The Road to Self Publishing

by Tracy B. Evans
(USA)

Genre: Mystery and thriller

I am Tracy B. Evans, and I am a self published author. In this excerpt, I will take you on my journey of how I became an author, and the steps I took to self publish my novel. If you are wanting to self publish your novel, hopefully this will help you.

I wrote many stories and poems but, never tried to publish any. Whether I was watching a movie or reading a book, I always said, "I would not have ended it that way." Therefore, I decided to publish my own novel.

I thought for months on what to publish. I had many stories and was unsure of which one to try to publish. I searched around. An author, especially a first time author, has a very slim chance of landing a literary agent. Then, I discovered self publishing.

With knowing that I had a way to get my story out there, I was set to go. I then developed my first novel. I wrote for a month on my novel.

When I finally felt like it was complete, I had someone edit it. This can be very costly if you do not know anyone who edits. I was fortunate enough to know an editor who helped me. After the novel was edited, I then had friends proofread it. Proofreading is different from editing. Proofreading is having friends go over your novel, checking for misspelled words, punctuation, and etc.

After editing and many proofreads, I decided that it was time to go forward with my novel. I contacted a self publisher and realized that it is very easy to self publish. There are some self publisher's who do not charge you. I decided to pay to have mine self published and used their different packages to benefit me.

It took a couple of months for my novel to become available for sale after I sent it to them. I anxiously waited for the day it was ready. I received my first copy in the mail. The feeling of holding my very own novel in my hands was an overwhelming feeling. I could not believe it.

I told everyone that I knew and came across. Word of mouth, right? That's the way to get the word out. You would think that after your novel is ready for sale, that it would sell itself. This is wrong. After publication, the real journey begins.

This is when you have to seek every aspect of promotion, and telling everyone you can about your novel. I have always said, "If you do not sell your book, then no one will." If you do not reach readers, no one will do this for you.

I joined every free website that I could that would help me to promote. I sent out press releases. I made friends on the internet. Therefore, I became successful as a writer. I developed fans and made many special friends. Self publishing my first novel was the best choice for me. You have to work hard, but in the end it is well worth it.

Visit Tracy's website.