Editio Self-Publishing discussion

This is a place to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your self-publishing experiences. What do you hope to learn from this group?
* NO SELF-PROMOTION HERE

Hi, this looks like a very useful place to get advice. I have just started out publishing my own stories and novels and I'm finding there's a lot more to it than I thought. I am learning as I go and I'm happy to share my experiences.

There are a lot of clever people out there who understand the ins and outs far better than me.

Personally, I am very focused on literary content.

Vanessa wrote: "Hi, this looks like a very useful place to get advice. I have just started out publishing my own stories and novels and I'm finding there's a lot more to it than I thought. I am learning as I go an..."

Welcome Vanessa. Your right there so much more that goes into it then anyone would think. So glad you are willing to share your experience. Do you have any questions so far?
Feel free to promote your books in the promotion section.

Thanks, Editio. I will be happy to promote my book(s) as soon as I've decided whether I should link to Amazon US, Amazon UK or Smashwords! I only discovered yesterday that I have an author page at Amazon.com but I don't have one at Amazon.co.uk. Since I am based in the UK this seems like a glaring omission! I think I'd better fix it right away.

Do other authors get confused by all the different epublishing shop windows, or is this just something that confuses those of us in Europe and the UK?

I can't buy US Kindle books even though I have a US dollar bank account. I am still struggling with some of these basic international issues.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Amazon can't pay money into my US dollar bank account either. They have to post me a cheque! Strange!

Vanessa wrote: "Oh, and I forgot to mention that Amazon can't pay money into my US dollar bank account either. They have to post me a cheque! Strange!"

I'll have one of my people look into that for you and see what we can find out. That must be really frustrating.

Michael wrote: "I've lived in Asia for 12 years but will soon return to North Carolina with my Australian wife and our lovely Calico cat. I've written 9 published books and edited over 300 more. I haven't driven a..."

Welcome Michael. We look forward to hearing from you!

Editio wrote: I'll have one of my people look into that for you..."

You have people? Wow! I'm impressed.

Vanessa wrote: "Editio wrote: I'll have one of my people look into that for you..."

You have people? Wow! I'm impressed."

lol, yes actually I do. I run a web site for self-published authors so I have a network of experts in the industry. I will bring up your question at our next meeting and see if anyone knows anything. Thanks for being impressed. You made my day.

Hey, I'm Pamela Olson, I'm from Oklahoma and live in New York. I recently published a book called Fast Times in Palestine, which can be described as George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia meets Eat Pray Love in the Holy Land. (see: http://pamolson.org) I also wrote an articled called Why I Turned Down Two Publishing Contracts, about the perks of self-publishing in the modern world:

http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/b...

Cheers!

My name is Belinda Buchanan, and I am excited to be a part of this group. I am an author of one self-published book and am in the middle of getting the second one written.
I live in Taylorsville, KY with my wonderful husband, two great sons, 2 persnickety cats, and 1 unconditionally loving dog.

Pamela wrote: "Hey, I'm Pamela Olson, I'm from Oklahoma and live in New York. I recently published a book called Fast Times in Palestine, which can be described as George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia meets Eat Pr..."

Pamela,
That was a great article. I shared it with some of my writers. If you would like, you might want to put that article link in the forums section on our web site. That might drive more traffic to your article. Glad to have you in the group!
http://editioselfpublishing.com/forums/

Belinda wrote: "My name is Belinda Buchanan, and I am excited to be a part of this group. I am an author of one self-published book and am in the middle of getting the second one written.
I live in Taylorsville, ..."

Hi Belinda,
I am so glad to hear someone else has crazy animals to. I am so glad you have joined this group. I am sure everyone here will have lots of things to learn from someone who is in the middle of their second book. Congrats!

Greetings, All!

My name is Leigh MacCallum and I have two self-published novels:

Cipher, a supernatural thriller set in the Yucatán, and

Medusa: A Caitlin McHugh Mystery, a murder mystery.

