I Dood It!

It's alive! My first-ever self-published novel, The Mountain Lion King, is now available through Smashwords and Amazon! Smashwords has already started distribution, so it should also be available through Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and a ton of other ebook vendors. I'm focusing on Smashwords and Amazon because they have the name recognition, and those are the places where I uploaded.

Brief blurb: Mountain lion shifter Rick Donnelly lives alone on his Montana mountain and likes it … until he finds himself defending a Bengal tiger bride who ran away from her intended husband. Hubby is a piece of work who's out to kill them both. Rick and Bari fall in love. It's a paranormal romance of the shapeshifter variety and yes, it does have a happy ending, psychotic tigers notwithstanding.

This book began as random posts on Shapeshifter Seductions. Click on the link to hop over there and read the full commercial. The blog you're on here is my Author's Notes, continuing my account of how and why I ended up self-publishing.

I believe I've mentioned the reasons before, but here they are again: I self-pubbed as a legal courtesy to my fellow Shapeshifter Seductions authors. We've created a shared world over there, and this book is set in it. I used concepts and a couple of characters in my book that were created by others. If I'd gone to a regular publisher with this, copyright problems might arise, lawyers would get called in, and everybody loses. Therefore, by mutual agreement, any book set in Talbot's Peak needs to be self-published. Sorry, Matlock, no court case for you this week.

Last time I blogged I was wrapping up the formatting. I ended up skipping the linked Table of Contents because I couldn't get the damn thing to link correctly. If done right, you click on, say, "About the Author" and it jumps you to the back of the book and the author bio. Mine wouldn't jump. After wrestling with it for a good chunk of the morning, I decided just having a ToC was enough. A lot of readers don't bother with all that stuff in the back of the book anyway. If they want to read it, it'll be there when they get to the end of the book. If you can't wait, well, that's why keyboards have a "Page Down" key.

With formatting as done as I could manage, I went to the library, got on Smashwords, set up an account, and sent my baby into the world. Forget what I said last week. Uploading was surprisingly easy. Far more easy than the formatting, but that was my first time. I think I spent more time wrapping my head around the instructions than I did actually formatting. If you're going to self-publish, follow the instructions in the Style Guide. They work. At least, they worked for me. My file shot right through the system with no reportable errors. Good thing I decided not to link the Table of Contents.

And that was that. The book went live on Smashwords almost immediately. I enjoyed about twenty minutes of first-page display fame before other people's books knocked me off, but that's how it goes. The book has been manually checked and approved and is being shipped off to vendors as we speak.

I'm hoping there are no problems. I couldn't check my Epub file because even though I installed the Adobe Digital app, my laptop wouldn't open the file. I'm sure if there had been problems Smashwords would have told me. If you get an Epub version and it has issues, drop me a line, okay?

Uploading at Amazon was similarly smooth and problem-free. It took me longer to fill out all the paperwork than it did to upload the book. That one I was able to preview, and it looked okay. I now officially recommend skipping a linked Table of Contents.

My book was up on Amazon in less than 48 hours. I already have an author page over there, so I've added it to my backlist. Now all I have to do is market like crazy, which includes promo like this blog. Then sit back and watch the money roll in.

Yeah, right. Since I hit "upload" back on Monday, I've sold exactly one copy, and that was to fellow SSS writer Rebecca. Thanks, Rebecca, I do appreciate the support, and when your novel comes out I'll buy a copy because I've read your excerpts on the blog and it's damned impressive. You can write, woman! Thanks also to Savanna and her editing assistance. Savanna gets her plug in the Bonus Chapters. There is no link from the Table of Contents. Sorry, you'll just have to scroll.

I don't know at this point how my sales will go. I could do okay, or sink without a trace. Even if you go with a regular publisher, that's the chance you take. Right now it's way too soon to make predictions. Remind me in six months and I'll give you an update.

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Since this wouldn't be a proper blog by me if I didn't bitch about something, I'll leave you with this: Amazon is only paying me 35% royalties. It used to be 70% for a self-published ebook, but that changed on January 1 of this year. Something to do with tax laws in Europe. Amazon still offers the 70% option, but only if you're exclusive to Kindle. If you want to sell elsewhere, as I did, you have to sacrifice your percentage.

And what, pray tell, does Amazon do to earn the Lion King's share of your money? They display your book on their virtual shelves. That's it. Amazon does not pay you for the right to publish your book. They do not provide editing. Their upload system does provide stock art and the means to create your own cover if you don't have one already. They will do some promotion, but only if you're selling exclusively through them, and only if you're selling a lot. The more you sell, the more they make, so the harder they'll push your (or is it their?) product. Self-fulfilling prophesy again.

The rest of us are basically paying to have our wares displayed on the world's biggest retail site with the most name recognition. My largest percentage of sales do come through Amazon, so I can't discount it out of hand. But a 65% cut of the take when I did all the heavy lifting and they're just providing a venue? Over at Smashwords, the author can earn royalties of up to 80%. Trouble is, even Smashwords admits not many people buy from their site. Smashwords sales come mainly from their distribution outlets. Those royalties are still higher than Amazon's grab.

