eBook Publishing (A brief guide for beginners)

Are you serious about your eBook?

You want the best for your kids, don’t you? Well, imagine your book’s your baby. What wouldn’t you do for it?

I have had some reasonable success with eBooks. Beyond luck, I have no idea why my books have sold so many copies since March. There are no formulas, no guarantees, only your own drive and spirit and the love you have for your writing. So, in the spirit of my writing – that is, with the barest minimum of waffle - I’ll run you through a process that may or may not have mixed results J

1. Write, edit and polish your first novel. Try to finish this creative process before diverting your attentions elsewhere. Pay particular attention to the TITLE of your book as, along with the cover, it is clearly your immediate selling point.
2. Write the blurb of all blurbs. Make it tight. Include a 'hook'. Write the blurb that would make YOU buy the book. A potential reader who likes your cover and title will read your blurb next.
3. Earmark and expect to spend a minimum of £500-£750 (UK pounds) on your great venture. It’s a small amount compared to being able to realize the dream of selling that first copy.
4. A highly advisable option is to invest in a professional editor and – if necessary – a formatter. Their fees aren’t as exorbitant as you might think and they will take the stress out of delivering that final ‘reader-ready’ product.
5. Whilst this process is being undertaken commission a professional cover designer to create you a stunning book cover. Have fun with it. Experiment.
6. Time to start LINKING and building your online presence before the book hits- expect to spend many, many hours of your life doing this. Create a Website (Weebly is free) to advertise your books. Start a blog (Blogger is free) and decide which direction you want it to take. The options are limitless, but it should be something you will want to share and have a strong opinion about. You may want a Facebook/Goodreads presence. You may want to join IAN – The Independent Author Network. You may want to publish on Smashwords and Createspace. All these options will give you and your book increased visibility and, believe me, there are many more.
7. You should already have a Twitter presence. If you are an #indie author you will soon find many others like you out there. The Twitter community is vast, engaging, and full of good people ready to champion your cause. Support and share interesting tweets and articles. Search for information relevant to your product and pass it on to others. Be prepared to have more fun than you could imagine and spend untold hours on this alone. Twitter is addictive and fun, even more so when you find that your fellow authors are becoming your friends.
8. Publish your book only when it’s ready. LINK the 'Buy' pages of your book to your Website and Blog, and possibly Twitter.
9. Create yourself an Author Central page through Amazon. Don’t forget to add a photo for that personal touch. UK and US Author Central pages are separate, and there are tools available on the US site to increase the aesthetic impact of your blurb– (Italics, bold etc).  
10. Now, you’re ready. Hang on and enjoy the ride. Your arms should be outside the carriage at all times. You won’t be able to sit back, and you should be having a ton of fun.
11. #BuyIndie!