My first self published book

Self publishing a photo book is easier than you think. I have done it myself in the past so I know it can be done. I am not going to lie to you it was frustrating to do.  Yet, the drive to accomplish the goal kept me pushing forward until I did it.  

The photo book I wanted to create was one of photographs of a flood that wiped out 2/3 of my hometown. It was a photographic essay of the damage. Here is a link for it on Amazon. 

I tried to compose it in MS word, but was unable to do so, so I downloaded open office and went that route.  I had to move all the images in one directory, and saved the open office file there as well.  In that word processor, I was able to insert, resize and format the photos the way I needed to. I wrote the text in MS word and then copied and pasted it into Open Office. 

After it was all exactly as I wanted it to be I saved it as a pfd file and uploaded it to Createspace, I choose to use that website to handle the self publishing of the photo book because I had created other books there. I knew it would be a low profit margin but I wanted the book to get out there so people could buy it. Because it was in full color, the profit margin was low.  I had to make it twenty bucks, so that I could make at least a $5 dollar profit on it. I was splitting that $5 bucks with my community.

Would I take this route of self publishing a photo book again? Sure, I would because even with the low profit margin the book has merit. People want this book because it is a part of local history. 

Self Publishing is Easy

Self publishing is easier than you think. I have done it with print books and eBooks.  I am by no means an expert but I can do it. Trust me if I can do this so can you. Self publishing a book is easy if you follow a simple plan, stay on task and do the work.

First type up the book in MS Word or Open Office, both have their benefits and downfalls. If it is a textbook stick with MS Office as a doc, but if it has a photo book go with Open Office as a doc then a pdf.   Once you have edited, checked and rechecked the file for errors and you consider it all done upload it to either Creatspace or Lulu.

I prefer to go the route of self publishing my books on Creatspace, as it just seems easier and the profit margin seems more to me.  No matter which web site you use to make your dream a reality, it will cost you in the end.  Createspace does not cost you to upload files or selling your book, instead it keeps a bigger share of the profits than the give you.

If your dream is to write a book and agents are not biting, perhaps the business of self publishing is for you. 

Dealing with Deadbeat Clients

Dealing with deadbeat clients is an unpleasant fact as they surround us all. They simply want a free ride in life and well it is not fair. Here is how I dealt with a deadbeat client. In early January of 2012, I won my first bid on one of those freelance writing websites. I was commissioned to create a wordpress blog for 30 dollars for a man who owns a web site that gives virtual tours of a famous place. He wanted one post and a few links to his website. He wanted a 400-word blog post, and I gave him an extra 400 words free. Now he had the two-blog posts, which came up high in the search engines. I snagged the most popular keyword phrases to help him gain rankings. I sent him the URL, and he said he approved it. I am a nice person and trusted that he would pay me. I sent him the password to the word press blog and the newly created g-mail account. I invoiced him and he ignored it. After a week, I wrote him back and I asked for my money. Life happened, and somehow in the following months I forgot about him. I wrote hundreds more articles, blog posts and even some eBooks. Winter, turned into spring and as a working freelancer I just threw myself into work.  On May 17, 2012, I finally remembered the work once more. It really made me mad that a man expected to get something free from me. Perhaps he thought I was one of those rich Americans. Yes, I am a rich American, rich in family and friends but not money. So I logged in to the accounts I created for him, the blog site and the g-mail both. I changed the passwords and resumed control. I then went ahead and removed his links from the blog posts. Some people might say why not simply delete the posts from the blog, and be done with it. The answer is simple It comes up high in the search engines, and draws attention away from his web site. Some people may think this is mean spirited. Yeah some may say it is, some will say it is well-crafted revenge of a deadbeat client. I call it job satisfaction.

There is a good reason for self publishing my own books. In a world where the tight economy exists, I have to make every penny count.  I do not have money to print off copies of my baby and pay to mail them to an agent.  I do not have the time to waste sending a file of my book and have it sit in an editor’s e-box for months. I need to make money now, now five months from now. I need to pay bills and support my children.

My reasons for self-publishing my own books may be different from yours. Really though behind every one who goes this route, the bottom line is we all want money sooner.  I write it is my job first, sure, there are some things I enjoy writing more than others. However, money is always the bottom line here. I write to pay the bills and live.   

My fiction books are my passion. I love to write fiction. There are no agents banging on my door, so self publishing my books is my way of finding them.  I have been watching so indie authors and they gave up on the agent thing. Instead, they created their own files, found the audience and then the agents and publishers came calling. 

