I'm about to self-publish my first book October 1. I think I have everything in order (I've not ordered ISBN's yet), and plan to publish in Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Smashwords, etc etc. And an Orger, who is quite talented, is doing the cover for me.

If you have, any tips or pointers?

PS My book is about the first thirty years of my life. I wrote it at 40, then got scared of it. There's some dark (and stupid) shit in my 20s that I put in there. I have worked pretty hard the last couple of months to complete it. I've found some videos from an author that was very helpful in formatting and converting to ePub/MOBI.

Also, did you use diff ISBN's for ePub and MOBI, or one for both? I've heard people doing it both ways since it's an eBook format in general.

I don't know if you'd want to share since we all like our anonymity on here, but I love to read memoirs and would be interested in reading it if you want to give the link. My only advice would be to sign up for KDP and to do the free giveaway every once in a while- it helps a lot with getting it read and helps with getting reviews. Also, I'm sure you know, but Fiverr is great for getting any formatting that you need done or help with. Anyway, good luck

[Edited 8/13/17 10:04am]

Superfan1984 said:

I don't know if you'd want to share since we all like our anonymity on here, but I love to read memoirs and would be interested in reading it if you want to give the link. My only advice would be to sign up for KDP and to do the free giveaway every once in a while- it helps a lot with getting it read and helps with getting reviews. Also, I'm sure you know, but Fiverr is great for getting any formatting that you need done or help with. Anyway, good luck

I've heard of Fiverr, but not explored it yet. There is a woman who writes fantasy novels (she's American but lives in Europe somewhere) that did a really informative video on formatting in Word, and one for converting to eBook. My friend who self-published swears by the vids, and they are pretty great.

I do plan on using Amazon KDP and Barnes & Noble, and others; but the first two more because they have physical copies.

I'm happy to send you a link closer to the time of publishing. Memoirs are one of my favorite genre's too.

I will tell you the book is called Greatest Hits, and each chapter is named after a song title. Even the table of contents is called the Track List. I've also created a Spotify playlist with those songs in order of the table of contents, and it's on the site I'm building for the book.

The chapters are:

1. Overture/Curtain Up
2. Welcome To The Show
3. Learning To Fly
4. 1979
5. 1980
6. Could I Have This Dance?
7. Wait
8. Low Rider
9. Tulsa Time
10. The Oath
11. Shipwrecked
12. Asking Too Much
13. Physical
14. Anchors Aweigh
15. International Lover
16. San Diego, 1988
17. Here I Go Again
18. Saints of Los Angeles
19. A Family Affair
20. Angels and Demons
21. Burning Bush
22. John 3:16
23. She's Always In My Hair
24. Devil's Haircut
25. Boy In the Box
26. Bitch
27. The Monster Is Loose
28. New York Minute
29. 21st Century Man
30. Afterward

A couple of Prince tunes made the cut, and luckily you can't © a song title.

TrivialPursuit said:

Superfan1984 said:

I don't know if you'd want to share since we all like our anonymity on here, but I love to read memoirs and would be interested in reading it if you want to give the link. My only advice would be to sign up for KDP and to do the free giveaway every once in a while- it helps a lot with getting it read and helps with getting reviews. Also, I'm sure you know, but Fiverr is great for getting any formatting that you need done or help with. Anyway, good luck

I've heard of Fiverr, but not explored it yet. There is a woman who writes fantasy novels (she's American but lives in Europe somewhere) that did a really informative video on formatting in Word, and one for converting to eBook. My friend who self-published swears by the vids, and they are pretty great.

I do plan on using Amazon KDP and Barnes & Noble, and others; but the first two more because they have physical copies.

I'm happy to send you a link closer to the time of publishing. Memoirs are one of my favorite genre's too.

I will tell you the book is called Greatest Hits, and each chapter is named after a song title. Even the table of contents is called the Track List. I've also created a Spotify playlist with those songs in order of the table of contents, and it's on the site I'm building for the book.

