Back to self-publishing....

Self-publishing is a tough road. I'm not sure I'd do it again with the current book I'm working on, but I'm not sure if a minor author published through a major publishing house would fare THAT much better than what I'm struggling with. From what I know, only advantage they could possibly have would be that the distribution channels would be smoother (like getting the books into the Borders stores). So, if you want to give it a shot, here it is.

I called iUniverse on 2/3/09. My book didn't get "published" until 6/29/09 and I didn't get a review copy until the end of July'09. But I really didn't get much sales activity going until November'09 because my books weren't returnable until late October'09.

Things to keep in mind from the beginning-

1. Returnability. Without this, you can't get the books into the stores.
2. Copy Right. Just get it when you get the package. You can definitely get discounts at that time, but not very likely later.
3. Library of Congress #. I didn't get this one, but I regret it. I would get it next time.
4. Cover Copy Polish. I bought this, but I'm not sure how useful it was to me. The cover copy came back very close to what I had already. I'm not sure I'd do that again.
5. Press Release/Email Marketing campaign. I bought the cheapest package and it didn't work at all. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS OPTION. It was nice to get a copy of a press release a publishing house like iUniverse would write for their authors, but I would definitely not do this again. I can do it on my own. I'll post my press release which I paid $300 for on this blog some time later.

Of course, you’d have to write a good story, but more than anything, please keep your manuscript clean. Make sure there are absolutely minimal spelling and grammar issues (I know how hard this is because I think I have a few in my book and I thought I went through it with a fine tooth comb. At the end, I was asking my husband to put me out of my misery).

I’ll address issues in more detail in later blogs.

The MOST important thing - keep on writing, even when you yourself is thinking this is crap.