The Business of Publishing

Like anything worth doing, the business of publishing takes work. Also like many things, most of it seems to be learn-as-you go. This post is to show you some of the things I've learned, and a lot of what I have left to learn.

In this case, we're going to start with the big one: ISBNs

First: what is an ISBN? An ISBN is basically the distribution number for your book. Each edition of your book gets one. Paperback = 1 ISBN. Hardcover = 1 ISBN. Audiobook = 1 ISBN. Ebook = 1 ISBN. (You get the picture.) The only place to purchase legit ISBNs for US creators is from Bowker. Due to how many editions an average book has, it's best to purchase a bulk pack depending upon how many books you are publishing.

It was so easy to get them that I'm kind of embarrassed with myself for not doing it far sooner. This is also probably the thing I screwed up on the most. So let me help someone out there who is just starting out in self-publishing and wants to make this a career: buy them! IN BULK!

When I first started self-publising, Amazon's platform to publish on was called CreateSpace. Other than being the literal cheapest option around, what CreateSpace had going for it was ... no, that was it. It was cheaper than anyone else. What made it even cheaper was the fact that you got a FREE Amazon ISBN for your paperbacks (hardcover wasn't an option yet), and your ebook didn't need one. Why? Because the free ISBN that most sites sell you on is ONLY good on their site. Yes, this means I currently cannot sell any of my books on any site that isn't Amazon. Which is also why I am constantly enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. I can't sell it anywhere else, so I might as well get paid per page.

Well, due to purchasing my own ISBNs, this means that I'm now able to put out a second edition of my works and also get it on other book seller sites (hopefully) such as B&N and Apple books.

Which brings us to: Distributors

This one is so headache inducing for so many reasons. To be honest, I still haven't chosen which distributor to go with, but it will probably be IngramSpark just because of their massive reach. The Ingram Content Group are pretty much the largest of the book wholesalers in the country. Their IngramSpark venture is a print-on-demand publishing arm. It will allow me to use my own ISBNs and will get my books widespread reach. (We hope.) But there are other options out there. I simply recommend everyone to do their research. (Which sucks, I know.)

After all this, one of the most difficult and fun options: Cover design

I'm bad at this. That's why I hire out. Due to budget constraints, I took my own photos for the cover of the PMC. My best friend and her sister were able to alter some things and make decent covers out of them. For Demon Kin: The Queen, I commissioned the art and slapped some words on it to make the covers. I'm pretty pleased with the paperback, but the hardcover still bothers me, so I'll probably redo it at some point.

The only thing I can offer in regard to this is: know your genre, study popular styles, and commission a professional book cover designer. I know this is so hard to do on a budget, but trust me, it's not worth screwing up your debut. If ever there's something to put money into, this is it.

On the other hand, something that can cause a little less (or more) is: Galley design

Terminology-wise, a galley is the interior of your book. It's the layout of your pages with the appropriate spine margins, chapter headings, and extra fun stuff. This can either be the easiest part, or the hardest.

For my best friend, I remember it being difficult because CreateSpace was finicky with its margins. For each of the five books in the PMC, it was a challenge. I know she used special programs to do it, but I don't remember which ones. She also added pretty images to the chapter header pages. And that's why I didn't have many people to thank in the acknowledgements of the PMC. This one woman did most of the heavy lifting. Which is why she is the mother to my book children.

For me and DK:TQ, it was the easiest because I have Scrivener. The most beautiful part about writing in Scrivener is that you can compile your finished book into several formats and across other platforms. Including Word. Considering the size options of Amazon's KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing, as it is now known), I chose to compile DK:TQ into a 6"x9" paperback format in Word. This was then an easy upload straight to the site. All done. What was only slightly more complex was the harcover. I could have done the same thing, but I wanted something special for the hardcover, considering its price. Enter: excellent connections. My author friend Jen (aka Jennifer Anne Davis), has become a master at designing the galley for each of her own books. When I told her I needed to get the interior done for the hardcover, she very generously took it upon herself to give me a gorgeous galley. In other words: I got lucky.

Something I'm less lucky in: Marketing

I'm so bad at this, I really shouldn't bother to give advice. So I won't. Find someone else for this part, but be forewarned that you should do a lot of research and figure out what is in budget and what works to catch your target audience's attention. (Even if your target audience is just you.)

What I'm still learning: Teaser designs

Teaser banner posted prior to Demon Kin: The Queen's release date.

Not gonna lie, I'm still pretty proud of the teasers I made for DK:TQ. They captured the entire vibe of the novel and they didn't look half bad. Unlike the ones I made for the PMC which were very amateurish. (Because I was an amateur, through and through.)

Images and videos like this are excellent ways to entice readers into checking your book out. The quotes are often chosen with care for images, because you have a still format and it needs to be impactful. With short videos, it's easier to display a whole scene that encompasses either the most interesting parts of your book, or at least the most thematically relevant parts.

I've not yet learned to do the video advertisements yet, but I intend to figure it out shortly. But don't hold your breath.

Another thing that requires a budget: Launching your book

Great. You did the hard part. You wrote it. Edited. Designed. Redesigned. Slapped the ISBNs on it and all the other hard things. Now it's time to launch. This can either be done with a party, but most often is a soft, quiet release that hits only the internet in subtle waves. Welcome to self-publishing. No one said it was easy.

When I release a book, it's never a big affair, unfortunately. Long gone are the days in which people wait outside bookstores in the hundreds or thousands. Very few times will you see a publisher spend the money on a massive launch party, much less someone who self-publishes and can't rely on a huge pay day right out the gate.

I used to take the day off work when I launched a book. Now, I just stay up until just after midnight, plaster the socials with a buy link, and go to bed. Later in the day, I'll make more posts about it, but it is no longer a big deal. Unless you have a lot of engagement lined up right away, there's not a lot to do on a launch day.

That said: try to get that engagement. Tell your local newspaper about it. Try and get a radio spot. If you have a local news station, maybe try to get an interview. If anything is small enough, you publishing is a big enough deal to mention it. So give it a try. Bonus points if your book's setting is locally relevant. People eat up anything that's local to them. Even a fantasy book that happens to show your town for a brief second.

All in all, there's a lot to this. It's hard work, tons of research, and whoever said you did the hard part by writing the book lied. Writing a book is the fun part. It's not the easiest part, but it's also not the hardest. If you love a story and just want to keep reading it for yourself, then that's all you need to do: write the book. But sharing it with the world means doing more than you ever thought possible.

If it's worth it to do something, then it's worth it to do it right. All you have to decide is what your book is worth to you.