I took the plunge today. I finally put my book up on Amazon. It's not out yet. I'm still waiting on my cover art, which should be done at some point next month. It is available for pre-order, though, and I'll be publishing it on June 30th. I'm so excited and terrified that I've stayed up way past my bedtime. I keep fiddling with things on Amazon, and hopefully I'll get setup as a Goodreads author soon.
I've been surprised so far by how well the formatting has gone. I only noticed one problem in the current file I have submitted. The heading for Chapter 11 isn't centered, but that's not a huge deal. I can fix that pretty easily.
It may take a bit more effort to get the Createspace version out there. I've started that process, but it seems a bit more involved, and I can't really finalize everything there until I get my cover art done.
I also entered the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (assuming my email didn't get lost somewhere). I don't expect to win it. The quality of books submitted was very high this last year. I don't want to sell myself short or anything, but sometimes I face that crippling self-doubt that seems to plague all writers. I'd love to win, but a dream like that is a long way off, and I'm not going to worry about it too much.
I'm glad that I've finished the entire series. That should allow me to get the next three books out pretty quickly.
Overall, I'm scared but excited. I'm not expecting to hit huge sales figures. It would be nice, but I know that a lot of self-published authors lose money on their first few books, and I'm prepared for that. I'll keep writing and getting more books out there. The more I've written, the better a chance I have of at least one of the books gaining traction (and hopefully leading to sales of other books).
I've currently got two other series in the works (and way too many in my head). Ah, the joys and frustrations of being a writer.
I've been surprised so far by how well the formatting has gone. I only noticed one problem in the current file I have submitted. The heading for Chapter 11 isn't centered, but that's not a huge deal. I can fix that pretty easily.
It may take a bit more effort to get the Createspace version out there. I've started that process, but it seems a bit more involved, and I can't really finalize everything there until I get my cover art done.
I also entered the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (assuming my email didn't get lost somewhere). I don't expect to win it. The quality of books submitted was very high this last year. I don't want to sell myself short or anything, but sometimes I face that crippling self-doubt that seems to plague all writers. I'd love to win, but a dream like that is a long way off, and I'm not going to worry about it too much.
I'm glad that I've finished the entire series. That should allow me to get the next three books out pretty quickly.
Overall, I'm scared but excited. I'm not expecting to hit huge sales figures. It would be nice, but I know that a lot of self-published authors lose money on their first few books, and I'm prepared for that. I'll keep writing and getting more books out there. The more I've written, the better a chance I have of at least one of the books gaining traction (and hopefully leading to sales of other books).
I've currently got two other series in the works (and way too many in my head). Ah, the joys and frustrations of being a writer.