Why do I write?![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Why.jpg?resize=494%2C278&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
There are many answers to that question, but the most essential one is this: I write to share my characters\u2019 experiences with readers. Sure, a big royalty check every month would be great, but that isn\u2019t why I sit in front of the desk and \u201cbleed\u201d all over my keyboard. I do it for my readers.<\/p>\n
With that answer came the realization that the path to publication I\u2019d chosen and pursued vehemently for seven years\u2014traditional publishing\u2014may never achieve what I\u2019d set out to do. Thus, in early October, I made the decision to self-publish.<\/p>\n
In the weeks that followed (before NaNoWriMo took all my \u201cspare\u201d time), and then again in December, I researched the subject of self-publishing and before I\u2019d even gotten ankle-deep in the research, I nearly quit out of sheer overload.<\/p>\n
There is SO MUCH to learn!<\/p>\n
I wrote about that in my last blog post (\u201cThe Monster Under My Desk\u201d), so I won\u2019t go into it again here. What I do<\/strong> want to cover is the steps I\u2019ve taken to overcome that knee-shaking fear of All Those Things I Don\u2019t Know, and to start tackling them one at a time. Perhaps, if I chronicle my journey to my first (or second) self-published book, others who are standing at the trailhead hereabouts might benefit from my experiences, the mistakes I make, and the things I get right. Not only that, but I can then use my own posts as a map of sorts the next time I take this trip.<\/p>\n Please remember as you read that this is my<\/strong> timeline, undertaken at my<\/strong> level of understanding. If you follow this trail later, you may move faster, slower, or even take a totally different route. That\u2019s okay. I\u2019m told there are as many ways to self-publish as there are writers who do so.<\/p>\n So, let me see if I can find a concrete starting point.<\/p>\n December of 2021:<\/p>\n I joined The Alliance of Independent Authors<\/a>\u00a0(ALLi), mostly because I figured those other pro-level self-published writers might be a knowledge base I could call on. I was right. They have a wealth of information as well as a list of vetted vendors and other individuals and businesses an indie writer might need\/want. They\u2019ll also warn you about businesses and vanity presses posing as assisted publishers along with appropriate revelatory information. Membership brings free access to several books on the topic of publishing your own work. At the time of this writing, I\u2019m halfway through one of those, and learning a lot.<\/p>\n I also signed up for some Kindlepreneur<\/a> classes and tools which will be helpful to me along the way, especially in learning meanings and uses of such arcane things as keywords, metadata, and business comparisons.<\/p>\n I started perusing cover designers, independent editors, and marketing plans, all of which cost money. I know that a professional cover designer and a good editor are essential, but as to the rest, I don\u2019t even know. Not yet. (It\u2019s still early days.) The thing to note is that these services are not cheap. On the other hand, I don\u2019t really want them to be. I\u2019m a firm believer in that old adage, \u201cYou get what you pay for.\u201d Not to say that a good cover designer or a good editor can\u2019t be had for a reasonable fee that can fit my budget; but I don\u2019t expect to find either for less than $100 each. I don\u2019t mind paying a professional rate for a professionally executed job, as long as I can afford the rate.<\/p>\n A year ago, I purchased some writing classes on Udemy<\/a> (which, to my embarrassment, I promptly forgot about and never used until the last week of December, 2021), so I went there to see what other classes they might offer on indie publishing, marketing, and all the associated parts of this process. One on indie publishing looked comprehensive, covering most of what I think I\u2019ll need to know from a beginner\u2019s perspective. I purchased that and two others relevant to this new direction in my publishing life and started the comprehensive SP one today.<\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t ever taken online classes, and decide to do so now, take note that many which cover a broad subject like self-publishing in any real depth are going to be long. This one is, I think, eleven hours. I urge you to not try and tackle so much learning in a single day. (I did that yesterday with one of the writing courses still waiting in my account at Udemy. I don\u2019t recommend it.) Spread it out. Watch an hour a day and wait to let the lessons sink in before you move on. Otherwise, you not only stand a chance of burnout, but you won\u2019t retain the information long enough to use it.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also joined a couple of Facebook writer groups that are focused on indie writers. Both have been so helpful in pointing out things I never would have considered before. For one thing, I suspect that writers who \u201cwrite to market\u201d will always be more financially successful than those of us who write \u201cfrom the heart,\u201d as I do. At the moment, I\u2019m mostly lurking and learning. My time to participate will come once I\u2019ve got a bit more education under my belt.<\/p>\n My plan, for the next few weeks, is to: Maybe by February, I\u2019ll have a better understanding of how long these steps take, as well as a firmer For those of you who know my work, I hope to publish my first book (Enthe\u00f3phage) by the summer (early? late?), and the first book in my trilogy (The Founder\u2019s Seed: Fallen) in late autumn. If I can do it sooner, I will. But please don\u2019t hold me to this \u201cschedule\u201d as, at this point, I am just beginning the learning process and may have to adjust the timetable as I better understand what needs to happen before that step. I am not in a hurry. I have heard stories from writers who rushed to push the \u201cpublish\u201d button, and were sorry later because of one, or a combination, of many mistakes: they didn\u2019t hire a professional cover designer, they didn\u2019t share it with beta readers to get feedback on the story before making it public; they didn\u2019t edit the book to within an inch of its life; they didn\u2019t do any promotions or pre-orders; they had no marketing strategy; the reasons are legion. I know I\u2019ll make my share of mistakes, but I hope to learn from those others have made before me.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll keep blogging as I go about the process, and keep you in the loop, so you can follow along if you\u2019d like. All posts in this series will have the same name with different part numbers and will be tagged \u201cindie publishing journey\u201d so you can find and read as I\u2019m able to write them.<\/p>\n And if you aren\u2019t a writer, but you are interested in my upcoming books, please stay tuned!<\/p>\n Happy New Year, everyone!<\/p>\n \u201cMy Plan\u201d Image by Pexels<\/a>, courtesy of Pixabay (or How I Did It, a \u201c.doc\u201d-umentary) Part 1 of ? In September of 2021, I attended the Hampton Roads Writers\u2019 Conference, where Leslie Penelope gave a keynote presentation wherein she asked, \u201cWhat is your \u2018why\u2019?