Self publishing in the modern age.
Today I wanted to run through as many different domains that a self publishing writer has to be proficient (or at least competent) in. These are hats that I have to wear in order to get a book launched successfully. This was one of the big awakenings that I had when I started down this path: there’s a lot to do, and I’m the one who needs to get it done.
Unless you want very few sales for your book, as a self publishing writer, you’ll need to get your hands dirty. For some this may be all they want, uploading their manuscript for print on demand and having a copy for them and those close to them. That’s all good and fine, and I wish it were more easy than it is.
But the reality of self publishing is there’s a lot that I have to do that traditionally published authors don’t have to worry about. Is it fair? Considering that I chose this path (I should share why I’m self publishing in the first place… another time), yeah I think it’s fair. But it’s not easy or simple.
So here are as many hats that I could think of:
The Writer
This one is obvious, but you need to be a halfway decent writer to even have a small chance of succeeding.
The Editor
And I don’t mean copy editing. No I’m talking video editing. Though I don’t have any videos to show for it (yet), I’ve done enough editing in the past to know I’ll need to do a lot of it. YouTube can be a slow grind to build up a following on.
And to stand out on YouTube, you need tightly edited videos, good content, enticing thumbnails, and insight into what keywords should be in the description. All of these adds up to more than an video editor’s role, so we could call it a content curator.
Point is there’s more to YouTube than recording a video and hitting upload. You need to be able to solve someone’s problem. Not necessarily a real problem. But your videos need to have something that clicks in the mind of the viewer. Otherwise no one will watch your videos.
Which is one of the reasons I haven’t uploaded yet. I still don’t know what problem I’m trying to solve yet. I’d like to attract readers who are interested in the genres I write in. So giving writing advice might be off the table. It’s not like writers don’t read–I read. It’s not like writers don’t obsess over other authors–I do.
The Editor II
Ok this time I am talking about manuscript editing, though I’m only talking about this from a storytelling angle and not from a copy editor one. Get yourself an editor you can trust to do your copy editing. But unless you want to spend significantly more on your editing costs, you’ll need to know how to self edit your manuscript.
Do you have clunky dialogue? Do you have an incoherent story? Sure you could pay someone to edit your manuscript for tone and dialogue and all that, but that would be a large expense.
All of this boils down to being a good storyteller. If you can build that skill, you’ll have no problem editing your own manuscripts in this way. Will you have a perfect manuscript in the end? Definitely not. But traditionally published books aren’t perfect either.
The Businessman
Really most of a self publishing author’s hats boil down to businessman. I need a website, I need social media accounts, I need to produce a product, and on and on it goes. But beyond those there is the logistics side of all of this.
Do you have a plan? (I’ll share my self publishing plan in a future post).
Who are you self publishing through? Will you have physical copies of you book, or are you just going digital? Are you going to run promotions to sell your book? Do you have reviewers? I’d categorize these kinds of questions as the business end of the operation. There’s a thousand of these questions, and they all need answering.
The *gags* Influencer
What I really mean is person with a presence on social media. But how does an indie writer go from zero follower social accounts to being someone with an actual influence? If I ever figure it out, I’ll let you know. With all the work I put into building this website, I’ve neglected my social accounts, though I’m back on them now to try and build over there.
I’ve given up on Facebook. Maybe it’s because I don’t run paid promotions of my posts, but I got no notice over there.
With social media I try to give my followers something they don’t get anywhere else. For Instagram I’ve been posting writing and self publishing memes, as well as the pictures I’ve been using for my blog posts. I have an actionable plan for Twitter content, though I haven’t put that into play just yet. Of course YouTube is sitting stagnant, but I’ll be posting videos on there soon.
The Web Designer
After everything I went through to get this website running, I’d be remiss not to mention it. But whether it’s web design, cover artist, graphic designer, or any number of niche domains, a self publishing writer needs to learn and adapt to the needs of their works. At least I needed to learn, because I don’t have the money to outsource a web designer.
The Blogger
So I’ve come to it at last. But beyond everything I’ve mentioned above, I’m positive I haven’t pin pointed every hat I’ve worn. It’s a little nutty, and this process can make me feel like I’m alone in the midst of lions. The only light at the end of this tunnel is the release date for my book, but even then I’ll be going through it all again for my next story. I’m left thinking what have I gotten myself into?
All this in the hopes that one day all my work will pay off. That’s success for me–one day it’ll pay off. I’m not measuring success based on the sales of my first book, which helps alleviate the pressure of getting everything just right.
On Thursday I’ll share my book release plans. That’s a topic I know I could rant on for a long time, so I’ll probably be using some of my editing skills to chop that post down.
Until then, I hope you have a wonderful day,
Colin J Switalski
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