My Publishing Journey As a Self-Published Author
When people decide to publish a book, they think it will be easy as pie. Just upload the book to a random publisher, pray for the best, and sit back and relax. For the millions of us out there, we would love for this to be true. Which begins the story of my publishing journey as an author.
Jumping back to 2019, I finished writing my first book at sixteen. Remembering that victorious feeling of writing the last sentence, I beamed with pride as my family cheered me on. I headed over to the computer, typed every word, and printed out all the pages to make sure I had extra copies. Back then I had zero experience and not one clue to publish my book. I Especially had no idea how to format, edit, and market.
So, after I went over my book one last time, I launched myself into researching publishers. Nothing is as tedious as surfing the Internet for valuable information. When I dug around, a load of information hit me with full force. Some many publishers! Ones that cost thousands of dollars and those who were inexpensive or cost nothing. Completely torn between these two options, it became a constant battle of choosing the right one. And that's when I discovered there is more than one publishing option.
Traditional publishing versus self-publishing. Comparing these two possibilities, I uncovered a self-publishing company. Kindle Direct Publishing. As I dove into this opportunity I was overwhelmed with glee. I found the perfect match to publish my book. The only thing I had to do was upload it and press the publish button. However, the next hurdle I had to overcome was formatting. Extremely agitated, I spent day after day trying to get the formatting right. I remember having my mom help me fix my book, so KDP would accept the format and it worked! KDP accepted the file format and I pressed the publish button.
I was stoked! The first step was done and over with, so now all I needed to do was sit back and relax, right? For the most part, I did. I waited with anticipation and KDP sent me the email that it was online, and I posted about it instantly. All of my family members were happy and I managed to make a couple of sales. Before I received my first paycheck, I bought multiple author copies. And when the books arrived in the mail and I opened the package, something went terribly wrong.
When I opened the book, all the blood flushed out of my face. Inside the book, the formatting was horrendous. But formatting wasn't my biggest problem. The editor job I did myself, was horrific! With a big idea of how bad my book was, I began searching the Internet for something different this time. An editor. This didn't take long when I stumbled on a website called Fiverr. It gave me a variety of editors to choose from. Twenty-nine days later, I got my book back and it looked more professional. And that's the story of publishing my first book.
Today, the biggest piece of advice I give new authors is to make sure you have your book professionally edited and formatted correctly! Also, a big shout out to my mother who significantly helped the beginning of my writing journey. I will truly be grateful to her all my life.
I totally agree. My first book was a nightmare to format on kindle. Keep enjoying the process.
This post was truly authentic when it comes to book writing nothing happens overnight. It was hard even at the point when you have to search for a publishing company trying to make the right/best choice for whatever it is your bringing into fruition. The marketing is something I still have difficulty with but the gift of writing itself is a blessing. The most wonderful of it all is connecting with other great writers and poets around the world. You are phenomenal to have such a blessing to sprout at such a young age wish you the best in this book world. Great post!
I'm glad you were able to get your first book published once you found a good editor. I can see that being the hardest part. I would like to publish a book in the future, so this is helpful knowledge I'll remember!