Writers—Share Your Self-Publishing Tips!

Ann and I finished our novella this past week-end. A part of our ongoing Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries series, NO ONE SEES ME ‘TILL I FALL (working title), will publish in the fall of 2013, between DEAD, WITHOUT A STONE TO TELL IT, publishing in 2 weeks(!), and A FLAME IN THE WIND OF DEATH, scheduled for May 2014. With our publishing house’s blessing, we’re self-publishing this title; however, as self-publishing newbies, we have many questions. But we know that many of you have already gone down this road to great success, so we’d love to learn from the masters.

Our crit team is going to be going over the novella this week and then we’re lucky enough to have our editor from both DEAD and FLAME on board to freelance this project for us. So we believe we’ll be producing a quality product that’s up to standard with our full length novels. But our questions lie in how to go about actually getting the project out there, and we’d love to hear what worked for you.

Some questions we already have are:

  • Formatting the manuscript—is this a relatively easy process? Any tips on formatting or file types?
  • How easy is it to get one work out on all platforms?
  • Did you use a distributor like Smashwords or Bookbaby to assist in distribution? Was it worth it?
  • Did you do your own cover design? If not, can you recommend someone who did a great job for you?
  • Is it worth it to buy an ISBN for your title?
  • What do you think of the Kindle KDP program?

As newbies, there may also be other things we’re not thinking of, so if you have tips in any other areas, we’d love to hear those too. Writers, please share with us!

Photo credit: Appsmanila


The Final ARC Giveaway!

This is it! It's the very last Goodreads giveaway for an ARC of DEAD, WITHOUT A STONE TO TELL IT! Enter here: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/53543-dead-without-a-stone-to-tell-it