This book is a work-in-progress. I will spare you the BS and just tell you my story. This will also tell you how to self-publish, which I define to mean “act as your own publisher.” Not publish through a vanity press or a hybrid publisher (whatever that is). I mean establishing yourself as a publishing business.
This book is by no means exhaustive. It won’t tell you how to market your book or become a bestselling author. But it gives you the basics, enough to help you get started. This is after you’ve written the book, mind you. Right? Of course.
This here is your sample from the book. The rest will be on Substack behind a paywall. Check it below.
The BS-Free Indie Author Guide
by Debbi Mack
Introduction
I should warn you that my advice on self-publishing is given strictly to avoid having to answer the same questions, over and over. It is many things: a guide, a how-to book, a set of instructions, a step-by-step description of how to put your books up for sale and distribution online through retailers.
It is not a feel-good read about how to make big money as an ebook author. Basically, the truth is, I got lucky. I worked for that luck, no question. But luck and good timing played a huge part.
Now, I feel like I’m constantly reinventing myself. I began writing screenplays in earnest in 2012. This is not something you do without sacrificing time to honing your craft as a storyteller. Like self-publishing, which involves a load of work, screenwriting isn’t a way to make money overnight. Nonetheless, I now write screenplays, as well as novels.
This book grew out of an article I wrote for a nonprofit writers group many years ago. I took the basic concepts and have expanded on them to include as many new developments as possible. By the time I actually “publish” this thing, parts of it may be outdated. Everything changes so fast, it’s positively mind-numbing.
So I’ve confined myself pretty much to the basics. That’s all I can offer, but it’s a start.
So let’s do this.
My Story
When I first ventured into fiction writing, conventional wisdom was to never self-publish one’s work. It was thought to be nothing less than professional suicide. Writers who self-published were looked down upon as poor, pathetic desperate souls who didn’t have the talent or persistence to impress agents and/or publishers (especially the big ones in New York, aka, “real ones”).
I followed this advice and ended up signing a contract for a three-book mystery series with a small press that went under nine months later. My debut novel went out of print within a year. So much for that. But I kept writing and querying agents and small presses, anyway. Over the years, I revised one novel, wrote a sequel and completed two standalone novels. Meanwhile, I still had this out-of-print novel just sitting and burning a hole in my computer. Finally, I took matters into my own hands. I decided I’d flout conventional wisdom and self-publish the book.
I was encouraged to do so in part because my local chapter of Sisters in Crime had previously published a short story anthology with the same small press I’d been with and decided to reissue their book through Lulu.com. It was through that company that I began my self-publishing journey.
When I made this decision, I had absolutely no expectation of making a lot of money from the enterprise. I was well aware of the realities of being a published author, let alone a self-published one. There’s marketing involved, no matter what. Assuming you intend to sell any books, which most authors want to do. That seems really obvious.
I also had no clue whatsoever about ebooks (keep in mind, this is 2009) and had given no thought at all to publishing them. It was only after I read a couple of “bloggers in the know” on the topic that it even occurred to me to produce electronic copies of my book. But there was this new-fangled thing called the Kindle, being offered by (then) online bookseller (and future Everything Store) Amazon.
Since my intent in self-publishing was to create awareness of my work, with the end goal of finding an agent and/or a publisher, I gave very little thought to any notions of making bestseller lists or winning awards. I just wanted to build an online presence and have the opportunity to show them (“them” being pretty much anyone involved in the publishing business) that I could tell at least a halfway decent story.
When I decided to check out this ebook thing that was supposed be so hot, I made sure the agreement specified nonexclusive rights to distribute my work. This was extremely important to me, because like I said, I was still looking for a publisher.
Right away, I saw that it took much less time and planning to publish an ebook than a print book. So, in a move I once would’ve called desperate and/or ridiculous, I released my first novel as an ebook initially, followed shortly by the print release. As a result, the novel Identity Crisis ended up being published as an ebook in June 2009 and in print in July 2009. If I had known at the time where this was going to lead, I would have been nothing less than astonished.
Here I am being interviewed for Voice of America. I appear at around the 1:06 mark. That video went up on YouTube on Sept. 9, 2009. My, how things have changed since then!
