Scraps of Paper

Here’s what they don’t tell you about self publishing a book. 

Lightstagram is my second self published work and the first that has gone directly to print. It’s what they call “print on demand” which as I’m sure you realize, means that there is no stockpile of printed books, when someone orders one, blurb prints it and sends it off. The reason I bring this up is because when it comes to self-publishing you are only at the 50 yard line when you can call the book itself finished. The real (and in many ways harder) work comes in when you’re trying to promote the book. 

It’s certainly no trouble tumbling and tweeting the book out there, but to get real media traction you have to try and get it on the desk of editors, bloggers and thought leaders. Busy people who may or may not care about anything you’ve ever done. So here’s my recommendation to any authors out there who are self-publishing. Remember that the book existing and being great are clearly super important, but so is having a strategy for sharing that book with others and having a clear actionable strategy for sharing it with the world. 

My better example of this is Losing Edison. I poured my heart and soul into that piece, including months of my time. I hired a graphic designer and an editor. I struggled with the technology side to make sure it was available for the kindle and the iPad and in the end I had no marketing strategy. I built it, but no one came.