Peter Mckeirnon's Blog: Death in a Northern Town - Posts Tagged "selp-publishing"
How I self Published My First Novel
So here's my story…
In January 2013 I felt I had finally nailed down the story for my first novel and off I went plotting chapter structures and working on characters. DIANT was to be a zombie horror novel and after reading several books in the same genre for my Kindle, I noted that a considerable number had come from self-published authors. At this point my only experience of self-publishing came from a short play I had penned several year ago called 'Raid!', which I had uploaded to Kindle using Kindle Direct Publishing almost 12 months earlier.
With 'Raid!' just sitting on my hard drive gathering virtual dust, I bit the bullet and without any real idea of what I was doing I published it directly to Kindle, listed it at the cheapest price possible and just left it there to see what would happen. The answer is nothing! Apart from a few sales to friends and family nothing happened at all. So when I had the idea to write DIANT, I wanted to do it properly and I went about reading blog after blog and article after article, gathering as much information about self-publishing as I could. A task that lasted almost as long as writing DIANT did!
The one lesson I had learnt from listing 'Raid!' on Kindle was visibility.
If nobody knows it's there, nobody will go looking for it
How was I going to let the world know about DIANT and how could I generate interest in the novel?
Utilise Social Media
Facebook and Twitter as well as Google +, Pinterest and all other social media sites can be an author's best friend when used correctly. But like with anything, you have to put the effort in and actively engage with others to bring interest to your project. Here is how I did it…
Facebook
The backdrop for my novel was to be my home town of Runcorn, Cheshire, UK. As DIANT is my first novel I felt comfortable using a familiar setting and there is non more familiar than the town in which I grew up and still lived in.
I wanted to make the novel as real as it could be (being a zombie apocalypse and all) so I asked my friends on Facebook if any of them would like to be eaten by zombies in my book. To my surprise, 16 of them said yes! So I wrote down their names and made my very first Kill List.
This gave me an idea. What if, with their permission, I used the names of real people to appear in my book. Some could be eaten by zombies, some could become zombies and some, if they are lucky, could even survive. To do this I set up the Death in a Northern Town Facebook page and asked my friends to pop on over and click the 'Like' button. By my friends 'Liking' the page, it appeared in their Facebook timelines which it made it visible to their friends and some of them 'liked' the page also, which then made it visible in their Facebook timeline which then made… well you get the picture!
Pretty soon word spread throughout the Runcorn Facebook community about a zombie book being set in their hometown and that the author was looking for people to submit their names.
This received interest from the local press who then interviewed me about the book which in turn, brought even more people to the DIANT Facebook page.
And I didn’t stop at using people's names either!
I also asked for people to submit pictures of themselves as zombies so that I could include them in the 'Gallery of the Dead' which would feature at the end of the book.
I then opened up an 'Undeadications Page' for the novel and asked people to submit their names to feature here also.
My initial goal in doing this was to generate publicity and to make people aware that the book was happening. The idea being that if people have their names in the book, they will then buy it and so in turn might their family and friends. What I actually created was a community of people that just love zombies and had a genuine interest in what I was doing.
Now what kind of novel you are writing or have written, will determine if this technique works for you. I know it isn't for everyone and there are many dangers in writing this way. But I felt I managed to find the right balance between having real people's names appear in the book without damaging the story I wanted to tell.
Even if the idea of writing this way is not for you, creating a Facebook page for your book or for you as an author (I have now done both) is a must. You can use it to post snippets and exerts from chapters, create book launch events, share promotional images, run competitions and giveaways as well as connect with potential readers on a personal level. If you are serious about self-publishing then a social media presence for you and your book is a must and Facebook is the perfect place for this.
Twitter
I also revamped my Twitter account so that my profile listed me as an independent author and gave details of my 'Soon to be released' novel. Even with only 140 characters Twitter can be an effective tool for promoting your book but there are a few things you need to look out for.
It is very easy to attract a large amount of followers. You can follow up to 200 Twitter users per day (if you breach this limited, twitter may suspend your account for breaking their terms & conditions) and there are many that will follow you back BUT if you are simply following people to gain followers then that is exactly what your followers are doing to you. In other words, many Twitter users see the site as a popularity contest and will follow you if you follow them. It is unlikely however, that the majority will engage with you or indeed read anything you tweet.
