Look at Janine Melnitz there, hard at work, taking notes on ghosts. She knows what she needs to do and she's doing it the best she can, goshdarnit! But we can't all be Janine Melnitz.
Some of us are Wayne Goodchild. And by 'us' I mean 'me'. Some of me are Wayne Goodchild. And he's still not entirely sure what he needs to do with all this self-publishing malarkey, I tell you what.
THE STORY SO FAR
I've been researching sites and companies, as detailed in an earlier post, from the juggernaut that is Amazon to lesser-known ebook sellers like Leanpub. I've also been getting some really good advice and insights through the
Self Publish page on Reddit.
I've finally finished editing and formatting both the ebook and print version of
A WRETCHED PLACE. I've uploaded these files to Amazon, Blurb, Kobo, Lulu and Draft2Digital so far, with Leanpub and IngramSpark on my to-do list.
Basically, I plan to use IngramSpark for print distribution (as they're the main channel other aggregators like D2D use anyway) and D2D for ebook distribution.
I've been told that Amazon's "Extended Distribution" option can lead to ISBN conflicts/other issues. I've also been told that using their Kindle Select option (as mentioned previously) may be useful but if I want to go wide and get my work in as many places as soon as possible, it's best not to use it when first launching a book.
I've uploaded files to other sites because those have their own marketplaces, so (in theory) there's a chance someone could find my book on them, too. The only real pain in doing this is that they all have their own guidelines for interior and cover formatting, so I've had to make a few tweaks to margins and that sort of thing.
I also realised (later than I should have done, to be honest) that each print version should be as uniform as possible. I know that's obvious; I mean the content was all the same, but some versions had different margins so the page size and total length were different.
Related to this, and an unforeseen issue, is that IngramSpark will not let me create a print book for distribution for sale until I have an ISBN. Everyone else provides free ones, so that saves some money (each ISBN is about $125 from the US version of Bowker, who are in charge of that stuff).
Except IngramSpark DO provide free ISBNs, but only to authors based in the US...! So if I want to use their service I have to fork out for one. Which, let's be honest, is the "professional" thing to do but let's be even more honest, I'm effectively a new writer despite all my previous publication credits - no matter how high profile those books were, they were also ten years ago(!) so I can't count on people who liked my work then to even remember me. Sad face.
I could just use D2D for print distribution, but at the expense of reduce royalties. So I'm still weighing this one up.
Going back to Amazon: you can order up to five proof copies of a book before you mark it ready for release, so I was thinking "Great, that means I can get four review copies to send out."
Except I can't get them! I live in Slovenia, and despite the fact that proofs can be ordered from France, Italy, Spain and Germany versions of Amazon, none of them (no version of Amazon!) ship to Slovenia. NUTS.
So That's Where I'm At
I am currently waiting for a proof to arrive from Blurb, which I'm excited about, and I could technically order proofs from D2D but those ones cost $30 a pop before P+P so no thanks, at least not right now.
What this means is that I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to get hold of print ARCs without having to spend a LOT of money to do so. And I really want to send print copies out! Plus I had the idea to leave books in local book shops around Ljubljana for people to find (but later this year).
I've also been giving a lot of thought to marketing, which is essential in this day and age, but again, it all comes down to cost. Apparently Amazon and (eurgh) Facebook ads can be useful, but they operate on a weird 'auction' and/or 'pay per click' set-up; I'll get more into these things next time.
As it stands, I won't have any issue sending out ebooks (as EPUB or MOBI files, not boring old PDFs) if anyone would like an ARC in this manner. You can still express an interest in getting a print copy, but even if I figure out how to get some for a non-extortionate price/uncomplicated delivery route they will still be limited in number so first come first served!
NEXT TIME: Marketing. Oh boy!
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