![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/TheQuill.jpg?resize=213%2C300&ssl=1\")
\u2022 Written and sent a new newsletter post; two weeks later, posted it to Niveym\u2019s blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u2022 Begun reviewing all the resources I\u2019d saved back in early 2022 before reality of our Move reared its head. There\u2019s a lot; this will be an ongoing process.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Begun reading up on Amazon KDP documentation so I can be (somewhat) prepared when the upload date arrives.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Completed a new read-through of Phagey and highlighted some usable pull-quotes for book promotions. This seems hard because I don\u2019t want to post something that will feel irrelevant to potential readers who won\u2019t know what\u2019s going on without having read that far in the book, but I also don\u2019t want to post spoilers.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Started a list of metadata\/keywords I might use to promote Phagey; ran some of them through PublisherRocket<\/a>, which I purchased months ago, to help me choose relevant ones. Still am not sure about the ones I\u2019ve chosen, and until I see it in action after I\u2019ve pushed the \u201cpublish\u201d button, I probably won\u2019t be. I hear you can change them later, though, so I\u2019m not going to sweat it.<\/p>\n \u2022 Finished my WordPress for Beginners<\/a> Udemy class with Andrew Williams. If you are struggling with WP, as I am, I highly recommend this class. I\u2019m still no expert, but at least I can do some of the basic stuff and have a better understanding of why I\u2019m doing it. I was able, with what I\u2019d learned, to set up a very basic Niveym Arts, LLC website<\/a>. This will be an ongoing learning process for me.<\/p>\n \u2022 Started \u2013 and completed \u2013 a new Udemy class with Bethany Atazadeh called \u201cPublish Your Novel.<\/a>\u201d Oh. My. Goodness. If you want to publish your own books, take this course. Excellent resource. Truly outstanding. Bethany provides a Self-Publisher\u2019s Workbook, a very handy resource that includes, among other things, template worksheets for gathering your book\u2019s metadata all into one place, and setting out a marketing plan. She\u2019s easy to follow, clear with her explanations and descriptions, and incredibly motivational. I highly recommend her classes. She\u2019s also got a website<\/a>, a YouTube channel<\/a>, and other online resources which I intend to check out.<\/p>\n \u2022 Finished the review exchanges to which I\u2019d committed. Made a plan of additional people who might be good options for reviews and started a list.<\/p>\n \u2022 Started looking at book promo sites listed through Kindlepreneur<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 Started reviewing more of the resources at Kindlepreneur.<\/p>\n \u2022 Began working on my newsletter subscriptions by inviting people one at a time! I\u2019m inviting an average of 10 people per day, and in the days since I began this, my subscribers list has grown from 17 to 199.<\/p>\n \u2022 Sent out additional ARCs of Phagey to reviewers.<\/p>\n \u2022 Start researching other reviewer sites. Reedsy<\/a> has a great list \u2013 but be aware that a review site and a book promotion site aren\u2019t the same. Most of the book promotion sites I found were only for free or discounted books. If you are charging a normal price for your work, they won\u2019t be a good fit.<\/p>\n \u2022 Reviewed the print proof Duncan<\/a> sent and returned a mark-up copy to him.<\/p>\n \u2022 Got some professional author photos taken by Pam Manning, of The Manning Studio<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 Bobby started on a graphic for my cover reveal, which will happen once I get the book set up for preorder. Newsletter subscribers will see it first, then social media followers.<\/p>\n \u2022 Started the metadata worksheet I got from Bethany\u2019s class \u2013 includes things like title, author bio, price details, keywords, categories, etc.<\/p>\n \u2022 Set up an account with IngramSpark<\/a>. Tip: Approach this step with patience. It is somewhat tedious and took me about half an hour due to some sort of glitch in the initial screen. You will need a tax ID number; if you didn\u2019t set up a business to do your publishing, that will probably be your social security number. You\u2019ll also need to pre-set a compensation option, through which you will receive payments for books sold, and a payment option, such a credit card, with which you will pay the setup fees, etc. Have all this data handy when you sit down to set up your account.<\/p>\n Still want\/need to do: \u2022 Complete the metadata worksheet with all the data I\u2019ll need to use when I publish Phagey. \u2022 Pick a few of the pull-quotes I highlighted in my last read-through and set them to graphics to use in marketing.<\/p>\n \u2022 Set up an Amazon Author account. (Not sure if I can do that before I have a book to upload. Need to check on that.)<\/p>\n \u2022 Take the other classes I\u2019ve signed up for, mostly in marketing (the task I find most daunting).<\/p>\n \u2022 Once I get my cover and ebook files back from Duncan, skim\/read both for any glitches that might have snuck in (I don\u2019t doubt Duncan\u2019s skill, but it\u2019s on *me* to ensure there are no accidental returns, etc.)