Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Just a note to readers of this little niche on the web, I have changed the 'about' of this blog: all previous posts had to do with me talking about what I learnt on my self-publishing journey in hopes it was useful to someone, somewhere.

As of now, I've decided that the world is far too large for there not to be more people like me, a group that encompasses students who are authors in their spare time.

All such people are liable to have the same pains of balancing school and authoring as I do, and so I figured I'd connect with such souls right here.

Not sure how much 'connecting' I will actually do, because I'm far more likely to hide behind a book than be social, which is why the book that I have actually written-

One Day You'll Find Me

-is just another book lost in the torrent of new books published left right and centre on the web and in the world today.

Because I really don't like social media. I just cannot be bothered with it. It takes far too much effort and time that could just as easily be spent doing the schoolwork I'm supposed to be doing right now, actually, or reading.

As the latter option is obviously far more appealing I tend to opt for it over... anything else. Did you know I completed my 2015 Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Reading Challenge 22 books AHEAD of schedule, for a total of 100 books, yesterday? Boom.

It's not even correct, because it doesn't let me count books I re-read in the same year. So there's actually another 10 or so in that count.

Needless to say, I spend A LOT of time reading.

That's how I get stuck in the following cycle:

I read because I love it.

I read some more because I don't want to do my schoolwork.

I read even more because I didn't do my schoolwork and now I'm behind and I want to cry because there's so much to do I can't even find somewhere to start catching up.

I read to drown out that panicky feeling I get when I start thinking about the previous point... which only makes it worse because I'm then further behind and suddenly I'm reading 5 books a week.

Sigh.

On top of that, final exams are looming in the coming weeks! My 12 years of mandatory education will be complete in a matter of weeks and suddenly I'm going to set loose in this huge world

and

with all of the responsibility, the forms to be filled out, the decisions to be made, Official Things to organise, government organisations to deal with... it's too much.

I'm so overwhelmed I can't even mentally look at the To Do list without my heading hurting and wanting to cry.

Therefore, being 18 sucks.

The end of life as I know it is scary as anything, and since I'm leaving home when my exams are over, 'the beginning of the end' really is true. My future is spread out before me, and it's exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

I haven't written a word on my next novel in months because I feel guilty for spending that time on it when I have the afore mentioned things that have to be done.

I am one hundred percent sure that I am not a unique person in that this only happens to me: to reader who can relate- Hello :)

I can't say how well I'll manage to post on this blog, but I figured for the few times I do, I might end up connecting with someone awesome. And I might make someone feel not so alone in this depressing situation.

For me, that's an improvement on right now and I'm cool with that. :)

Wherever you are in the world, hope you're enjoying your right now.

~Kelly

So it's been awhile =) I mostly covered everything I could think of that I'd learnt along my self-publishing journey in my previous posts, but I've recently been thinking of a few follow up pointers:

Well, an obvious one is to keep up with your marketing, both of your book and ultimately yourself as the author of your masterpiece. I'm really not crash-hot at this myself, so I'm acutely aware of the consequences of not doing this. But it's just a reminder anyhow.

Branch out your resources, tap into new online niches to get noticed in. Say, do an author video about your book and put it on Youtube and even here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ (which I only just found out you could do). I've done it, you can see it on my profile page or here:

Because it's new it's something else you can spread around and promote, thus creating more awareness of your book itself, and people like to hear from the author themselves, too, don't forget that.

Just think of your own favourite authors and whether you've sought out them in other mediums to get closer to them a little bit more. I know I do this when I want to prolong a novel as long as I can!

Be creative. There are so many authors doing the same thing as us (self-publishing) it's hard to pull ahead in the race. So the more original or different or interesting or determined and persistent you are the more people are going to see you and your book and the more likely your book will take off.

But whatever happens, don't give up. There's nothing worse you can do than that. The turtle won the race because he kept going, even at a turtle pace. It's a simple but powerful message.

