It is not necessary that every writer be published. Sometimes writers write because they enjoy it. Society puts pressure on writers to publish and become a professional author. Non-writers think all that writing should go into some printed material, but that does not need to be the writer’s goal. Some people like to jog or[…]
Category: publishing
New Things
As you can see, I have a new website and a new book. New things to energize my writing career. Or to kick-start it with energy. Or to keep it from dying. Getting people to read what I published is difficult. Well, almost impossible. I would think that out of almost eight billion people, one[…]
Self-Publishing, Part 2
I finally self-published my second book Evidence of a Commuter Train. I just went ahead and did it. It took me about an hour and a half to upload my book on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) (print and ebook), IngramSpark (IS) (print), Kobo (ebook), Draft 2 Digital (D2) (ebook), and Google Play (ebook). It[…]
Crossing the Self-Publishing Threshold
Soon I will self-publish my second book (I should have done it already). I finished the editing, cover, and formatting. I have one obstacle left—myself. I find it stressful to upload my book for publication. To me it is the hardest part of the whole self-publishing process. Even harder than marketing. I am going public[…]
Self-Publishing—Is It a Career?
I will publish my second novel at the end of this month. I plan to publish a third by the end of October and more next year. Have I established a self-publishing career? A few authors call their self-publishing endeavors a career by diversifying their creativity and making a livable income. Along with publishing books,[…]
Opening the Self-Publishing Door
I’m about to self-publish another book. They are short stories about commuting on a train, which I did going to the Pentagon for over 25 years. After my first book last year, I learned some things. Last time, I designed my cover and it was not good. So, I had someone else design the cover,[…]
Publish What You Write
Many people write stories, memoirs, essays, poems, or other work that could be published. Yet, for various reasons they never publish their work. I think every writer should consider publishing what they wrote and making it available for someone to read. Today, self-publishing a print book* can be done online or through a local printer[…]
2021 Creative Writing Goals
I’m setting writing goals this year. Something I haven’t done before. Usually, I fumble along until I surprise myself with some accomplishment. Now I have my first book published and I formed a limited liability company (LLC) for my writing. So, I thought I should be more organized. My first goal is to put more[…]
My Limited Liability Company
In February 2019, I posted my reasons for not forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC). At the time I thought it would have added more complications to an already complicated self-publishing route I was taking. Now that I’ve self-published my first book with plans to publish others, I decided an LLC might help with marketing[…]
My First Book Signing
A few Saturdays ago, I had my first book signing at a local bookstore. A podcast I previously heard had advised that authors at a signing event should not stand next to their books. People will more likely browse the book without the author there. This did not help. Whether I stood by my book[…]
Three Phases of the Self-Published Book
So as not to leave anyone in suspense, the three phases are: (1) writing a book, (2) publishing it, and (3) marketing. I discovered (like everyone else) that each phase requires vastly different expertise. Also, each expertise can be used only for that phase which makes things even more troublesome. What I learned from writing[…]
Self-Published Print Book and Booksellers
Things are simple for self-published ebooks. The author sets the price and the publishing company takes their share. For print, the author must choose what discount to give booksellers (30-55%) and whether to allow returns or not. If allowing returns, the bookseller can send books back for a refund. The author pays the refund. What[…]