Thanks for this group!

Leigh

Leigh wrote: "Greetings, All!

My name is Leigh MacCallum and I have two self-published novels:

Cipher, a supernatural thriller set in the Yucatán, and

[book:Medusa: A Caitlin McHugh Mystery|896..."
Hi Lee welcome to the group. We look forward to hearing more from you. If your interested in more publicity for you book you are welcome to post it to our forum on our web site. We get a lot of traffic there. Might help.
http://editioselfpublishing.com/forums/

Hello Everyone,

My name is Sandra "Jeanz" and I have my own blog http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.... on which I read,review books and also do author interviews. Hopefully when you take a look at it you will see that I do wholeheartedly support self publishing authors.

Contact me here on goodreads if you would like me to review your book or do an interview with you on my blog.

I hope you don't class this post as me self promoting myself as I wish to promote you authors (if that makes sense)

Hello I'm Lura and its a pleasure to meet you all : )

Hi everyone! My name is Cameo Renae, debuted my first novel this year, which I self-published, and have almost completed my second.
Thanks for the invite into this group. :)

In My Dreams - A Y/A Supernatural Romance/Thriller.

♥Cameo
http://cameorenae.com

Cameo wrote: "Hi everyone! My name is Cameo Renae, debuted my first novel this year, which I self-published, and have almost completed my second.
Thanks for the invite into this group. :)

[book:In My Dreams|112..."

Would you be interested in featuring in an author interview on my blog? I would love to add your book to my "to review" list! and maybe you could take part in my October Ebook Giveaway??

Sandra "Jeanz" wrote: "Cameo wrote: "Hi everyone! My name is Cameo Renae, debuted my first novel this year, which I self-published, and have almost completed my second.
Thanks for the invite into this group. :)

Hi Sandra! I'd love to!♥ Thanks so much!
Could you email details to cameo@cameorenae.com? Thanks again!!! :D

Hello my name is Amber. I have already written a non-published children's book, and was in the process of writing two other books but someone broke into my house and stole my computer and other items. Unfortunately along with the other stuff my most recent updates to my book. I still have the beginnings of it on my external hard drive. I can't wait until I finish it and start the publishing process, although i have heard it is harder then i think. Wish me luck!

Hi, I'm Maria. I've published 7 books and am writing the eighth. I write novels and short stories. I am a resident author at bestsellerbound.com which is a community of indie authors very much like this group really; we like to help each other out with tips and assistance. If anyone would like to join that forum, we would love to see you there. I've found that one of the most important things you have to do as a self-published author is network with other writers, and your readers. I'm always looking for better ways to promote my writing, and would be interested to hear from others about that.

Amber wrote: "Hello my name is Amber. I have already written a non-published children's book, and was in the process of writing two other books but someone broke into my house and stole my computer and other ite..."

Amber_ I am so sorry that happened to you! That is ever writers worst nightmare. I guess now that you are writing it again, it will be like that first time was just a rough draft. Good luck with the publishing process! When you do get to that point we have a lot of helpful articles on our website at: Self-Publishing
Welcome to the group.

Maria wrote: "Hi, I'm Maria. I've published 7 books and am writing the eighth. I write novels and short stories. I am a resident author at bestsellerbound.com which is a community of indie authors very much l..."

Maria-I checked out your web site and it looks great. Your right, authors need to stick together. We also have forums and a section for self-promotion on our web site. If you have not seen it, it's all about supporting self-published authors. Might be a great place to advertise.
Editio Self-Publishing Forums

Hi, I'm Clare. I haven't yet published any books, but I have been writing a free online serial novel called Chatoyant College for... wow, just about three years now. I'm hoping to get a book (unrelated to the serial) self-published before the end of the year, as well as several short stories. I write mainly fantasy, with the occasional science fiction. Nice to meet you all!

