Madame Guillotine's self publishing journey thread

Thank you! I'm really pleased!

Thanks very much!

I think I've decided not to go with an agent though (I now have three agents who want to see my Jack the Ripper YA book when it's finished) as I really enjoy self publishing and I don't think trade publishing is for me for various reasons.

Anyway, it's the 30th so I think I can safely deliver my regular monthly update now, right?

1. As of the afternoon of the 30th of May, I have sold 2,553 books so far this month at a rate of about a hundred a day at the moment so I estimate a sales total of about 2,700 by the end of the month. This is rather pleasing.

2. I've sold over 2,000 copies of Minette since it was released last month, which I am very pleased with. It's had some really ace reviews too. I'm mostly happy about this because I didn't expect it to be much of a success at all.

3. I started work on The Ripper Book in earnest and have now written 40,000 words just this month out of a projected 90,000. It's going really well, I think although I had to make some changes to make it more YA (ie changing it from third person to first etc). Although I have agents interested in it, I think I am going to self publish this book as well because I have very definite ideas about how the title and cover etc (ie no ruddy toff in a top hat!) should be and also I know it's going to be a BIG seller because a. it's JACK THE RIPPER and b. it's YA and c. it's got one of my own ancestors as a main character (her father was a H Division policeman in 1888 and she lived in Whitechapel police station as a teenager at around the time of the murders) and d. I'm an actual Ripperologist so I not only have the support of the rest of the Ripperologist community (which exists and er, you don't want to get on the wrong side of them if you have a Ripper book coming out!) but also it's pretty thoroughly researched UNLIKE CERTAIN RIPPER NOVELS I COULD MENTION BUT WON'T. Anyway, I kind of really need the money to buy a Kitchen Aid mixer and nice shoes and go on an epic holiday next year so I'm a bit loath to hand it all over to someone else unless they can give me a really good reason to do so. Sad but true.

4. I met with an agent in London during the month. It was a good meeting because she gave me loads of ideas for the direction the book's ending should take and how the characters should develop and seemed really enthusiastic about the book (which she said was 'brilliant' based on the first few chapters so there is that!) but I don't think it's going to go any further.

5. I'm getting loads of emails etc hassling me about the follow up to Minette, which I foolishly promised would be out next spring! Argh. The current plan is to finish the Ripper Book (which seems to have adopted the title 'From Whitechapel') this summer and release it at Christmas then crack on with Minette, aiming for a May 2014 release.

And there concludes my writing month of doom! Hope you all had good months too!

Oh God, I forgot the one bad thing about this month - sodding Smashwords! I unpublished all my books with them about two months ago now only for one of them to pop up on some site I'd never heard of (Nook.UK) about three weeks later.

I've been emailing Smashwords at regular intervals all month asking them to have it taken down only for it to STILL BE THERE. And now I've had a really rude and snarky email from a Smashwords staff member as well so I just don't know what to do! I really REALLY want the book taken down but I'm not especially partial to getting rude emails either.

Anyway, this is me making a solemn vow NEVER EVER to have anything to do with Smashwords ever EVER again.

I have asked Smashwords if I can contact Nook UK directly (which I would much rather do) to sort it out and they refused to give me the relevant details because I 'have' to go through them apparently. I then mentioned getting legal advice and that's when the less than polite emails started...

Thank you! Hope your month went well too!

I actually feel much more excited about self publishing the Ripper book than I do about the possibility of trade publication. I suppose I just find trade publishing a bit old fashioned and slooooow for me now that I am used to the modern zippiness of KDP and being able to get my books into readers hands pretty quickly after they are finished. I don't want to wait years for it to be read! That's just me though and I am well known for my impatience!

It's possible that I might get my mind changed though so let's see what happens.

Yes, I always thought Smashwords sorts were super helpful and friendly. The guy who emailed me last week definitely wasn't though! I was actually really upset as I couldn't believe that someone could be so snide to me over this when it's not even my fault. Anyway, I've emailed them AGAIN today and also tried emailing an address I've been given for Nook again as well to see if there's anything they can do. It's not a MASSIVE BIG DEAL but it feels horrible having control over where my work appears taken away from me like this.

I know but all of that seems too scarily grown up for me to think about! I am going to let the interested agents see the book when it is finished (mainly because I said that I would and am a woman of my word) but I'm not going to weep into my gin if they pass on it as I'll be pretty excited to have this in my self publishing clutches!

I think the main problem here is that I know next to nothing about trade publishing or what an agent would be able to do for me and I've probably also become a little too used to having my own way so the idea of relinquishing any control is a bit terrifying!

Thanks! I'm hoping to have it ready for release at Christmas!

I think that I'll buy the book that as I have a LOT of questions about the whole process and the potential benefits and drawbacks for myself!

It's nice to have the interest though!

Thanks so much! I've emailed Smashwords for what feels like the bazillionth time but am not expecting anything to happen. I've also emailed Nook again but as expected they are continuing to say that it isn't their problem and only Smashwords can sort it out.

I hate doing it but I've decided to get legal advice as clearly Smashwords aren't interested in doing anything about it. I find it a bit boggling tbh that they can let a situation like this drag on for so long when the books were unpublished with them over two months ago (I think?). Anyway!

I make my covers myself using photos I have bought from a couple of stock image sites. I have to chop them up a bit to get something useable but I think they've turned out okay - the key thing for me was that they look like your typical every day historical novel. Thus the headlessness going on...

Thanks, Merri!

Acockey, I'm sticking to Amazon KDP for now. One of my books is also available as a paperback as a collaboration with a local publisher but I have no definite plans to do the same with my other books.

Aww! Hooray for you too!