4 things I learned...

4 Things I learned self-publishing

With so many self-published writers in the world, some spring chickens, some old dogs, but one thing that we all have in common, we have all been through the lengthy and time consuming process. I could bet that not everyone did their route exactly the same as anyone else. One may have gone through their MS 50 times before sending it to their editor while another decided editing was not necessary at all. 

Anyway, we all eventually got to the same place. Published. 

We all learned a few things along the road, here are a few things I learned.

1. Editing. It is an extremely tedious job, one that every writer has to do, but what I am more specifically referring to is my editor. I like many self published authors debated getting my MS edited. Yeah...in hind sight that was completely misguided. In the end, obviously it was edited and I am more then grateful to have done it. Thank you +Lauren Wise  for being an awesome editor! 

2. Marketing before the book comes out is the best way to go regardless if it is your first book or your 10th. So many people told me, don't spend a lot of time marketing until you have multiple books out. Well, I think that is not good advise. By not marketing you are eliminating so many more people who will be with you from the start! +Katie Cross has some amazing advice for marketing on her blog if you are looking for a good marketing plan! 

3. I tried (and by tried I queried 15 agents, not exactly very persistent) to go the traditional publishing route, but now that I have published Obscured myself, I learned that I prefer it that way. I am a bit of a micro manager and I like to know where everything stands. I would not have so much control if I had placed it in the hands of an agent. 

4. ISBN's are expensive! But I learned that having one that was connected to me and only me was important. Why? Because maybe some day I would like to get my books on the shelves of Changing hands bookstore. Or maybe others. And now I can. Nobody else has a say in what I do with my own work and that is the way it should be. 

There they are. By all means these aren't the only things I learned, but these are a few of the big ones. 

What things did you learn?? I'd love to hear! 

C.M.