The growing popularity of eBooks gives me, as an indie publisher, great encouragement. We can keep the prices realistic. My novel, 'The Trespass' sells for $3.99 in ePub format. It can be viewed on Kindle, iPad, iPhone and a number of other devices. It's all about giving the consumer value for money and choice. Authors and readers are waking up to the new world and the publishing industry is - rightly - worried. I had an enquiry from an author recently asking me to briefly share my experience of indie publishing. This is what I had to say...
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Thanks for writing!
Someone recommended Lulu to me as an easy/cheap way to self-publish. And they are, but:
- Make sure you are good at – or can learn quickly – how to be an expert in MS Word formatting
- Find a brilliant designer for your cover – DON’T ask Lulu services to do it - communication is hopeless. (Lulu take note)
- Do get the novel proofread – this is so important. If we’re flying the flag for Indie publishing we have to be totally professional. No typos! (Even if I did find a typo in a mainstream bestseller recently!)
- Don’t be drawn into other Lulu services, apart from the distribution – they are trying to make money, (fair enough) so beware….
- Be prepared for a hard marketing slog
I thought about Matador/Grosvenor House but the fact that Lulu is a POD service swung it for me. I don’t want the stress of having to shift 2000 copies of a novel and being depressed when the spare room is still stacked high! POD is nice and clean. Want 10 copies? No problem. Or 100? Sure!
I also like the fact that I retain control of the product at all times.
eBooks – yes, the future is here I think. I discovered a site called Smashwords which will take your (correctly formatted) file and convert it to all the eBook formats AND distribute to online outlets for you. They have a good service and respond to queries promptly. Be prepared to reformat that word document again! It took me a few goes and a lot of patience but I got there in the end.
My problem is time. Because I work full-time, marketing takes a back seat, and sales drop off pretty quickly. I have done a couple of bookstore/shopping mall promotional signings and these went well. Again, time consuming to set up and carry out, but without a major advertising campaign behind you, it’s all down to you. I’m still thinking about creative ways to promote the novels online.
Having said all this, I love writing and getting the books out there is a real buzz. When you get positive feedback it makes it all worthwhile.
Mostly.
