Writing Gem #14: Self-Publishing Tips

If you've been following me for a while, you know that I self-published Cobbogoth before it was picked up by Cedar Fort.  With them, I spent six months heavily revising it and now it's being re-released as Uncovering Cobbogoth. 

I haven't really talked a lot about my self-publishing journey on here, because I guess I never really thought anyone would be interested. That's when I remembered how I started learning about self-publishing, and it was by reading books and blogs written by people who'd done it and in someway experienced a measure of success.

In the hopes that someone researching this route of starting their writing career will benefit, I've decided to share now. 

First of all, I never sold thousands of books as an indie author, but I still consider my self-publishing adventure a great success!  Why? Because it helped me catch the attention of my current publisher.  If you've been submitting to agents and publishing houses for longer than you care to admit, you know that that is a very valid form of success. 

So, what are the other perks from going Indie?  Authors do it for all kinds of reasons. Here are three pretty good ones:

1) You get to have complete control over the entire process and how the final product turns out.

2) You have the potential to make A LOT more money through higher royalty percentages if you're successful at it.

3) If you're having a hard time getting past the publishing "gate keepers" going indie could be your ticket to snagging yourself a professional publisher.

Like anything, there are negatives to self-publishing, too. Here are three I found:

1) You have to do EVERYTHING yourself.

2) You don't have the weight of a professional publisher to lend as much credibility to your book where accessing readers is concerned.

3) It is A LOT of work and, depending on how you decide to do it, can be fairly pricey up front.  

Here's a little bit of what I learned from my own experience. 

As with all of my Gems, I don't claim to be an all-knowing expert, I'm just sharing what I've learned throughout my journey, because, as I said above, I'm all about making yours a little easier. :-)

So, I hope this is helpful to those of you trying to make a decision about how to get your writing career started.  If you have any questions, feel free to post them in a comment.  I'd love to answer the ones I can.  ;-)

Good luck in whatever you decide, and thanks for stopping by!