DylanLeePeters.com
  • Home
  • Mystic Wild
  • Back Catalogue
    • The Hands of Ruin
    • The Dean Machine >
      • The Dean Machine Book Blurb
      • Preface: The True Story behind The Dean Machine
      • Chapter 1 of The Dean Machine
      • Images of the real Dean
      • Buy The Dean Machine
    • The Everflame Series >
      • The Everflame Series
      • Free Ebook Everflame
      • What is Everflame?
      • Reviewers' Reasons to Read Everflame
      • Sample Chapters >
        • Book One
        • Book Two
        • Book Three
        • Book Four
      • Map of Ephanlarea
      • Themes of the Everflame Series
      • Images
      • Timeline
      • Everflame YouTube Chapters
      • Everflame Audio Downloads
  • Author Bio
  • Contact
  • Author Blog

5 things I've learned from self-publishing

12/16/2014

0 Comments

 
ORIGINALLY POSTED 7/16/2014



You must figure things out on your own

            So you have a manuscript, now what? Well, the truth is that unless you have a lot of financial backing, then you’d better learn to become a jack-of-all-trades. When I started out trying to figure out what I was going to do with the first Everflame book in 2009, I had no money. I was working a minimum wage job while going to school to get a degree in graphic design. I had to use the resources that were available to me. So, I used a graphic design program, Adobe InDesign, to layout Everflame, and then made it available at Lulu.com, a print-on-demand website. Lulu.com was free to use. They only charge you once you order a book. (Note from Captain Obvious: ordering one book is monumentally cheaper than paying a publisher to print a run.) Now, I was lucky that I had a great program like InDesign available to me, but I had to learn how to use it. It took long hours and persistence. Most computers have a program you can use to layout text. It’s up to you to master that program, as well as any other program or resource you may have to use. When I wanted to convert to ebook, I had to learn to do it myself and find a cheap resource to do so. Professional editing of a book costs roughly $2000. I had to improve my editing skills and resubmit versions of Everflame as I improved. The list continues, and you have to be willing to do research to figure out how to fix your problems and get what you want. Being a self-published author is a fight, and the more you can do, the stronger you will ultimately be. 

Getting reviews is the key
            The best thing you can have going for your book is good reviews, so spend time figuring out how you can get them. Reviews are the first thing a reader will look for before they will take a chance on your book. If you don’t have any reviews, no one will take that chance. Here is a dirty little secret for you. When I first released Everflame and had no reviews, I created my own reviews and posted them as other people. I had friends and family post reviews. I created online profiles of people that didn’t exist and used those profiles to review Everflame. Was it underhanded? Yes. Did it work? Absolutely.

You’d better have some thick skin
            “This reads like a fourth grader's first creative writing assignment.”
          Yup, that is an actual quote from an actual reader. Putting your work on the internet for others to read is fun. Another reviewer wrote that Everflame was literally the worst book they had ever read. Isn’t that wonderful? In the end, you have to remember that you can’t please everyone, and some people are just vicious. You take the criticism and work to get better. That’s all you can do. I’m sure those are not the last scathing reviews I’ll receive, but each one makes me grateful for all of the glowing reviews I get.

Get comfortable with promotion
            In 2009, I advertised Everflame on craigslist under the free section. It was completely against the policy of the website, and the ad was taken down soon after, but I received a lot of downloads from it. In fact, I spent a lot of time that year finding places that I could post about Everflame online. I joined online fantasy communities just to talk about Everflame, and I filled out every free book listing I could find. I sent bookmarks to local bookstores. I did anything and everything I could think of that was within my meager budget. To this day, promotion is something I’m constantly looking to improve upon.  My most recent ideas have been contests to promote fan interaction and I’ve also tried creating Everflame themed internet memes. (You never know what might end up going viral)

Never give up and never stop improving
            All told, the number one thing that self-publishing has taught me is that you can never give up. You never know when or where your break might come, but you’d better be ready for it and willing to fight for it. I love writing, and because I have that love I know I will continue to work at and improve my craft. If you love writing, and are considering self-publishing your work, remember Densa at the end of Everflame 4: As the Darkness Waits. 
            I go forth with my love, knowing nothing can stop me now.
0 Comments

    Archives

    June 2023
    May 2023
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    April 2017
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    Categories

    All
    1980s
    Aladdin
    Albert Camus
    Amazon
    Area X
    Arya Stark
    Avatar: Flight Of Passage
    Ayn Rand
    BB-8
    Beetlejuice
    Ben Affleck
    Book Review
    Bran Stark
    Buzz
    Casting
    Cersei Lannister
    Chapter
    Character Introduction
    Chewbacca
    Clive Barker
    Clowns
    Concept Art
    Continuum
    Coronado Springs
    Daenerys Targaryen
    Darth Vader
    Disney
    Disney Resorts
    Disney's Aladdin
    Disney’s Hollywood Studios
    Donald Trump
    Dragons
    Dreaming
    Droid
    Droid Depot
    Dylan Lee Peters
    Episode Two
    Everflame
    Excerpt
    Facebook
    Fantasy Adventure
    Fan Theory
    Fear
    Festival
    Fight Club
    First Order
    Free Book
    Galaxy’s Edge
    Game Of Thrones
    George Orwell
    Gone Girl
    Greyjoy
    Guacamole
    Guardians Of The Galaxy
    Halloween
    Harry Potter
    Hollywood Studios
    Horror
    Humor
    Imagination
    It
    Jafar
    Jawhar
    Jedi
    Jeff VanderMeer
    Jim Henson
    Jon Snow
    J.R.R. Tolkien
    Kindle
    Kindle Countdown Deal
    Kindle Unlimited
    Kyber Crystals
    Kylo Ren
    Labyrinth
    Live Action
    Margaret Weis
    Millennium Falcon
    Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
    Movie Review
    Movies
    Music
    My Everflame
    Mystic Wild
    Oga’s Cantina
    Poe Dameron
    Pokemon
    Predictions
    R2-D2
    Ragnarok
    Rainart Eil Dragaredd
    Rant
    Ray Bradbury
    Ready Player One
    Reego
    Renaissance Fair
    Resistance
    Rey
    Richard Bach
    Running
    Russian
    Saturday Night Live
    Savi’s Workshop
    Season 8
    Secrets
    Self Publishing
    Self-publishing
    Sith
    Skywalker
    Spitballing
    Star Wars
    Star Wars Fan Theory
    Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
    Stephen King
    Stormtroopers
    Television
    The Dark Crystal
    The Dean Machine
    The Force Awakens
    The Hands Of Ruin
    The Hunger Games
    The Neverending Story
    The Secret Of NIMH
    The Southern Reach Trilogy
    The Walking Dead
    Thor
    Tracy Hickman
    Transformers
    Tyrion Lannister
    Who Will Die
    Willow
    Will Smith
    Writing
    YA
    Yoda

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Mystic Wild
  • Back Catalogue
    • The Hands of Ruin
    • The Dean Machine >
      • The Dean Machine Book Blurb
      • Preface: The True Story behind The Dean Machine
      • Chapter 1 of The Dean Machine
      • Images of the real Dean
      • Buy The Dean Machine
    • The Everflame Series >
      • The Everflame Series
      • Free Ebook Everflame
      • What is Everflame?
      • Reviewers' Reasons to Read Everflame
      • Sample Chapters >
        • Book One
        • Book Two
        • Book Three
        • Book Four
      • Map of Ephanlarea
      • Themes of the Everflame Series
      • Images
      • Timeline
      • Everflame YouTube Chapters
      • Everflame Audio Downloads
  • Author Bio
  • Contact
  • Author Blog