The Writers Guild of Free Republic ping list:
Thanks for posting.
Good luck to you, Laz. As for me, I can’t even write a grocery list.
Bookmarking
bttt
My only add is to the editing - Whether you self edit or use an editing service, listen to your book....several times. If using Word, use the Read Aloud command. If not, there are numerous free programs to listen to your manuscript. Very important.
I learned this after I started doing my own narration for audiobooks - I not only caught typos that the editor did not catch but also lines or words that might create a stumbling block for readers (if they have to read a sentence twice to understand it, it stinks).
Have fun!
Good info there. Thanks. My question: What about the length of a book?
Did BookBub or Amazon have any restrictions there? For example, suppose your book had been only 50 pages long. Would either outfit still have been interested?
I ask this because I read somewhere that if a novel is less than a certain number of pages, publishers would not be interested. I think the number was 250, but I can’t be sure of that.
Wow, thank you Laz, I have a book about custody cases and how a client ought to conduct themselves that I want to load into Kindle or get somehow published. This is solid gold information.
Bkmk
Thanks much for the publishing guide, and good luck with your book. Did you get a lot of reviews lined up already? That is a key to success.
Thanks! Very helpful. We have a friend who has written a novel, chose some Indian-based publisher, and is going through hell with every aspect.
(I’m not sure he knew they were Indian)
You are in the tech world, you must know exactly what that means.
Hubs did the editing before the Indians did their own brand of editing. :/ ..... Mylanta! they are the most arrogant and ignorant @$$holes on earth.
The author is in a few grand and I believe is trying to get out with his money.
Woo Hoo! Congratulations!
May be this be the first of as many as you desire.
I’ve written 21 books, but only two are self-published. The others were published by recognized publishers (e.g., Prentice-Hall, McMillan, Apress, etc.) The last two were done with Kindle. The only shortcoming of self-publishing is finding an effective way to advertise your book. I’ve tried the “click-through” approach, but that was not all that successful. The problem could be that my books are mostly in the computer programming field, so they are not novels or “popular” books. My latest is on getting better grades with AI, but it’s still tough marketing the book.
My suggestion is for you to have some kind of marketing plan in mind when you launch the book. Simple presence in the market is not enough.
1. Anybody who can work a computer can print to pdf and catch (most) font loading issues - and thus review before uploading. About 4 mouse clicks. Even with this, I had one hyphenation failure.
2. You didn’t mention ordering proof copies at cost - much better for many of us to proofread a physical book (after correcting errors on screen). Only takes a few days for delivery. Either way, read each page three times - but only one page at a time (get up and do something else for a minute in between). Read each word separately to detect typos - or you’ll end up just reading the story - which is a different focus and should have already been done prior to this final go through.
3. Your payout percentages are incorrect on sales of paper copies. What is it - something like 45% of list price?
4. A huge advantage over the old way is that there are no up front costs and you can later edit (I found additional important source material after publishing) - again at no cost. Paper copies are print on demand - a buyer orders a copy and amazon prints, bills, and ships. Totally hands free for writer.
Warm congratulations and thanks for the post.
Hey Laz,
Congratulations on your book being accepted. It is a good read. You might want to look into making it an audible if the sales warrant the expense, although that publisher I told you about has a deal if you can stand an AI reading it. Much Luck!
Getting a book published and marketed is tough. Heck writing a book itself is a slog. But those nest steps: published and marketed? That’s REALLY hard. Know this. Been there, done that, have the t-shirt — and frankly the road rash.
Laz knows what he is talking about here. Anyone interested in becoming a real published author: LISTEN Learn from those who have been there!
Thank you posting this.
tthanks for the info. i cant wait to try it out.