Ya/MG Self Publishing Path

Hello everyone. So I'm finally going the self-publishing route. It was not an easy decision for me to make. I've been lurking around for a while and reading about self-publishing. I've been very excited about what has been happening in the field. What made me decide to go this path was just a plain desire to write and hopefully have people read my books.

I did the publishing and agent search and even got a publishing contract. Unfortunately, right around the time my book was supposed to be release the publisher went under. I heard about orphan books before, but I had hoped to not be one of them. I sent the book to another publisher who had been interested and waited to hear back. I'm still waiting.

The thought of having to go through the publishing/agent hunt all over again was very unappealing. After some thought and encouragement from several different people, I decided to try the self-publishing route.

Fortunately for me, I have supportive friends who volunteered to help me. One of my friends is doing my book cover for free and another has done a live book trailer for me. My book was edited by the publishing house, but I also had a couple of friends who are editors who looked it over again for me. (It looks like no matter how many editors look over a book they are still likely to catch errors the other one didn't.)

If all goes well, I'll be publishing two books to kindle, nook and smashwords in December. If things go really, really well, I'll also have a print versions released on Createspace.

The reason I'm starting this diary is to keep a record for me and other self-publishers. There are a lot of people doing the same, but what makes this a little different is that there aren't too many people writing a record concerning self-publishing middle grade books. Several are doing adult and YA, but MG is currently a hard sale.

With the prospect of Christmas introducing more people with newer versions of e-readers, I'm hoping to see some of the younger generation getting the old e-readers. If that happens, maybe MG books will pick up the pace. Even so, I'm not going to just base it on a hope. I'm doing this because I love writing YA and MG and want to put my books out there.

So I hope I can help others and encourage myself through the process.

Thanks merri! I'm pretty excited about it. I've always wanted to open my own business and now I finally am going to get the chance.

Just a brief update on what I'm currently doing. I've been spending my time going through several book reviewers site. I had no clue how many there were out there. Of course, I'm focusing on reviewers that accept self-published books. There are a surprisingly large amount that will take it on. Here are several things I do when I go through them.

I look for if they accept MG or YA and what genres within those categories they welcome. If I'm unsure, I look through their reviews. Many people that accept YA will also accept MG, but not list it. The same goes for genre. My YA book is epic fantasy. A reviewer that reviews only fantasy also reviews YA, though it's not stated in their guidelines.

Next I see who requires a print version to be sent and who accepts an electronic version. This is important to me because if they accept only a print version I want to see what their traffic is like. It has to be worth the money to pay for a print copy and mail it to them. I want to make sure that every penny spent will give me the best value.

Next, I focus on whether they accept ARC copies or if the book has to be out. Each review site is different. Also, it's good to pay attention to whether it would be better to provide and ARC copy or not, since I want people to read the review and if they like it, click on the link to buy a book. Impulse buys are wonderful things, especially for a debut author.

I don't worry too much about how long it'll take for the reviewer to get the review out. The reason is because I still want the review regardless. Review helps get the word out and if it comes out later it is a good way to remind people it's out there. Exposure over time is just as good to me as initial exposure.

Also, I like feedback. I love my book. I think it's great and perfect. Of course, I do. I wouldn't be self-publishing if I didn't, but I also realize I'm bias on the matter as well. Even with lots of betas and good editorial feedback, there is still room for improvement. Even traditional authors improve. I think reading reviews of my book can also help me to see ways I can grow as a writer and make the next book even better.

I'm always trying to get better. Even if I become a bestselling author (I can dream! ), I would still try to improve. Then again, I believe there is never an end to doing better. Long ramble there.

For the rest of the week, I'll be sorting through my list, reading the review blogs to get a feel for the reviewers and commenting. Busy, busy.

It'll definitely be worth seeing. I'll tell you how it goes on my end. MG is a popular genre, so I don't think it will be a lost genre on the kindle for long. Mostly, it all depends if parents give their old readers to their kids when they get brand new ones. Or if kids show an interest in getting ones.

For a while, YA didn't sell well when the Kindle first came out, now it's moving fast. So in this case, I believe it's just a waiting game. Good luck to you and your partner!

Another quick update. Today I spent time trying to craft my blurb for one of my books. Is there a good place on the site to get thoughts on the blurb?

Thanks! I'll look there.

Thanks Anne! It's definitely an exciting prospect. I can't wait to see what happens.

