Self-Publishing In The Age Of Information Overload #1

This is the start of a new series in which I’ll be examining self-publishing in it’s various incarnations. Self-publishing has gone from being a dirty word among authors to being the hot new thing that everyone is talking about. Only, it isn’t exactly a hot new thing. The image is a page from Charles Dickens’s manuscript for A Christmas Carol – which he self-published back in the day.

This series will be intermittent as it will centre on my own examination of self-publishing as a way to put some short novels or novellas out into the market. I’ll be considering questions like:

– What self-publishing options are available (both electronic and not electronic)?

– Being your own editor or hiring one?

– What are the audience expectations? Price? Length of work? Additional extras?

– What sort of general costs are involved?

– How many people actually really make money doing this and how much?

– How many titles do you need to make a go of self-publishing?

– What sort of marketing and publicity is needed? What sort of online presence is needed? How does one go about marketing without acting like a annoying salesman anyway?

My first write up will be in a week or two from now. It will form part of the process of taking some short novels I have that I would like to have a go at pushing out through a self-publishing route.