\u201d Her words, descriptive of her own journey, made me ask myself the same question. Why do I write? There…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-indie-publishing-journey"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-Dv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3007,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/27\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-11th-part-of-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2449,"position":0},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: 11th Part of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"December 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Part 11\/11 Latest update: I\u2019ve always heard from experienced authors that the best way to stop obsessing over a single work is to move on to the next project. So I\u2019ve been learning to juggle. Again. Projects, that is. As an indie author,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Microphone-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2584,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/08\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-4th-part-of-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2449,"position":1},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: 4th Part of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"May 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Part 4\/? In the last week or two of February, as well as all of March and April, I was far too absorbed with our move to even think about my manuscript. Instead, that time was spent searching for a new home, packing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/CoffeeConversation-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/CoffeeConversation-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/CoffeeConversation-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/CoffeeConversation-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/CoffeeConversation-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/CoffeeConversation-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2732,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/08\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-5th-part-of-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2449,"position":2},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: 5th Part of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"June 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Part 5\/? We\u2019re finally settled into our new home, which means additional tasks that suck time away from my writing and publishing, but I don\u2019t mind. I\u2019ve always loved weeding a garden, as long as the temps aren\u2019t soaring in the upper 80s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WateringCan-683x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2851,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/21\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-7th-part-of-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2449,"position":3},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: 7th Part of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"August 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Part 7\/? Latest update: Duncan finished the setup on my print version and sent me a proof to review. I cannot express to you the excitement of getting even that much closer to publication! I\u2019ve picked a tentative new publication date but am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/SEOKeywords.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/SEOKeywords.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/SEOKeywords.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/SEOKeywords.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/SEOKeywords.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2512,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/13\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-part-3-of-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2449,"position":4},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: Part 3 of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) So far in January\/February 2022, I: \u2022 Got approval from the zoning board to operate a business out of my home and filed an application for a business license. \u2022 Purchased the domain name for my new business. (Get it quick, before someone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Budgeting-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Budgeting-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Budgeting-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Budgeting-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Budgeting-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Budgeting-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2471,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/21\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-my-journey-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2449,"position":5},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: Part 2 of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"January 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Part 2 of ? January 2022 (so far) So much has happened since my last post that I don't know where to start. But I'll give it a try. (Grab a cup of something...this post is long.) I continued (for a while) the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SigningDocument-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SigningDocument-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SigningDocument-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SigningDocument-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SigningDocument-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SigningDocument-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2672,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions\/2672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/MyPlan.jpg?resize=494%2C329&ssl=1\")
I started a \u201cplan\u201d in a Word document which, five days later, evolved into an Excel spreadsheet. I freely admit it isn\u2019t much of a plan since I still have no clue what I need to do and in what order these things should be done. I don\u2019t even know what I don\u2019t know. Just looking at it, I quickly got overwhelmed by all the steps that lay ahead of me, compounded by my abysmal understanding of said steps. That knee-knocking fear started to creep in again, so I backed off and tried to think smarter, not harder.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 keep plying my craft on the stories\/novel-length books I have already written, until they are as clean as I can make them;
\n\u2022 When I\u2019ve done all I can to make them the best versions they can be, hire a professional editor; and
\n\u2022 Take as many classes as I can over the next month or two so that I know what I need to do next.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/KindleAndCroissant-scaled.jpg?resize=414%2C276&ssl=1\")
grasp on what my plan should look like, instead of a to-do list with the items in no particular order. Right now, I\u2019m thinking I\u2019ll publish on Kindle Direct Publishing, staying exclusive for the requisite 90-day period for e-books, and engaging a well-known print company to do the print-on-demand copies. After the 90 days, I\u2019ll revisit whether or not to \u201cgo wide,\u201d or spread my e-book and p.o.d. options through an aggregator who can (theoretically) get my books into bookstores, libraries, and the like. This \u201cplan\u201d is subject to change, of course.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhy?\u201d Image by chenspec<\/a>, courtesy of Pixabay
\n\u201cKindle and Croissant\u201d Image by freestocks<\/a>, courtesy of Pexels<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"