I recently started a blog. It's still very new and I probably should have started it months ago, but I haven't started posting my self-publishing experience on it yet. I plan to add my blog in my signature, but I wanted to get a bit more content on it before I do, so people don't come to an empty and boring blog. Maybe, I'm being overly cautious though. lol

I will definitely send you a PM. I'm always reading self-publishing site and I know there is a bunch of them I'm probably not reading. Good luck on your MG book. I'm always looking for more MG books whether traditional or self-pub.

A beautiful mistake happened today. I was going through my list of reviewers to see which of my books I should send to them. After talking with one reviewer, I noticed that the book reviewers liked to pick, so I send them a blurb of both so they can pick which one they prefer. Since my books won't be coming out until mid-December, I haven't really been requesting reviews. Mostly I drop an email to an reviewer if I need clarification on a guideline.

So I was doing so with one Reviewer to see if they accept ebooks and if they were willing to review the book once it came out Dec. 15th. I included the blurbs for both books. Fifteen minutes later I received a wonderful response back saying that they loved my blurbs and wanted to review both books! Then they asked for an ARC. I had the books formatted, but my cover was still be worked on and the TOC wasn't tested yet.

I hurried up and got the books translated into the reviewers preferred format with a note that they cover wasn't included yet due to it still being worked on and the TOC wasn't ready. Luckily, the reviewer was fine with this and was still very excited to read both. She told me to send them anyway.

It is wonderful to have a reviewer so excited about reading my book, but I also realized it could have went terribly wrong. So a note for those contacting book reviewers. Even if you're just contacting them about guidelines have an ARC ready just in case.

I haven't been on much, because I've been super busy with my double release. In case you're wondering, it's tomorrow! Whee! I'm super excited, which explains the use of so many supers. Please bear with all supers, awesome, etc.

I'll post more about the process tomorrow for those who are curious. See you all then!

So here's what has been going on so far. I made a list of reviewers and signed up for this wonderful read and review opportunity, where readers sign up to read and review your book.

After that I stressed about cover and a hundred of little things I had no control over. In the meantime, I started a new job, since I'm not too keen on starving. lol I gave out Dec. 15th as my official release and just talked to people and was being social. It was a lot of fun meeting new people and several people volunteered to read and review my book.

While I was doing that, i searched for opportunities and tried to promote without being obnoxious. I've only done things that don't cost money, so no ads or anything of the like.

On monday, I uploaded my book. I heard that it can take up to 72 hours for the books to show up on B&N and Kindle. It took 12 hours to show up on Kindle for both books and around the same for Barnes and Noble. So the books were officially out on Tuesday, but since today is the release, i kept quite about that. Since they were up, I went ahead and sent out review requests to reviewers that required or recommended I have an link to a store before sending requests.

My freetime was (and still is) limited due to the new job, so whenever I have free time I send out review request, talk on social media and search for promotion opportunities. Today is my release day and it's pretty quite, besides texts and emails from people saying congratulations.

So far I've sold 1 copy of Stone Bearers and 1 copy of Burnt Children on Barnes and Noble through Pubit.

On amazon, I've sold 1 copy of Stone Bearers.

On Smashwords, I've sold 0.

Now, I know several people have bought more of the books, since friends and family have text and emailed saying they've bought books, so I know there's a bit of delay. Also, I have no reviews yet, since I'm waiting for them to come in. I'm not worried...yet. Which me lots of luck that it gets noticed. From there the books wil have to do the work.

@pixydust - Yes, the sites that eward provided is he ones I used to do my research, though I suggest clicking ones that say they don't accept ebooks anyway. A lot of times the review policy is more up-to-date than the summaries. There are a lot more that accept ebooks than it suggests.

@eward - Thanks! I'll check out the YA Indie Carnival. I never heard of it before, but I'm all for more exposure. EDIT: Hmm, I don't think they are taking on anymore authors and I do see a way to join the YA Author club.

@Stonewheller - Thanks for the encouragement. I think sells can be slow to begin with, but eventually the pick up. I just suggest to keep promoting and looking for opportunities to talk about or link to your book. Just don't overdo it, because no one likes when an author is only there to promote books.

Just a quick mention. I decided to try holding a giveaway on my blog to help get the books out there as well as to help with traffic to the blog. So I'll see how that goes. Also feel free to stop by if you're interested.

It actually doesn't end until Dec. 22. : ) So waiting until then to see what the results are.