It's a jungle out here.
There is so much to learn and be aware of. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and completely incapable of finding my way. My old maps - specifically formatting guidelines for print submissions - are pretty useless in the realm of e-publishing. So I've had to leave them back at base camp. And it's kind of unnerving to be wandering around out here, wondering which way to turn next.
There are others who have gone before me, so I'm trying to use the paths they blazed as a guide. JA Konrath's blog has been a gold-mine of advice and encouragement. The big difference is that Mr. Konrath already has a reputation forged in the fires of print, and I don't. That will mean I have to find my own way when it comes to marketing my book (and myself, for that matter).
For technical advice, Smashwords has a pretty cool style guide available for free download. I don't know if this is the Bible for formatting, but most of what it says makes sense, so at least it's a good jumping off point. Amazon's Kindle and PubIt from Barnes and Noble have formatting info on their websites, but I haven't really found nuts-and-bolts guidelines regarding spacing, paragraph formatting, etc. I'm working on it, though. What I will probably do is format as if I were uploading to Smashwords, and see how it looks once I've submitted it to Amazon and B&N. Then I'll go from there.
I'm still undecided as to what other vendors to sell through. iBooks would be great, but I'm hearing mixed reactions as to how successful people are at selling through them, mainly because of complaints with how hard it is for users to navigate their selection. I happen to agree with these complaints, which is why I have the Kindle and Nook apps on my iPad. What I may do is upload to Smashwords as well and shoot for their premium catalog, which does the hard work for me and makes my book available on multiple vendor sites. It means taking another cut out of my royalties, but it might be worth the convenience. Apple doesn't sound like the easiest vendor to go through, so a third party might be best for them. We'll see. I have a Mac desktop, so I might do it myself once I've uploaded to Kindle and Nook.
Then there are the details like ISBN numbers and cover art. Most places don't require you to get your own ISBN number (iBooks being a notable exception). But it is usually strongly recommended. So that should be fun times. I don't know if I need different ISBN's for all the different platforms or not. I do know that if I use my own ISBN for Smashwords, they want it to be different from any other platform. But if I go Premium with them, they'll issue one for me.
So many choices! I think this probably sounds more like a rant than anything useful. Hopefully it gives you an idea of all the considerations you have to make after the writing is done and you're ready to sell on your own. In the meantime, I've put my agent search on hold. This stuff takes a lot of time, and work and school take even more. And I have a lot of editing to do before I will have a manuscript that I feel comfortable sending out, in the event an agent requests a full read.
Speaking of cover art, which I mentioned in passing a while back, I highly recommend either learning how to do you own, or commissioning someone to design cover art for you, if you know someone who has that talent. I tried designing my own book cover. It's okay... no, actually it's pretty lame. But I know some very talented graphic artists, and I commissioned one on Friday, which was very exciting for me as I've never commissioned art before. As luck would have it, my artist then had a baby on Monday, so I'm not really sure where I stand at the moment. But baby trumps book, so congrats to Michelle and her husband Kyle, and welcome to the world, Elliot!
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