The Grand Unveiling!

Some of my not-so-new blog/writing friends would know that I am getting my feet wet in the waters of self-publishing.  Being cautious, I have taken some time to learn as much as I can on the journey.  While I am still being published traditionally, I am absorbing what goes into self-publishing. I didn't realize I was doing this before I made the decision to also go that route. 

The first thing I plan to publish is a short story that’s close to my heart. I’m not sure why I chose to write this one, but let’s just say, it’s the condensed version of the novel I plan to publish later this year. It’s called Giving up the Dream. 

Smashwords, ISBN numbers & Book Covers

Source

It’s Wednesday again, so of course, I’ve been doing some nosing around in the business of self-publishing. Making the decision was the easy part for me. Wading into all that goes with it is where the challenge begins. 

I continued my research over the past week and I picked up some new treasures, along with old sites and resources I keep going back to. Here’s the stuff I’ve got so far on text formatting and making book covers.  

I gotta tell you I almost had a nervous breakdown felt daunted when I decided to read the Smashwords Style Guide (which is free, by the way).  The book has 71 pages and I almost defeated myself with negative thoughts before I got going. I asked myself questions along the lines of how on earth can I read through all this and understand what it means? Do I have enough brainpower to handle this stuff?  

Foray into Self Publishing

We all know about the old stigma attached to self publishing so I won’t discuss that, except to say I never dreamed I'd think about taking that route.  I wanted to be published traditionally and nothing else would do. Well I got published traditionally and I’ve changed my tune. Late this year,  I'll venture down the self-publishing road for the reasons outlined below.