Self-Publishing Support Group

I am seriously considering the Indie route now.
After dozens of rejections, I think its the best way forward.

Especially, since all I hear about trad publishing is the fact you have to do all the leg work yourself anyway.

Have you looked at some of the resources for self-publishers?

A few.
There's almost too much

I agree. It would be an interesting project to put together the Litopia Guide to...

@CageSage

Years ago, I wrote a weekly column on self-publishing and libraries. I look at it as the democratization of literature. No gatekeepers, but at the same time, no one to help an author find an audience. @CageSage seems to know a lot about it. Maybe he could guide us? And most of the free self-publishing advice I have found online leads to expensive editorial and other services. Mortgage your home, and we will make you famous...

I've learned a lot. It's taken ten years since deciding to write full-time and self-publish.
Finding an audience? That's a problem I can't solve, not even for myself. The best bet is to find the right category, genre, sub-genre (and sub-sub etc. genre), the right cover, the right blurb, and write a good story that hits all the buttons the readers of those categories, genres, etc., expect to find - with a few points of difference, a few moments of wonder, suspense and interest/wonder on every page.
Stay up to date with changes to expectations. Keep up to date with the tropes and cliches (tvtropes) and read a few of the free/cheap self-published eBooks that are doing well in terms of reviews and 'sales'.
There's a lot of good reading out there about self-publishing, and there are a lot of sharks in the water. If you don't trust yourself to know the difference, find one of the paths with options other than fully indie publishing. That option costs, but so does getting ripped off.

Be prepared to have four or five books ready to publish before you put the first one up for sale/published. Be prepared to put the first one up for free/cheap. Get readers, get reviews. Find places where you can offer the free read - an email list is a good place to do that so the people who sign up know they're going to get something for nothing and it's worth sticking around.

BTW, CageSage is

, slightly aged.

I'm happy to try to answer specific questions, if I can, or offer general help/recommendations. The work is up to the author, though, when it comes to self-pubbing, and it takes time, effort, and a venomous rhino attitude.

I think the make or break of a self pub project is in the marketing.

As Cage said, find an audience.

So far, I've written the first book and I'm most of the way through a second (Middle's giving me trouble - shocker). I've got a website half built, a twitter account I haven't used in about three years, a goodreads account, facebook (Not seen me log in for over a decade). I'm not very active online outside of Litopia which will need to change.

All the ground work is there, but where do you find that elusive audience? That group of people who will not only buy your book, but will also enjoy reading it and tell their friends. That's the puzzle.

I actually believe the answer is in collaboration.
Authors promoting other authors.

the answer is in collaboration.

Yes, it is - even for such things as editing and proofreading. However, if you get someone to help with these for no remuneration and then don't return the favour (regardless of the dismay you get when reading their work), you'll have to go it alone. Which can be done.
You can edit and proofread your own work. You can get critiques and filter the feedback. You can look at how stories are shaped and sharpened. You can proofread using a free sw program, or go it alone using your knowledge. Some people are good at one thing, some at others - but you can learn them all.
And learn them as you go, because 97% of people who get into writing never finish their first go at a novel, and you'll lose 'helpers' along the way. You'll need to learn it as you go.
Don't rush into publishing. If you're still working on the trilogy (or however many books it is), keep learning until you have all the books in the series finished.
What that means is that you'll have learned more trade skills you can apply to the earlier novels - before publishing them, and will have a marketing strategy based on a quick release (monthly is good for fantasy).
It doesn't have to cost money, but everything has a price. Whether time or effort or both, consider what you're willing to put into it, and be willing to do for others what they do for you.
Or give up.
In terms of promoting other authors, I won't do it if I haven't read the book and enjoyed it. And I won't buy a book that's overpriced or badly written (yes, I can get the gist within the first few pages - but if that's nice and polished and I get to the second or last third and the writing is scrappy or loose or a complete change from the opening, they won't get a good review. That's my reputation ruined if I do that, and there are enough people out there writing five star reviews that I will never trust again, or work with).
Authors promoting authors is good in principle, but if anything is off about it, consider how your reputation will suffer - and, once burnt, readers never give second chances.

@CageSage

@CageSage

Yes, collaboration at all stages is essential in my opinion.
We have a great community here with an eclectic skill set, and, as i always tell my students, its 100 times easier to spot mistakes in someone elses work than your own. I'm always game for a swap.

As for promotion, I agree with you. I couldn't promote a sub standard story, or a work I hadn't enjoyed either. It benefits no one. Least of all the author of the work. It's either being promoted before its ready, or to the wrong audience.

Self-Publishing Support Group

Self-Publishing Support Group

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