Self publishing on a budget.

[RK Wallis]

I honestly think I have learnt more doing this than asking for help.

I totally agree and would go as far to say that if one doesn't critique, they stagnate.

 

[Chris Yugay]

Hi all,

Looking for advice on self publishing without any money. In this economy, especially in the UK, money is tight and there's not a lot spare for things like this.

@CageSage, could you share your thoughts/experience/wisdom?

Hello, Jake. Not sure on which aspect of self-publishing you would like to economize. If we are talking about editing and proofreading, you may want to try finding a writers' group in your area. It is a very old-fashioned way to do things (now that everyone has gone cyber) but also very efficient as people join such groups with the explicit goal of correcting other writers' work and having their work corrected. One of the resources that may help you find a writers' group is meetup.com. I have even had luck in simply pinning a note to the message board of my local library (yes, they still exist). Typesetting and book cover have already been discussed by other Litopians earlier in this thread. Marketing... this one is tough because, obviously, the book market is saturated and extremely competitive. I have been struggling with marketing for years for all four of my books. It is an uphill journey. I think, for the small guys like us, the secret is to find our audience. You mentioned that you dread online circus. But there are still plenty of things you can do in the real world, ranging from talking to the manager of your local bookshop (Thursday afternoons are slow, why not have a book reading? Make all of your friends and family show up. They do not need to buy the book, just make the buzz) to going to various nerd conventions and pitching directly to the participants.