Passing on my self publishing knowledge
It's just over a year since Pentangle Press started up. In that time we've published six books between the three of us. We've learned a lot, and we thought it was about time we passed on our knowledge to other writers wanting to self-publish.
Thinking about what we're going to talk about, I realised we'd learned about the process of designing books, editing, and marketing our books. Both Carol and I have sold books to total strangers. Those are the most satisfying sales, as they mean that the book design, cover, and text are all doing their job to hook a reader in.
We'd critiqued each other's work for many years, but it really notched-up in toughness when we set up Pentangle Press. We were out to be noticed, and we wanted it to be for the right reasons, because our books were good. We've all learned to take tough editorial feedback. Chris is a professional graphic designer, and I've learned to let her design the cover without my interference.
We've discovered that publishing in paperback gives us credibility, and having physical books to sell is a good thing, I recently sold a book at theWorld Science Fiction Convention, as a totally unknown author. That tells me the cover design and blurb have done their work, and somebody liked the first page enough to buy the book.
But what I've also learned is that the biggest challenge indie publishers face is getting noticed. A lot of my time now is spent on Facebook and Twitter, building visibility. I haven't cracked the overnight million bestseller yet, but I'm happy with my progress. The workshop on self-pubbing is at Denmead Community Centre, Denmead, Hampshire, England, 10 - 1 on Tuesday 16th September. It's free, and if you can come along we'd be happy to tell you about our experiences.
Thinking about what we're going to talk about, I realised we'd learned about the process of designing books, editing, and marketing our books. Both Carol and I have sold books to total strangers. Those are the most satisfying sales, as they mean that the book design, cover, and text are all doing their job to hook a reader in.
We'd critiqued each other's work for many years, but it really notched-up in toughness when we set up Pentangle Press. We were out to be noticed, and we wanted it to be for the right reasons, because our books were good. We've all learned to take tough editorial feedback. Chris is a professional graphic designer, and I've learned to let her design the cover without my interference.
We've discovered that publishing in paperback gives us credibility, and having physical books to sell is a good thing, I recently sold a book at theWorld Science Fiction Convention, as a totally unknown author. That tells me the cover design and blurb have done their work, and somebody liked the first page enough to buy the book.
But what I've also learned is that the biggest challenge indie publishers face is getting noticed. A lot of my time now is spent on Facebook and Twitter, building visibility. I haven't cracked the overnight million bestseller yet, but I'm happy with my progress. The workshop on self-pubbing is at Denmead Community Centre, Denmead, Hampshire, England, 10 - 1 on Tuesday 16th September. It's free, and if you can come along we'd be happy to tell you about our experiences.
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