Hello Readers,
In the spirit of the 10% Club giving you a taste of my writing for each of my titles, I thought I would add my non-fiction title Get Published: An Author’s Guide To Self-Publishing. So, here’s an excerpt for you. Enjoy.
Get Published: An Author’s Guide To Self-Publishing by A Walsh
Introduction
When I started to write several years ago, I had no idea what I was doing. Over time, my skills improved and I managed to put together some work that I was proud of — proud enough to publish. But when I was ready to put it out to the world, once again, I had no idea how to do it. So, I did some research and established the routes available. This is what I found:-
Traditional Publishing: Where you pitch your manuscript to an established publishing house (either yourself or through an agent) and if they like it, they buy the rights from you. They may give you an advance and produce the book. They usually provide some marketing, but the extent of this varies, and a lot of authors are required to do their own marketing. You get paid a royalty on any sales, but not until any advance is paid back, and typically, the amount is between 5% and 15%. These payments are usually made at 6 month intervals.
Vanity Press: This is where a writer pays a publishing company to produce their book, it can be quite costly and you usually need to order large quantities. You are then left on your own to market and sell your books. You will hear stories of authors that have boxes of books stored in a cupboard or in their garage. They are usually the authors that went to a vanity press.
Print on Demand: This is a service where you upload an electronic file of your book to a company like Ingram Spark. When someone buys a copy, they print a single book and post it to the purchaser. They take a cut of the purchase for their trouble and you get a percentage of the sale price in royalties.
Independent Publishing: An author who creates their own ‘Imprint’ (their own publishing house) would be an independent publisher.
Self-Publishing: A lot of authors are self-publishing these days. A self-published author is one who publishes their own work. It is easy to produce an e-book these days. It is also relatively easy to produce a PDF for a print on demand (POD) book. Other options are to print via a Vanity Press and audio books are quickly gaining in popularity.
Hybrid Publishing: A hybrid publisher is one who publishes through a combination of the above methods.
These days people refer to Independent (or ‘Indie’) publishing and Self-Publishing as the same thing. I’ve listened to the arguments for and against ‘Traditional’ versus ‘Indie’ publishing. I knew right from the beginning that self-publishing was the method I wanted to pursue. The reasons for me were clear:
– No deadlines to meet (unless self-imposed)
– No waiting for months on an acceptance/rejection
– No middleman to take my hard earned profits
– No compromising on the cover I want
– No compromising on the story I want to tell
These are just a few reasons, but the key element for me is that I have control; Control to succeed or fail on my own terms. Of course, not knowing if my books were going to sell, I did not want to spend a fortune either. And so it was that I spent months researching how to create e-books and print books, along with how to market them, all on a budget. I found several sources out there that were useful, but only on one topic, and usually there was a lot of filler — the stuff you have to read through to get to the details you need. Some books could have been pared back by at least 50% and still offered the same relevant information. I do not intend to fill this book with irrelevant information. I am also not going to talk about the writing process or how to write a story. You should already be competent at that and ready to take the next step.
There is some work that needs to be done to set yourself up as a self-publisher, but once you are set up you will be able to self-publish whenever you are ready. This book should give you a good understanding of what is required. The way I create my books is not the only way it can be done. There are many ways to format an e-book, and software is continually being developed to make things easier. The writing and publishing scene is continually evolving. I’m no expert, but I know many writers who don’t have a clue how to self-publish, and I am not one of them. I may not know the best way to do things, but I do know how I do it and I am sharing my knowledge with you in this book. This is How to Self-Publish on a Budget – An Authors Guide to Self-Publishing.
The Tools I Use
Every writer needs a toolbox. Not a physical metal box with hammers and screwdrivers, but a set of tools and techniques they use. I’m going to share mine with you here and a little about what they are.
