When I decided to dive into the world of indie publishing, I was hopelessly clueless. I had a story manuscript to begin with but I didn’t know what to do with it. After combing through a lot of videos and informational sites, I decided to go with Amazon. Someone said that Smashword’s Meatgrinder will drive me crazy and that is the only reason I moved away from it. Now, that I have published my book by going through all the processes of formatting, I see that Smashwords’s formatting requirement is not that different from Amazon’s! Only the manual and instruction layouts are different. Of course, Amazon wins on that score!
The next question to ponder was whether I should go for KDP Select or not. I was apprehensive because there were some who warned new authors against Amazon’s KDP Select program and then there were many who would swear by its effectiveness. Some said that Amazon helps in promoting books that are in the KDP Select program and that of course, made me jump right in because promotion and marketing are important, right?
Just as I was feeling like I had done an amazing job and started joining author groups, I realised that there was still loads more to indie publishing. Tons of more tips and ideas on how to get noticed, how to sell more books, getting your readers to subscribe to your emails etc. It was overwhelming to say the least! But, I had one advantage now. Since, I already had a book it became easy to socialise with other authors and share my problems with them. Some of their advice seemed logical but was against popular mass opinion. Getting real experience as a published author helped me to navigate through a sea of information.
I often see new writers asking for advice about publishing on author platforms. While it is a great way to gather knowledge and step into publishing with good ideas, you will never really know what works for you and your book until you’ve really published and waited a few months to see the statistics on sales.
I have come to understand that self-publishing success factors depends on a lot of variables. What worked for one person, may not work for you. I personally did not gain anything by putting my book in KDP Select. My book’s ranking has been the same over a period of two months. However, there are authors who will tell you that they make more money from Kindle Unlimited than actual sales. It’s all a matter of trial-and-error!
I would, however, advise you that if you have a book manuscript ready, go ahead with publishing. Go through the process of editing, formatting, book cover designing etc. It is scary at first but then, everything starts coming together and you will enjoy the process. Don’t just dip your feet in the waters, jump right in! It’s the only way to test these waters!
Copyright © 2017 by Ginny Clyde
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