Clare-Dragonfly wrote: "Hi, I'm Clare. I haven't yet published any books, but I have been writing a free online serial novel called Chatoyant College for... wow, just about three years now. I'm hoping to get a book (unrel..."

Welcome Clare, I hope this group will be able to answer your questions about self-publishing before you publish this year.

Hey all, thanks for the invite. I've been self-published for a year now and my book got picked up as a special edition by Fantasy Island Book Publishing, so I'm deeply in love with the indie publishing world. If I can give helpful advice on what I've learned so far, I'll be happy to, and it's great to meet the other authors here. So hi everyone :)

Hi Edito, thanks! I will check out your forums and website :)

Hi Edito and GR Friends,
I'm glad to meet you too and am excited about this new GR group. I'm active on the social networks, but like Goodreads best! Because we can make friends all over the world based on our common interest in books!
I have self published 6 books, all with Author House.
The four black and white books were ebooks from the beginning, so I was a little p.o.ed that I had to pay extra to get them made ready for the new epub format. And then for some reason they said they couldn't do my first book - so it is available thru Goodreads! But I still need to edit it - you know, learn how to edit an ebook! And I haven't even seen the other 3 and am sure there are editorial corrections to be made. I plan to go to best buy this fall and get reading and editing ebook capability put on my lap top.
So, this is a bit of a long intro but I'm kind of a workaholic. Now there are color ebooks and I really want to rewrite my 2 color horse books into one new color ebook and publish it with someone other than AH!! I also have been paying all along for my websites and I would really like to learn how to edit my own websites. Thank you very much for the opportunity to learn and work with you!

ps. I went to the appropriate place to shamelessly promote myself and am in the process of deleting that post until after I talk to Author House! None of the websites I own any longer go to my book pages!! Needless to say, one of my reasons for joining this group is how disappointed I am in Author House!! I've been with them for 10 years and author support has gotten worse and worse the bigger and bigger they have gotten! Thanks again for listening!

Welcome clair and Jude! I look forward to hearing more of what you guys have to say in the folders on this site. I think you guys both have some good thoughts to share.

Jude wrote: "ps. I went to the appropriate place to shamelessly promote myself and am in the process of deleting that post until after I talk to Author House! None of the websites I own any longer go to my bo..."

That's awful Jude. If your interested at some point, that would be a great topic for our threads. Feel free to start a topic and talk about your experience there so that other people will know what it is like to work with them.

Thank you for your suggestion! I will write something to start a thread! I'd appreciate your input in what to call this thread - you seem to be quite good at that! My Experience with AH for example is kind of limiting when we want others to share their experiences also.... I'd like to make it positive; cuz there are positives to the experience also. Now the negatives far outweight the positives - except the actual quality of the books is excellent. It's really been the promoting that has been so frustrating and disappointing and expensive. I think I might be ready for the next step - is that an agent? So, I do enjoy sharing my experience and have done a self publishing workshop and a writers group at our county library - both were a lot of fun! There are such wide variations in what people mean by self publishing. I respect the people who just go make their book and then sell some! So, there may end up to be more than one thread here - self publishing experiences, finding an agent, and promoting experiences that have worked! And then the Editio part of your name made me initially think of editing my ebooks and websites! Thanks again for the encouragement!

Jude wrote: "Thank you for your suggestion! I will write something to start a thread! I'd appreciate your input in what to call this thread - you seem to be quite good at that! My Experience with AH for exa..."

Those all sound like great points. I would just title it "My experience with Author house" That way you could talk about the good as well as the bad.

Isn't there already a thread about the differences between "vanity" publishing (I forget what the thread calls it) and self-publishing? I think the Author House discussion would be appropriate for that thread...

"Jeanz" -- I am in the middle of what I devoutly hope is the final pre-publication edit of my SF novel, TWIN-BRED. I'd love to have you review my book and/or do an interview! (The interview could be any time, but ideally it'd be close to the not-yet-determined publication date....)

