{"id":2512,"date":"2022-02-13T09:49:59","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T14:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/?p=2512"},"modified":"2022-06-04T18:51:55","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T22:51:55","slug":"the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-part-3-of-my-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/13\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-part-3-of-my-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: Part 3 of My Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>(or How I Did It, a \u201c.doc\u201d-umentary)\n

So far in January\/February 2022, I:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Got approval from the zoning board to operate a business out of my home and filed an application for a business license.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Purchased the domain name for my new business. (Get it quick, before someone else does! See note below.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Started an Excel Workbook to list all the resources brought out in the LaPoma Udemy class<\/a>, with notes on each (links, cost, what kind of resource it is, when I sign up, etc.) (Still need to send him a suggestion to include a similar list as a handout.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Started another Excel Workbook in which I am putting ALL my other questions, to-dos, and so on, so that it\u2019s all in one place. One of those things is a sheet for tag-line ideas since I\u2019ll need one of those for my cover!<\/p>\n

\u2022 Signed up for a free trial of Grammarly<\/a>\u2013already working in every program in which I write, including this blog post, and every single email. (I should listen to it more.)<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo by Taryn Elliott from Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2022 Signed up for the two-week trial of the One Stop for Writers<\/a> web resources, where the Emotion Thesaurus is joined by numerous other thesauruses. Immediately began putting it to use in the edits of my current MS. After less than a week, signed up for a year\u2019s membership.<\/p>\n

\u2022 TOOK A COUPLE OF NIGHTS OFF \u2014 THIS IS\u00a0REALLY<\/strong> IMPORTANT. Also started limiting the amount of time I spend on this business every day so that I have time to squeeze some fun and relaxation into my life. Hubby suggested that on weekends, I work for an hour, then take a brief break, and following that advice has been a huge help. I don\u2019t want to burn out!<\/p>\n

\u2022 Got my business license. Yay!<\/p>\n

\u2022 Got the first proofs of my cover art, and can I just say they are FABULOUS! Duncan is the best, and so easy to work with! He even asked to read the manuscript before starting on his designs, so that he could have a clearer idea of how best to represent the story. I highly recommend Corvid Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still on the to-do list:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Plan and start a newsletter.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Purchase my ISBNS (This is one of the reasons I wanted a business bank account; if I understand it correctly, the name of the ISBN\u2019s buyer is the one to whom the work will be registered forevermore. So if I purchase them with my personal credit card, then they will show *my* name as the buyer\/publisher, instead of Niveym Arts. For more info on ISBNs, check out Bowker<\/a>, the only<\/strong> ISBN source for the U.S.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Open a bank account (Not sure if I\u2019ll do this; my tax accountant says don\u2019t, but his son\u2014who will one day take over the business\u2014says do. Now I\u2019m torn. The other reason I formed an LLC was to give myself some level of financial protection in case there are ever legal issues with my books down the road. The only way to do that is to completely\u00a0separate my own finances from those of the LLC\u2019s publishing business and the works published under its banner. I need to research this more.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Check out Pro Writing Aid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Design a no-budget marketing plan. (See notes below.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Take one or two of the other classes I\u2019ve purchased. (Again, see notes below.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a minute since I posted, and I\u2019m sorry about that. Two Big Things happened that have dragged my other activities in this regard to a crawl.<\/p>\n

First, I got my manuscript back from my editor, who is fabulous<\/strong>, by the way. Most of the changes were pretty simple, and I completed them within a day or two. Then I got to the list of Words I Use Far Too Frequently. That\u2019s when everything<\/p>\n

s \u00a0 \u00a0l \u00a0o \u00a0 w \u00a0 e \u00a0 \u00a0d \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0d \u00a0 o \u00a0 w \u00a0 n.<\/p>\n

(This is NOT the fault of my editor. She was absolutely right to point them out, and I\u2019m glad she did. Going through the manuscript and seeing, for the first time, how often I used words like \u201chead\u201d was embarrassing\u2013what if I had published this work without an editor? Yikes! Overuse of words in this way is one of my worst writing habits, one I hope to find some way to break in the future.)<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Second, my husband and I learned we must move in two months<\/strong>. Same city, different apartment\/home\/condo\/whatever. So, between frantically searching for a new place online, driving around to find\/check out potential places, and other assorted moving necessities, my available time to edit has been slashed. Also, the funds I had set aside to pay for ads must now be allocated for a deposit somewhere else.<\/p>\n