The chapters are:

1. Overture/Curtain Up
2. Welcome To The Show
3. Learning To Fly
4. 1979
5. 1980
6. Could I Have This Dance?
7. Wait
8. Low Rider
9. Tulsa Time
10. The Oath
11. Shipwrecked
12. Asking Too Much
13. Physical
14. Anchors Aweigh
15. International Lover
16. San Diego, 1988
17. Here I Go Again
18. Saints of Los Angeles
19. A Family Affair
20. Angels and Demons
21. Burning Bush
22. John 3:16
23. She's Always In My Hair
24. Devil's Haircut
25. Boy In the Box
26. Bitch
27. The Monster Is Loose
28. New York Minute
29. 21st Century Man
30. Afterward

A couple of Prince tunes made the cut, and luckily you can't © a song title.

I love the idea of a soundtrack to the book! And having a website will be great- Let me know when you put it out and I will read it and give you an honest review. I'm sure a lot of other orgers would as well. Do you know about ACX? I would also put it on there so that it is available on Audible. It's amazing to hear your book being read aloud (my boyfriend's memoir is on Audible and I've listened to it many times) very cool-

Superfan1984 said

I love the idea of a soundtrack to the book! And having a website will be great- Let me know when you put it out and I will read it and give you an honest review. I'm sure a lot of other orgers would as well. Do you know about ACX? I would also put it on there so that it is available on Audible. It's amazing to hear your book being read aloud (my boyfriend's memoir is on Audible and I've listened to it many times) very cool-

Yeah, the playlist thing hit me as I was building the website. It's pretty dark stuff, and stupid stuff I did in my life, so the title is meant to be pretty ironic.

I've thought about Audible.

TrivialPursuit said:

Superfan1984 said

I love the idea of a soundtrack to the book! And having a website will be great- Let me know when you put it out and I will read it and give you an honest review. I'm sure a lot of other orgers would as well. Do you know about ACX? I would also put it on there so that it is available on Audible. It's amazing to hear your book being read aloud (my boyfriend's memoir is on Audible and I've listened to it many times) very cool-

Yeah, the playlist thing hit me as I was building the website. It's pretty dark stuff, and stupid stuff I did in my life, so the title is meant to be pretty ironic.

I've thought about Audible.

I think having it on Audible not only helps with Audible sales but also book sales, because instead of doing the Look Inside feature, they can click the Listen button and listen to a clip of the book. I do that a lot with books I'm interested in, something about hearing the book seems to help me to buy it anyway. Anyway, good luck and update us when it comes out!

Sounds good. I think I´d be interested in reading it, I really enjoy most of your posts and your Youtube videos. I wonder how much of your book deals with your time in the Navy. That´s probably going to be a very interesting part of your book, especially the changes you went through politically and personally.

Really looking forward to reading this.

KoolEaze said:

Sounds good. I think I´d be interested in reading it, I really enjoy most of your posts and your Youtube videos. I wonder how much of your book deals with your time in the Navy. That´s probably going to be a very interesting part of your book, especially the changes you went through politically and personally.

Really looking forward to reading this.

Sadly, my story in the military was quite similar to things we've heard in the media in the past. But yeah, just a few weeks away...

There were a couple of orgers who had self-published books, fiction not autobiographical, a few years ago but I don't think they are on here anymore. Best wishes on your book!

One Prince fan, I don't know if they were an Orger, wrote a book based on the characters in Lovesexy. Camille, Gregory, etc. Long ago.

TrivialPursuit said:

One Prince fan, I don't know if they were an Orger, wrote a book based on the characters in Lovesexy. Camille, Gregory, etc. Long ago.

.

Congrats on your book - I've never self-published (yet) but my wife has. I second the person's Fiverr recommendation, by the way - phenomenal resource for that sort of thing (formatting, cover design, lots of stuff) that I've used numerous times for numerous types of projects.

I have. It was more about being a healing process for me than to make any money off it.

benni said:

I have. It was more about being a healing process for me than to make any money off it.

By the way, Benni, I have your book on my Amazon wish list and I will be downloading and reading it soon --- I give you such respect for writing such a book ( I looked on the Look Inside) very emotional stuff- must have been very hard to write. I look forward to reading it ...

benni said:

I have. It was more about being a healing process for me than to make any money off it.

Send me an Org note w/ a link?

