A self-publishing adventure update
As many of you may know, I self-published a book using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program in the Summer of 2020. It was part COVID project, part passion project, and part tech exploration project. I love to write and have been exploring the best ways to get my work out into the world; this has been the perfect project for some experiments.
My book is a short “how-to” to teach people how to tell awesome stories with kids. It’s short (about 19000 words, I think), but I think it's a good no-nonsense length, which is valuable for busy parents who want some speedy storytelling inspiration. It doesn’t feature illustrations, though from what I have found, similar options are available for books with illustrations. I chose to make my book available in an ebook and a paperback, and am currently recording an audiobook version as well. I’m also migrating it into new retail spaces, which requires a redesign of the interior. Below, I share some tips for process, software tools, marketing, retailer info, and outsourcing some tasks (hint: DOOOO IT!), based on my experience.
Tip #1: Do more planning than is fun to do.
My self-publishing adventure happened basically on a whim, and while I’ve learned a ton in the aftermath, I’ve also created a bit more work for myself with my whimsical nature. Things you should consider, if you haven’t already:
Who is your ideal audience? Be specific. Very. Specific. Find them where they hang out on whatever social media platform you like the best. Don’t be a creeper, but start to establish yourself as a presence in their facebook groups and twitter debates if you haven’t already. This will make marketing so much easier in the future.
What formats are best for your book? E-book? Paperback? Hardback? Audiobook? Consider how your ideal readers spend their time and how they engage with books, and then prioritize the formats they like.
What marketing strategies do you enjoy? If you have a following, content marketing (blogging) may work well for you! Are you a youtuber? Do you like to guest post? Do you know how to use facebook or instagram ads? Will you use Amazon ads? Your answers to these questions will impact a bunch of your choices, as I’ll explain below. Perhaps you don’t plan to do any marketing! That’s also fine, but in that case you should really think about why you’re publishing your book to begin with. Some self-publishing options might actually be the most affordable way to share hardcopies of your work with your favorite 40 people and the handful of other people who fill find your book along the way, and that’s totally a valid goal! But just think about your goal ahead of time; and know that some marketing is part of the process for nearly all authors, self-published or not!
What skills do you want to learn and which do you want to outsource? Yes, I could learn to edit audio to the degree needed to produce an audiobook, but do I want to? Not really. I outsourced my cover design, my book design, and I’ll be outsourcing the audio editing for the audiobook. These are upfront costs that you may be inclined to skip, and if you want to use the project as an excuse to learn how to do any of these things, that’s great! But, even though I am a very capable DIY tech user, the time I spend doing these tasks is definitely not worth it for me. If you plan to outsource this stuff in advance, you can work with a budget from the outset and there will be fewer surprises. You can look for experts in the skills you need on Upwork or Fiverr, or offer to skill swap with friends.
Tip #2: Amazon may seem like the end-all-and-be-all of books, but this is actually not the case.
There are a ton of sites that host ebooks, and depending on how you plan to market, hosting in your own online store might make the most sense. There are also options other than Amazon for doing print-on-demand publishing for paperbacks (check out Bookbaby, for an example). Amazon is appealing because it’s one platform that handles all the formats of your book and offers marketing tools, but you might find that the small voice that questions the ethics of Amazon’s business model begins to nag at you at unexpected times.
There are definitely ways to support small businesses with your self-publishing adventure - check in with local print shops who might do small runs of your book, local artists who can do the art and design, and local businesses that are aligned with your subject and might stock your book for you. Plus, it’s super easy to set up an online store for digital products (I recommend payhip). Yes, you may want to have your book up on Amazon, but I’m actually pretty excited about getting my book in different places, for a host of reasons. I’m looking forward to supporting small businesses with a small printing run, and then I’ll sell my book at local bookstores, coffeeshops, and even farmer’s markets once it’s safe to do so.
You’ll find plenty of advice out there to be sure to use Amazon because “that’s where the readers are.” And that’s true in some ways, but marketing on Amazon’s platform is limited. I find Amazon’s ad options to be pretty expensive, though the data is helpful in tracing which search terms convert to customers. Personally, I get a much better response using facebook ads. However, I can only run certain types of facebook ads because some types can’t direct interested folks to a third party seller. I don’t yet have my ebook up in my online store yet, so I’m more limited in the marketing I can do on the platform that’s working the best for me. It’s coming soon though! I’m excited.
Tip #3: Kindle Create is not your friend.
It seems like a friend. It masquerades as a friend. But it is not, in fact, your friend. Amazon markets Kindle Create as a design tool, but the features in it are super limited and it has little to no editing utility. Once your book is in Kindle Create, it takes a good deal of know-how to get it back out again. Amazon has instructions for how to format a Word document so that it will translate well into an ebook and paperback, but I recommend you hire a book designer to format it into something pretty using one of the Adobe tools. You can find freelancers on Fiverr or Upwork, or use my awesome friend Becky Gilbert at Joy Art & Design! While it’s a cost, it is absolutely worth the cost if these aren’t skills you have.
I didn’t quite understand the limits of Kindle Create before I uploaded the draft of my book into it. I ended up doing more editing than expected after I moved the document, and I got stuck in Amazon’s proprietary software and document format. I eventually needed to download software (Calibre) and manually install a separate plugin to convert the file back into a Word document. If you do decide to use the Kindle Create tool, use it for formatting only. But mostly, don’t use it.
Tip #4: I’ve learned some helpful marketing skills/advice after the fact.
While Facebook has been a great platform for me to build a community, interact with potential readers, and promote to a targeted audience, there are some other marketing strategies I’ve considered and may try in the coming year. Again, all authors do marketing, and that usually requires time, energy, and sometimes an investment of dollars. I really encourage you to pick one thing to try at a time, and get good at it before you move into learning something new. This is especially true for social media marketing! In no particular order, things I’ll be experimenting with in the new year are:
Newsletters like Bookbub and Free booksy, which will feature your book while you’re running a discounted or free promotion. Usually they charge a small fee. It seems like this is most useful if you publish in a popular genre.
Consider offering an excerpt or a portion of the book as a freebie in order to build an email list so you can do more direct marketing to people who have self-identified as being interested in what you have to offer. You don’t necessarily need a website to do this as there are some landing page building tools that I think can host these kinds of freebie opt-ins on their own, but as with everything, a website is helpful. (Psst, I can help with this. Contact me to chat.)
Guest post on relevant blogs/publications, or offer to be a guest on a relevant podcast (see tips about how to pitch podcasts from podcast expert, Mai-Kee Sang here)
Find bookbloggers and/or booktubers who like to review books in your genre, and try to get your book on their reading list
Engaging on Goodreads
There are websites dedicated to connecting authors with people who love to review books. It can take some work to find folks to do a review depending on your genre, but there are lots of these people out there, apparently.
Offer workshops/webinars in partnership with local public institutions or community groups to build your authority as a teacher and creator and increase your audience.
Try using facebook live videos as a tool to build engagement
Unsurprisingly, the DIY opportunity that is self-publishing leads even further down the DIY rabbit hole. It’s been mostly fun, if sometimes a bit tedious, to explore. Hopefully these tips help you get started asking the right questions before you dive in.
Is this an adventure you’ve taken before? What tips would you add to this list?? Share your wisdom below.