Ah well. Life throws us interesting curves sometimes, doesn\u2019t She? It might slow me down, but it won\u2019t discourage me (for long) or stop me. We\u2019ll figure it out. I might publish a little later than I\u2019d hoped (though that\u2019s not the plan), but I will publish.<\/p>\n

I would recommend to anyone who is planning to self-publish that they be as flexible as possible. Life doesn\u2019t always go the way you expect, and the stress of trying to keep to a rigid schedule while navigating choppy waters is \u2026 exhausting. Be kind to yourself, and to those who support you.<\/p>\n

Here are a few things I wish I had done differently:<\/p>\n

\u2022 First and foremost, I wish younger me had not listened to my elders or others who told me, \u201cWriting isn\u2019t a suitable career. It\u2019s only a hobby. Find a real job.\u201d While my writing has improved in all the years I\u2019ve been working toward this, I still wish I had started earlier. I would have been farther along by now.<\/p>\n

\u2022 I wish I had budgeted my expenses. While I\u2019m not sorry for the choices I made that carried a financial cost, I ended up spending more than I could really afford. Next time, I will try to do a few of these steps myself and save money. (Not the cover though. Never scrimp on the cover.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 I didn\u2019t register the domain name for my new LLC until the day after I registered the LLC. Luckily, the name I chose wasn\u2019t a common one, but there are people out there watching for new business names to show up in the registers; they then buy the domain names and park them in hopes of making money from their sale or use. They could easily have bought niveymarts.com first, and I would have been out of luck.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2022 I wish I had educated myself about font licensing and other legalities of this business. For example, I\u2019m pretty sure (now) that Times New Roman (the font included with my software and in which I usually write) is a font that, legally speaking, requires a license to use in things like published works. There are all sorts of threads to this tapestry. I am still following them to learn the legalities and may end up using free fonts in future books. We\u2019ll see. This time, though, I\u2019m using a designer for the interior, and he has the licenses so in this book, at least, I\u2019m covered.<\/p>\n

With our move looming, I may be even more distracted than usual in the coming months. I am keeping notes about my process as I work my way through publishing my first book, and it is my intention to keep posting about my experience as time allows.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned and know I\u2019m wishing all the best to you in your self-publishing journey!<\/p>\n

**Please note that I am not a professional. Outside the writing part\u2014for which I have taken numerous classes and workshops, and for which I\u2019ve seen enormous improvement over the years, but which I am still learning\u2014I mostly have no idea what I\u2019m doing. I\u2019m reading everything I can get my hands on, looking at how others who have been successful have done it, and learning this process as I go. I don\u2019t want any reader of these posts to think I\u2019m teaching THE way to self-publish; there are as many ways to do this as there are writers on the path. I am only sharing how I have done it. Your mileage may vary.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(or How I Did It, a \u201c.doc\u201d-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 else does! See note below.)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[3,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2512","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-Ew","jetpack-related-posts":[{"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":2512,"position":0},"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":2449,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/02\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2512,"position":1},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: Part 1 of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"January 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Part 1 of ? In September of 2021, I attended the Hampton Roads Writers' Conference, where Leslie Penelope gave a keynote presentation wherein she asked, \"What is your 'why'?\" Her words, descriptive of her own journey, made me ask myself the same question.\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\/KindleAndCroissant-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/KindleAndCroissant-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/KindleAndCroissant-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/KindleAndCroissant-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/KindleAndCroissant-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/KindleAndCroissant-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3441,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/26\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-addendum-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":2512,"position":2},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: Addendum 1","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Branching Out For those of you who don\u2019t know, I am hearing impaired. Not totally Deaf, but my hearing loss is significant. I hear things like thunder, but not peeper frogs. I hear bass notes in thumping music, but not cicadas. I hear\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\/2023\/07\/joyce-busola-h7pDENTfYvU-unsplash-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"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":2512,"position":3},"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":3007,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/27\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-11th-part-of-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2512,"position":4},"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":2881,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/11\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-8th-part-of-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2512,"position":5},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: 8th Part of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"September 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Part 8\/? Latest update: It\u2019s been a very busy month, but the biggest thing I\u2019ve learned is that I still have a lot to learn. I\u2019ve not had time to take another class, but I\u2019ve done many other things with my time. Since\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\/09\/icons-842851_1920.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/icons-842851_1920.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/icons-842851_1920.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/icons-842851_1920.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/icons-842851_1920.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512","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=2512"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2666,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions\/2666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}