My journey to Self Publishing

So last night I was up until four am-yet again-obsessing over everything I need to do to self publish.

Honestly I think this is the hardest I’ve ever worked for anything in my life, but it’s well worth it. I chose to self publish because most of the agents and traditional publishing houses I looked into weren’t accepting queries due to a high volume of clients and or my book just didn’t fit their criteria.

When I first began this journey around a year ago, I wrote my entire first draft (based on some crazy dreams I was having at the time) in a week. I probably could have pounded it out faster, lol, lord knows I wanted to but I am a mother and a wife and a fairly responsable adult.

Recently I finished my third and I believe the final draft of my first book ‘Prophecy of the Seven’ the first installment in ‘The Genesis Project Series’. I am beyond overjoyed at this…but this is where the hard work truly begins.

I now have to market my book, find beta readers (had some but would love for a few more to have a look), find someone who can and will do my book cover and it actually looked targeted toward the age group I wrote it for (18+) and be able to afford it!

Has anyone else struggled with finding and affording a quality cover?

Then I thought well I would love to have a few copies of my book printed…thus I stumbled onto a blog about Create a space a subsidiary of Amazon…Well would you look at that! I can have my book out there in paper-how exciting!

But the cost of POD is a cost no matter how you spin it….but I’ve talked to my husband and we decided that maybe after a week or two of the Kindle and Barnes and Nobles Nook version being out there we would go ahead and order a few and see how they do…You never know…I may be in for a super surprise, then again maybe not…but at least I tried and saw the whole process through.

What other eReader do you use? I would LOVE to hear.

Are you self published, or attempting like me to stumble blind through everything, reading anything and everything you can find on self publishing?

If you are self published what was your experience? DId you POD?

And what do you believe the best form of marking is? Facebook, WordPress, Twitter, Goodreads?

How did you grow your audience?

 

These are all questions that flow through my mind all day long. How…How…How… lol.

In the end I suppose it will all be done…My early May release date is almost threatened due to this cover mishap *Sigh* but in the end I know when it does release it will be phenomenal.

 

Can’t wait to hear your side of the ‘story’.

C.L.D.

Book Cover

I am super excited! Ah! Lol

So I just received a sneak peek at my new cover.  I am beyond happy with how it’s turning out.

Yay!

Covers, Graphics and Design. Oh my!

Ok, so I will admit that I am a total newb when it comes to all things publishing.  I understand that as a self publisher you wear many hats.

What I don’t understand is why it is so hard to find what you’re looking for, what you need, and obtain it easily.

Recently I hired a guy to design the cover for The Genesis Project : Prophecy of the Seven.  He had ample experience and his portfolio… ah-may-zing!

At the time I couldn’t believe my luck! This guy had cut me a deal understanding that I am a hopeful first time self publishing author.

He asked what my book was about and my different main characters – which can get confusing Reighlyn D’Crey is the main character who share her spot light with six sub mains.- I gave him my idea, my vision for the cover and he did the complete opposite.

What he did was great but not what I needed or could use, worse he had already received payment.

Just to be clear I am not complaining.  I simply want to inform other hopefuls like myself,  finding someone who can and will do quality work at a small price is hard to come by.

Beware.

Finding someone to proofread and edit.

How is it possible for first time self publishing authors to publish IF editing costs 1/3.5 cents a WORD? Lol my first book is just under 47K.  That’s a lot of cash – I’m not saying it’s not worth it or not to do it. If you have the money go for it!-

There has to be a better way.

I found Fiverr.

While I still had to save to get my book edited I paid a 1/4 of what everyone else asked.

Research, research, research.

Finally I’ve decided to give it a go on designing my own cover. I have training in Adobe products so why not. Lol.

It may work out in my favor, it may not, we’ll see.

As it stands I still plan on launching The Genesis Project : Prophecy of the Seven soon. Maybe sooner than anticipated.  🙂