So... I self published a children's book. There are a few things that I learned through the experience and I thought I'd put it out there for anyone who may be interested in self publishing! Also, if you want to check out my book click here.
1.) Choosing a Printer.
Choosing a printer is one of the most important things you will do. It will determine how much you sell your book for, the quality of your book, how fast you can get it printed, how fast you can get it shipped, how fast you can get it reprinted, etc.
You need to like your printer. You work with them a lot! It is super important to do your homework and figure out which printer is right for you. Questions you need to know when finding a printer are:
- How long is the book?
- Is this book a picture book, chapter book, novel?
- How many books are you wanting to print?
- Quality vs. Quantity
- Domestic vs. Foreign printers
In the researching I have done many literary agents and publishing houses look down on printing in China because it tends to be sub par work. Hong Kong is okay but I would stay away from printing from China. If anyone has printed with them and had a good experience I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
One site that was the most helpful for me was, this one. It has hundreds of printers and their contact information. I was able to go through the list and contact multiple printers. In the end I went with Jostens who have been amazing!!! I chose them because they were perfect for my needs, a 30 page children's picture book. Mike McCoy is my contact and his email is mike4jostens@earthlink.net if you want to reach out to him. Jostens was way more pricey when printing smaller quantities of books but with higher quantities the prices drop dramatically.
2.) Do Not Print Until You Are Ready... Really Ready.... Really, Really Ready!
The biggest lesson I learned from self publishing is you need to pinpoint your demographic, figure out what you want out of the book, figure out what your audience wants and make it pristine before going to the printers.
I printed 2000 books to start with only to find out that people didn't like it. I was getting 2-4 Star ratings and I thought my books was perfect. When I got feedback from people, of course, it is super painful but changing it up only made it that much better and I'm so grateful for the comments and feedback now because I can confidently say that I have a great book and it's not just my own opinion.
Some ideas to getting it out there for review are:
- Meet with a real life editor and pay them!
- get a focus group in your demographic who have no idea who you are and write up questions you want to know. Get their real opinion of the book and see what they think.
- Give it to people you do know who read a lot of books, who are going to be 100% honest with you and someone you trust.
- Send it to an online form or online book reviewers! This is the best place http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers/
3.) Take Your Time!
Do not set unrealistic goals and do not speed things up. Take a breath and know that writing is art. It takes time. You will need to outline your timeline, launch, resellers, etc but it all takes time and you are on a journey that will take longer than you may think. Just to get books printed it usually takes between 8-10 weeks so once it's off to the printers you can start working on launch, campaigning, etc.
Here is a realistic timeline that took me a full year to roll out without all the kinks:
1.) Write the book.
2.) Edit the book 5 million times
3.) Send it to my demographic group for feedback and talk with professionals about their opinions.
4.) Get an Illustrator.
5.) Meet with the illustrator to figure out what they style will be, get the feel for the book, etc.
6.) Put the book together.
7.) Repeat step 3 again.
8.) edit it and make it perfect again.
9.) Repeat step 3 again.
10.) Make it perfect again.
11.) Repeat steps 9 and 10 until it really is perfect.
12.) Send it to the printer.
13.) Start getting launch ready and roll out marketing campaigns.
4.) Do the work and change for the better no matter how painful it is.
I think that Authors aren't successful because they aren't willing to do the work and change their piece for the better. They get stuck in thinking that it's perfect, it's art, it's my baby, it's whatever they think. The fact is, there is a fine line between being true to yourself and appealing to the masses. You may have to take out your favorite part, add a whole new chapter, redo the drawings, start again from scratch, look at it with a new perspective but it's okay. Take it a day at a time and do the work. You'll be proud when it's a best seller.
5.) Copyrighting
I thought that copyrighting seemed super daunting. It's not. Go here and simply follow the instructions. It took me a total of 15 minutes to do it. I got a copy right for my words as well as for the pictures.
I was nervous getting the copyright after I started giving it to people so I got it for my first draft. With all of the changes I made I wondered if I needed to copy right it again but, under the copyright law if someone tries to copy even the idea of my book, I am covered so I didn't end up getting another one.
6.) EBooks
Why not get an ebook version? It is very inexpensive, if not free, and it is easy to market with almost no overhead. My only 2 pieces of advice are:
1.) Price it lower than $4.99.
2.) Get as many 5 Star reviews as possible.
Here are some ebook sites to research:
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
Smashwords
BookBaby
Barnes & Noble's Publt
Lulu
BookTango
Scribd
7.) Use Social To Market Your Book and EBook!
When you self publish everything is on you. Getting your first printed book in the mail is heaven! It's amazing to flip through the pages knowing that you created something! However, the real journey is only beginning. You now have to market it, sell it, get it out there. Where do you start? How does it get ratings? What can you do to sell it online or in stores?
I will start out by saying you don't have to spend a lot of money to make money, especially with books. Use sources that are free to start and go from there.
Here are some things you should do to start your marketing campaigns:
1.) AMAZON.com!!!! More books are sold here than anywhere. The more reviews you have the better. If you can get people to post about your book on amazon.com your book will sell more.
2.) Etsy.com is free. Use it! Get people to post reviews.
3.) Friends and Family. Use them! Books are like restaurants, people go to restaurants because someone recommended it. If people like your book, they will recommend it.
4.) Sell them at stores. Start local. Do readings. Make it fun and don't forget to post about it on your Facebook page, instagram, twitter, pinterest and other accounts.
5.) Host a launch party! Launching your book will jump start your marketing efforts.
My whole marketing philosophy is based off of this YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap8HWQGlNvg. It is very inspirational and relieving knowing that marketing is not a secret, unrealistic, money draining feat. Anyone can market anything. Doing it right is another matter.
8.) Sum it Up!
To sum it up here are the main key points you want out of this article.
- Do your homework on your printer and find out which one is best for you.
- Contact at least 5 printers you are thinking about, have them each send you samples of similar work they have printed and bid them against each other.
- Chose a printer you can have a lasting relationship with since you'll be spending a lot of time with them and paying them a lot of money.
- Edit, Edit, Edit and when you think it's perfect, Edit it 5 more times. Seriously! DO NOT PRINT UNLESS YOU GET 5 STARS FROM 5 PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!
- Take Pictures and document your triumphs and share them socially throughout the process! It is so fun to see how people create something that they are close to. This will help spread the word too.
- Take your time and don't freak out if things don't go as planned. It's a journey remember!
- Do the work. Don't take the easy road, don't take the short cut, do it and do it right!
- Don't let the word "Copyright" deter you from doing it and doing it fast.
- Figure out your Ebook strategy and get as many 4 to 5 star reviews as possible.
- Again, Use social media to get it out there. It's free and it's very powerful! Also, ask bloggers and YouTubers to review it and give a discount to their readers.
- GET AS MANY REVIEWS AS POSSIBLE!!!
9.) Bonus (Literary Agents)
If you want to do all the work do it! If not you can always get a literary agent who can connect you to big box stores and publishers if you want to go that route. My thoughts on this are simple, if you get a good agent to represent your book, it is probably good enough for a publisher or a big box store. Cut out the middle man and do it yourself. If you don't want to get your hands dirty and you don't care to split your earnings, get one!
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