And feel free to comment on anything, I'm only one person so putting minds together means we can all benefit from it, so if you have questions, ask them. I may be able to answer it, and if not, someone else may see it and answer it or I can guide you somewhere you could find the answer =)

Best of luck and happy writing!

I'm quickly realising that I'm not doing these blog posts in chronological order, but then again, I didn't exactly learn it all in chronological order =)

As you may already have or may already have found out, you need to get a beautiful, awesome, professional headshot of yourself and use that one photo EVERYWHERE. Because you are creating a brand identity (you are the brand here) you need to have something people can identity with, and a photo of you will do that. You don't even need to spend much money, or any! Luckily for me, I happened to have my nice camera at the right time and the right angle whilst on a sunset photo shoot in my driveway and managed to take my own as a selfie... cost free! Others may not be so lucky. However you go about it, you need to go about it. Simple.

And on the topic of professional photos, if you haven't already (and even if you have!), you simply must invest in your book cover. You cannot cut corners here. It is the first thing people will see of your books, and though we have that saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" we DO, and first impressions are majorly important. If you have to cut costs elsewhere on the journey or make the journey take longer so you can afford it, spend the extra money on a really good cover designer and end up with a high quality, beautiful cover to plaster everywhere and be proud of (and that will eventually rake in the sales). I used BespokeBookCovers.com and they were so easy to work with, and have unlimited changes! (who for someone as picky as me was necessary) So go the extra mile and don't let that addition $50 or $100 or even $200 downgrade the perceived quality of your hard work! It makes a difference in the long run, and even if you try to publish on a shoe string (I did, it's possible) you have to fork out a certain sum of money anyway. Don't make a decision that you will later change your mind on and have to redo, thus spending even more. Do it right the first time, so you can move on and focus on other aspects that will get your book sold, leaving you to work on your next book!

I've hopefully got you started building your online presence so that when you get to the day you publish, you have already created a platform of people you can immediately tell and create conversation with- you have a bunch of people you've connected with who hopefully like you enough to want to go check out your book... and the rest is (hopefully) history! And if you've already published, then the time before you see sales rolling in might just be a little further down the track.

But maybe this wasn't something you needed to be encouraged to do. I've covered it anyway =) but now I'm going to outline some steps for the actual publishing, if you can't quite wrap your head around that.

Most of the sites you upload to are somehow based in the US, the UK, the USA or somewhere in that vicinity of the world of acronyms containing the letter 'U'. haha. So therefore we get lumped with another set of acronyms like ITINs and EINs and we all go 'Huh?' yeah, i know the feeling.

An ITIN stands for Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, but as it is pretty much a replacement of the Social Security Number it is only available to people within a certain criteria who are most likely not you. so YOU DON'T NEED ONE. Simple as that. Some people or sites may tell you differently, but you don't need the bother, as you can live happily without it in your life. Promise.

An EIN, however, is one number you WILL have to acquire. An Employer Identification Number is a business entities identifier (which IS you, strangely enough, though you are the sole owner and employee of said business, which is self-publishing). For a really good step by step of obtaining one and a good outline of why we all have to go through this annoying process, go here:

However, if, like me, you are in Australia and thus this page does not help you, go here: Also go here if the phone number on the other page does not work...

Another number you might require to get (in Australia), depending on where you upload, is an ABN (Australian Banking Number), and there isn't an age limit on it and is extremely easy to obtain. Other countries might have an equivalent, but I am not in those 'other countries' so I don't have the means to speak about them.

Whilst on the financial numbers topic, you might find it beneficial to set up a separate bank account so that when sites require an account's information (so they can deposit your profits), your personal banking information can't for whatever reason get tampered with. It's a safety and security measure, and just a hint.

Yesterday I told you to get Twitter ASAP, if you're not actually on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, get on it and build this profile, but next get on Pinterest, Google+, Wattpad, to name a few to start off with.