Dating Losers, EWW Stop me Now

Dating is rough. I hated it before marriage and now that I am single once more, I hate it even worse! Men say women are full of drama etc, ladies have you ever dated a know it all? They are full of drama and a lot of BS. I am not a man hater. I simply hate some of the personalities they harbor! I know I have a bad personality where some men are concerned I am one of those women whose kids come first and then work does.  I keep meeting men who do not know the meaning of commitment or they want me to support their lazy butts.  Any man I date has to take a third place unless he is willing to help to support me so I do not have to work as much. See so simple, yet so hard to attain. Anyways back on track here. If you want to read some of the personality types which men have that make them the worst dating material, check out this article.   Ladies, have you meet a man on a dating web site that you think might be dating material? How can you check him out quietly? Trust me there are several ways to do this, without them knowing. I am going to share my methods with you ladies, right here in this article. Ladies, when you are on the dating websites, it seems that you attract the wrong type of men. It happened so much to me that I was seriously thinking of giving up dating game. How can we change this? Find out how I did it.  ~~Goals do not happen as life does. You must work hard to make goals a reality!~~ http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Browne/e/B004EW761G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/amybrowne https://www.facebook.com/authoramybrowne https://www.facebook.com/pages/Circle-8-Writers/163212760355932 http://amyjob.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/AmyBrowne http://www.linkedin.com/pub/amy-browne/1a/936/495

Bipolar eBook I love you I hate you A Bipolar Marriage

Bipolar is a mental illness, which affects the moods of the patients affected with the disorder. Sometimes that makes these people hard to live with. There is help out there for the people who are in a relationship with a bipolar patient. Here is a great book on the subject.   Alice Madison Young published ‘I love you, I hate you, A bipolar marriage” in March of 2012. This eBook shares her personal insights of being married to a man with the disorder.   If you are on the fence about staying in the relationship her story may help you.  On June 2, 2012 this will be a free eBook, but it is available other times at an everyday low price of $2.99 (USD), on Amazon. You can purchase the English version here, while readers from the UK can purchase the eBook here. ~~Goals do not happen as life does. You must work hard to make goals a reality!~~ http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Browne/e/B004EW761G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/amybrowne https://www.facebook.com/authoramybrowne https://www.facebook.com/pages/Circle-8-Writers/163212760355932 http://amyjob.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/AmyBrowne http://www.linkedin.com/pub/amy-browne/1a/936/495

Self Published Authors 411

The goal of any novel writer is to get a book published and there are two main avenues to do this. Writers can go the self-publishing route or the traditional route of getting an agent. Which is better for profit, ease of use and reaching the ultimate goal? Read more here.   Creating an eBook Any freelance writer who types content for a living can turn to eBooks with ease. We already have the skills, we simply need the inspiration and to be pointed in the right direction. Read more here. One question, I am routinely asked is how do you set up Microsoft word so that it formats text eBooks correctly. It is easy just follow these systematic instructions on setting it up to format correctly. Read more here. There are many options when it comes to your book cover. All of these options work for eBooks as well as any size of print books. Some of these options are free while others are options, which require a payment of some sort. Read more here. If you are selling your eBook, you may wonder what the best pricing model is. Everyone has their own opinion, but there are some standards. The pricing models also seem to vary by website, type and genre of eBook. Read more here Self-publishing eBooks for the Kindle or Nook is easy. I have my eBooks available in many places on line and I am sharing my knowledge here. Read more here. Selling your eBooks on Amazon and Smashwords is a great idea for indie authors who want to sell eBooks. I have been doing both since October 2011 and am finding good success. Read more here.   Marketing   Create a Facebook event to help move your free eBook. This is a great way to promote your eBook and hear from your fans. It is marketing on steroids for independent authors. Adding in a few author friends will ensure you have a variety of eBooks to offer. Read more here   Selling your eBooks on Amazon is profitable but you can become a ‘bestseller’ by giving away eBooks freely. The trick is not breaking any rules so you do not jeopardize your Amazon account. Read more here. Self-published authors have a distinct advantage over traditional published authors as we control the marketing of our books. Some self-published authors may think this is a disadvantage, but it really is not. There are ways to promote your book free. Read more here. Firsthand experience with KDP program Recently I had the opportunity to talk with Alice Madison Young, who wrote the book ‘I love you, I hate you a bipolar marriage’. This eBook, which is sold exclusively on Amazon, is doing quite well for a new book. Read more here Many people wonder what the Kindle Select program will do for them. I was one of those people, who wondered about it, then I dived in and put an eBook into the program on February 7, 2012 and I am so glad I did. Read more here. ~~Goals do not happen as life does. You must work hard to make goals a reality!~~ http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Browne/e/B004EW761G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/amybrowne https://www.facebook.com/authoramybrowne https://www.facebook.com/pages/Circle-8-Writers/163212760355932 http://amyjob.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/AmyBrowne http://www.linkedin.com/pub/amy-browne/1a/936/495

