Self publishing for starters

Back in October 2011 I started to realise that the Publishing Industry was changing in a very significant way and people didn’t really know about it. I wrote a series of posts at that time over on my website, where I talked about my book publishing experiences thus far. I remember it being a steep learning curve, and I guess in many respects, it still is. In this day and age, authors have to be all-rounders capable of anything and everything (see my post The 10 Jobs of a Modern Day Writer). It’s also a journey encompassing just about every emotion you can imagine.

Check out these posts:

The Real Deal - I talk about the differences between publishing with a Traditional verses an Independent.

Luxuries and Publicists – An example to illustrate the points I was making in The Real Deal, and posing the question “Publisher or Publicist?”

Publishing Revolution – Amazon verses traditional publishing houses as eBooks outsell paperbacks for the first time on Amazon.

Embracing Amazon – Amazon is actively plugging the gaps left open by Traditionals and smashing the stigma of self / vanity publishing.

What Will 2012 Bring? – An industry in turmoil with the spoils there for the taking, if we writers keep an open mind and embrace change.

So a couple of years on and eBooks are still going strong. There’s never been a better time to realise this market’s awesome potential and self publish your way to success.

Here are some pointers to start you off:

Find your price point - lots of authors are building their platform / online presence by keeping the price of their books between 99p and £2.99. Remember what I said in this post - I could make the same profit by selling my book directly with Amazon for 99p, as I am right now going through an Indie Publisher and selling it for £12.99!

Write great content - goes without saying. There's a lot of trash out there, people trying to make a quick buck by writing crap. Don't be one of them! Be the authority on your subject matter.

Understand metadata - I'm still getting to grips with metadata and search engine optimisation (SEO) but here's a post I wrote a while back to give you a basic understanding. You want to ensure your book is top of those search engines especially Google's.

Have a hook - with all the books online, you need to stand out from the crowd. Why should someone read your book over other books in the same genre?

Integrate online - don't just create your author platform and then sit back and wait for things to get started. You need to be blogging, tweeting, facebooking, Google+ing, Pinning, Instagramming, StumblingUpon daily to keep your digital presence alive. This is how you reach a worldwide audience with just a few clicks and you build your fan base slowly but surely.