Since I self-published, and am actually talking with people I know about it (it’s a weird thing – you get sort of shy, and don’t always tell people, because you’re tooting your own horn, and we’re taught that is not the best, but in order to be successful, people do need to know about you – regardless, I’m telling people about my writing without an ounce of shame) I have gotten a lot of questions about the hows and mechanics of the entire thing.
I’ve thought about writing a post about it, but frankly, I’m still too “in” it, if you KWIM. I know there’s a forest, and I try to remember that, but my POV is a tree. Maybe 12. So I am borrowing the words of another, and I really like this.
People, ANYONE can publish.
ANYONE. You just have to want to do it.
IMO, you need to decide why you’re doing it – is it a family thing, a cookbook? Memoir? Something with a specific, limited audience? Then not everything you read about re: indie publishing applies.
But one thing does – I want anything I publish to be commercial quality work. That means I have a good cover – one that tells the reader what this is about, and gives them a hint on the story – and genre, if you’re writing as a career.
Get the thing edited. I’m not wretched, but my editor still sends me comment boxes of ‘WTF????’ at times. See above for the whole forest/trees analogy.
And read this below. It’s a great article, not a long, drawn-out read, and it gives a starting place. At least, I think it does.
http://authors.choosybookworm.com/pen-pals-community-indie-authors/
Happy Writing!