Sandra "Jeanz" wrote: "Hello Everyone,

My name is Sandra "Jeanz" and I have my own blog http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.... on which I read,review books and also do author interviews. Hopefully when you take a lo..."

Clare-Dragonfly wrote: "Isn't there already a thread about the differences between "vanity" publishing (I forget what the thread calls it) and self-publishing? I think the Author House discussion would be appropriate for ..."

Good call Clare!

BookieWormie wrote: "Hello! So glad I came across this group! Very timely as I just submitted my final draft for review prior to self publishing! I am excited and scared to death at the thought of having a book out ..."

How exiting, if you have any questions about how to get your book up online or how to promote it, check out our web site: Self-Publishing

Hi everyone :) I'm Anne-Mhairi Simpson, just sent off my debut novel to beta readers for their final comments before I send it to reviewers. I write young adult epic fantasy, teenagers are closer to my mental age and I am only rarely on this planet!

I'm having quite a lot of fun working out all the logistics to do with self-publishing and am always happy to answer questions, mainly because I'm a big asker of questions so, you know, turn and turn about!

Er... and I talk a lot, which I suppose I should warn you all about ahead of time! :S

My name is Nicholas McGirr and I have just self published my second ebook. I have dealt with self publishing a print book with little to no positive things to say about it. I am hoping to pick the brains of the folks here to learn more about the industry and possibly make a few friends. As most of you said, in this industry, authors need to stick together.

Nicholas.

Nicholas wrote: "My name is Nicholas McGirr and I have just self published my second ebook. I have dealt with self publishing a print book with little to no positive things to say about it. I am hoping to pick the ..."

Hello Ann and Nicholas, welcome to the group. I am so exited about all the great info you guys can bring to the group. Thank you so much for joining! Look forward to seeing you guys on some of the threads. We can't wait to hear what you have to say.

I used Authorhouse back in 2005. Needless to say I am glad I found ebooks!

I have to admit, I haven't heard much good about Authorhouse. Looking forward to the Createspace process, have seen a couple of the finished products and they look great.

BookieWormie wrote: "Anne-Mhairi wrote: "I have to admit, I haven't heard much good about Authorhouse. Looking forward to the Createspace process, have seen a couple of the finished products and they look great."

That's great! We would love to hear about it. You can create a new thread when you get it. Looking forward to it.

I have gone through several proofs from CreateSpace and have at least one more to go, due to things I decided needed changing -- but the quality is impressive. My daughter has also done a proof on CreateSpace, and her book looks great too.

Nicholas? Are you saying there is a way to publish ebooks without using a self publisher like author house? Thanks!

Jude wrote: "Nicholas? Are you saying there is a way to publish ebooks without using a self publisher like author house? Thanks!"

Absolutely! You can publish with Kindle and the Nook. Let me know if your not familiar with these.

And Karen? I'd like to hear more about CreateSpace! I am paying too much for my websites that are getting me nothing in return and am thinking about letting them go and going with all free websites and social networks, instead. Advice welcome! For example, here is what I think of as my main website that has cost me so much to maintain, and now most of the links don't work! It looks pretty, but that's about it! www.drjudearnold.com How are other people handling websites to introduce themselves - are they necessary?

Hi everyone. Name's Russell Blake, and I have a couple of thrillers out, with a trilogy hitting within a few more weeks (fingers crossed), as well as a vicious parody on all things writing and self-publishing related. Good to meet you all. I have a very good editor, and a magical book cover designer, so if anyone needs some help, ping me or e-mail me.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

Russell wrote: "Hi everyone. Name's Russell Blake, and I have a couple of thrillers out, with a trilogy hitting within a few more weeks (fingers crossed), as well as a vicious parody on all things writing and self..."

Welcome Russell. If you could put the editor you like under the thread for editors that would be great. I know several people are looking for a good one. We also have a section about book covers. I saw yours and they look great. We would love to know who it is.