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Title: How To Self-Publish: A Do-It-Yourself Approach
Author: Leti Del Mar
Genre: Non-Fiction Self-Help
Publisher: Rambaldi Press
Release Date: September 2nd
Blurb:
This book is for anyone who has ever considered publishing their own work but has either thought the process seemed too complicated or too expensive. My newest book will hold your hand as it guides your manuscript from your word processor to a formatted e-book and paperback. It will show you how to launch and market your book, get reviews, and use social media to establish an author platform. I promise to show you how this can all be accomplished for less than you would spend on a week's worth of lattes!
My Do-It-Yourself Approach is full of useful advice and practical tips any author new to the world of self-publishing can easily implement.
The best news? I am not alone in this endeavor. I have teamed up with 6 other authors who represent a wide variety of writers including; Craig Hurren, Victoria Sawyer, Carmen Stefanescu, Clancy Tucker, Melissa Wray and Lee Zamloch. They have each contributed their insight on topics like the importance of research, coping with bad reviews, creating a brand, utilizing feedback and much more!
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/How-To-Self-Publish-Do-It-Yourself-ebook/dp/B00EP1O5BA
Goodreads:http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18269654-how-to-self-publish
Website:http://wordswithletidelmar.blogspot.com/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/leti.delmar
Twitter:https://twitter.com/leti_delmar
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/leti.delmar
Twitter:https://twitter.com/leti_delmar
Excerpt:
Chapter 1: What is a DIY Approach?
If you are curious about the pros and cons of self-publishing your work, this book is not for you. If you are holding out on hearing back from one of the hundreds of agents you have queried, this book is not for you. If you want to read rants about the publishing industry and how they don’t understand e-books, today's readers and are detrimental to the Indie author, this is not the book for you. If you are wondering how one would go about writing a novel, this book is not for you.
However, if you want to take that manuscript you have poured your heart and soul into, publish it, and see it for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and itunes, and see your work printed and bound, sitting on a bookshelf in your living room then this is exactly the book for you.
Welcome!
You are about to join the ranks of hundreds, if not thousands, of Indie authors who have decided to take matters into their own hands and forgo the New York way. You are empowered and ready to make your publishing dreams come true without an agent or contract with a big publisher.
The good news is we are an awesome group of writers who will bend over backwards to help each other out. I am constantly surprised and overwhelmed by the support and good wishes of my fellow authors. This is an active community that is ready and willing to help you on your way to publishing and selling your book.
The bad news is that this endeavor is going to take a whole lot of work. This path is not an easy one. You will make mistakes, you will feel alone and sometimes you will want to give up. Don’t! I am here to tell you that you can do this and my goal is to pay forward some of the advice, help and know-how I have gained on my Indie Journey.
When I first started to contemplate self-publishing my work, I found lots of books and websites that went into detail about why I should self-publish. I read nearly everything with the words Indie or Self-Publish in their titles and found that the authors of those works would go on and on about why they choose to self-publish. They defended their choice to go Indie and what pushed them over that New York ledge at length. As I read all of that information, I kept asking myself the same three questions. What now? How do I get started? What do I do next?
In my endless search for information about the self-publishing industry, I discovered that the majority of the information out there is comprised of about 70% rants against traditional publishing and what doesn’t work and about 30% of useful and practical information. Now that 30% was invaluable. I gleaned many strategies, suggestions and tips that I have since implemented. Throughout this process, I have put together quite an arsenal of resources that I want to share with you. Why? Indie authors stick together. They help each other out and they share the wealth. That’s the Indie way.
The other thing I noticed in my extensive research was that many successful Indies out there spend up to $2000 to edit, format and put together a professional looking product before they sell it. Now if you are already making money off of your books or have lots of extra cash sitting around, this makes sense to you. However, when I first started out and was unsure of how this thing would play out, I just couldn’t bring myself to fork over all of that cash.
As I searched this rapidly changing industry, I discovered five types of authors. Let me walk you through them. First, there are the big name, blockbuster authors. These are the authors you instantly recognize like Dan Brown, Steven King, JK Rowling. These guys and gals are the elite minority who have big publishing houses backing them and doing all the marketing, formatting, editing and technical work for them. They met with a whole lot of rejection before finding that agent and publisher willing to take a chance, and then the perfect storm of hard work and opportunity hit. Now they are making the big bucks.
