Self-Publishing Part 10: The Launch Meets the Platform as Final Changes Approved
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
As April aged and the launch marched ever closer, I tried to put all the various pieces of what I had been able to do into some form of order to suggest to me what to do next. So, I assessed my platform, the total of all the working parts of the machine, as it were, that I’ll use to make people aware I exist, A Perfect Blindness exists, and then to entice people to buy the book. Read More
Self-Publishing Part 10: The Launch Nears and Presses Ever Harder
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
So, self butt-kicking held, mostly, at bay, I had to get down doing things about a book I’ve worked on for over fifteen years going into print shortly such as figuring out this newly discovered service so I can use it. After my frantic emails and quick reconnaissance on line, I found out I get one person to take care of the physical publishing parts: i.e. get me my included free copies, the so called “book stubs”— a card with a code used for downloading a single free e-book version, help with author discounts for purchasing more books and like matters, and then I’ll also get someone who takes care of the promotional side. This involved more acronyms I can’t remember, nor ever bothered learned: I keep the emails and recognize names.
There were some miscellaneous items included in the publishing package that I needed to follow up on to make sure I haven’t left anything else I’d paid for laying on the table. Read More
Self-Publishing Part 10: The Launch Nears and a Forgotten Service
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
Starting in March , the month before the launch, I’d begun writing a long essay, describing all the steps I’ve taken with A Perfect Blindness from my initial decision to self-publish, through getting onto the Traditional Publishing Path, each round of editing and all secondary paths and distractions along the way to getting the Rising Star designation and then a few tentative paragraphs about the Star designation, including various misunderstandings, issues, bumps and ego strokes. But, I included some factual items that I only surmised, so I was able to convince my Rising Star contact to look it over to answer the questions I had about how iUniverse worked, such as the percentage of people who get whatever level of designation. While she looked over what was to become the main thrust of this blog, I went back over my own route to make sure I didn’t miss anything along the way to include later in the blog. Read More
Self-Publishing Part 10: The Launch—One Person Can’t, Certainly Not Without a Plan
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
A plan. Great.
What plan? How does one even construct a proper plan?
As opposed to writing up a list of to-dos in whatever order might appear most expedient at the moment. Read More
Self-Publishing Part 10: The Launch—How Does One Person Do It At All?
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of
A Perfect Blindness
I’d been working hard following all this advice from people who seemed to know, or certainly gave the impression that they should know. Yet when I looked at what I’d done to get people to know the book exists, to entice them, to encourage them to buy, or at least find something out about it, I saw it amounted to, effectively, nothing. Things were sort of in place to give information about the book, along with a couple of items might engage people, but there was no reason for anyone to come to the website to see what I’d built. It was a sandbox for me to play in and build fantasy castles of 5-star reviews and royalty checks that filled my bank account. Read More
Self-Publishing Part 10: The Launch—How Does One Person Do This All?
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
I couldn’t shake the thought from my head at first: I’d botched this. Badly.
That everything I’d been doing, including publishing the book in the first place, has been a huge waste of time, effort, and money. My wife had trusted me, and the book and I’d let her down, let us both down.
That—
Hang on here, man. Look at what you have done. Read More
Self-Publishing Part 10: The Last Couple Of Hurtles
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
Before I was able to dive into all these remarkable new ideas about social media, email lists, outreach and the like, the nearly complete book still had growing pains to overcome. Once iUniverse effected the newest round of changes, they sent me another PDF version of the typeset book. I had only to check the few changes I’d last requested, so I attacked that right off. The cover changes looked good, and I had to convince myself, again, that not asking for more changes was the right choice. Read More
Self-Publishing Part 10: The Launch—Social Media and email: A Couple Of More Questions To Ask In A Mirror
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
So, what is social media good for an author if not selling books?
Reframe the approach, and put yourself in the position of the person cruising Face Book. Are you looking to spend money? Looking for a book to read, perhaps? Doubtful. If you wanted to buy, you’d be on the websites of Amazon or Barnes & Nobel or be walking to the local bookstore. Looking for reading recommendations? That’s imaginable, but most people looking for recommendations either ask someone they know, or they go to goodreads.com, Book Bub, Book Shout, or again Amazon, Barnes & Nobel or the local bookstore. If they’re just browsing, they’re looking for something interesting, something that will catch their attention, not something that will demand a credit card number. They want stuff. Good stuff. Free stuff. Twitter, same thing. Think of the platform, and most likely you won’t find people hungry to buy books, clicking away to find the right ad. Read More
Self-Publishing Part 10: The Launch—Social Media and Email, with A Couple Of Questions, One To Ask In A Mirror
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
In writing as in life, most of what you do depends on what you know and when you know it. There are luck, circumstance, and people that can help of course. But what you know and when you know it allows you to better take advantage of luck, your circumstance and anyone who can help. At the very least, it can prevent much frustration and head pounding by evading journeys down fruitless trails. Read More
Self-Publishing Part 10: The Launch—Awaiting a Metamorphosis
Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
The last changes sent, the manuscript now started forming its chrysalis.
Now all I have to do is make sure nothing breaks before it emerges as a fully formed book, such as checking the changes once effected. Protect yes, but also work on getting people to notice it exists once its pages can be touch or swiped: Major shifts, yet the transforming manuscript weighs on my mind still. These last changes don’t nettle me as much as the lyrics I used or transformed, and that because of silence: Neither an “okay, you’re good,” nor a “look, you can’t use this, so change it.” Simply nothing. Read More
- 1
- 2