Self-publishing

Self-publishing - my 3 tips

I thought I would share a small part of my journey into self-publishing my first book in March 2022: "Girl Woman Matriarch: Wisdom Love Connection." Firstly, I am an artist (photo artist) and wanted to create a book that I could illustrate, but it would have a bigger purpose and serve people in some way. The synopsis will explain what it is about. "Girl Woman Matriarch: Wisdom Love Connection" has been a three-year project. It's non-fiction, and I lost a year floundering and not knowing where to step or go to in order to keep the book moving along. After attending a book launch and promotion by an author/publisher who also offered consulting services, I reached out to them. I spoke to the person who said, "Yes, you can make an appointment," etc. However, when I contacted this person and explained what I was doing and needed help with, I was pointed in the right direction as I knew nothing about how to go about getting everything into a physical state. I received a reply email back, which basically said one line, "Good luck. 'Google' it." OMG! What!? How do you Google what you don't know? I felt a bit deflated at the time from that response. It is another story on how I actually worked out that I needed to find a structural editor.

If someone asked me this question, my response would be: these are the three key things to consider and point you in the right direction.

1. Don’t worry about creating a book design.
   Get your manuscript into a Word document format. Design is the last thing to worry about.

2. Do find yourself a very good structural editor to edit the manuscript.
   My structural editor was incredible, and she really got me sorted. Not only that, but she also said, "Marjorie, you need to do this, this, and that." She pointed me in the right direction and has been invaluable on my journey. The money I paid her was worth every cent. After the manuscript is completely edited, then move on to the graphic artist.

3. If your book is to be illustrated, find yourself a good graphic designer who will not take over and who will listen to your vision.
   I worked very closely with my graphic designer every step of the way. She designed the text and image placements, but I decided which images went where. All the imagery in the book is my art, bar a few of my father's photos. It is very interesting to note that my structural editor picked up on some gutter design issues that would occur when going to print; she was spot on! Although the book looked amazing in PDF format, it was going to face issues when printed. I would have been so disappointed if I had not listened to her.

My journey of self-publishing has been very interesting, frustrating, joyous, and proud, to say the least.