Guest Blog Post: Self-Publishing: It Gets Easier by Ashley L. Peterson
Writing a book is a big thing — and then publishing it is even huger, whether through the traditional or the self route. As I complete my novels while building my platform, Mental health nurse/blogger/author Ashley L. Peterson of Vancouver, Canada, has already put out several books!
She first visited us here — and now she’s back with a new book and more self-publishing advice!…
“Self-Publishing: It Gets Easier” by Ashley Peterson
I remember how overwhelming it was when I published my first book. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing, and I was just flying by the seat of my pants. I had no idea what to expect when the book was released.
My second book was released 7 months later. I felt much more prepared, but then tossed in the new challenge of selling on sites other than Amazon, including my own website. There were also some hiccups; it felt like forever before Amazon accepted the file for my paperback, which turned out to be because there was a special character that it didn’t recognize and therefore didn’t accept. The biggest problem was my paperback cover; it wasn’t showing up on the Amazon listing as the same colour in the cover file I’d uploaded. I spent a whole lot of time trying to get that sorted out,
Now with my third book, I’m a lot more relaxed about the whole process. Sure, formatting and converting file types is still frustrating; I don’t think that would change even if I’d published a whole bookstore. Overall, though, I’m much more at ease. I feel a sense of mastery that I know how to do this — a very different feeling from the first time around.
I’m a huge list person, and my book launch lists are nicely fine-tuned. I’ve got all the steps laid out, so I can just do things without having to think about them.
While the learning curve is steep and self-publishing can be daunting, it gets easier — really. And if you’re thinking about self-publishing, dive right on in; the water’s warm.
Details on my new book Managing the Depression Puzzle can be found here.
What’s your experience with publishing and building a platform?
Follow my blog: http://happinessbetweentails.com
