I’ve been playing with the thought of Traditional and Indie publishing and find the pitfalls of both very interesting.
I enjoy reading how many writers go down the self-publishing route and break the failure barrier.
Now I know there is little to no guarantee of success, but I am a sucker for a happy ending, so I have been reading a lot of interviews and advice from many sources, one of which is the Writers and Artists web site.
Check it out here
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/self-publishing/articles/interviews-on-self-publishing
So, following this I have signed up for a CreateSpace account, and one thing I found was you do need to be a little savvy about business issues to start.
First of all, you need to complete an IRS tax status declaration, regardless of which country you are a citizen of. Because I already have an individual tax account due to my independent, limited liability consultancy, I have a unique tax reference for personal tax returns. Hence, I could complete all aspects of this declaration.
Be aware that you cannot dodge the tax man (or woman) when it comes to indie publishing. Though for us honest, law-abiding writers, this won’t be a problem.
I am not going to be self-publishing my book at any point shortly, as I am currently in a revision cycle of the story. But I like to be aware of workings behind anything and publishing is becoming fascinating to me.
The concept of creating a publishing company, buying ISBNs, marketing, working with a book cover designer, editor and book formatting is my kind of fun. Sad, I know but I enjoy a challenge.
The opportunity to work with a traditional publisher is, of course, mine and anybody’s dream, but I must keep my options (and sanity) open.
The technical aspects of publishing don’t phase me. Marketing is not necessarily new to me as I have to market my consultancy in some, minor respects but I already have several ideas around this area, and in all of the interviews and suggestions I have read, no one has suggested these.
“That’s because they won’t work,” I hear you cry. Could be right but I want to try these approaches anyway.
Should I go down the indie route and they work, then I can write a how-to book about it.
Emae Church 