Publishing Pain. The bad bit

After you have your book ready to roll, you enter the tedious phase. For me this was firstly about whether to self publish, or to find a publisher. The discussions I had revealed a publisher would 'legal' the manuscript and I know that would demolish a couple of chapters.

I know those chapters won't produce a writ of defamation because I'd previously published them in my magazine, and not recently either. Should those people raise a writ, they'd have a very hard time justifying damages from a modestly circulated paperback -v- a widely read magazine.

A publisher can kill a book by simply not publishing it, just like a record contract doesn't mean your album will be released. They hold the rights. Self publishing means the money flows from day one, in my case into CrewCare, since I took that decision early on. I figured (correctly, it turns out) that I'd sell more books if there was a charitable beneficiary. And I wrote the thing intending it would be read! (I also wrote it so my grand kids, and their kids, could better understand any underlying madness passed down my gene train. They need to know it's all my fault!)

Converting text into published formats is not straightforward. I needed an e-pub file for Apple and Amazon; a PDF for the printed version, and an audio book which is made up of an audio file for each chapter. All of that was quite a process.

Then I needed to find a printer which involved obtaining samples from them – and a degree of trust. They sent me photos of a mockup and express shipped it down to me for approval. Then I paid them to print it, and waited for it to land. That is an eight week process.

Setting up Amazon and Apple book contracts is not difficult, but it is time consuming. Then I needed a marketing campaign, with graphics, elements, words and strategy.

Once November rolled around it launched, and the orders came in. Now I have multiple books to bag, address and post each workday, and that is rewarding. Even more rewarding is the premium version sales – you can but a regular paperback (the M-rated version) for $14.99 or upgrade to the R-rated edition for $59.99. Surprisingly one in five is that – driving up our revenue.

Additionally I have a pull-down 'donation' option and one on eight actually do add a donation for CrewCare! Several have selected the $500 option – as there are various amounts.

So now I am in the 'rewarding' phase!