My first foray into publishing began when, along with a friend, we were invited to write a music scheme for schools, by a publishing company. We weren’t paid money upfront, but once the company had recouped the cost of publishing we earned regularly for a couple of years. In fact, that is the only time I have earned a decent amount of money from my writing.
Later, when I published a book of my own, rather than co-authoring, I went with a small publishing company. Sadly, during the pandemic, they closed.
I found another publishing company, who I loved working with, but again, since the pandemic, their circumstances have changed, and although they are still in business, they are offering a different service.
Having spoken to several other friends in the same literary boat as me, I decided that to become self-published.
The main reason for doing this is – when you are published by traditional publishers, or hybrid/smaller publishers, you, the author, don’t have access to your sales. You can’t make alterations to your book, without asking and paying your publisher to do so, and you can’t just create adverts at any time.
When you self-publish you have complete control of your book – apart from what Amazon choose to do. That’s another complete story.
What did I have to do, to get hold of my own book?
I had to ask my existing publisher to give me my book and cover back.
Silverwood Publishing can’t have been more helpful. They provided me with the PDF of my book, and the cover.
Finding a Designer
I then used a designer, to remove the Silverwood logo (which they had agreed), and put my own in its place. Plus, she also created a slightly more interesting back cover, so that in the future, I have a front and back spread, minus all titles and words, which can be used for advertising.
Book designs are one of the most important things that help the sale of your book. A good design makes all of the difference between people stopping to look your book, or just glossing over it as boring.
Luckily, I already had a design I love, and I was able to get my cover back. Had I not been able to use the cover, I would have had to look for a designer.
A friend of mine, has just published a new book, and she used a website called ’99 Designs’. Basically, you say how much you want to spend. Give an idea of the cover you are looking for, and a number of designers will respond by sending you designs. You can turn them down, or choose the ones you like. My friend, chose her designer, who then did all of the work on her new book.
This same designer is the one I used to remove the old logo’s and add mine, and who will be doing my adverts. When I release my next book, which I hope will be soon, she will also design the cover for that. I like her work, and I’m sure she’ll be able to create something I like.
Choosing my own Imprint
Before I could buy my ISBN numbers, I had to choose my own imprint.
I chose my maternal grandfather’s middle name, which was in fact his mother’s maiden name. Traditionally, Scots, they gave boys the mother’s maiden name so it was continued down the family line.
A designer friend, checked out, in the all the right places to see if the name was taken, and then designed me my logo. Westwater Publishing.
The book cover designer, added the logo to the back and to the spine of the book, and it was added to the title page too. And, ‘hey presto’ my self-published book is ready to go, and in fact it is now up on Amazon Kindle.