SELF-PUBLISHING AND THE HOT MESS EXPRESS
Hello everyone and welcome to my first official blog post!
In the last couple of weeks, a handful of people reached out and ask me about how to go about publishing a book. I had one who even asked me to write down in detail what I know, as if I held the secrets to self-publishing. Now, I am not one to gate keep, so if I know a little something that can help someone out, I’m going to share the knowledge.
For those who are new to my pages, my books, my life—I am Johanna Polanco A.K.A. J.L. Polanco. I am a romance author. I self-published two books and am currently in the process of publishing my third book. I am also in the process of querying my second chance romance. I’m also finishing up my holiday romance that hopefully the world will be able to read.
I self published my first book, THE LAWYER AND THE THIEF, almost five years ago. It’s safe to say that I’ve made a lot of mistakes and learned as much I could from those mistakes. It was all trial and error but i have no regrets.
So, the first thing I tell people is that if you are thinking of publishing your book to make money…you’re buggin’!
Fact: most self published author don’t make more than $1,000 a year! It’s sad but true. To keep it real, I don’t think I ever saw that much!
Writers write because it’s something that they NEED to do. If they did it for survival reasons they would be shit out of luck. I quit my job on impulse to pursue writing full time to only go back 3 months later and ask for my job back. Why? because I needed money for basic survival and…I like pretty, sparkly things and writing wasn’t paying for it…yet.
Read this article if you don’t believe me: Why Most Self Published Authors Make Less Than $1,000 Per Year
The second thing I tell people, that should be the most obvious is, FINISH WRITING YOUR BOOK.
I don’t know how many times people ask me for advice and when I ask them if they are finished writing it, they haven’t even begun writing. It’s still a dream in their head! WRITING IS THE WHOLE THING. Do that first.
Don’t stress yourself with the unknown if you don’t have at least a first draft. If you want to go the traditional route, all agents ask for a full, complete manuscript. So why would you not want to start your publishing journey with a half-assed manuscript that’s not even done. So, get to work and finish it!
The third thing I would say to those interested in self-publishing is to find a writers group. At the very least find beta readers who don’t share the same blood line as you.
This is me, showing my book off to no audience…I should’ve known better, but look how happy I was!
In a writers group, if you find the right one, will give you feedback from the perspective of a writer. They also motivate, inspire, push you, give you the tools, host events, etc. You make valuable connections that will help you!!! A writers group should be a place where you find your people; they’re in the trenches with you.
Beta readers, will give you feedback on the actual story. When you give your unpublished manuscript to family members, they will do their best to not hurt your feelings. If you have a shitty story or there’s some inconsistencies or typos, they will spare your feelings and not let you know what’s up. Reach out to people who will give you honest opinions and constructive feedback. Explain your intentions, if there are specific questions you want answered, have a question sheet ready to send out with your manuscript.
At the beginning of my journey, I didn’t let people know I was writing a book. If I did, I always downplayed it as if my writing was just a hobby. Baby, it wasn’t. I was just scared of other peoples opinions and criticism. I knew my story wasn’t ready but I also was scared of deeply negative feedback. Eventually, When I let people start reading and the feedback was actually constructive; it enhanced my book. I felt confident enough to let more people read it.
But beware, there will be readers who will give fucked up feedback that doesn’t really give you anything to work off of. To this I say, Fuck them and keep it pushing.
A couple of things you need to consider:
Editing, grammar/spell check, formatting, cover design, ISBN numbers (the number on the back of the book). There are a million resources online. Please learn as much as you can. Use my list as a bare minimum starting point. Please, please, please do a grammar/spelling check. I didn’t. I took down and republished my first book a total of three times because the mistakes were out of control. Why should people pay $12.99 for a book that has so many errors? It takes the reader out of the story. The point of you publishing the book is so the reader could follow the story…you see where I’m getting at? Plus, you’ll be wishing bodily harm on the readers who give you one star review on amazon when it wasn’t even their fault that they rated you so low.
