As I said in my last post, I use CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for my ebooks. I used to upload my own ebooks at no expense but now CreateSpace does this for me so that the ebook looks exactly like the paperback. There are lots of other excellent self-publishing companies (e.g. Bookbaby) so you should do your homework and choose the one that suits you. I am talking about CreateSpace because it is the one company I know well.

When I have completed a book and I am ready to publish, I go into my CreateSpace account and buy the services I want. It is possible to do everything yourself for no cost at all by simply opening a CreateSpace account (which is free) and uploading your manuscript and cover. The website walks you through each step and in less than 48 hours your book can be available on Amazon and with a variety of other distributors a week or so later. I have done this for a friend and can attest to the simplicity.

Currently, I pay for some services because it is easier for me while I am working at my ‘other’ career in education. This process takes about 4-6 weeks and includes:

1. Telephone contact from your writing ‘team’ to be sure your vision is their vision
2. Formatting of your manuscript interior, including some choices of font, paper colour, page size etc. and receipt of a hard copy proof to make changes before publishing if you find errors
3. A free ISBN number
4. Cover, ranging from a simple cover as I have on my Niello Necklace Series’ books, to a ‘Custom Cover Premier Plus’ where you have a wider range of options. You can also buy covers at any number of sites like Fiverr, from the many photo sites available (such as iStock, and ShutterStock) or look online for someone who specializes in producing custom book covers. I have seen prices ranging from $5 – $5000, so choose carefully
5. Marketing Copy and distribution: I hesitated over paying for marketing copy but I am so glad I decided to go ahead. You have to provide a synopsis of your book and some details about yourself, which experts use to:
   – write a summary for book selling sites like Amazon, Book Depository, Booktopia, Barnes and Noble etc;
   – back cover copy;
   – ‘about the author’ copy;
   – your BISAC Category (category used by the book-selling industry to identify and group books by their subject matter);
   – keywords to help improve your title’s ‘discoverability’;
   – tagline – a one sentence description of your book
6. Kindle conversion and upload so your kindle and paperback editions look the same
7. Editing – ranges from a copyedit, to a line edit, to a professional editor editing your book and providing advice for improvement as well as proof reading the final edit. This is relatively expensive and I haven’t used it you, but I may with my next book
8. Review by a professional reviewer. I don’t use this service but I may in future. A professional reviews your book and distributes the review to a number of very useful organisations
9. Video Book Trailer
10. CreateSpace distributes your book details to multiple sites including large retailers and distributors, libraries and academic institutions, where appropriate, and to certified re-sellers through CreateSpace Direct.

As mentioned earlier there are other companies that will do all of the above for you if you don’t want to manage this for yourself. You can, however, do everything yourself and upload your kindle and paperback editions to Amazon free of charge. The CreateSpace website provides a lot of useful information on how to do this, including how to format your manuscript and details of cover specifications.

My advice would be to budget US$1000-$2000 and try the publishing process with one of the reputable companies at least once so you understand how the process works. I have opted to buy services for all of my books, in The Niello Necklace Mysteries, and The Entwhistle Experiment series so far – and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Please contact me if you want more information about any of the above.

PS One of the hardest things about self-publishing is the feeling that you only self-publish because you’re not good enough to get a ‘real’ publisher. I don’t believe this has ever been the case, but it is even less so now as more and more well known, published authors are opting to self-publish, work with traditional publishers or do ‘a bit of both’. Of course, if a publisher came knocking on my door, I’d consider it…!

PPS I’m definitely not earning enough as a writer to live on my book sales – YET.