“The good news about self-publishing
is you get to do everything yourself.
The bad thing about self-publishing
is you get to do everything yourself.”
Lori Lesko
I suppose it’s the price of freedom, this doing everything yourself. I’m still happy to be independent, but the weight of responsibility is heavy on my shoulders and I wake up at night worrying about it. But it also results in frequent and fervent prayers for help from the God who knows all, even technology.
Enough about theory. What happened this past month that furthered my indie career?
The first step in my personal plan was to acquire a logo and a tagline. Something to use on my book spines and inside page. I worked on this in November and December of 2015. After trying about fifteen million ideas for a press name, all of which were already in use, I began to believe techy spyders had invaded my brain.
I finally settled on one that was truly original, and hired a designer from a far country to create the logo through an online company called Fiverr. It was relatively painless, and turned out okay. What was supposed to cost $5 (hence, Fiverr, Seven-oh-fiverr if you’re Canadian), actually came to $80 USD, but it was done. I then managed to design a simple business card with the various formats I’d paid for. It’s not perfect, but it serves the purpose and I can print as needed.
Real Time Addition: I had scheduled this post several weeks ago, but decided to have another look at it before it goes live. So much has happened in the past few weeks, and I want to keep you up to date…
I found out from talking with various author friends, and from researching, that I needed to register my logo and tagline. It is essentially my business name. I spent more time than I had anticipated, but have now requested a search of this name, then reserved the name for a maximum of three months, in which time it needs to be registered.
I did that too, for a reasonable fee of just over $50 CDN. This registers my business name for three years, and I will be notified when renewal comes due. Please note that I live in Saskatchewan, Canada. Provinces differ in their systems, as do countries.
Next step: the cover(s). I am not a visual artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I bravely tried a free design-it-yourself site and created a so-so cover in about five minutes. Then I remembered that covers sell books, and decided to explore another option.
I tried Fiverr next, but the designers were so diverse and many lacked proficiency in the English language. How would I effectively describe my expectations? I followed through with one, with unacceptable results. I think I prefer my own feeble attempt to what I received from him. That unfortunate venture cost me another $50 or so CDN. Lesson learned? I’m not sure.
Meanwhile, the God who uses ink (if I may borrow a phrase from the original Word Guild), intervened. I had queried about my covers to a designer I know who lives nearby and has both skill and experience. We emailed and I knew I did not have the funds to hire his design services. I have about eight covers queued up, and my book funds are insufficient for the lot. That’s when I jumped ahead on my own and tackled Fiverr, with previously stated results.
The following week the local designer contacted me and offered a deal I couldn’t resist. In short, it is a miracle. We met in person on Friday and shared ideas and expectations. I’m very excited. My word to you is this: if you are a Christian author, pray. God hears, He knows when we are pitifully inadequate for the task, He sends ideas and options, and sometimes He works miracles for us. Thank you, Lord.
Now there’s nothing to keep me awake at nights…except formatting. Sigh. My next report will be up March 8. Until then, keep pressing on, and praying.
P.S. I forgot to mention that I called a camera-proficient neighbor to update my author photo. It’s about time, after more than a dozen years. She offered her services pro-bono, but there are always ways of thanking people and thus acknowledging their skills.
Super interesting to read about your doings, Jan. I’ll keep watching!
I’m trying to pay it forward. So many people have helped me on this journey, and I want to leave a trail for others to follow to make it easier. Every situation is different, but hopefully some things are helpful to some people. Thanks for following this, Deb.
Love the new headshot and press name & logo! Here in NS it’s every year to renew for a business registration, unless it’s your own name. Hence I’m under my own name!
The best part of the indie journey is people sharing information and rooting for one another to succeed. Go, indie, go!
Yes, that’s the point, Janet. We help each other as much as we’re able. Sometimes we feel we owe more than we give (not to mention any names), but we are all writing for the same reward.
I remember you saying that NS has different laws about registering businesses. I had to talk to a number of government people on the phone to find the right forms and get the appropriate answers for me. It’s all a learning process as we go along.
A learning process indeed! About formatting: give yourself plenty of time, put on whatever kind of music helps you relax, and pour a soothing cup of tea. It will take a few tries to get the result you want, but you’ll get there. Or if you find it really frustrating, I’ve heard only good things about Rik Hall’s Wild Seas Formatting.
Yes, that name is in the back of my mind when I think of formatting. I’d like to work through it with him so I can learn how to do it myself. A combination of independence and lack of funds!
It’s really not hard, just takes some repetition. Okay, it takes me a lot of repetition, but that’s likely just me.
I’m sure it will take me some time too, but I’ll certainly give it a try. Do you have to have your cover ready to go when you download?
Covers… you need a cover for your final ebook versions, just a front cover unless you want to get fancy and put the back one at the end. But you can go ahead and format the ebook with a dummy cover, to learn how to do it while waiting for the cover. [I think I saw that you can upload your Kindle interior separately from your Kindle cover, but for the epub version for everywhere else, I believe the cover needs to be in the same file.]
For the print book, if you go through Createspace, the cover file is uploaded separately from the interior file. PDFs work best for both.
Ah. Thank you…again.
It’s quite a process to get business registration and all those essential things. I do like your logo and tag line. Nice picture too.
Thanks, Carolyn. I’m just doing a step-by-step process as I become aware of things that need to be done. I wanted my own logo for sure, so that’s in place.
Janice (and others), keep in mind the Inscribe Conference in September in Edmonton, as Linda and Rik Hall will be there (as speakers/workshop leaders). Maybe he would take appointments at that time, if you contacted him or the Inscribe leaders with the suggestion that Rik might book personal appointments?
Good idea, Deb.