<\/p>\n \u2022 Register the ISBNs with Bowkers<\/a>; Note\u2014this cannot be done until you have all the metadata, including categories, price, and more. You cannot start an entry and then save it if you don\u2019t have everything. You\u2019ll have to start over. (Lesson learned.) Also, categories on the Bowker site are not as diverse as those on IngramSpark and Amazon.<\/p>\n \u2022 Once I know the documents are good to go, upload to Amazon first. (Bethany suggests this because Amazon\u2019s uploads are free, and Amazon will allow you to receive a proof for free, while IngramSpark charges; if there are changes required before publication, you can do that with a new free upload to Amazon; again, IS charges). Once it\u2019s good on Amazon\u2019s side, THEN upload to IS.<\/p>\n \u2022 Order an author\/proof copy of the printed book to review, once again, for quality assurance.<\/p>\n \u2022 Once I\u2019m happy with the formatting and print job from both platforms, order at least 50 copies to begin my promotions.<\/p>\n \u2022 Start tracking (and back-tracking) all the steps I took along this journey so far so I can repeat them next time when I publish my second book (and the third, and the fourth).<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure there are some details I\u2019ve forgotten; it\u2019s been a VERY busy month. But I\u2019ll add them along the way as they come to mind.<\/p>\n I will set Phagey up for preorder once everything is finalized, then begin promotions in earnest. I even have half a vendor table reserved to sell my print copies at next month\u2019s Hampton Roads Writers Conference<\/a>; I hope I have them by then. Keep your fingers crossed for me!<\/p>\n I will reassert that there are some really great online courses out there; some are even free. Plus, if you have a writing center in your area that runs classes, support them! They are there for you and your tribe!<\/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 Photo credits:<\/p>\n FingerWork, by Sigmund<\/a>, on Unsplash (or How I Did It, a \u201c.doc\u201d-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 not going to make that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2855,"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-2851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-indie-publishing-journey"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/SEOKeywords.jpg?fit=1920%2C1276&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-JZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2803,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/10\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-6th-part-of-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2851,"position":0},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: 6th Part of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Part 6\/? Latest update: I got word from Duncan, my cover designer, that his wife was home and on the mend. Thank goodness for that! I know he is relieved, as is she. In addition to my joy at that good news, I\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\/07\/downloading-ge77eeae26_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/downloading-ge77eeae26_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/downloading-ge77eeae26_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/downloading-ge77eeae26_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/downloading-ge77eeae26_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"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":2851,"position":1},"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":2851,"position":2},"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":2851,"position":3},"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":[]},{"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":2851,"position":4},"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":2962,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/26\/the-chronicles-of-self-publishing-10th-part-of-my-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2851,"position":5},"title":"The Chronicles of Self-Publishing: 10th Part of My Journey","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"November 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(or How I Did It, a \".doc\"-umentary) Part 10\/? Latest update: Think back. Remember how I spent months in early- and mid-2019 researching this book which focuses on a peculiar new virus that affects only children, and the odd things that come of it? How I wrote the whole first\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\/11\/CoffeeWithBook-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CoffeeWithBook-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CoffeeWithBook-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CoffeeWithBook-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CoffeeWithBook-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851","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=2851"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2860,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions\/2860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u2022 Add a link to every page on both my websites that take the visitor to the newsletter sign-up.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Typing.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
\nKeywords by Gerd Altmann<\/a>, on Pixabay<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"