Things I Learned When I Self-Published My Book

It’s simple! It’s easy! Ha ha ha ha. No.

Author holding the paperback (left) and hardcover (right) of Intersections: Stories, Chats, Truths, and Verses. Why, yes, the two versions DO look a bit different, don’t they? <sigh> Keep reading. (Photo by Deb Herlocker)

So for years, I’ve wanted to see my name on a book. Fortunately, I have friends—online and IRL—who have gone the route of building up mailing lists of potential readers, submitting to agents (over and over), submitting to publishing houses, getting published, or finally going self-published…

Turns out all that is a LOT of work!

(Some of you reading — Gail Boenning, Roz Warren, Tre L. Loadholt, Karen DeBonis, Toni Crowe, Terrye Turpin, Mark Starlin, and many more — already know all this. Because I learned it from you folks. Please comment on anything I missed or understated.)

Fine. First book, I can take pieces I’ve published on Medium (so I have some idea which ones work and which don’t, including some feedback from readers), put them together, and make a book. Simple, easy, no big deal.

I should mention that I already had experience in self-publishing, using Amazon’s service Amazon Author Central (now Kindle Direct Publishing). My wife Deb had a children’s story, Caitlyn’s Adventure, which we published in 2011.