Hey everyone,
I’ve started thinking about what I need to do to get my books into shape and it’s… a lot. I mean, editing and updating is just the first part of the process and as time-consuming as it may be, it’s actually the smallest part of the whole thing. It’s coming back to me, why I’ve been putting it all off for so goddamn long.
What I’m doing, I hope, is making things easier for myself for next time. Indie publishing is not just writing a book and throwing it up on Amazon. You have to think like a publisher. You have to think about distribution, you have to think about back cover copy, you have to think about marketing. And there are sooooo many steps to each and every tiny bit of it.
So, you know me, I’m making lists upon lists.
I figured I’d write it all down so that the next time I want to launch a book, I will have a checklist of steps right in front of me and then it’s just a matter of going through them one by one without having to keep missing things and having to go back to do them or forgetting stuff altogether.
It’s so tempting to say: I’m going to launch a course about this!
But I’m not.
I’m going to make my list and all the information I’m putting together freely available.
There are a lot of wonderful resources for indie authors available, and I’ve been learning from a bunch of them. Many of them are incredibly in-depth and are provided by authors who’ve not only been doing this for years, but been doing it successfully. I have no desire to rehash the wonderful work they’ve already done.
What I haven’t seen anywhere, however—and I’ve been looking—is a step-by-step exhaustive checklist of the things you need to do to get a book published (on all platforms). So I’m putting one together for myself. I’ll share it on my website when I’m done.
Moral of the story?
Same one that forms the basis of why I do the work I do for writers: If there’s a resource you wish had existed and that would have made your journey easier and shorter, but that no one else is offering, then you must create it.
So, I’ll create it.
It’s why I write my books and articles, too. I come up with a story or spot an idea that I think is interesting, I want to read about it, then find that no one’s written about it in quite that way before, and so now I must.
It’s not a bad responsibility to have as a writer: Telling the stories no one’s told but you think the world might like (or need) to hear.
It’s been the guiding principle for a lot of what I do.
You’re welcome to make it yours.
Cheers,
Natasha