While I anticipated most of my sales would come from print books with some of my income deriving from ebooks, in fact the opposite was true. If anyone had told me I’d sell nearly 13,000 downloads of my first novel by the end of January 2011, I’d have laughed. The simple fact is I did just that. Not only that, but the ebook version of my novel became the #1 hardboiled mystery on Amazon for about a month during 2010.
But that was nothing compared to what happened next.
Toward the end of 2010, I was making enough money from publishing novels (keep in mind, I had only published two of them, at that point) to essentially live on the income. In addition, I’d heard rumors that the New York Times bestseller list was being expanded to include indie authors. I made two crucial decisions at that point.
The first was to stop freelancing and devote myself to writing fiction. Trying to do both was wearing me out, due to my chronic health problems. Between writing books, blogging, and trying to freelance, I was wearing down and sacrificing time I could spend writing novels on doing “writing for hire,” or to put it another way, writing in which I held no copyright. Good for a bit of quick cash, but not the hoped-for focus of my writing career.
The second was to keep my novels priced really low at 99 cents, while everyone was counseling that the better move was to charge at least $2.99 for books and get a higher royalty (70% for books priced at least $2.99, as opposed to 35% for books priced lower than that).
As a result of these and various other factors completely beyond my control, my first novel made the New York Times bestseller list. Twice. I also made more from selling ebooks at a lower price based on volume.
In fact, I did well enough to be invited to appear on this panel during Bouchercon 2011 in St. Louis, MO.
Both my first and second novel made the Kindle Top 100 in the U.S. and U.K. That was simply mind-blowing. Certainly, I couldn’t complain. The problem was I couldn’t have told you, “Why me?” What did I do or not do that made it all possible? My only strategy was to be visible online through blogging and occasional visits to Twitter and Facebook. I could write a whole book about the group of authors I collaborated with in terms of cross-promotion, book blurbs, and other marketing efforts. But the main point I’m trying to make is that, because I had no idea who my readers were nor had I established a genuine connection with most of them, my success was fleeting. And Amazon’s algorithms won’t help you get to know your readers, but they will help Amazon get plenty of information about you.
Again, it would take another book to explain the whole sales debacle that took place after Amazon launched Kindle Unlimited. But that isn’t why I’m writing this.
The point here is that without being a tech genius or particularly gifted on the computing front, I managed to bring my out-of-print book back to life and continue to write books in the series and release them.
If you are interested in just getting a book out there, the best bet is to publish your work in ebook form. It’s easy, it’s relatively cheap, and depending on your comfort with learning basic technical skills and the manner you choose to distribute your work, there are ways to minimize the costs of producing the books. At one time, ebooks represented an exponentially growing market and one in which just offering the lowest price could maximize profit. This is no longer the case. Audiobooks now reportedly lead the way in terms of growth areas for book marketers. And who knows what the future holds? In general, the media (publishing, film, radio, television, music, etc.) seem to be in an ever-changing state.
As I write this, the situation was further complicated by the pandemic, which reportedly affected audiobook sales. And print sales. Maybe. Depending on what source you want to believe. And who knows if that’ll change? Or when? Or how?
Whichever format you decide to release your books at first, the bottom line is that simply getting your work out there and visible will serve you better than waiting for others to approve of it based upon your query letters. It will also help establish your brand, your platform, and all those other awesome marketing terms components that make up your online presence. This is true whether you wish to remain an indie author or, eventually, find a publisher.
PS: And here’s the very kind lovely ChatGPT summary:
The BS-Free Indie Author Guide by Debbi Mack is a practical guide to self-publishing, based on the author’s personal experiences and successes. The book emphasizes the importance of hard work, luck, and good timing in the self-publishing world. Mack shares her journey from traditional publishing failures to becoming a successful indie author through ebooks, detailing the ups and downs she faced along the way. She advises aspiring authors to focus on building an online presence, taking risks, and being open to new opportunities in the ever-changing publishing landscape.
Mack’s story is a testament to the potential success of indie authors in the digital age, showcasing how determination, adaptability, and a willingness to try new strategies can lead to unexpected achievements. She emphasizes the importance of visibility, branding, and establishing a connection with readers, while also highlighting the evolving nature of the book market, particularly with the rise of audiobooks. The book serves as a valuable resource for authors looking to navigate the complexities of self-publishing and maximize their chances of success in an increasingly competitive industry.
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