As my first self-publishing journey comes to an end, I would like to share a few lessons I have learned. I have already published several blog posts on the DOs of self-publishing, a few of which can be found here, here, and here.
Here, I offer the DON'Ts of self-publishing according to my recent experience. I do not claim that this list is exhaustive, only that it's what I learned the hard way so you don't have to.
DON'T wait to set up your business
Long before you ever plan to get your novel out there, decide on your business structure. Many self-publishers (myself included) set up an author/publisher business as a sole proprietorship. If you don't use your own name for this (and even if you do,) there are steps to take. To get your book out as quickly as possible once it's finished, you should have your business up and running well in advance so you can spend those last weeks focused elsewhere. Here are some step-by-step instructions for starting your author/publisher business.
DON'T wait to set up your bank accounts
This is a part of setting up your business which wasn't covered in the aforementioned blog post, but it's an important part. It is strongly suggested (and generally wise) that you set up a business checking account and a business savings account, and use it for all of your publishing-related transactions. This will keep your business funds separate from your personal funds, which will help you enormously when tax time arrives. A word of caution: every bank on earth will try to sell you their merchant services when you sign up for a business bank account. These services typically include mechanisms for taking credit cards on your home computer and your smart phone (an example being The Square.) My personal opinion: don't. The bank will charge you monthly fees for this, and you can get it for free from PayPal. Establish a PayPal account instead of signing up for your bank's merchant services, and PayPal will send you their version of The Square (it's actually a triangle.) It's free, and their customer service absolutely rules over any bank. You also don't need a land-line to take credit card orders, which some banking merchant services require.
DON'T wait to set up your printing and distribution channels
This is a place where I really screwed the pooch, and paid for it later. I thought that I couldn't really do anything until I had a book in hand. How wrong I was, and each site came with its own glitches (listed below,) and resolution of each glitch cost me some time. At any time while writing your novel (say, during those moments of writer's block,) establish a profile on the sites listed below. In some cases (ahem, Lighting Source, ahem,) there are several steps that involve waiting for approval. But the good news is, you can get through these steps long before your book is ready. Deal with the glitches early. Then, when your book IS ready, you just slam the files onto the site and you're off. Here's my list of places where you should establish a profile well in advance:
- CreateSpace
- CS is pretty quick, but it's good to get it up and running.
- Lightning Source
- For print book access to Ingram for B&N print book distribution and Baker & Taylor for libraries.
- Takes forever.
- There are forms to fill out online, then you wait for approval.
- Then you are sent a slew of additional forms which you must print, sign and fax back.
- Then you wait for approval.
- Once approved, upload files, order a print proof, and wait some more.
- I'm still waiting.
- Amazon Author Central (US, UK, FR, DE and JP)
- Amazon should be straightforward, but in my case, all five sites had a glitch linking my twitter account. This took time and several e-mails to resolve. Once resolved, it was fixed on all sites.
- Also, be aware that the FR, DE and JP sites are in their respective languages. If you set up your US and UK sites first, you can remember much of what you did (the sites are all set up identically.) You can also use Google Translate in a separate window to get a rough idea of what each site says.
- None of the foreign language sites are currently allowing me to link my book to my author page. I still haven't found the answer to this.
- Nook Press
- Direct upload, this was fairly straightforward.
- It took a few days before the book would show up in a search.
- Barnes & Noble
- For print book access to BarnesandNoble.com.
- Once print book and Nook book are set up, they should link together on B&N.com.
- You need Lightning Source set up first.
- Kobo Writing Life
- OK. Kobo has one area of major stupidity. You can only accept royalties from Kobo via direct deposit, and you can't do anything on the site until you provide your bank account and routing number info. But Kobo is a Canadian company and thinks there is no such thing as a 9-digit routing number. To my knowledge, every routing number in the United States is 9 digits. I know for certain that every routing number from Bank of America is 9 digits. So I couldn't set up my Kobo profile until I exchanged multiple e-mails with their customer service department which finally permitted me to provide my bank account info. Blech.
- Note that you DO NOT need to provide your account number to customer service during the aforementioned chain of e-mails. I just provided them with the routing number (which is the same for every BofA in the U.S., and my city, and they eventually got their system to recognize my bank and city (albeit, the wrong bank branch.)
- Do not enter your state in the city field (i.e. write "San Diego" and don't let it auto-populate to "San Diego, CA" - which it will. Enter a space or two after "San Diego" to get rid of the auto-populated state.
- At that point, I was finally able to provide my bank account number directly onto the website and carry on. 24-72 hours later, the book was published.
- iBookstore
- You need to apply online to publish in the iBookstore.
- Then wait five days.
- Then you don't hear anything back from them.
- Contact customer service.
- Then get an e-mail response that there was an issue with your Tax ID number and legal entity name.
- Send some e-mails back and forth over several days to resolve the issue.
- Application takes another five days to review.
- I'm still waiting.
- Shelfari
- Start a profile and populate with some of the books you have read
- Do some reviews, etc.
- Goodreads (reader only - author page after publication)
- Start a profile and populate with some of the books you have read
- Do some reviews, etc.
DON'T wait to get reviews:
If you're not doing an ARC of your book, it's a good idea to at least give your completed (or mostly completed) manuscript to as many reviewers as you can (friends, family...) Even the Word document. These people can provide reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, Shelfari, etc. as soon as you have established your author pages. Then when the book becomes available to the masses, you don't look like a dork by having zero reviews on your book and author sites. See my book and author sites for examples of looking like a dork. Moreover, if you get some great reviews before the book is published, you can include a review page in the front of your book.
DON'T publish before obtaining an LCCN, if you want one
The LCCN is essentially a catalog number for your book. For the self-publisher, the necessity of having one of these is debatable. But if you want one, there is a window of time for obtaining it: you have to have already assigned your ISBN, but you need to include the LCCN in your copyright page - so you have to get the LCCN before publishing if at all. It can take some time to get one, so plan ahead.
The official launch date for The Vesuvius Isotope is July 1, but the book is available now via all of the channels mentioned above except where noted. As I post this, copies can be obtained via Amazon (for print books or Kindle,) Barnesandnoble.com (for Nook,) and Kobo (for...Kobo.) You may also still get a print copy at my website, which will come signed.
Will I self-publish (by choice) again? That depends. I can say at this time that I'm 100% happy with the product I ended up with. But I have yet to see how the novel will actually sell. Stay tuned...
Readers, what would you add to this list?
Addendum: For whatever it's worth, I have now moved from "I might self-publish again" to "I'll never NOT self-publish again." I've now self-published The Vesuvius Isotope and The Death Row Complex, and been generally pleased with the results. As a bonus, I get to do what I want and not worry about anyone else's agenda. My third self-pubbed novel, the third Katrina Stone book, is coming... um... one of these days (hopefully soon!)