Now take into consideration the things that I didn’t:
Pick a social platform: One that you feel comfortable using. One where you can become an expert user and build your audience. You’re writing a book, why do you need to pick a platform? You need to sell your book to people and how will they know any of what you got going on if they don’t know who you are or what you have to offer? Boo, I’m telling you from experience.
I launched my IG account the day of my book launch. What you think happened? if you guessed nothing then you’re…right!
Also, look into launching a website. I use Squarespace (Squarespace website builder) and for an author starting out, it could be pricey. Another option that I’ve heard mention was Wix (WIX website builder), which gives you the option to build your website for free. But google will be your best friend in this whole process. DO YOUR RESEARCH.
Okay, so you have a finished book. Congrats! You’ve done more than most. You let others read and you worked on the feedback. Now, ask yourself: If you were to publish this book today, would you be satisfied? Would you be happy? or would you hide under a rock because you aren’t proud of your work because you have the patience of a two-year old and wanted to just publish the damn book so it’s a 300 page hot mess?
If I’m being honest, I am the writer with the attention span of a two-year old.
I did not think about editors, formatting, cover design, ISBN numbers, blurbs, reviews, presales, ARC’s. I just thought, “oh, Amazon lets you publish for free, I’m going to publish this and see what happens”.
Do you know what happened?
I had no sales. The only people who bought books were family and friends. It’s been five years since that first book, If i asked them today if they ever read it, most would say no.
My book is a great book. I love it to death. But I would’ve done things a little bit differently and took my time with the whole thing.
Let’s get down to the juicy stuff: where do you publish your book?
There are two different places that I’ve heard about (although there are many more): Amazon and IngramSparks.
I self-published my first two on Amazon KDP. They offer you free ISBN’s but it limits the amount of places where your book will be available at and essentially Amazon owns the rights to your work.
Get your own ISBN’s!!!! I can’t stress that enough.
It’ll cost you some dinero but it’ll be worth it. Go to: Bowker Identifier Services to find out more.
They have different packages depending on your needs.
KDP also has templates that you can use to turn your manuscript into a book/ebook. Which is what I used because I had no idea what I was doing and didn’t want to stress myself with figuring out what the inside of the book should look like. Visit: KDP Amazon publishing service
Now, IngramSparks. I first heard about them at BookCon; they had a whole seminar explaining the benefits of using IngramSparks. I’m still learning about this company but it seems that this is the path I’m going to take this third time around. I don’t know but they just seem less icky…it’s a whole vibe that I can’t explain. I’m not knocking KDP, remember, I’ve used them twice! It’s just…something I can’t explain. You can use your own ISBN’s (which i recommend no matter what you use), they do offer a cover creator for those who can’t afford a cover designer. Go to their website, IngramSpark Publishing Service to learn more.
(I will go in depth in separate blog post)
FYI: it’s always going to be cheaper if you just publish an ebook. That’s just something I thought authors on a budget would like to know. You can always go back later and publish your paperback when you have the funds.
I’m going to stop this post at this point. But here are a few books/ resources I’ve found helpful:
Books:
Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum
The 10 commandments of Author Branding by Shayla Raquel
IG Accounts:
@shaylaleeraquel
@carlywatters
@themoniquemensah
*These are my go-to’s for an inside scoop into the publishing world (self and traditional). Obviously, there are others…these are just the ones I found the most helpful and relatable.
Okay, guys, this is literally the basic bitch package to self-publishing. I will be coming out with more blog posts that dive deeper into the subject. This subject is so massive that I could write my own book about it but I’m not going to embarrass myself like that. Obviously, it goes without saying, take this info with a grain of salt. I’m still learning shit as I go. I AM NO EXPERT! I AM NO EXPERT! I AM NO EXPERT!!!!
ALL THIS INFO IS JUST A WAY TO GET YOU STARTED IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING. IT’S BREADCRUMBS.
Let me know if this helps. Please add whatever you know or learned in the comments so we can all learn from each other.
I want this to be a safe space/community, where people who are lost can find their footing.
I hope this helps.
Much love,
J.L.