Currently I have 1008 followers and I am following 666 (great number). Out of the 666 I am following, a large section are other independent authors. There is a great community of indie authors on Twitter and they will gladly offer support and engage with you.
Marketing need not cost the earth or anything at all!
I have read many blogs containing estimated price lists for marketing your book including everything from poster and flyer designs, printing, creating your book cover and online advertising. This is how I did it without spending a single penny.
Shortly after creating the DIANT Facebook page, I was talking with a friend of mine about maybe getting a few people together to dress up as zombies so I could photograph them and use one of the images to create the book cover. I intended on doing all of this by myself. I then found out that the friend I was talking with was a keen amateur photographer and he asked if he could take the photographs, which he was willing to do for free. Result! I then started canvassing my friends to see if any of them would be up for being zombies for a few hours and almost everyone said yes. This got me thinking. What if I could organise a photo shoot on a larger scale? After chatting with my photographer friend we decided to go ahead and I created an event via the DIANT Facebook page and invited people to come along to the shoot dressed as either zombies or survivors. Slowly but surely the number of attendees started to grow, then the local newspaper contacted me and ran an article on the shoot which brought even more attendees! I was also contacted by another 2 photographer friends of mine that wanted to take part and offered their services for free!
In June 2013 I held the zombie photo shoot at Runcorn Hill Park and over 60 people turned out dressed for the undead apocalypse. You can find the pictures Here on the DIANT Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Death-...
Whilst I was in the process of organising the photo shoot an old friend of mine contacted me and informed that he was starting out as a videographer and would I be interested in making a trailer for DIANT. With the shoot coming up this was perfect and I invited him to come a long and film. I could not have been happier with the final results. We ended up with was a teaser trailer and a main trailer which you can view here
http://youtu.be/biQLR93kOFQ
http://youtu.be/59o2zNyvs_A
At this time I also received a message from a guy looking to expand his portfolio in graphic design and he asked if he could design the front and back book covers for DIANT. I said yes and using an image from the photo-shoot,the final design for the awesome book cover was agreed on.
Everyone had approached me and offered their services for free. Our agreement being that they can use the photographs, book design image and video footage to promote their own business / portfolios and I can use them to promote my book.
Now if you are thinking...
"This is all well and good but I don't know any photographers, graphic designers or videographers"
I didn't know that I did either at the time. Non that I thought would give up their time and talent for free anyway. What I'm saying is, be vocal about your book, talk to people, tell people what you are doing. Set up a Facebook page and promote yourself on twitter. You will be surprised who is listening and who may be willing to offer their help and services for free if it benefits you mutually.
Another option would be to approach colleges and university students. Your education system is filled with talented individuals that may take your book on as a project for their course or use it to expand their portfolios or even just to work on their skills.
So now I had my publicity images, book trailers and front and cover designed. Plus growing social media interest and by using the names of real people in the story, a small but guaranteed readership. Next it was time to decide how I was going to self-publish.
Kindle Direct Publishing
Kindle Direct Publishing is owned by Amazon and can be used by self-publishing authors to upload their work to Kindle. I like it because it's simple and very user friendly. Their sales stats are updated regularly and royalty payments are received timely.
You can also sign up to KDP Select and choose to list your book for free for a 5 day period once every free months. Also, your book will enter the Kindle Owner's lending Library (KOLL) where you can earn money depending on how often your book is borrowed. By signing up to KDP Select, you are agreeing to only publish your work with Kindle and no other eBook site for the length of time you are enrolled in the programme. Please note that you can use Kindle Direct Publishing to publish your work to Kindle without being under any obligation to enrol with KDP Select.
Here is a link to the KDP Select FAQ for further details.
I decided that enrolling DIANT in the KDP Select programme was not for me as I wanted the book to be available to readers that use other eBook libraries such as Kobo, iTunes, Barnes & Noble and Sony rather than Kindle. To do this I used Smashwords.
