small town, I always thought that to have my stories (that's what I called them back then) published, I had to be 'discovered', much like scouts who go out and find singers and models. I thought that someone who knew someone more important, had to make my dream happen for me; and because I knew there was no way in hell anybody would 'find' me in a small (very small) town in southern Arkansas, I'd better stick with my day job.
After I became a mom at the age of twenty, I put my dreams aside, and raised my two lovely children, who are now 16 and 10 years old. And now that they are older (and don't have much time for me) I had time to revisit my own dream- writing. I powered on my laptop one day and found documents from as far back as 2012, short stories I'd written when I had a moment of free time to myself, old notebooks where I'd written even more. Again, I had no idea as to what to do with my work, so I set it aside. Then, while chitchatting with a buddy on Facebook one day, she was telling me how she had written several books and was working on self-publishing them. I had no idea what she was talking about, but then she explained that you, meaning I, could publish my own books, without waiting to be signed to a traditional publisher.
So, I logged off of Facebook, and logged onto Google, and searched 'self-publish' and the amount of information was overwhelming, at first. There were articles on top of more articles about the subject, and I read as many of them as I could. I happen to love researching things, so I read and gathered as much information as I could, and by the time I was done, I told myself to go for it. And let me be the first to say, it wasn't easy. There are many important steps to follow, such as creating a business/publishing company and getting it registered, getting a copyright for the book, finding a graphics designer to create a cover...it's not that hard, but definitely not as easy as it looks.
Now, on to the pros and why I love self-publishing: I am my own boss. I don't answer to anyone concerning what I write. I write what I want, when I want, as often as I want. I'm not on anybody's deadlines (other than if I set one for myself) but if something comes up and I'm not finished with a book when I said I wanted to be, that's perfectly okay. I've always been the type who loves doing things for myself and I hate asking people to do things for me (that's a pride issue that I've been trying to work on) so being able to publish my own book without waiting for a publisher to decide for me what genre I should write in, when I should release it, how many pages it should be, what the cover should look like- I get to make all of those decisions for myself. And while I have used graphics designers to design the covers of some of my books, armed with all the information I'd gotten from Google, I learned to design a couple of them myself. These are two covers that I designed myself.
All it takes it a little time and know-how. Also, aside from being my own boss, the royalties I earn from my book sales, are mine to keep. On a daily basis, I come across authors complaining about 'some' publishers out there, who only pay their authors pennies in comparison to what they get. I don't have that problem. If publishing through Amazon, which is not a bad way to go, you get a check at the end of every month...you can even have it direct deposited to your bank account, like I did, and you don't have to worry about waiting for the mailman all day. Yes, the responsibility falls on me to market, distribute, and advertise my own books, but it beats working hard on a manuscript and pitching it to a traditional publishing house, only to wait for months to hear back, and then be rejected because the book is too short, or it doesn't fit their standards. Also, it can take over a year to have your book released with traditional publishing, because they have so many authors they're working with. However with self-publishing, you can have a paperback book finished in a few months and with Amazon's e-book publishing, that time is reduced to days. Also with services like Amazon's Creatspace Independent Print On Demand, authors can print as many books as they want or need at a time.
With the information that I found on Google, I published my first book, My Secret Life: Confessions of a Housewife, for less than $100.00, including sending in for the copyright, and opting to design the cover myself. If you have the money for a designer, that's fine...but a cheaper alternative is to do as I did and visit stock photo sites, such as dreamstime and shutterstock, purchase the photo, then use a photo editing site to design the cover. I spent about $15.00 on the covers I designed above, as compared to the hundreds of dollars a professional would charge you, depending on what you want. Also, while I'm searching through the hundreds of photos on sites such as these, I come across some of the same photos that I've seen as book covers that are designed by professional graphics designers. So you're essentially paying them to do the same thing you could do yourself, but that's completely up to you.
Also, if you do have to ask other authors for assistance-as I did a time or two myself- make sure it's someone who genuinely wants to help you. Another thing I see often on social media, are publishers/authors who are obviously asked questions from someone who needs their help, then they take to Facebook to bash them after the fact. When I first got into publishing, I 'friended' other authors who I thought it would be good to network with. I have since deleted over half of them because unfortunately, the negativity on Facebook will have someone looking to write and publish (rather by themselves or with a publisher) change their minds. There is a lot of bullying, trash-talking, and discouraging comments from some people, but luckily I'm not a person who bought into all of that. I simply deleted them, and moved forward. I'm trying to accomplish something, build a brand, make a name for myself, and I don't have any room for negative people, trying to discourage me, so beware.
All in all, I love it. Yes, there are moments when it can get frustrating, but it's very rewarding. I will say, don't write or publish books with the intent to get rich quick or make money, because you will be sorely disappointed. Because I'm a new author, it took a while before people even knew who I was. There are so many authors out there, most of them trying to achieve the same goal, so you must be patient and know that it takes time to see that your hard work has paid off.
Another thing to keep in mind- once you hit that publish book button, you've now put your work, and yourself, out there for the world to see. Meaning, there are going to be some people who read your books, they make not like them, and they won't hesitate to let you know that. The customer reviews on Amazon can be brutal at times, so if you don't have a thick skin, you better get one...fast, or else don't even bother. The fact is, not everybody will like your work, and you have to be okay with that. Trust me, it's a huge blow to get a 1 or 2 star rating on something you've worked so hard on, but use that as motivation to do better, which is what I do. When I get a negative rating/review, I've learned to brush it off, keep writing, and do better next time. The reward comes when I have readers who love my books and encourage me to write more. I've published books that I wrote with the intent to be a single, stand-alone title, only to have readers request that I follow that book up with a sequel, which let's me know that I must be doing something right...somebody, somewhere likes it. I tell myself that if I manage to make even one person happy, then I've done my job, regardless of that the overall ratings may show on Amazon. Write what you know, what makes you happy, not what you think will sell, and you will be fine. Good luck!