My final recommendation: if you choose to self-publish, go exclusive with Amazon for the first few months, until sales start to drop off. Then switch to the lower royalty rate and self-pub with Smashwords for wider book distribution. That's what I'll be doing with my next self-published novel, which may not happen for a while. My next book will be through a regular publisher. Let somebody else do the editing, marketing, and cover artwork. I'm a writer, not a small business.

Or maybe we should be a small business. I'll have to talk it over with the other Shapeshifter Seductions writers and see if we want to be publishers. Ellora's Cave is practically extinct, so there's a void someone could fill. But then we'd have to call in lawyers. Never mind.

Home Stretch

Success!

Almost.

After lots of panicking and even more foot-dragging, I'm finally on the brink of creating my first self-published book. I've been working my way slowly but surely through the manuscript, following the Smashwords style guide. Why Smashwords? Because they distribute to more outlets than Direct2Digital, and I want my masterpiece available in as many markets as possible. Direct2Digital does the formatting for you, but I think they also take a bigger slice of your pie. No thanks. I want every penny that's due me. Anyway, if I get good at this, I can charge other newbies to format their books. Always think ahead.

Yesterday I put in chapter heads and learned how to create centered front matter. I'm turning into a regular tech wizard. Yay, me!

So what esoteric secrets have I learned that I can pass on to you, the eager would-be self-publisher? Glad you asked.

Formatting the basic manuscript is amazingly easy, once you know which buttons to click. I use the 2007 version of Microsoft Word, and it's so kind to Luddites like me. That's for the overall format, though. One of Smashword's pre-prep steps involves stripping all previous formatting out of your file, to make sure no hidden garbage slips through. That includes any bold or italics you might've used in the text. Now me, I'm a big supporter of italics, especially for dialogue emphasis and to indicate a character's thoughts. Too bad. All that's gone. I ended up having to go through all 132 pages, putting all the italicized words back in. My characters won't be thinking quite so much in any future books.

(Fortunately, here's where my obsession with print copies comes in handy. My ancient computer-and-printer combo system, the Troglodyte 1000, is so old it still indicates italics with an underline. All I had to do was flip through the pages and look for underlines. Here's to the old-fashioned methods!)

But wait, there's more. The manuscript, the actual story you're looking to tell, is only the beginning. If you're like me, you've got a couple paperbacks (or hardbacks, if you have a job) on the nightstand next to your bed. Pick one up and flip through the opening pages. See that page with all the Copyright By and Published By and We Own This So Don't You Steal It stuff on it? That's front matter. The blurbs, too. And the quotes from reviewers. The Table of Contents goes in the front, but I'm not sure if it counts.

Front matter, especially all the legal weasel words, is required by Smashwords. Leave it out and they won't accept your book. And it all has to be formatted. During my first attempt, I forgot about this part. I was going along, blissfully formatting my book file, when it got to the part about front matter and how to create a specific style for it. Style for what again? Oops. I had to put formatting on hold while I came up with a whole new section of the book. Then I had to learn how to create and change styles so I could format that. See how tricky this gets?

This is the kind of stuff a regular publisher handles. All you the author have to do is write the book. Well, guess what? You're the publisher now. Coming up with front matter is your responsibility. So is editing, proofreading, book design, formatting for upload and procuring a cover. Still want to self-publish?

Back matter is easier. For starters, you don't have to include it. However, it's still a good idea. Back matter is stuff like About the Author and Visit My Web Page and Here's a Bunch of Other Books I Wrote. If the readers like your book, they'll want to know these things. They may even want to buy your other books. The Smashwords style guide includes instructions on how to make hyperlinks within the book itself, so readers can jump straight from your Table of Contents to the back sections. I haven't attempted that yet. I just read the instructions a little while ago. Once my brain stops hurting I'll read the instructions again, then bite the bullet and give it a whirl. Pray for me.

Keep in mind all this is still the preparation phase. I haven't even tried to upload yet. That comes with its own set of problems. If the system doesn't like all that formatting you put it, it'll tell you about it. Then you have to figure out where you messed up and fix it and upload the book again. Then you have to check all the versions Smashwords produces to make sure they all look good. Who knows how long that will take.

I was hoping I'd be ready to upload today, because I'll be tied up this weekend. That's not happening now. I still have several tasks to master, like the hyperlinks. I'm not looking forward to that.

Once I go to upload, I'll want to set aside a couple of hours just in case there are problems. That means the library. I'll be damned if I'll hang out in a Dunkin Donuts on a Sunday wrestling with a stubborn computer program. After the first hour or two they might insist I buy something.

And this is just for Smashwords. What about Amazon? They don't offer a style guide. They won't even tell you squat until after you've signed in with your payment and personal info. That's why I'm going with Smashwords first. I should have all the kinks worked out of the file before I commit to Amazon.

I hear All-Romance Ebooks is tricky, too. Smashwords doesn't distribute to them, so I'll have to upload there separately. All for a book that may end up selling a dozen copies total, if I'm lucky. I love being a writer.

Those people who tell you, "Self-publishing is easy! Just write the book, click Upload, and you're done!" are lying. Next time somebody says that to you, kick 'em in the pants. I'll be back next week to tell you how I fared in the upload department. Either that, or I'll be in the national news as that woman who climbed to the top of the bridge in Harrisburg and hurled her laptop into the Susquehanna River. At least I'll get media exposure. The books I have out with actual publishers might sell better then. Every little bit helps.