Smashwords
There are several sites available for you to use when it comes to distributing your book to the many eBook stores out there and there are many blogs comparing the services these sites offer. For me, Smashwords was the place to go. It's established and has long and trusted relationships with the eBook stores I wanted my book to be distributed to.
I'll be honest, at first I found the Smashwords site difficult to navigate as its layout appeared very dated and badly presented. But after a while familiarising myself with its content, I found my feet and was ready to upload my book. After I had read the Smashwords Style Guide that is.
The Smashwords Style Guide is a must for anyone wishing to use the site to self-publish their work. I would go as far as to say that even if you are not intending to use Smashwords you should read it anyway as it provides invaluable information regarding formatting, content, book cover image requirements… Basically, it's everything you need to know about preparing your eBook before publishing. Those choosing to ignore the style guide do so at their own peril. It will only lead to hours of headaches and frustration as your book fails the mandatory checks both Smashwords and eBook stores such as Kobo, iTunes and Sony require.
Once uploaded, my book was available to purchase in the Smashwords library and it was submitted for a 'Premium Listing' meaning that if approved, it would then be sent to the many eBook stores available. Now this isn’t a quick process and I found it took almost 4 weeks for my book to be available in all the eBook stores Smashwords distribute to.
There are several other issues with Smashwords you need to be aware of.
They are not quick in sending you any royalty payments and the current frequency of payment is quarterly.
You need to have a Paypal account to receive your royalty payment.
Sales reports are practically worthless.
Regarding the last point about sales reports. I can sell books on Itunes (I know because the iTunes horror charts had me at #1 for almost 3 weeks) yet it took over 2 months for these sales to appear in my Smashwords sales reports. It can be frustrating but it isn’t the be all and end all because if you can see your book is appearing in different eBook charts, then you know it is selling. It was the poor sales reports and royalties being paid to Paypal that were the reasons why I opted to publish DIANT direct to Kindle instead of using Smashwords for this channel. With Kindle being the biggest eBook store out there, going direct to them was a no brainer.
The whole Smashwords site has recently had a makeover and I believe steps are being taken to improve their sales reports issues and I hold hope that things will improve in the not to distant future.
Even with these issues, I am still happy with the service Smashwords provides and I have no intention of removing my book from their site and publishing it elsewhere.
Here is a link to the Smashwords 'About' page which you may find useful.
https://www.smashwords.com/about
The next step was to publish my book in print and to do this I went to Createspace.
Createspace
Createspace is owned by Amazon and it is a print on demand company, enabling self-publishers to have their work available in paperback for sale in the many Amazon stores across the globe.
It works like this. Your book is only printed when someone buys it. When someone buys it, you receive a small royalty payment and Amazon gets the rest. This is to cover the cost of printing and distribution. Plus, this is Amazon we're talking about, they are going to take a cut for themselves also. No self-respecting Global retail Monster would do this for free!
Createspace also operate an expanded distribution option, making your book available to high street retailers and educational libraries. Until recently, this was a service they charged for but it is now free to anyone publishing through their site.
I like createspace, it's simple and easy to use. My only gripe would be that if I want to buy copies of my own book to either sell myself or give away for promotional purposes, I have to pay to have them shipped to the UK from the States. Yes I can purchase my own books at the manufacture price but the added shipping almost wipes this discount out making it very expensive. Hopefully this is something Amazon are working on for customers outside of the USA as this is definitely an area of service they can and need to improve on.
So that's how I self-published my first novel 'Death in a Northern Town' which reached the di\\y heights of #6 in the UK Kindle Horror charts, #1 in the UK iTunes Horror charts and #8 in the UK Kobo Horror charts. It has also been reviewed and rated 10/10 by UK Horror Scene. All of this is something I am very proud of. Especially considering this was done with a zero marketing budget!
I hope you have found this blog interesting and maybe even a little helpful to those of you embarking on a similar journey. These past 12 months have been a bit of a rollercoaster and as 2014 brings with it the Summer release (Hopefully) of 'Death in a Northern Town 2: No Rest for the Living, I'm in the process of doing the whole thing again!'
Peter Mckeirnon
Indie Author, husband and father.
