Dos and Don'ts In Self Publishing
by PC Marks
(United States)
Family Ties,......Family Lies
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, African American
I was so proud of myself; my first novel was picked up by C&B Book Distribution. They asked that I mail them a hard copy. Then the 'hurry up and wait' process began. Six months with me calling, leaving messages, and sending letters to no avail.
My earliest memory of writing was around age seven, I am now middle-aged. Everyone I showed the book to thought it had potential. I got an excellent review from an online book club. Why was C&B shunning me?
I've never been one to accept defeat so I searched the web and found an affordable self publishing website.
I am PC Marks publisher of Broken Family Ties released December 2006 and through trial and error, I have sold 173 copies to date (8/2008).
I'll share with you the dos and don'ts I learned along the way
Do:
1. Get your work copyedited
2. Give out free books to publishers, other authors
3. Advertise for free and small dollars all over the internet
4. Introduce yourself to your local paper by taking out a well written ad highlighting your book
5. Introduce yourself to your local library so that they may buy your book and shelf it
6. Listen to constructive/negative criticism and build your craft-take this as free editing
7. Submit teaser chapters on line
8. Enter into writing contests by summing up your whole story within 2000-2500 (for most contests) words
9. Take a creative writing course. It is known that a writer writes as they speak.
10. Have a targeted market in mind
Don't:
1. Share your first draft until you have read it thoroughly and made necessary changes. I like to use a scene builder sheet, i.e., scene builder. Here you create your main character, problem, antagonist and so forth.
2. Get discouraged when a bad review is received, see #6 above.
3. Let your mother, father, sister, brother, cousin or best friend read the book thinking their going to give you honest feedback. They mean well but are bias because they love you and want you to succeed.
4. Let anyone tell you, you can't do it, persevere and prove them wrong adhering to #9 above. The first step is putting pen to paper or pulling up Microsoft word and typing.
Visit P.C.'s site.
