Hello all, and welcome to the other side of NaNoWriMo! I took most of the rest of November off after finishing my book to let my brain refresh from the amount of words that had been stuck in my head, and boy can I feel the difference now. I spent a few days looking at what goes into self publishing in some detail in the last couple of weeks, and wanted to go over some of what I’ll have to do.
I’ve decided to use IngramSpark for my publishing this go-around. It’s not nearly as easy as publishing through the Amazon Kindle program, but I like the idea that some library or bookstore somewhere could decide my book looked interesting, and buy a copy for their shelves. It’s a pretty neat system, though there are a boatload of pieces I have to get just right first.
To start with, I have to do all the editing myself. Fortunately, I’m pretty good at this. The story edits are probably the hardest thing for me, which is why I’m hoping my Beta Readers have gotten a start. Once I’ve got their feedback, I’ll read my book again and see what needs changing and make those corrections.
After the story edits, I’ll do a couple rounds of copy editing. I have found that the best way to self edit is to read the book aloud, and I actually intend on recording the book. Maybe I’ll make an audiobook version later. Who knows. But, I’ll read it out loud a couple of times, and make sure everything flows well, and there are no egregious errors in grammar and whatnot.
While that editing process is going on, I hope to have an artist designing the cover art for me. I’m still not set on exactly what it will look like. I either want to go with a little more abstract art, lots of shapes and colors and the like, or a more fully illustrated piece of art. I know what scene I would use for the latter, and if I can find a good artist, I’ll see what they have to say about it.
Okay, so with the editing done, and the cover art done, all I have left is the layout. Fortunately, as a physicist, I am well versed in using LaTex, a code-based piece of software that will actually lay out the book for you. I’ve already pushed through my first draft into the code to see if I can get my settings right beforehand, and I have to say, it looks good. I’ll include the first paragraph of the first draft of the book below, in full layout.
I will have to buy my own iSBN number. Actually, I have to buy two, one for the print version, and one for the ebook. I had no idea how expensive they were, but that’s the price of doing business, I suppose. I’m not publishing to make money (although that would certainly be nice), I’m publishing to say that I can, that I am an author. I want to see that book on my shelf, with my name on it, and know that the words are mine, the story is mine.
With everything edited, laid out, illustrated, and every other little detail, I still have to upload it to the system. In that process, anything that’s done wrong will have to be corrected. I want to have all this done by the start of Spring next year, but there are a lot of factors that will go into that, and delays are likely.
In the meantime, keep reading everybody, and I’ll see you next time.
~Stephen
McMillan Writes 