Or, How to Self Publish in Paperback Without Really Meaning To.
Well, that was surprisingly painless!
When my friend/writing buddy/cover designer Garrett Leigh suggested that I should look into self publishing paperback copies of The Dating Game through CreateSpace I was a bit dubious. I’d just spent a couple of weeks stressing over editing/proofreading/ebook formatting and was looking forward to relaxing once release day was over. Did I really need paperbacks? Sure, they’re pretty. But most people buy ebooks don’t they? The only time I’m ever sad about not having paperbacks for my novellas is when I go to book signing events. But was it really worth all the (imagined) hassle for that?
But I went and signed up for an account and looked at CreateSpace, just to see, and a strange thing happened over the course of a week or so. Somehow I ended up self publishing in paperback by stealth… mostly in odd chunks of time, usually at around about the time I should have been going to bed. One day I started filling out all the info, then another day I mucked about with formatting–making a hash of it a couple of times until somehow, magically (after a lot of googling and swearing) I got it looking right. At this stage, I wrote down exactly what I did so I will know for next time and can hopefully bypass the swearing stage.
So, I went back to the lovely Garrett and said okay then, please make me a print cover. And because she’s awesome she got it back to me within a couple of days. In the meantime I filled out the not-nearly-as-hard-as-it-sounds tax/payment bits, and did a bit of research on pricing.
On Monday this week I ordered the paperback proof. It arrived yesterday (Wednesday) and looked utterly fabulous. So I clicked the “Yes please publish my book in all the places” button, and CreateSpace told me it would be up on Amazon in a few days. But when I went to look this morning–just in case–it’s already there. Hurrah!
So there you have it. Self publishing your book in paperback is ridiculously easy and everyone should do it!
If you want to buy a copy of The Dating Game in all it’s crisp, real-paper-smelling and glossy-covered glory you can get it here:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.de
CreateSpace store
Authors, if you’re looking for a cover designer, please check out Garrett’s design website, Black Jazz Press. She’s very talented, and great to work with.