Self publish - the new name for multitasking

I think self publish is the new name for multitasking - trying to split my time between writing and illustrating the next book, and the business of marketing. But marketing can be as creative as writing the book - or at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself, to wake up the creative part of my brain when I'm trying to think of ever more inventive ways to get my books noticed, but my brain just wants to daydream about the next book - characters jostling about trying to leap onto the the keyboard.

Book signings are always popular, but why do book signings always have to mean standing in a bookshop or in a  hall at some craft fair...? Isn't the internet the new craft fair, where we can meander about and find just what we wanted without all those wasted trips to town when we found nothing, but  ended up rushing back to the car before the parking ticket ran out...

So all I have to do is move my online bookshop out of the back alley it seems to be residing in, and drag it out into the main stream of internet traffic, but not in so much traffic that my books get knocked off their shelves, I don't want them getting dogeared...

Off to break open the next box of books now, to fill an order - so something must be working.

Living the dream, and dreaming of making a living from it, one book sale at a time...

Self publishing - making the book you want to make...

Hi there, I know I've got your attention - the stats don't lie, so why is nobody talking to me...?

Well, as nobody is going to say anything, it just leaves me to ramble on a bit more...

My next project:

I've made a start on my next project, well, when I say I've made a start, I'm making a start on  the illustrations and formatting - the text is already written, and it's an exciting story, although I do say  it myself.

It could be said that this book is taking me back to my comfort zone - it's another picture book. But on the other hand it means getting my paints out again, which is always a little out of my comfort zone - words always come easier than pictures, which is odd, given my very visual imagination...

So I'm going to be sploshing around with paints for the next few weeks - I can't think of a better way to spend a summer...

But launching into a new book is always an adventure - and the problems that jump out at me, are never where I expected to find them.

My latest book Outnumbered by Cats seemed on the face of it, as if the illustrations were going to be easy, after all  they are photos. But, first I got distracted by all those lovely photos of my cats and kittens, then my cat came to join me and was sat avidly watching videos, and listening to her kittens from when they were tiny - it was a pretty special moment.

Then I couldn't decide which photos to use, and had a terrible time editing them down to a whopping 82 colour photos... at which point my usual stubborn streak kicked in and I decided that as it was my project I would have all the photos I wanted - you can never have too many kitten photos can you...?

Next I had trouble with the picture quality, after all the work editing the image sizes down, it turned out I should have left well alone and just inserted them at original size and fiddled with them from there. Anyway where there's a will there's a way and after a lot of reworking my photos are all there in colour inserts.

So if anyone tries to tell you that a self publisher can't do a book with colour photos - don't listen, be stubborn and make the book you want to make - isn't that the point of self publishing after all...?

Everything you ever wanted to know about self publishing and a few things you didn't - ramblings of a self publisher...

So you found my blog - so I must be doing something right - self publishing is a buzz, there's no doubt about that, and as a creative person I love being able to keep control of every step myself, although when I'm on one of my learning curves it may not feel like it.

My learning curves mostly consist of when technology is trying to beat me, and I'm being stubborn and battling with it, every inch of the way... I seemed to get along with technology better once I stopped thinking that it was logical - I now believe that technology is far from logical, and we get along a lot better.I stopped believing for instance, that just because something worked one day, it doesn't mean its going to work in the same way the next... Technology has a warped sense of humour that I'm still trying to get my head around.

But self publishing meant that I had to get to grips with the technical side of formatting, especially as I like to make life hard for myself and include pictures - so they have to be forced to stick to the bit of the page where I want them, and not pile up at the bottom of the page like a discarded pack of cards. Of course it didn't help that the computer that I first started formatting on, was on its last legs, and that was sometimes the reason for nothing going as planned - not that I'm blaming my tools or anything - just saying.

Selling the books was my next learning curve, when I had to venture out from behind the computer - where I was starting to get quite comfortable. But I soon got used to sparking up conversations with random people about books - and for the most part they are very friendly and interested to meet a real live author, and many then want a book, signed by said real life author, which is all very good for the ego.

Selling online has to be my final learning curve - (until I come against another one that is). And so I find myself back behind my computer stubbornly carrying on against all odds, because books are the ideal product to sell online - customers can easily read the blurb or even an excerpt online and order a copy. They're easy to post and don't need food or water during transit. They won't break when they're launched through  a letterbox... so baring fire, flood, or someone's dog chewing them as they enter the house, they will arrive in good condition...

Thoughts, comments and questions always welcome... or I start to think I'm talking into an abyss...