Reidr Daniels

Thanks. Maybe you're a pirate at heart. 😀 

Thanks Robert. I'll defintely check out draft2digital.com. 

With respect to the cover art, I had a few false starts with book-cover artists. Then along came someone from my target audience (Pirate Groups on Facebook) who volunteered a mock-up of the first novel. It looked terrific. The guy's a professional and knows the pirate community inside out. So we worked out a deal. It may sound expensive at $1,000/book but, honestly, that's about the going rate for experienced people. The importance of a good cover can't be understated. I wanted something to grab would-be readers and pull them inside. No regrets.

I found an artist who agreed to work with me on covers for my first four novels. We spent about a month getting them done. It was ~$1,000 per novel (volume discount).

No problem. I'm in California. Accents are pretty blah here. Where are you?

Thanks Janet. I'll check that out. I'm American (and Canadian) so I can probably handle the accent. 😁 

OK, I'm now fully committed to self-publishing. My "Pyrate Series" is on the verge of ready. But first, I wanted to take a test drive. I've been working on a family history book for years, so I thought - why not self-publish a couple of family branches as a paperback, on Amazon. 

I signed up for an account on Kindle Direct Publishing and played with Kindle Create. They have a decent tutorial to walk you through the process. It seemed simple enough. I made the process even simpler by choosing to upload a pdf file that's already set up for 8 1/2 x 11. (I wouldn't do that for my novels but it actually works for this kind of book.) I already had a jpeg file as a cover image (created by combining pictures on MS PowerPoint and then snipping them into a jpeg). So far, so good...I have the cover image and the file all set. 

For some reason, I couldn't figure out how to insert "About the Author" text on the back cover. So all I have there is an image. But what the heck, it's just for family members anyway. I selected the paper quality (high-end). They showed a cost price of just under $12. I set the retail price at Amazon's minimum for this partcular book ($19.99 USD) and then submitted. The whole process took less than two hours. That was yesterday. 

Today I received an email from Amazon - the book is now available for purchase. I signed on, found the book and ordered a few copies. They're scheduled to arrive Tuesday (2 days hence).

So...self-publishing is NOT the hard part. Marketing and selling...that's where the rubber hits the road. That planning is now underway for my Pyrate Series novels. I'd love to get the debut novel to market in time for Christmas purchases. Cross your fingers.

Hey Robert, Despite all I've read about self-publishing and marketing, I feel a little unprepared. But I'm okay if things don't go perfectly. I'll learn and be better prepared for the launch of the second novel. Live and learn, right?

I'm close to pulling the trigger on self-publishing the debut novel in my 'Pyrate' series. The first two manuscripts, 'Pyrate Rising' and 'Pyrate Assassin' were both named Finalists for Page Turner Awards. That generated lots of notice and interest in the Pirate-oriented groups on Facebook. So I'm feeling a little pressure to get to market. I went ahead and had covers designed for the first four novels. I'm doing a final polishing of 'Pyrate Rising' this month, and then I'll focus on my marketing plan, typesetting and publishing strategy. With any luck, maybe I can pull off a launch in time for Christmas. Full sails!

Outstanding! Exciting! Well done!

Such great news Gillian. I'm pulling for you!

Three of us from JW that I know of so far...including Jackie K.

Congratulations Lynn Love!!