Occasional cheese fiend.
In January 2013 I felt I had finally nailed down the story for my first novel and off I went plotting chapter structures and working on characters. DIANT was to be a zombie horror novel and after reading several books in the same genre for my Kindle, I noted that a considerable number had come from self-published authors. At this point my only experience of self-publishing came from a short play I had penned several year ago called 'Raid!', which I had uploaded to Kindle using Kindle Direct Publishing almost 12 months earlier.
With 'Raid!' just sitting on my hard drive gathering virtual dust, I bit the bullet and without any real idea of what I was doing I published it directly to Kindle, listed it at the cheapest price possible and just left it there to see what would happen. The answer is nothing! Apart from a few sales to friends and family nothing happened at all. So when I had the idea to write DIANT, I wanted to do it properly and I went about reading blog after blog and article after article, gathering as much information about self-publishing as I could. A task that lasted almost as long as writing DIANT did!
The one lesson I had learnt from listing 'Raid!' on Kindle was visibility.
If nobody knows it's there, nobody will go looking for it
How was I going to let the world know about DIANT and how could I generate interest in the novel?
Utilise Social Media
Facebook and Twitter as well as Google +, Pinterest and all other social media sites can be an author's best friend when used correctly. But like with anything, you have to put the effort in and actively engage with others to bring interest to your project. Here is how I did it…
The backdrop for my novel was to be my home town of Runcorn, Cheshire, UK. As DIANT is my first novel I felt comfortable using a familiar setting and there is non more familiar than the town in which I grew up and still lived in.
I wanted to make the novel as real as it could be (being a zombie apocalypse and all) so I asked my friends on Facebook if any of them would like to be eaten by zombies in my book. To my surprise, 16 of them said yes! So I wrote down their names and made my very first Kill List.
This gave me an idea. What if, with their permission, I used the names of real people to appear in my book. Some could be eaten by zombies, some could become zombies and some, if they are lucky, could even survive. To do this I set up the Death in a Northern Town Facebook page and asked my friends to pop on over and click the 'Like' button. By my friends 'Liking' the page, it appeared in their Facebook timelines which it made it visible to their friends and some of them 'liked' the page also, which then made it visible in their Facebook timeline which then made… well you get the picture!
Pretty soon word spread throughout the Runcorn Facebook community about a zombie book being set in their hometown and that the author was looking for people to submit their names.
This received interest from the local press who then interviewed me about the book which in turn, brought even more people to the DIANT Facebook page.
And I didn’t stop at using people's names either!
I also asked for people to submit pictures of themselves as zombies so that I could include them in the 'Gallery of the Dead' which would feature at the end of the book.
I then opened up an 'Undeadications Page' for the novel and asked people to submit their names to feature here also.
My initial goal in doing this was to generate publicity and to make people aware that the book was happening. The idea being that if people have their names in the book, they will then buy it and so in turn might their family and friends. What I actually created was a community of people that just love zombies and had a genuine interest in what I was doing.
Now what kind of novel you are writing or have written, will determine if this technique works for you. I know it isn't for everyone and there are many dangers in writing this way. But I felt I managed to find the right balance between having real people's names appear in the book without damaging the story I wanted to tell.
Even if the idea of writing this way is not for you, creating a Facebook page for your book or for you as an author (I have now done both) is a must. You can use it to post snippets and exerts from chapters, create book launch events, share promotional images, run competitions and giveaways as well as connect with potential readers on a personal level. If you are serious about self-publishing then a social media presence for you and your book is a must and Facebook is the perfect place for this.
I also revamped my Twitter account so that my profile listed me as an independent author and gave details of my 'Soon to be released' novel. Even with only 140 characters Twitter can be an effective tool for promoting your book but there are a few things you need to look out for.
It is very easy to attract a large amount of followers. You can follow up to 200 Twitter users per day (if you breach this limited, twitter may suspend your account for breaking their terms & conditions) and there are many that will follow you back BUT if you are simply following people to gain followers then that is exactly what your followers are doing to you. In other words, many Twitter users see the site as a popularity contest and will follow you if you follow them. It is unlikely however, that the majority will engage with you or indeed read anything you tweet.
