Blog post for Going Home Stories blog I WANT YOU TO KNOW. www.goinghomestories.com/blog

So for those of you that happen upon this blog post through a search engine or the handful of my subscribers that may take a genuine interest in what went into the self-publishing process (nothing wrong if you don’t have that interest – nothing!), here’s an update on where things stand now that the books are in my possession… all 4077 of them.

Less than 1/3 of 1% of them!

At the risk of shooting myself in the figurative foot, I’ll share the reasons I’ve done certain things and haven’t done others.  These are not necessarily recommendations — only a documentation of what I’m trying.  By the way, if you haven’t read the first post on my adventures in self-publishing a children’s book, give it a quick read to catch up.

I should say that there are two motivators behind why I’ve made some of my most recent decisions:

I’ve never approached this whole process with the pressing need to get an agent, publisher, distributor or even a wholesaler (although I respect them all and acknowledge their necessity).  Fact is that I’m not in a hurry, nor do I presently believe that there is a concrete, surefire formula to self-publishing success of children’s picture books by acquiring all of the above – especially not in this ever-evolving online storefront/e-book/everyone’s-an-author age that we’re in (and not likely to leave anytime soon.)  Now this hard-headed opinion could change, but presently I’m focused on what I can do within my resources and means without handing a huge chunk of profits over to someone else or spending a year trying to secure that person.  I’ve always been a trial by fire type of person, and I’ve got 3 bachelors degrees and a doctorate from the School of Hard Knocks framed in my office and tattooed to the inside of my eyelids to prove it.
One can go broke and crazy all at once trying to stay on top of what everyone else tells you is “a must” to be considered in this industry.  There are numerous associations, reviewers, contests, tradeshows, festivals, catalogs and publications that you can spend hundreds of dollars joining/attending/submitting to/listing your book in.  So unless you’re Mr. or Mrs. Moneybags, I just don’t see the rationale to that.  Focus on a few within your budget, bookmark the others, and move ahead full steam.
(I know I said “two reasons”, but this is in line with reason #2).  I, like most self-published authors, have a job and other responsibilities.  There are only so many hours in the day, and I’ve proudly used all of them responsibly (there was that LA Clippers game I watched a couple weeks ago, but hey, it’s the playoffs).  But this ties into the “crazy” factor I mentioned above.  Do everything that everyone recommends that you do, and you’ll go crazy – not to mention become distracted from keeping your focus on the book and what is most beneficial for its success during the launch period.

This is what I do know is in my control and that I can focus my time and energy on:

web presence
Amazon
local bookstores
live readings and visits
being open-minded and flexible

A little more on each of these:

1.  I decided that, for now, my web presence would consist of 5 areas – my website (which I’m proud to say I designed), this blog, Facebook, a little bit of Google+ and yes, Pinterest.  I can hear you asking “what about Twitter??  Are you crazy?”  Well, that depends upon whom you ask, but I’ve given Twitter a shot for my main (bill-paying) business and have all but given up on it.  Here’s the deal with the birdie (which is well documented advice according to other blogs out there).  Content is key.  You have to be able to get followers and keep them by focusing on more than just selling your book – otherwise, you’re just a salesman… be it a blue-feathered version of one.  Presently, I haven’t come up with a golden idea for content besides tweeting about the funny things my kids say since my children’s book was inspired by my children, but I’m too private to do this – I don’t even put pictures of my kids up on Facebook (nothing wrong if you do – nothing!).  And the actual net”work”ing that you have to do is, in my opinion, very time intensive if you want to do it right and connect with the right areas and followers.  Plus, I am incapable of saying much of anything in 140 characters or less!  But that’s obvious, right?

I believe also that redundancy is dangerous.  I know that between my Mail Chimp newsletter that goes out, my Facebook posts, and this blog that I’m posting the same or dang-near-the-same content when I have an update.  I do have a few people that are subscribed to all three, and I’d like to keep it that way.  This blog allows me the chance to elaborate more on happenings or share my experience in self-publishing a children’s book in an effort to give back to the world wide web.  The newsletter is in email form – still the most effective way to extend your reach to new people, and Facebook keeps everything short and sweet, links back to this blog at times, and offers users an email signup form and an embedded version of my book’s online store.

I haven’t given up on Google+, and yet, I haven’t fully embraced it either.  I think its setup and functionality is effective enough — I just don’t think that the masses (or at least the masses of my target audience) have migrated over.  I’ll give an update on this at a later date.

Then there’s Pinterest.  Well, this seems to me to be a no-brainer.  Who buys most of the children’s books?  Moms (and grandmothers, aunts, godmothers, best friends, etc.).  It’s no secret that Pinterest is presently inhabited overwhelmingly by women.  Within 1 hour of pinning my book and opening my account, it had been “repinned” 12 times.  Now that’s viral potential!  Plus it’s a heck of a lot of fun, especially if you like gardening, home improvement, and the culinary arts as a guy like me happens to.  But I do my best to keep my Pinterest board associated with the image I’m putting out for my publishing company Going Home Stories and not what new kale recipe I would love to try this Friday night to impress the mrs. (found a good one via Pinterest!).

I’m going to leave it there for today and elaborate further on #’s 2, 3, 4 and 5 down the road a bit, especially since I’ll have more to share then.  I’ll leave you with a nice little tidbit from the short and sweet bloggings of Seth Godin.  I find it in line with what I see as a growing challenge and disturbing development in this age of constant information delivery AND good piece of advice to follow as you determine your web presence.

Blog post for Going Home Stories blog I WANT YOU TO KNOW. www.goinghomestories.com/blog