The second type is made up of the authors who pursue the New York dream and get an agent and a publisher who makes who handles the printing of their book. The publisher makes all the big decisions and holds all the rights, including e-book rights. However, unless that book captivates the imagination of millions, the publisher stops promoting and pushing it. Even when sales go down, that publisher holds all the rights to that work for years to come. So the author feels the success of acceptance and then the sad taste of abandonment.
The third type pursues other means. They seek out the small publishers, the artsy and independent ones. Whether they produce actual print copies of books or specialize in e-books and an online presence, they help edit, format and sell an author's book. But, these publishers still hold all the rights and pull all the strings. Also, like the big houses in New York, it can still take quite a bit a time to go from manuscript to book for sale and even then, their authors are expected to do most of the marketing on their own.
The fourth type I like to call Sub-Contractors. They are Indies who pay others to do the hard stuff or the things they don't feel comfortable with for them. They pay top dollar for the big three: a professional editor, cover designer, and formatter. Some hire publicists and purchase marketing packages. They pay other people to put together blog tours. Now these authors are Indies in every sense of the word. They have all the control and keep all the rights to their work. They are in charge of their publishing universe. They also have deeper pockets than I do. Not all Indies start out as Sub-Contractors, but as their book sales start coming in, they decide their time is the more valuable commodity and start to hire out.
Then there is the fifth and final type of author. Like the Sub-Contractors, this type of author is an Indie and holds all the rights and makes all the decisions. However this Indie does everything on his own. This is where I started. This is where most of us start. These authors don't have the hundreds or thousands ready to invest in their publishing and don't have the sales of other books coming in to fund future books. I'm here to tell you that it's okay. There is nothing wrong with starting on a shoestring budget and that it can be done. You can do it! Maybe after those sales start pouring in, you can start to pay others to help you with the tough stuff. I know I did. But for right now, I'm telling you, you can put together a professional e-book and paperback for what you might spend on a week's worth of lattes.
I am officially here for that fifth type of author.
I saw a need and I hope I'm meeting that need with this book. I want to hold your hand and take you and your manuscript step-by-step from dream to reality and I don’t expect you to spend a whole lot of money to accomplish this.
When I published my first book, I spent a total of $35. That included the cost of extended print distribution and a printed proof that now sits on my bookshelf. Later on, I spent an additional $25 for an Amazon gift card I used as a giveaway for a blog tour. That’s it folks. If I could do it, you can too.
Do you have a manuscript you want to see published? Are ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work? Are you asking yourself what now? How do I get started? What do I do next? Then keep reading and find out how to join the ranks of Indie Authors and self-publish your work!
Chapter 1: What is a DIY Approach?
If you are curious about the pros and cons of self-publishing your work, this book is not for you. If you are holding out on hearing back from one of the hundreds of agents you have queried, this book is not for you. If you want to read rants about the publishing industry and how they don’t understand e-books, today's readers and are detrimental to the Indie author, this is not the book for you. If you are wondering how one would go about writing a novel, this book is not for you.
However, if you want to take that manuscript you have poured your heart and soul into, publish it, and see it for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and itunes, and see your work printed and bound, sitting on a bookshelf in your living room then this is exactly the book for you.
Welcome!
You are about to join the ranks of hundreds, if not thousands, of Indie authors who have decided to take matters into their own hands and forgo the New York way. You are empowered and ready to make your publishing dreams come true without an agent or contract with a big publisher.
The good news is we are an awesome group of writers who will bend over backwards to help each other out. I am constantly surprised and overwhelmed by the support and good wishes of my fellow authors. This is an active community that is ready and willing to help you on your way to publishing and selling your book.
The bad news is that this endeavor is going to take a whole lot of work. This path is not an easy one. You will make mistakes, you will feel alone and sometimes you will want to give up. Don’t! I am here to tell you that you can do this and my goal is to pay forward some of the advice, help and know-how I have gained on my Indie Journey.