Currently I have 1008 followers and I am following 666 (great number). Out of the 666 I am following, a large section are other independent authors. There is a great community of indie authors on Twitter and they will gladly offer support and engage with you.
Marketing need not cost the earth or anything at all!
I have read many blogs containing estimated price lists for marketing your book including everything from poster and flyer designs, printing, creating your book cover and online advertising. This is how I did it without spending a single penny.
Shortly after creating the DIANT Facebook page, I was talking with a friend of mine about maybe getting a few people together to dress up as zombies so I could photograph them and use one of the images to create the book cover. I intended on doing all of this by myself. I then found out that the friend I was talking with was a keen amateur photographer and he asked if he could take the photographs, which he was willing to do for free. Result! I then started canvassing my friends to see if any of them would be up for being zombies for a few hours and almost everyone said yes. This got me thinking. What if I could organise a photo shoot on a larger scale? After chatting with my photographer friend we decided to go ahead and I created an event via the DIANT Facebook page and invited people to come along to the shoot dressed as either zombies or survivors. Slowly but surely the number of attendees started to grow, then the local newspaper contacted me and ran an article on the shoot which brought even more attendees! I was also contacted by another 2 photographer friends of mine that wanted to take part and offered their services for free!
In June 2013 I held the zombie photo shoot at Runcorn Hill Park and over 60 people turned out dressed for the undead apocalypse. You can find the pictures Here on the DIANT Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Death-...
Whilst I was in the process of organising the photo shoot an old friend of mine contacted me and informed that he was starting out as a videographer and would I be interested in making a trailer for DIANT. With the shoot coming up this was perfect and I invited him to come a long and film. I could not have been happier with the final results. We ended up with was a teaser trailer and a main trailer which you can view here
http://youtu.be/biQLR93kOFQ
http://youtu.be/59o2zNyvs_A
At this time I also received a message from a guy looking to expand his portfolio in graphic design and he asked if he could design the front and back book covers for DIANT. I said yes and using an image from the photo-shoot,the final design for the awesome book cover was agreed on.
Everyone had approached me and offered their services for free. Our agreement being that they can use the photographs, book design image and video footage to promote their own business / portfolios and I can use them to promote my book.
Now if you are thinking...
"This is all well and good but I don't know any photographers, graphic designers or videographers"
I didn't know that I did either at the time. Non that I thought would give up their time and talent for free anyway. What I'm saying is, be vocal about your book, talk to people, tell people what you are doing. Set up a Facebook page and promote yourself on twitter. You will be surprised who is listening and who may be willing to offer their help and services for free if it benefits you mutually.
Another option would be to approach colleges and university students. Your education system is filled with talented individuals that may take your book on as a project for their course or use it to expand their portfolios or even just to work on their skills.
So now I had my publicity images, book trailers and front and cover designed. Plus growing social media interest and by using the names of real people in the story, a small but guaranteed readership. Next it was time to decide how I was going to self-publish.
Kindle Direct Publishing
Kindle Direct Publishing is owned by Amazon and can be used by self-publishing authors to upload their work to Kindle. I like it because it's simple and very user friendly. Their sales stats are updated regularly and royalty payments are received timely.
You can also sign up to KDP Select and choose to list your book for free for a 5 day period once every free months. Also, your book will enter the Kindle Owner's lending Library (KOLL) where you can earn money depending on how often your book is borrowed. By signing up to KDP Select, you are agreeing to only publish your work with Kindle and no other eBook site for the length of time you are enrolled in the programme. Please note that you can use Kindle Direct Publishing to publish your work to Kindle without being under any obligation to enrol with KDP Select.
Here is a link to the KDP Select FAQ for further details.
I decided that enrolling DIANT in the KDP Select programme was not for me as I wanted the book to be available to readers that use other eBook libraries such as Kobo, iTunes, Barnes & Noble and Sony rather than Kindle. To do this I used Smashwords.
Smashwords
There are several sites available for you to use when it comes to distributing your book to the many eBook stores out there and there are many blogs comparing the services these sites offer. For me, Smashwords was the place to go. It's established and has long and trusted relationships with the eBook stores I wanted my book to be distributed to.
