While never very profound in my blogs, I leave Chris to give you the hard truths as we learn them, I always like to try to keep it real in my own way.
As many of you know, we just published our first novel one week ago.
Self-published. NOT to be confused with Vanity Press Published. I know that many confuse these and consider them to be the same; however, we feel there is a distinct difference. Chris touched on this subject in an earlier blog titled, Old vs. New (http://caduobooks.com/item/55-self-publishing-old-vs-new).
So what does that really mean?
We read the horror stories and stigmas like Self-publishing or Indie Publishing equals poorly edited stories with horrid covers. For all you future self-publishers, your work is a representation of you as an author and brand! Remember, you get what you pay for. Don’t cut corners!
We spent a full month self-editing. Reading out loud to each other until our voices cracked in protest and our eyes crusted over. We hired a copy editor/proof reader and made adjustments as appropriate. We polished it to a shine.
We invested in licensed images ensuring we could have unlimited and extended use of them. We capitalized on Chris’ web design background to create quality covers. [Chris rocks by the way, a genius with imaging.] Even if we didn’t have Chris as a resource, we would have invested in a GOOD cover designer who would have provided top-notch quality covers that could compete with traditional publishing.
Again, your work represents you as an author and as a brand. Who wants to taint their brand? You can’t say you’re taking on the responsibly of a publishing house and then do a half-assed job. Yes, it is an investment. Yes, you may never recoup the outlay. But ask yourself this—you just spent months, years maybe, slaving and pouring your heart into your work. Why would you sabotage it by not doing the right thing?
We did our best to produce a top notch, clean manuscript. We crossed our Ts and dotted our Is until the keys on our keyboards grew sticky and our fingertips numb. We are confident we’ve put forth our best.
The buck doesn’t stop there. Now you have to upload to distributor websites. Here is where fortitude comes in because this is the hardest part of the whole process. THERE IS NOT A DISTRIBUTOR INDUSTRY STANDARD. Each has different font sizes, paragraph alignments, line heights, cover requirements, copyright text, etc. Each format converts differently and has their own set of limitations.
The point is to never take your eye off the ball. Do not assume that you can just convert and voila, it is perfect. Check and DOUBLE check each conversion. If something goes wrong, DON’T PANIC! Take a deep breath and fix it. Remember you are the only one watching your back.
We need to support and give credit to self-published authors who go the extra mile to deliver a final product that meets reader standards and helps build a reputable medium that is no longer known for poor writing, inconsistencies, grammatical errors, typos, etc. Cheers to those brave souls who paved the way and shared their knowledge with us. Cheers to those who are starting this self-publishing journey. And Hell yeah, cheers to us for getting through it!
~Cecilia
