5 Publishing Aids For Broke Indie Writers
Or Confessions of a Tightwad New Author
So the writing Muse has claimed another gumshoe victim and his unsuspecting wife. Off we go into the tale-telling world full of heady dreams and aspiring hopes. Then for (insert some absurd length of time here) I have lovingly written my masterpiece, sweated over it, lost sleep, and finally completed the beast.
Naturally, my Better Half and I want to share it; after all, it IS a masterpiece that all humanity needs. Along with a rousing epic story, there’s poetry, music, and maybe even a movie script in that thing.
However, there’s ZERO interest from any “established” literary agent, producer, and/or publisher. Shoot, I can’t even interest a prospective editor to read a chapter or two before taking it on as a paid project.
Now, do most unknown and never before published writers like me ever start out with a hefty $ advance for their piece, or the backing of some relative or friend’s deep wallets? Not me.
Also, I certainly did NOT have a lot of money for obtaining pro editing and proof reading, buying artistic talent or copyright book cover images, paying printing costs, purchasing ads, and hiring marketers. Not only that, I am a Notorious Tightwad. So what to do?
My answer of course was FREE eBook self publishing as an independent or “Indie”; simply because it could take YEARS to go the traditional route. I’m an old guy, and quite frankly, nobody has the rock written promise of being alive tomorrow, young or old, let alone lucid or well enough to pursue their writing dreams.
Therefore, the time for me is NOW, and what to do is find ways to self publish on my tightwad’s shoestring. You may have experimented with other venues, but here is the CHEAP and mostly FREE route I took:
FREE EDITING – I edited myself which I know is a giant NO-NO to make the entire writing, advertising, and marketing industry cringe. However, I had to start somewhere so as to not totally embarrass myself once my eBook was actually published for public perusal. Yet, there were some tips I learned in doing so.
I joined Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/ and found wonderful support. helpful articles, and blogs to augmnet my self editing skills. I also found web sites for same, one was by Molly Greene http://www.molly-greene.com/about/ , another from http://www.creativwriter.com/ , and yet another from http://writerscircle.com/.
The best tip was to set your manuscript to landscape and two columns and then go line by line through your whole book, several trips until satisfied.
Another was once you feel good about it, copy and paste your work to a new document to rid the piece of holdover Word program glitches. Then do another grammar and spell check, line by line, as well as another line by line edit.
The third best tip was to slowly read your whole book to yourself line by line OUT LOUD. You’ll be amazed at the amount of missed words, awkward sentences, punctuation gaffes, etc. etc. that you will STILL find, but do it. Your BOOK is worth it.
It is going to take time, effort, incredible patience, and yes, MORE eye numbing effort, but the TRUTH is you CAN self edit for FREE.
CHEAP COVERS and AD MAKING – I have very low tech and artistic skills; in fact, practically nil. However, I can do rudimentary work on Microsoft Word and Publisher. (If you don't have Word, you can download for FREE and use the same type programs in Libre Office - https://www.libreoffice.org/)
It took a little time, effort, and web searching, but I managed to finally learn how to insert an image or two, manipulate them, and add text to where the results looked at least presentable. The problem was I needed LEGAL images for book covers.
Now those YOU got to search the web to find them as public domain pics. You HAVE TO GET a disclaimer for same, OR pay as little as possible from licensed vendors that give you proof of your ownership. I settled on buying from:
Then I manipulated those images in Word and Publisher and also using Pic Monkey and LunaPic:
Until I got the images I wanted for my covers and my advertising. Then I saved them as PDF files and converted then to JPG with:
From there you are ready to upload to:
CHEAP PUBLISHING – For NO money up front, I went the shared revenue route with:
Amazon - https://kdp.amazon.com/ for Kindle e-readers (NOT Select. Why limit my markets?)
Draft2Digital - https://draft2digital.com/#how-it-works for B&N NOOK, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Inktera, Scribd, Tolino, 24Symbols, and Create Space if I ever want to make actual paperback books to sell.
There are others such as:
Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/,
BookBaby - https://www.bookbaby.com/,
Lulu - http://www.lulu.com/create/ebooks and
Google Play - https://play.google.com/books/publish/?re=1 (however they are not accepting new works at this time but should resume … too big of a market not to)
Whichever trips a trigger and appeals is the way to go. Research them. Compare rates and exposure coverage.
FREE ADVERTISING – Once again, back to Microsoft Word and Publisher I went. I was also aided by new friends from Goodreads and many helpful posts on that site. After web searching for other hints, examples, and tips on Ad wording, font styles, and presentation, I began making my own ads using Publisher. Two top things I learned in planning them was to:
Define an attention grabbing personal BRAND for my books in colors, style, fonts, and image uniqueness to capture a casual reader’s eye.
Make a few different ads and then use them repeatedly, no need to keep re-inventing more and better copy. The key is ACTIVITY, the Big A. Get an Ad out there, ANY AD.
The FACT of advertising is that the Law of Large Numbers apply MORE than the actual ad itself. I can dress as a homeless bum and stand on any busy street corner holding a sign that reads “Buy My Book Here Please” and sooner or later somebody is going to pull over to the curb and buy it. It's just human nature applied in large numbers.
Now granted everyone wants to get big results from the least amount of ad money and time spent, and there are experts that get big bucks for dreaming them up, but a tightwad? He has to just make do with ads he can afford to create and then use in:
FREE MARKETING - Here is where I turned to FREE social media to build support groups, find my eBooks’ target markets, and also get my eBook in front of the general public. We now live in a new electronically connected global society. It’s a fact. Traditional TV, Radio, Magazines, Newspapers, and even Movies are NOT the giant wave of the advertising future. Right now it’s:
Facebook. Get your own FREE Facebook page. Share your ads and book blurbs early and often on your genre’s pages that advertise Indie authors. Enlist your friends to share. There’s plenty of helpful groups for Indie authors too. You just have to search.
Twitter. Once again FREE! (But time consuming. Use wisely if you want to write more masterpieces.) Become a FREE Twit!
Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Google+ and whatever else is out there - all FREE!
There are also FREE Web Pages with blog and email sign up forms for your subscribing fans. I used
Wix - http://www.wix.com/ but
WordPress - https://wordpress.com/ is out there too.
Here’s mine for an example: http://ajhoover911.wix.com/ajhoover-author-blog
Then Email your ads for FREE once you have a list of subscribers who have given you permission to email them. DON’T SPAM them. And DON’T give their addresses out to other marketing. Two FREE ways to maximize those email ad campaigns are:
Mail Chimp - https://login.mailchimp.com/?wcookie=8c4c28cebc6bb5f5d7d4
Constant Contact - https://login.constantcontact.com/login/?goto=https%3A%2F%2Fui.constantcontact.com%2Frnavmap%2Fdistui%2Fhome
My watchword for all social marketing efforts is KINDNESS. I need to be kind to contacts, support groups, followers, e-mail subscribers, and targeted markets. It’s the honey that attracts the pollinating bee to spread the word about my writing.
The idea, no matter if I am writing for an expense paying hobby, a part time income, or a full time career, is to get my writing muse pursued, perfected, published, and purchased. If someday my eBook sales go through the roof and/or the “traditional” publishing Powers That Be discover me, then great. Until then I’ll just have to get by on a confirmed tightwad’s budget, but at least I’m a PUBLISHED author NOW.
Now YOU can be TOO! Even if you got $ NO MONEY $! Go for it!