I'll be honest, at first I found the Smashwords site difficult to navigate as its layout appeared very dated and badly presented. But after a while familiarising myself with its content, I found my feet and was ready to upload my book. After I had read the Smashwords Style Guide that is.
The Smashwords Style Guide is a must for anyone wishing to use the site to self-publish their work. I would go as far as to say that even if you are not intending to use Smashwords you should read it anyway as it provides invaluable information regarding formatting, content, book cover image requirements… Basically, it's everything you need to know about preparing your eBook before publishing. Those choosing to ignore the style guide do so at their own peril. It will only lead to hours of headaches and frustration as your book fails the mandatory checks both Smashwords and eBook stores such as Kobo, iTunes and Sony require.
Once uploaded, my book was available to purchase in the Smashwords library and it was submitted for a 'Premium Listing' meaning that if approved, it would then be sent to the many eBook stores available. Now this isn’t a quick process and I found it took almost 4 weeks for my book to be available in all the eBook stores Smashwords distribute to.
There are several other issues with Smashwords you need to be aware of.
They are not quick in sending you any royalty payments and the current frequency of payment is quarterly.
You need to have a Paypal account to receive your royalty payment.
Sales reports are practically worthless.
Regarding the last point about sales reports. I can sell books on Itunes (I know because the iTunes horror charts had me at #1 for almost 3 weeks) yet it took over 2 months for these sales to appear in my Smashwords sales reports. It can be frustrating but it isn’t the be all and end all because if you can see your book is appearing in different eBook charts, then you know it is selling. It was the poor sales reports and royalties being paid to Paypal that were the reasons why I opted to publish DIANT direct to Kindle instead of using Smashwords for this channel. With Kindle being the biggest eBook store out there, going direct to them was a no brainer.
The whole Smashwords site has recently had a makeover and I believe steps are being taken to improve their sales reports issues and I hold hope that things will improve in the not to distant future.
Even with these issues, I am still happy with the service Smashwords provides and I have no intention of removing my book from their site and publishing it elsewhere.
Here is a link to the Smashwords 'About' page which you may find useful.
https://www.smashwords.com/about
The next step was to publish my book in print and to do this I went to Createspace.
Createspace
Createspace is owned by Amazon and it is a print on demand company, enabling self-publishers to have their work available in paperback for sale in the many Amazon stores across the globe.
It works like this. Your book is only printed when someone buys it. When someone buys it, you receive a small royalty payment and Amazon gets the rest. This is to cover the cost of printing and distribution. Plus, this is Amazon we're talking about, they are going to take a cut for themselves also. No self-respecting Global retail Monster would do this for free!
Createspace also operate an expanded distribution option, making your book available to high street retailers and educational libraries. Until recently, this was a service they charged for but it is now free to anyone publishing through their site.
I like createspace, it's simple and easy to use. My only gripe would be that if I want to buy copies of my own book to either sell myself or give away for promotional purposes, I have to pay to have them shipped to the UK from the States. Yes I can purchase my own books at the manufacture price but the added shipping almost wipes this discount out making it very expensive. Hopefully this is something Amazon are working on for customers outside of the USA as this is definitely an area of service they can and need to improve on.
So that's how I self-published my first novel 'Death in a Northern Town' which reached the di\\y heights of #6 in the UK Kindle Horror charts, #1 in the UK iTunes Horror charts and #8 in the UK Kobo Horror charts. It has also been reviewed and rated 10/10 by UK Horror Scene. All of this is something I am very proud of. Especially considering this was done with a zero marketing budget!
I hope you have found this blog interesting and maybe even a little helpful to those of you embarking on a similar journey. These past 12 months have been a bit of a rollercoaster and as 2014 brings with it the Summer release (Hopefully) of 'Death in a Northern Town 2: No Rest for the Living, I'm in the process of doing the whole thing again!'
Peter Mckeirnon
Indie Author, husband and father.
Occasional cheese fiend.
Death in a Northern Town
Details about zombie horror / dark comedy Death in a Northern Town by Peter Mckeirnon.
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