When I first started to contemplate self-publishing my work, I found lots of books and websites that went into detail about why I should self-publish. I read nearly everything with the words Indie or Self-Publish in their titles and found that the authors of those works would go on and on about why they choose to self-publish. They defended their choice to go Indie and what pushed them over that New York ledge at length. As I read all of that information, I kept asking myself the same three questions. What now? How do I get started? What do I do next?
In my endless search for information about the self-publishing industry, I discovered that the majority of the information out there is comprised of about 70% rants against traditional publishing and what doesn’t work and about 30% of useful and practical information. Now that 30% was invaluable. I gleaned many strategies, suggestions and tips that I have since implemented. Throughout this process, I have put together quite an arsenal of resources that I want to share with you. Why? Indie authors stick together. They help each other out and they share the wealth. That’s the Indie way.
The other thing I noticed in my extensive research was that many successful Indies out there spend up to $2000 to edit, format and put together a professional looking product before they sell it. Now if you are already making money off of your books or have lots of extra cash sitting around, this makes sense to you. However, when I first started out and was unsure of how this thing would play out, I just couldn’t bring myself to fork over all of that cash.
As I searched this rapidly changing industry, I discovered five types of authors. Let me walk you through them. First, there are the big name, blockbuster authors. These are the authors you instantly recognize like Dan Brown, Steven King, JK Rowling. These guys and gals are the elite minority who have big publishing houses backing them and doing all the marketing, formatting, editing and technical work for them. They met with a whole lot of rejection before finding that agent and publisher willing to take a chance, and then the perfect storm of hard work and opportunity hit. Now they are making the big bucks.
The second type is made up of the authors who pursue the New York dream and get an agent and a publisher who makes who handles the printing of their book. The publisher makes all the big decisions and holds all the rights, including e-book rights. However, unless that book captivates the imagination of millions, the publisher stops promoting and pushing it. Even when sales go down, that publisher holds all the rights to that work for years to come. So the author feels the success of acceptance and then the sad taste of abandonment.
The third type pursues other means. They seek out the small publishers, the artsy and independent ones. Whether they produce actual print copies of books or specialize in e-books and an online presence, they help edit, format and sell an author's book. But, these publishers still hold all the rights and pull all the strings. Also, like the big houses in New York, it can still take quite a bit a time to go from manuscript to book for sale and even then, their authors are expected to do most of the marketing on their own.
The fourth type I like to call Sub-Contractors. They are Indies who pay others to do the hard stuff or the things they don't feel comfortable with for them. They pay top dollar for the big three: a professional editor, cover designer, and formatter. Some hire publicists and purchase marketing packages. They pay other people to put together blog tours. Now these authors are Indies in every sense of the word. They have all the control and keep all the rights to their work. They are in charge of their publishing universe. They also have deeper pockets than I do. Not all Indies start out as Sub-Contractors, but as their book sales start coming in, they decide their time is the more valuable commodity and start to hire out.
Then there is the fifth and final type of author. Like the Sub-Contractors, this type of author is an Indie and holds all the rights and makes all the decisions. However this Indie does everything on his own. This is where I started. This is where most of us start. These authors don't have the hundreds or thousands ready to invest in their publishing and don't have the sales of other books coming in to fund future books. I'm here to tell you that it's okay. There is nothing wrong with starting on a shoestring budget and that it can be done. You can do it! Maybe after those sales start pouring in, you can start to pay others to help you with the tough stuff. I know I did. But for right now, I'm telling you, you can put together a professional e-book and paperback for what you might spend on a week's worth of lattes.
I am officially here for that fifth type of author.
I saw a need and I hope I'm meeting that need with this book. I want to hold your hand and take you and your manuscript step-by-step from dream to reality and I don’t expect you to spend a whole lot of money to accomplish this.
When I published my first book, I spent a total of $35. That included the cost of extended print distribution and a printed proof that now sits on my bookshelf. Later on, I spent an additional $25 for an Amazon gift card I used as a giveaway for a blog tour. That’s it folks. If I could do it, you can too.
Do you have a manuscript you want to see published? Are ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work? Are you asking yourself what now? How do I get started? What do I do next? Then keep reading and find out how to join the ranks of Indie Authors and self-publish your work!
Thanks so much for hosting me and my book!
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