Pinterest is a visual site and you may wonder how on earth it could help you and your written book get found and bought and read, but it is a very popular platform and you need to be where your readers are, and your readers are on Pinterest. I must admit I've been failing to do very well on it... hmm... but I read this article recently and it was really helpful: Actually if you surf over this whole site, it's got a ton of really useful and helpful articles for writers on their publishing journey.

Google+ I am literally a newborn baby bird on, and have not learnt the ropes of at all, so I can't really give advice... except to get on it because it is a major networking place and you need to be one of those annoying people who follow you around to the point that everywhere you turn, look, or stand, they are RIGHT THERE. Yup, that will be you, won't it? Eventually, anyway...

If you have tips or helpful things to say about Google+ PLEASE leave a comment, as I would be overjoyed to read them!

Now Wattpad is a different forum, where you can publish drafts, short stories, chapters for new books etc etc to basically tide over your readers until your next book. If you don't HAVE readers yet (if I am honest, like me...), then it is a place to FIND THEM. it is a place where people can get a feel for your style and fall in love with it, so they can then read your major published book(s). It is also a place to connect with readers who are writing and reading at your fingertips, so make use of this!

You've finally finished polishing the manuscript you've slaved over for months and months and are itching to press a few buttons and be able to say "I'm published!" First let me say: Congratulations! But beyond easily uploading your book to numerous sites like Amazon, Smashwords, CreateSpace, BookBaby, Kindle Direct Publishing, Lulu... (the list goes on), here's where that Mt Everest discoverability challenge hits you in the face (if you're not prepared for it) and leaves you wondering where to even start? Hmm. Yes. I WAS prepared for it, and I HAVE started, and I STILL feel like this! But let me not discourage you with that. This self-publishing world is as vast as a desert, because all the effort you put into getting your book published is barely even half the journey. That's when this foreign train of marketing arrives at the station and you have to hop on and hang on tight as it speeds away (or, you know, crawls away) to your success. You may feel like learning how to publish your book was hard, and that teaching yourself how to market your book is impossible... let me assure you it is not. Because I am an extremely introverted person, with only minuscule social inclination, and wanted to be one of those rare people with no online presence. That went out the window almost straight away (obviously)- I even researched (thoroughly) about how to avoid this aspect... yeah no. So I had to teach myself all about it (which was a monumental thing for me by itself). However, having at least made it to the other side, I find myself quite proud of getting here all by my lonesome. It's a fulfilling journey. And so if you're in my shoes wondering how to get people to find your book so your sales skyrocket overnight and you can retire to the Caribbean and sip icy drinks with those little umbrellas for the rest of your life because you suddenly became a millionaire (wouldn't that be nice!), I hope what I learnt on my journey can help you reach your own destination.

First Point: if you don't have Facebook, you really don't have to get it. Google it. =) Get Twitter instead, it's actually better for authors, or something like that. So do this ASAP. Seriously, I wish I had started BEFORE I even wrote my book... but I only started about 2 months before I published. Anyway, the reason for this is you want to create a platform to launch your book to, rather than just launching it to the endless expanse of the online book world and hoping readers will find it (because unless it's another Hunger Games type thing, this is unlikely. Sorry, but it's the hard truth). On Twitter, you want to have consistency both in when you tweet and what you tweet, so think of something you can 'sell' to your followers and stick with it. There are dozens of applications you can use so your tweets go out at times the most people will see them and to spread out the tweets you make when you go on a binge... like Hootsuite, which is free and what I use. Twitter is still something I'm grappling with, especially when trying to find the balance between 'selling' yourself, the author, the person people can relate to, like and hopefully follow, and 'selling' your book, sending out enough tweets that people don't forget you have one that you want them to read... Check out my Twitter profile and see how I've done it. Read heaps of articles on getting yourself sorted on Twitter- the more informed you are the better understanding you have of what on earth your doing and therefore the better you can actually do what you plan on doing! Good luck!