What are you afraid of?

When I finally decided to publish Chrome Pink last year, I didn’t give myself time to back out. I just did it. I’d spent five years working on this book, writing it, editing and revising it, sending out queries to agents and publishers, doing more editing and rewriting, until I was tired of dealing with it.

My friend and mentor, Marni Graff told me, it’s ready, publish it. My husband, friends and family all said, go ahead, do it. I’d taken online classes, attended workshops and presentations, I’d picked the minds of friends: Kate Parker, Merry Simmons and Louis Edwards, but I was still afraid.

I’m so thankful Louis at Lighthouse Studio Graphics was working on my cover, he caught a simple mistake which could have been a costly one. I’d forgotten to change from double spacing to single. It made my page count around seven hundred. It’s the little things that are easy to overlook or not know to ask about. I also forgot to put page numbers in because I thought they’d be added automatically through Create Space, FYI―you have to insert your page numbers and headers yourself, and make sure the higher numbers still fit on the page.

 

I recently uploaded my second book to Create Space. I even created my own cover. I don’t regret the money I spent to have Louis create the cover for Chrome Pink. He brought my vision to life. I love that cover but as a new author with a limited budget I’m learning there are things I can do that doesn’t cost me extra. Create Space is a one-stop shopping for authors. You can upload your book, create your cover and even use their ISBN numbers without extra cost.

For anyone hesitating to publish here are my suggestions:

1. Don’t be afraid, you can learn or fix anything that goes wrong. You can even start over.
2. You can spend as little or as much as you choose. I thought I had to do things a certain way, like buy my own ISBN numbers ($99 on Create Space or $125 on Bowkers, the only official source for ISBN number in the US).
3. You can design your own cover, purchase a cover or design one through Create Space. Don’t be afraid to experiment. (You can even do a reprint with a new cover, later).
4. Have a short biography, a brief description of the story, and five words/phrases to attract people to your book. (You can change these later, in fact, for promoting the book, it’s good to make changes every 2-3 weeks).

 

There is no right way or wrong way to publish a book as long as you put your best work out there. I rely on friends for editing and proof reading, eventually, I’d love to have professional editing. I work hard to put out a good product on a budget. I am blessed to have a group of early readers, proof readers and editors who work really cheap, and my own personal librarians who are willing to look up information for me. Because of my extensive support group, my second book White Gold, the sequel to Chrome Pink will be available soon.