The "Minnie" Joys of Self-Publishing
by Ashley Lane
(Washington)
Minnie
After volunteering at a nursing home during my sophomore year, a story began forming in my head. Characters began to turn three-dimensional and plot twists would wake me up in the middle of the night----that's when I knew I had to start writing it down. Three years later, Minnie is done...and nothing more.
One day, as I’m searching the Internet, a sidebar advertisement reads something about Lulu and since the name is unusual for a publishing company, I decide to take a look. Immediately I love the site, but I waited to publish. I later take a look at Xlibris, which was a mistake, because I ordered a kit promoting the company, which entailed early morning or late night calls from ladies with Indian accents making me feel guilty that I haven’t chosen Xlibris yet. One more deep look at Xlibris books and I know I want better quality, so I go back to Lulu.
Before ever submitting my own material, I order a book from Lulu. It arrives in a sturdy box with shrinkwrap covering the book suspended on a stiff piece of cardboard. The first sign of quality. Then I flip through the new book. The paper is nice, the text is straight and the ink is evenly distributed, the cover is glossy and most importantly, the spine is perfectbound perfectly with just enough glue and thread. That moment, I was sold on Lulu. Within the hour, I designed my own cover (you have the option of choosing one of Lulu’s cover or uploading your own), formatted my text to look like a bestseller (I used one of my favorite books as my template), and set my price. A few days later, Minnie is in my hands and I simply loved how my book looked like it came from Borders. I was officially published.
Soon my friends began ordering from my Lulu Storefront, then people I didn’t know began buying. Over the span of a few months, I tweaked Minnie for typos, cover graphics, added faithful Minnie readers to my dedication page (which is still growing), and advertised wherever I could. Word of mouth has been my friend. Later in the year, I join a forum on Lulu all about promoting books, so I join and make friends who buy books, and then I find myself a moderator. More books are sold and life is sweet.
Things have slowed down in recent months, which has given me a chance to perfect Minnie a bit more and to begin querying agents. Luckily, I don’t mind being rejected (for book deals, anyway) and considering it a growing pain. As of today, I’m still going strong with Lulu and I am so happy that I landed with them. I’ve heard nightmares about other self-publishing houses, but Lulu hasn’t pulled any tricks, denied my money, or skimped on quality. Because of going through Lulu, I feel like a real author. Many people have mistaken Minnie as something from Warner Books or another big publishing house before taking a good look at the cover and finding that it’s actually a self-published creation.
Of course, I don’t correct them right away.
P.S. I finally told the Xlibris ladies to QUIT calling me!
Visit Ashley's Lulu Storefront.