Posting an Article in Many Places is Easy

Freelance writers and authors are you looking for a program that allows you to post one article to multiple places at once. It is very tedious to post a link to your Facebook, and then to twitter! There is a program to combine the two of them, but I am talking about a service that allows you to post that article to a blogger blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, WordPress, Tumblr and a few more. Better yet, it allows you to post to multiple accounts on each of those social networks. The program or service that allows you to do this is called Posterous. Short and sweet! Simply write a blog like post and email it to your Posterous account. Write it as if you were emailing a friend, include the links in the body of the post or add them at the end. The subject of your email becomes the title of your post. Once you send the email it automatically posts to your page over on Psterous along with any of the accounts you post to. When it hits twitter, the title of your email will be used as the post and the URL of your blog follows it. It appears the same way to your Facebook profile but it posts the whole thing on blogs   This post is going to http://twitter.com/AmyBrowne (title and url) http://www.facebook.com/authoramybrowne (title and url) http://www.linkedin.com/pub/amy-browne/1a/936/495 http://amyjob.blogspot.com/ (whole post) http://writingishardwork.blogspot.com/ (whole post) https://amybrowne.wordpress.com/   http://posterous.com/ sign up for a free count today   Promotion of our work is hard and time consuming and I am so guilty of skipping promotion because I need to write for upfront payments. I am a very active content writer, something writing 200-300 smallish articles a month for various blogs. I also am a published author who needs to promote both print and digital copies of my work. Posterous account allows me to do this. Plus when I send a posterous post to a blog it updates the blog!   ~~Goals do not happen as life does. You must work hard to make goals a reality!~~ http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Browne/e/B004EW761G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/amybrowne https://www.facebook.com/authoramybrowne https://www.facebook.com/pages/Circle-8-Writers/163212760355932 http://amyjob.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/AmyBrowne http://www.linkedin.com/pub/amy-browne/1a/936/495

Indie authors

I have been watching self-publishing Indie authors who are getting the writing success they deserve.  Like a little fly on the wall, I have silently been following their careers and have been learning a lot.  I may not ever see their success but the only way I will never know unless I try here.

Most of these people gave up on the traditional route of finding an agent. The agents might send your manuscript to a publisher if you are lucky. The agents have tons of manuscripts on their desks, and it your book does not catch his or her eye into the slush pile it goes.  Sorry but my baby deserves better than a slush pile either the physical kind or the virtual kind.  I do not have the money to piss away coping and mailing my manuscript to numerous agents.

Therefore, I choose to go the self-publishing route and I am seeing positive returns. It is nothing to live off yet, but I am not giving up on my dream of being a successful author. I have only been self publishing since October of 2011, but it only took me two months to get my e-books and print copies to where they were more profitable than the meager page views I received from half a dozen content sites where I have been pouring my time in for the past four years.

My drive and determination are fueling me to push harder for that self-publishing success I seek. I may never see millions of sales like Amanda Hocking, but I never will if I do not try my hardest.  

Writing your own book

Writing books filled with short stories or writing a novel that brought smiles to the faces of millions is something that I have always wanted to do.  Rather than spend lots of time and money on trying to find an agent that felt the same about my work I decided to self publish my short stories and books.  I do not want to be one of those authors who waste my life wishing I had the balls to take the chance. I took fate in my own hands and made my dream a reality.

If your desire is to be writing books, I suggest doing it. You can always find time each day to focus on writing your book if the desire is strong enough. Heck even if you set aside an hour or two a day to write 1,000 words within  2 months you will have enough words to fill a nice size print book.  If short stories are more your cup of tea, you can write one a week and have enough to fill a book sooner than you think.

Keep these goals in mind while writing your books:

Mirco fiction is less than 50 words

Flash fiction is less than 1000 words

A short story is less than 10,000 words

A novella is up to 20,000

A novel is 60,000

You will never reach your dream of writing books if you do not take the time to write it. It’s simple logic.