Writing Turns Out To Be The EASY Part!

Self-publishing is so much more than being a good writer...

[Warning! This is just kind of a rant…]

Okay, that title is a little bit clickbait, but not completely. Writing Zombies Ate My Poodle! (ZAMP) took me over 10 years because life kept getting in the way. It wasn’t hard — at least not like digging ditches is hard. But when you’re self-publishing, it turns out that writing isn’t even close to being the hardest part…

…it’s getting your book into the marketplace so people can buy it!

Have you created a cover, or hired someone to create it for you? And is it the right size for ebooks and print? And for the different online stores? If you did it yourself does it look like something that will make people grab for it? (Every book is judged by its cover.)

Amazon and Apple have made it pretty easy to get your book into their system, but they each need a different version, so you find yourself making two different book files. And then if you want to do a paperback on Amazon, you’ll need a different file. and then putting it on Kobo, and maybe you want to make it available on your own site…

Basically, it feels like it’s a never ending process.

Oh, and I forgot about an audio version. If you’re lucky enough to have the money, you can hire someone to narrate it, but maybe you’ll be reading it yourself. That will take either forever, if you’re familiar with professional quality audio recording, or an infinity if you have to learn that first.

Did you find an error that you just can’t live with? Fortunately, you can update all the online places with the new copy, but it requires making all those different book files again.

Wha wha, complain complain — it still isn’t as hard as digging ditches, but it all has to be done.

It has NOTHING to do with writing a great story, but it has everything to do with getting your great story in front of readers.

Which reminds me, do you have a marketing plan yet so people will know about your new book?

The Moral of the Story

I have no way to tie this up that reveals a secret for getting through the weeds and coming out the other side a successful author. My “secret” is that I made a list of the things I need to do for each of the online store/formats and just work my way through the list each time I need to publish or update. It’s a slog, but I want people to read my book, so I do it.