All the Little Things

A self-published author is a one-man (or woman) business. I would never denigrate trade-published writers, but they've actually got it made compared to us. Here is their to-do list:

1. Write book

The publishing house handles everything else ~ cover design, editing, advertising, even writing the blurb. Oh, they title the book, too.

I shouldn't title this post, "little things", because every one of these tasks is crucial. And not easy when it's all DIY, especially if an author has no money.

I've started a list of my next steps, because I don't want to forget anything. 

EDITING

Number one, of course, is to finish editing my novel. Editing is the most difficult one, because if I don't do it right, I may as well forego all the other steps.  

I readily admit that I have trepidation. Early on, I realized that I was starting the story in the wrong place. Had I left the structure the way it was, I'm almost certain no one would have read past the first couple of pages. I hadn't exactly written back story; it showed the beginning of the main character's journey, or at least the impetus for it. It included a couple of long anecdotes showing the indignities her band suffered that led up to her quitting. What I later realized was that a reader wouldn't feel invested in the character (and it also didn't show her in the best light), and the other characters mentioned were little more than stick figures. 

So I cut to the chase. I started over with MC nearing the town of Chance in the middle of the night and only referenced that beginning piece in a couple of interwoven (short) sentences.

Really, that was the only "big" editing I've done so far. I don't know what else needs changing or how I would go about it. My "final" readback, therefore, will be mostly to analyze flow and general clunkiness.

Once I finally edit the manuscript the best I know how, I'll move on to a couple of easier tasks. 

COVER DESIGN 

As a bit of wishful thinking, I one day browsed the most popular cover design sites. There was really only one that was truly artistic, but far outside my price range. I could go with the $35.00 site, but the images in its gallery are quite bad. So I faced reality and realized I would need to design my own cover. All my other covers are self-designed, but since this novel is probably my last, I really wanted to do it up right. Alas.

I've already created a cover that is 95% acceptable, but I'd like to shoot for 100%. I have some questions regarding one of the fonts and the font colors. Luckily, I've already downloaded the original, so I can go back to Canva and play around with it without losing it if everything goes to hell.

COPYRIGHT?

There are different schools of thought regarding whether a book needs to be copyrighted, but the "experts" advise doing so. And especially with the proliferation of scammers, I probably should. Only one of my books is copyrighted, and I only did that after I was almost scammed. Granted, they were after my money, not my book, but I felt quite vulnerable at the time and I felt like I needed protection.

The cost is $45.00, which won't break the bank, so chances are good that I'll take that extra step.

BLURB

Just an awful undertaking. I don't know how any author manages to do it right. You need to make the story sound intriguing in a tight, compact way. I've read blurbs that go on and on for paragraphs, rendering the term "blurb" moot. The author wants to tell every detail of the story. 

My problem with past blurbs is that I wanted to highlight the overall theme, but not promise something the book doesn't deliver. And this novel doesn't have "exciting parts". So, how do I make it sound interesting? Right now, that's a worry for another day. I do know it'll take many false starts to get something I'm halfway satisfied with.

PAPERBACK

Again, I've only ever published ebooks. Sure, every time I publish KDP asks, "Ready to create a paperback?" Uh, no, but thanks. But this time, I want one, and I know nothing about them. I'll need to learn about dimensions and whatever else is involved, plus how to price mine. There's a lot of contradictory advice out there, and who knows what to believe?

KEYWORDS

None of the keywords I've chosen in the past seemed to make any noticeable impact on sales, but then again, I hardly put any thought into them. I can't recall ever searching for a novel by keyword, but I'm told that using the right ones helps.

This article is a little bit helpful, although its suggestions are quite generic. Or one can buy Publisher's Rocket for $199.00 (hmmm, no). I believe there is a similar free site somewhere (I've tried it before), that doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the $199.00 one does, but basically, all I've ever done to research keywords is type one into the Amazon search bar and see what comes up if I don't hit enter. (Example: "female" will show accompanying words that users might type in; "female detective" or "female serial killer", etc.)

GENRE

I'd truly love to find a genre other than women's fiction, but I doubt I will. I think contemporary fiction exists as a selection, but it could be a sub-genre (I have no way to verify that at the moment). I'll probably be stuck with women's fiction, unfortunately.

Here is a list I found. I don't know how up-to-date it is, but I would prefer to research my genres prior to running into that page during the upload process.

MARKETING

Logically, I know that if this novel is to have even a tiny chance, I need to do some marketing, but my budget is extremely tight. Many claim that Facebook ads are very effective; I have no idea why. I didn't even know people still use Facebook. David Gaughran is offering a full (free) course on Facebook ads (a full course?), but that seems like a lot to go through just to learn how to create a basic ad. I'm leaning against that for now. I took his advice on BookBub, and that was a complete bust. I was big on his advice for a while, but he tends to want to push affiliate links for things I'd never use, like buying a bunch of images from a particular site at a "special price". I only ever need one image, and upon viewing the site, I didn't find anything particularly appealing.

Amazon ads never worked for me. Of course, I didn't study up on them. I'm just not that interested in becoming an expert in ads. Show me an easy step-by-step way to create an effective one. I don't need all the technical terms and jargon. If I make an ad, it'll be a one-off; I'm not looking to earn a degree in advertising.

BookBub is, of course, the old standby. It's never worked for me, but at least its ad creation is a breeze. 

Social media is also a loser. I haven't logged onto my author X page in months, so now am I supposed to suddenly show up and say, "Oh, just checking in to push my new book!" I abandoned both Instagram and my Facebook author page.

It would also seem impertinent to send out a newsletter after all this time.

Obviously, the whole marketing aspect will require some thought. I do want to give my book a boost, but my few dollars need to be optimized.  

It's not as if I don't have time to ponder all these things, so there's no point in stressing over them. All in all, it's still better than trying to land an agent, just to have someone else carry out all my chores. 

Since I'm a one-woman business, though, I really should come up with a snappy name for it.