Introduction to the Accountability Post 2021 Week 44
The first draft of Evolution’s Hand Book 2: Epsilon Eridani inched closer to completion this week. How much closer? I managed to complete the first draft of four more plot points. Only four are left, and they’re all Resolutions. I want to share my goals and my tentative next steps for Evolution’s hand Book 1: 61 Cygni. Before that, let’s take a look at the key performance indicators from last week.
Accountability Post 2021 Week 44 By the Numbers
All in all, not a bad week!
I honestly didn’t expect to hit my goals for last week. They included Liam Martin’s Resolution, and that was not a lot of fun to write. I kind of feel sorry for what I had to put him through! Not for the first time, I hope I never encounter a real-world Re:CREATORS scenario! If some of my characters ever got into reality, I might be in a bit of trouble.
Goals for This Week
I have four more plots to write. That will be between four and six chapters, if my averages hold true. So, let’s shoot for the sky! Here’re my goals:
- Finish Ira Malhotra’s Resolution
- Complete Atticus Porter’s Resolution
- Finish Helmine Stein’s Resolution
- Complete Melchizedek Conrad’s Resolution
Once I finish the first draft of Book 2, then, well… I’ll have some decisions to make!
Next Steps for Evolution’s Hand Book 1: 61 Cygni
I talked last week about what’s next for Book 1. A couple of years ago, I purchased a class from Nick Stephenson, and I got a lot out of it. I think I have an idea of what to do. But since I’ve never self-published before, I’m just not sure. So, I’m going to approach this as if I’m starting a business.
That means I want to sequence things properly. I want the prerequisites done in the right order. I want to write that process down so that as I publish more books, I can refine that process and make it better. If I don’t write the process down, how can I refine it? I already know it’s going to have way too many moving parts to try to keep it in my head!
Besides, I’m a writer. So, I should write!
Here’s what I’m thinking now:
- Purchase a cover for Books 1, 2, and 3
- Revise Book 1 based on the development edit
- Reedsy suggests a copy edit, then proofreading; I need to decide if I need both or I can skip to the proofreading stage
- Obtain an ISBN (probably a batch)
- Learn everything I need to know about formatting a book to upload to Amazon
I need to decide if I’m going to record my own audio book. I also need to decide if I want Book 2 ready to publish when I publish Book 1. If not, I need to understand what’s close enough, because I understanding timing can be important for the first several books in a series. I think I’ll talk more about these topics next week!
What Do You Think?
Have you self-published before? Are my next steps close to reasonable, or am I doomed? I’d love to hear your perspective in the comments!
Your steps look reasonable, however, there’s a lot of questions you need to ask yourself.
1. Are you going to publish with Amazon exclusively? If so, you don’t necessarily need an ISBN. If you want to release wide, they you will need one.
2. Formatting for Amazon is easy. They have a free ebook you can download that has the steps. I’ve done several and not had any issues.
3. Once you have your finished products what are you going to do with them? By that I mean, what’s the plan to release and promote. Best to think about that early. I’d recommend a rapid release schedule. However, you also want to maintain reader expectations.
4. What are you going to do to get reviews? It’s one of the hardest things, but essential. Some promotions sites will only allow you to advertise if you have a certain number of reviews.
5. Do you have a mailing list and a lead magnet to encourage readers to sign up? I’d recommend some sort of tie in to your trilogy. It should be something that they can only get by signing up to your newsletter.
I’d recommend getting all three as close to done as possible if you want to release them quickly and by quickly I mean over a three month period. If you’re planning on releasing them over a much longer time frame, you don’t need to have everything ready just yet.
I understand the benefits of rapid releasing, but I also think it sets an impossible schedule for you to try to keep to. I think I’ll be looking at quarterly releases once I’m ready, which is far more manageable.
As to audiobooks. If you can, I’d recommend looking into FindawayVoices. They have royalty share plans or you can pay the narrator. I think Audible also has similar plans. Of course, you could do it yourself.
In an ideal world, you’d want the ebook, paperback and audiobook to release at the same time so as to capitalise on the release date and promotions, should you do any. It’s not always possible, but that is how the trads do it.
There’s a lot of good info here! I think I might use it as the basis for my next week’s post.
Some quick notes: I’ve thought long and hard about whether I should go with Amazon exclusively. KDP Select can be a substantial percentage of income! But I have disaster recovery training, and the idea of all eggs, one basket just doesn’t sit well. That’s why I’m thinking about the ISBN.
Nick Stephenson’s courses were all about the setting up marketing and the sales funnel. I don’t know if I’m up to that. Some posts in the Facebook group 20 books to 50K have said they skipped that and still saw some success, but I have to believe they would have seen more success with a good marketing campaign. I’m still thinking about that.
Thanks for the suggestion of Findaway Voices. I’d never heard of them. I know the value of a professional, but I’m torn, because I’ve done audio narration before. I’d save a lot of money, but I’d spend a lot of time.
No mailing list yet, though I have plans for a sales magnet.
Lots of food for thought — thanks!