Self Publishing Rules (that I have learned so far)

Here we are at Monday again, don't worry it's only one day. We can beat it!

First off, I'd like to say, "Welcome!" to my new followers. I have to say that my first Follow Friday was a great success. I came across lots of new blogger friends, and there were even a few that found me. I've decided that I will rotate the Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday each week for at least two months. More traffic to this blog is pretty exciting, and both are fun and easy to do.

Today I'd like to talk about some of the things that need to be done, to be successful in self publishing. Though it seems there is no "yellow brick road" to being successful, there are several things that link many of our more successful self publishing authors.

Make it your very best work!
Once the novel is finished with revisions and editing and editing and editing and the cover is all ready to go, it will be time for publishing. I'll be using Lulu and Smashwords for my paper and ebook publishing, respectively. These are both great options for authors that are serious about self publishing. I will have to buy my own ISBN, but so will anyone else that wants to be able to sell a paper book. (publishers that only sell books through their own site seem to be rather scammy to me)

Self Promotion. Promotion. Promotion.
Though I will do my best to keep shamelessness to a minimum, I will be promoting everything I do. Everyday. This blog, my Facebook page, and my Twitter account will all be used to let people know about what I'm doing, as well as how, when, and where they can get my work. Also, once I have submitted for publishing, I will be starting my own GoodReads page. (no link in that one, there is no page yet!)

Book Blogs!
There are many fantastic book review blogs out there, and most of them would be happy to help a new, self publishing author by giving a review. If they like your book, their readers may jump on the bandwagon, and if they don't like it, well, at least it puts your name out there. These folks mostly do what they do for free, so no complaining. Be gracious and thankful for their honest opinion. You can also do a blog tour, though to be honest; I'm not sure what this means yet. (hehe, that's me slackin)

Keep writing.
Write everything you can, tell every story your brain wants to put out there. If you like them when they're written, start over at the first step and keep going. The more work you have out there, the more likely it is that people will find you and be able to decide if they like your work. Most of us are not famous, and it takes a lot of work to get your name out their.

There are other things to be talked about (ebook prices and how and when to change them, refreshing your backlog, whether or not to find an agent, etc...) but I have blathered on long enough today. Besides, I'm no expert so you may not even want to listen to anything I said. :)

thanks for reading,
buh bye then