Writing Update #17: What I've Learned

 Code Red has been out for close to six months now. I've got to start off with a couple brags of course. Below are some reviews I've gotten: 

Okay now that we're passed the minor ego trip, I want to share some of the steps I took as I figured out self-publishing. I don't believe that authors are in competition with one another and if anything about my journey can help another author figure out exactly how they want to go about self-publishing I'd love to help. I'm still learning so trust me I'm sure a year from now I'll look back on this post and have better information. I learn something new about the process every day. 

• What platforms did I work with? There are a couple options when you have a book to self-publish. A popular option is going to Amazon, using KDP to be part of the KU program. However, this limits where your ebook can be available. You make a few cents per page read. I did not choose KU for my first novel. I had always imagined my books being available everywhere. So with some good advice from a friend, I published Code Red on Amazon, Kobo (And I was able to enroll in Kobo Plus), B&N/Nook, and later down the road Google Play. I am still working on figuring out how to meet Apple's requirements, but I'm sure eventually I will. I have not yet used Draft 2 Digital, after a recent situation with them involving their opinions on AI I am unsure if I will. I also use IngramSpark for physical copies. IngramSpark has far better print quality than Amazon, I highly recommend using them for your print copies. You can do an ebook as well, I have not yet broached that option. 
• How do you market? Well let me be honest, I'm still figuring out marketing. I did hire a PA (if you're interested in working with her, please feel free to reach out. She also did the cover art for Code Red and Blue Dreams. She's very talented with fantastic prices). Social media is not my forte so I knew I needed someone that could handle that for me. We're still working to grow my platforms, and I hope with time I'll start to see better numbers. I have not started investing my money in ads yet. It is on my list, but I feel that until I'm seeing a larger profit margin paying for ads is a low priority on my list. Facebook book groups are my best friend. 
• ISBN’s? If you are only planning to enroll in KU and use Amazon for getting all of your physical copies you can absolutely use Amazon’s free ISBN numbers. However, if you intend to use any other platforms for publishing please consider investing in ISBN numbers through Bowker. While it isn’t cheap to do so, you can use their ISBN numbers on any publishing platform. 
• How did I format? I want to be honest with you. I am not the tech wizard that formatted their novel themselves using word. I also didn’t go the free route and use Reedsy. I want to mention both of those before I tell you about what I used. When you are self publishing and paying for each thing out of your own money it’s important to consider where you invest. If you are comfortable using Word and already have a Microsoft subscription go for it. If you need something free Reedsy comes to me highly recommend from other indie authors. Personally, I write in Word, but I didn’t feel confident enough in my abilities to format myself. I purchased Atticus. This was a long term investment, a commitment that I was going to continue writing and publishing. Atticus is fairly user friendly, with plenty of turtorials on how to use all of its features. You can also use it to write your novel as well. I am still partial to Word when writing. 
• Editing? It’s easy enough to follow along on my journey from writing Code Red at eighteen to finally releasing it at twenty five. Editing was a very long and arduous journey for me. I didn’t hire an editor. Instead I had a number of people read Code Red at every stage, taking their notes and critiques to improve it. I’m sure if I cracked the cover of Code Red today I would find plenty of mistakes, but I think the product that I released can hold its own. My suggestion to those of you unable to hire an editor is to reach out to as many people as you trust with your manuscript. Keep your feelings and ego out of it, and listen to what help they try to offer you. Once I was pretty confident in the quality of my work, I ran it through Hemingway Editor. This allowed me to take care of run on sentences and other mistakes that this website catches. I am not a huge fan of Grammarly, but it might be helpful to others. 

I think I’ll stop the post there. It’s a lot of information to absorb. If you’re interested in asking specific questions or learning more about how I handle the writing/editing/publishing process please feel free to reach out to me. Remember to follow your dreams!

Taila Out.