Taking the plunge and launching into self-publishing has been great for all the reasons I thought it would be. People I’ve never met are reading and (in most cases) enjoying my books. I’ve held the paperback copy in my hands and put it on my bookshelf. I’ve got some reviews that were so positive they left me grinning all day and others that, whilst less glowing, were sufficiently constructive that I feel they’ve genuinely improved my writing. I’ve seen people expressing opinions on who their favorite characters are, who the heroine should end up with and where the story ought to go. I’ve seen several people say they’d like to visit Oxford (the series’ setting), which makes me feel great, as it’s such a beautiful city that I’d like nothing better than the encourage trips there. Goodness, as of the last month, I’ve even started to make a bit of money from it. Nowhere near enough to live on at this stage, but enough to, say, buy some fancy shoes or have a really good night out. It’s all a lot better than the year before I finally decided to press publish – a long, slow back and forth with agents who were sort of interested and sort of not, umming and arring whilst my book lay there unread by anyone outside of them and of my immediate circle.
I’d definitely recommend self-publishing for all the obvious reasons. But what has struck me recently is how many additional skills and experiences self-publishing has caused me to acquire
1) Grammar
I took English Literature A-Level, I studied an arts subject at one of the very best universities in the world and I write formal documents regularly for work. I was confident that my grammar skills were perfectly fine. To some degree, that’s true. You’d never see me confusing “there” and “their” or sticking apostrophes in the wrong place. However, when it came to proofreading my novels, I began to realize that there were some little errors I always made and that I was somewhat rusty on the correct usage of commas and semi-colons. Scouring grammar textbooks, using the grammarly programme, and having numerous kind and patient people not only proofread but carefully explain why things needed to be changed have all contributed to a better manuscript and to my confidence in my own grammatical abilities multiplying. (I’m now nervously waiting for commenters to point out all the mistakes I made in that paragraph).
2) Blogging and advanced interactive internet use
Starting a blog has been on my to-do list for a long time, but I was never sure what I’d write about. Clearly, you don’t need a self-published novel to launch a blog, but with the consensus seeming to be that you need an “author platform” it’s a very good catalyst to make you take the plunge. My blog, Posh, Privileged and Paranormal, is nominally about my books, but in practice I cover allsorts of topics around writing, vampires, class, Oxford, history, politics and art. It started as a sideline to promote the books, but there are some individual posts that i’m just as proud of as I am of the novels themselves. If I ever stopped writing books, I like to think I’d still continue blogging. At the same time, I’ve become much more of a consumer of blogs, which is also great.
As a university educated professional in my mid-twenties, it’s fair to say that I was pretty familiar with the internet long before I started this project, but since self-publishing, I’ve become much more involved with its interactive side. I’ve obsessively used Facebook ever since it launched in the UK (its Harvard management team deciding to initially restrict it to Oxbridge), but I’d never really engaged with other forms of social media. The demands of book promotion prompted me to get and use a Twitter account and to become a compulsive user of Goodreads. For the last eighteen months, I’ve reviewed every book I’ve read and I’ve become a much more prolific commenter. As with the blog, little of this is cynical self-promotion. I started writing because I love reading, and the opportunity to connect with other lovers of literature is a wonderful one. Whether or not the writing continues, the reviewing and the online chatting certainly will.
3) Advanced Microsoft Word
Much like grammar, I’ve used Word at a fairly high level for years and felt confident that I was a bit of a pro. But trying to format a document for an e-book and above all, for a paperback, takes a bit more trickery that just churning out a straightforward A4 printout. I was soon having lots of fun with borders and headers and footers and section breaks. At work, I’m now pretty much the go-to-girl for anyone’s formatting difficulties.
4) Html
I don’t want to oversell my slowly developing skills in this area. It’s not like I could create a website from scratch or anything. But before I launched into my book publishing adventure, I had literally no understanding of HTML. In an effort to make my blog and my product description on Amazon look nice, I read up on the very basics, and am now proudly possessed of the ability to make things bold or
create a new paragraph
.
While I’ve still got a long way to go before I can do anything particularly interesting with HTML, the good thing is that once you’ve got the gist, it’s relatively easy to build on it and at some point I intend to try to develop my skills in this area. I doubt I’d ever have thought about this before I started promoting the book.
5) Tax
Despite being by far the most boring of all the knowledge I’ve gained (advanced grammar, you’re off the hook) there’s something about being able to negotiate the American tax system that gives me a strange little thrill. There are few things I’ve ever come across in my life that are quite as unintuitive as the method of demonstrating that you’re living and paying tax in a country with a tax treaty with the US so you don’t need to pay American tax. This involved several dull hours of internet research and painstaking form filling, followed by a fairly exciting trip to the American Embassy in London, somewhere I doubt I’d ever have visited were it not for my book. I’ve not actually conclusively solved the problem yet, but I think I’ve practically qualified as a tax accountant.
6) Marketing
In an interview at work, I was asked about my commercial awareness. I spouted some work-relevant line, but what I really wanted to say was “I’ve created a company. I’ve developed a product and marketed it myself.”
Let’s face it, that’s what self-publishers have to do. I’ve created advertising campaigns, I’ve sent out free copies, I’ve sought endorsements from people I think might like the books and whose opinions others might listen to. It’s hardly up there with a major mainstream marketing campaign, but it’s definitely helped me to learn what the options are and to understand the principles of selling something in a crowded marketplace.
7) Cover design
Now, I can’t take that much credit for this one. I basically have the artistic skills of a five year old. If I’d made my own cover, it would probably have featured a stick figure on a white backgroun and the words “Oxford Blood” in 12 font Times New Roman! So I took what seems to be one of the few bits of consistent advice to self-publishers and hired a professional cover designer. The great thing however was that this didn’t just involve me saying “my book’s called Oxford Blood. Make me a cover for it please.” It was a collaborative process that involved me answering questions about what existing covers I liked; whether I wanted a cover that would fit neatly with my genre or one that would stand out; what sort of mood and impression I wanted to create. Once the designer had come up with some concepts, I had to pick my favorite and was also able to suggest some adaptations. After that, there was lots of back and forth about the details, right down to just how much blood there should be on the vampire’s mouth.
Whilst, like probably every reader, there’ve always been covers I’ve loved and covers I’ve hated, I’ve never really thought about what makes a good cover or about how they are created. I still don’t think I could actually personally design an attractive cover to save my life, but I feel that I have gained an understanding of the process and of what does and doesn’t work. And whilst it’s undoubtably my cover designer that deserves the praise, with the input I did have, it feels like the closest i’ve ever come to creating a piece of visual art.
8) The kindness of strangers
One of the most powerful things I’ve learnt isn’t a skill or an experience, it’s simply a life-affirming fact – there are some wonderful people out there. I’ve been constantly amazed by the people willing to beta read my books, willing to offer advice on self-publishing, willing to write about my book on their blog or offer me a guest slot. Not to mention simply bothering to leave a nice review or recommend the book to a friend. All of this for no tangible reward.
When Oxford Blood came out, I hadn’t done any of the groundwork and it felt like taking a leap into the unknown. By the time Screaming Spires was released, six months later, I’d developed a variety of internet friends and acquaintances, who helped me whip the book into shape and then participated in my promotional launch efforts. They helped me to feel so much more confident about the whole process and about my books. This time, it felt less like jumping into the unknown and more like stepping into a warm bath.
Have any of you had similar experiences to me? What other skills have you unexpectedly developed through your writing and publishing. Is the actual writing still your favorite thing, or is some other aspect of the self-publishing experience challenging it in your affections?
