Welcome back to another Q&A post about self publishing. We are nearing the end of the series – as of right now, next week’s post will be the last one. Thank you all for being supportive and interested in this series from the very beginning! Next week’s post will be a roundup of general advice and other resources.
– Question: Do I really need to be involved with all those social media platforms?
Answer: Only if you want to be successful. Self-publishing is great. But the prevalence of self-published authors means that you have a lot of competition out there. I tend to see other self-published authors are friends and not competitors because we’ve gone through the same thing. But if you want to make money (even just to break even with your expenses), you really need to put your best foot forward. Everywhere.
This question refers to this post about social media and promoting self-published books/authors.
– Question: Are those the only self-publishing companies out there?
Answer: (Okay, I’ll admit – I turned this into a question after having some other self-publishing companies comment and say that they’re not the only ones.) No, they’re not. However, those are the best to start out with, in my opinion, because many of the others cost you. If you’re starting out with almost no money to fund your self-publishing endeavor, then those are the best to start with. This is something I plan on addressing in next week’s post.
This question refers to this post about companies to self-publish with. It also includes resources for those companies mentioned.
– Question: How do you put yourself out there for all the cold-emailing and self-promotion?!
Answer: It takes a lot of guts at first. But you have to ask yourself – do you want anyone to read this book? If the answer is yes, you just have to do it. Once you get started, it will be second nature before you know it.
This question refers to my post about virtual book tours, my post about social media and promoting self-published books/authors, and my post about promoting in general.
At the end of the day, the comment I get the most on these posts is that people are glad to know all of this – for once they finally write/finish the manuscript of their dreams. Would anyone be interested in ready a post (or a mini-series) about writing a novel/how I finished my novel? Or maybe a linkup where those of us writing/who have written books talk about them? Let me know!
Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.
I'd love to be part of a link up talking about the actual process of writing a novel. Like how long it took, did they outline etc. I think everyone is so different that it would be interesting to read about how other writers got from point A to point B.
I have loved this series so much!
Yes yes yes yes I'd love to hear about writing a novel!