And mine is a bit of both. I've always considered myself a writer, and getting my first book out there is an interesting ride of emotions. It was ...tough to write at times, harder to edit, but as my publish date draws closer, I can feel the weight of my stupid decisions in the past, and the horrible things I've done, finally lift off of me. (PS I never raped or murdered anyone. Nothing quite that bad, mmkay?!)

good for you! that's very cool, and please link to your book so we can buy it when it's ready.

Superfan1984 said:

benni said:

I have. It was more about being a healing process for me than to make any money off it.

By the way, Benni, I have your book on my Amazon wish list and I will be downloading and reading it soon --- I give you such respect for writing such a book ( I looked on the Look Inside) very emotional stuff- must have been very hard to write. I look forward to reading it ...

Thanks Superfan. It was hard to write, started back in 1998 when I refound Prince, actually, and didn't finish writing it until after my daughter was born in 2004. Being pregnant with a girl was a strong catalyst, and to be honest, scared the crap out of me because I couldn't protect myself, how would I protect her. But she's a very strong willed, strong minded, opinionated, stubborn 13 year old, whom I adore and admire. And I must say, I've done a pretty darn good job protecting her and looking out for her.

TrivialPursuit said:

benni said:

I have. It was more about being a healing process for me than to make any money off it.

Send me an Org note w/ a link?

And mine is a bit of both. I've always considered myself a writer, and getting my first book out there is an interesting ride of emotions. It was ...tough to write at times, harder to edit, but as my publish date draws closer, I can feel the weight of my stupid decisions in the past, and the horrible things I've done, finally lift off of me. (PS I never raped or murdered anyone. Nothing quite that bad, mmkay?!)

https://www.amazon.com/Si...Gravermoen

It's not very well written, to be honest, very raw. I want to go back and clean it up, do a second edition, maybe take it further through the teen years, but unfortunately, I work two jobs and have two kids to take care of, and just don't have time. I know there are places where I accidentally left in actual names, instead of the pseudo names I gave them, but as I said, it wasn't about making money off of it, but it was a process and a step towards healing. I could share my story one on one with someone, even in a forum such as this, but to actually put it out there for the world, was a HUGE scary thing to undertake.

Btw, the picture on the front cover is an actual picture of me on Christmas morning. My dad had told me Santa wouldn't be able to visit us, because we just couldn't afford Santa that year. I woke up Christmas morning to that Christmas tree and a candy necklace around my neck and a long length of rope grape gum. That tree was the most beautiful and awe-inspiring thing I'd ever seen, since I didn't think Santa was going to come. To this day, I get awed around Christmas trees.

I've been watching the things going on with Trump recently and wrote a small ebook today. (Very short) but I am considering writing a series of letters to Trump to address various concerns and ideas, and eventually putting all of them into a book format. It is actually already published.

My God, it's up for pre-order in digital on Amazon today. I'M FREAKING OUT!!!!

TrivialPursuit said:

My God, it's up for pre-order in digital on Amazon today. I'M FREAKING OUT!!!!

Congratulations!

Not self-published, but have been published ... considered the self-publishing route when it looked like the publishing thing wouldn't happen, but stuck with it and in the end got in to print.

If you really believe in what you've written I say keep plugging away with publishers or agents, you'll get there in the end.

I will order it. I've put it on my wish list. Will you have it in paperback?

DaveT said:

Not self-published, but have been published ... considered the self-publishing route when it looked like the publishing thing wouldn't happen, but stuck with it and in the end got in to print.

If you really believe in what you've written I say keep plugging away with publishers or agents, you'll get there in the end.

Going with a traditional publisher is not what it once was. My friend has Children's books that were published by a publishing house and has other books that she self published. She said she might as well have given the books away that were published by the publishing house as she only gets 10 percent whereas with self publishing she keeps 70 percent. It is true that most self published books don't do anything except sell to friends and family but if you self publish a book and it takes off (Dathan Auerbach, Amanda Hocking, whoever that woman is who wrote 50 Shades of Gray) then you will do better (much better) than if you were traditionally published.

Superfan1984 said:

I will order it. I've put it on my wish list. Will you have it in paperback?

Yep!