Adventures in self-publishing
As my readers’ know, The Gemstone Chronicles Book One: The Carnelian was self-published as an ebook on Amazon.com and Smashwords. I haven’t decided whether to use CreateSpace (another Amazon company) to publish paperback copies. As I have talked with people about the book, one of the questions that inevitably comes up is “How was the experience of self-publishing?” I can’t speak for others, but I have to say my adventures in self-publishing have been a really cool experience.
From a technical viewpoint, the actual publishing of an ebook on either of the sites is relatively easy. Smashwords requires a .doc format and KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) requires an .html file. Both are pretty easy to format, although Smashwords formatting guide is substantially longer than Amazon’s. I use Smashwords guide first, then modify the Amazon file as needed. If you have some knowledge of Microsoft Word, neither formatting process is too very difficult, though.
Once the formatting is complete, simply upload the manuscript, set your price, and you are published!! It may take a few hours for your book to appear on the site. It’s a big thrill to log on to Amazon.com or Smashwords, type in your name or the name of your book, and there it is! I encourage any of you who are thinking of writing, to just go do it!
In my next post, I will discuss the business side (marketing) of your book. It is much more difficult than writing and publishing!! I’m struggling with the marketing side, so suggestions are always welcome.
Connect with me:
Connect with me on social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. You can also email me at bill@williamlstuart.com! Follow my adventures in self-publishing as I work on the rest of the series.
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