I have 4 self-published books. It has been a learning experience.
I was in the middle of a chemo treatment when I read and briefly posted on this article. So, yeah, I have four ebooks (three at Barnes & Noble and Amazon, the fourth at Smashwords) and am at the occasional pizza money level of success. An overlooked part of the process is the marketing of the books. It is very rare for someone to just, ‘throw something out there’ and become mega successful. It can happen, but you car can also be crushed by a rockslide. The self-published author has to understand that real success comes with hard work in three major areas: the creative (book & cover), the technical &(editing, formatting), and the branding (advertising, blogging, and a few other things). Then again, without financial success there are less tangible forms of reward. I like to think the people who do buy my books are enjoying them. And it is satisfying to know I’ve only sold a handful to people I know. The rest are strangers out there in the world. And that brings its own level of coolness to the process. I won’t blog-pimp, but if you are interested, see my tagline for where to go.