Production tools
Microsoft Word: MS Word is a word processor. Many writers use MS Word to write their novels, and it can be done on Word. It’s how I started writing, but the more you write with it, the more you realise that there must be a better tool for authors, and there is. I will get to that a little later though. Right now, I want to talk about MS Word because it is still a very useful tool. I use it to submit my work to my writer’s groups for critique. I also use it to send my manuscripts to beta readers. It also has a very good find and replace function. This is a great tool, not only if you want to change the names of your characters in your story, but also to locate and edit your ‘special characters’ in your text. What are special characters? Things like these @#$%^&*()”:> – Give away a copy of your book for an honest review on Goodreads or Amazon.
Tip 5: Automate your social media as much as possible.
I have also established the following social media/online presences:
– A Facebook account,
– A Facebook Page,
– A Tumblr account,
– An Author page on Amazon’s Author Central and,
– A Goodreads profile.
My website is established on WordPress and this is my main platform. It’s set up to automatically post on all the above sites when I publish a post on WordPress. Add all your social media sites to your own website to do the same (whether you are on Wix, WordPress or another site, you should be able to automate this). Use the help options or user forums to work out how to do so.
Tip 6: Create a ‘sign up’ form at the top of your home page.
On your website, you will need to establish a ‘sign up’ form to capture the e-mails of your readers. There is more than one way of doing this and it will depend on the site you are using. Again, use the help options or user forums to work out how to do this. WordPress has an option for a form to be inserted on a page and you will receive an email with the details when someone signs up. E-mail services such as Mailchimp will also allow you to create a link that can be inserted on your website that will take the reader to a sign up form on the e-mail service. This is my suggested option. Whatever you do, make it simple, something like a link titled ‘follow me’ which takes your reader to the sign up form. On the form you should state what they are signing up to. Such as – sign up to my blog for updates on my new releases. A word of caution – if you tell your readers they are signing up for details of new releases, don’t spam them with every new post you write, a weekly newsletter and daily promos. Just send them an update when you have a new release. Otherwise you will find you could lose just as many readers as you gain. Weekly newsletters and daily promos are a valid way to build your list, but some options take more time and effort than others. Decide what works for you, just make it clear what your reader is signing up for.
Tip 7: Get a PO Box.
Unless you are happy to use your home address, you will probably need to register a PO Box. Mail Chimp requires you to provide a postal address that is displayed on all your e-mails to satisfy anti-spamming laws, and I’m sure other services would be the same. If a PO Box option seems too expensive, consider teaming up with a fellow author friend to share a PO Box (someone reliable), and splitting the cost. Once you have a PO Box, you should add it to your social media sites under your contact details. I have mine on my website and Facebook page.
Tip 8: Set up an e-mail signature.
You should also set up an e-mail signature to add to your electronic mail along with links to your social media. This is what my e-mail sign off looks like:
Allan Walsh – Author, find me at:
– www.allanwalshauthor.com
– www.facebook.com/allan.walsh.549
– Po Box 7335, Loganholme, QLD 4129, Australia.
Tip 9: Create a sign up form or follow button at the bottom of your home page.
WordPress also has a ‘follow’ button that can be set up for people to follow your blog/webpage. There is an option for people to add their email address so they receive an email advice every time you post and there is an option that does not collect the email address. E-mails collected through the first method are collected by WordPress and you would need to get the details from your insights page (under e-mail followers) and manually transfer them to your list on a mailing service, on your own spreadsheet or other method. But, these sign-ups are only for the purpose of following your blog posts, and not specifically for the purpose you have detailed on your sign-up form. WordPress will send your blog posts out to anyone who has signed up here. You should not abuse your followers trust by using their email to spam them with content they did not ask for. I no longer have a follow button on my website, I have a sign up option at the top and bottom of the page. There is still a way for readers to follow you on WordPress without placing these buttons on your website.
Tip 10: Get a Privacy Policy & place it on your blog.
If you are collecting personal details, you will also need a Privacy Policy. You should get your own legal advice on this, but you can search the internet for examples/templates or look at the privacy policy on websites you frequent (that are based in your country of residence) and model your own on these. This Privacy Policy should be made available on/or via a link on your website and you should adhere to it. With the recent General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) for collecting data in European countries, you may also want to ensure yours in GDPR compliant.
If you enjoyed this sample of my writing, please share it with your friends.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in some libraries.