Getting ready to self-publish

A few months ago, I made a decision: I will self-publish ALL of my poetry books. As I explained to one writer who sympathized with my decision, I was tired of the whole cat-and-mouse game I'd been playing with TWO different publishers. For over 4 years, I have been going back and forth with these publishers who wanted to publish my book, but nothing happened. Had I made the decision to self-publish this book long ago, it would have been in print by now!

So I just got fed up and threw in the towel with trying to get the book published traditionally. I just didn't want to rely on somebody else to make that happen. Nobody in the world cares more about YOUR book than you do. And I care about this book enough to stop being lead around on a leash by traditional publishers. I just decided I'll do this thing myself.

Ever since I made that decision, I have consulted with a lot of people who have taken the self-publishing route. I am still consulting with them! There are still some others I need to talk to about this. I have also been reading EVERYTHING I can get my hands on about self-publishing. I want to learn everything I can and get it right this time. The one time I SP'd a poetry book, it was a failure. (Mainly because the font I chose for it ended up being a bad idea and I could not afford a bar code or ISBN number at the time, limiting my options to sell and market the book.) Still, I'm not giving up!

I want this book to be published. I am passionate about this book.

And, in fact, I have discovered that I WANT to self-publish my poetry books. You know? Just one book a year. Even if nobody buys them.

So my next decision was, which printing option should I use? I will never again go the vanity root. My first poetry book was published by a vanity press, with zero distribution and marketing once it came out. And it's hard to get it into bookstores. So, that's NOT going to happen again.

Already tried the traditional self-publishing route, with the second book. Moving on.

So I thought, what about POD? I checked and THE one POD company I wholeheartedly support (Booklocker.com) does not publish poetry books. However, I AM going to take the new version of my novel, November's Child, through them. (The new version is called Shadow of Samhain and even though I had some personal struggles with it, which I will talk about later, I have a strong feeling that this is the perfect route for me to take with it. I will explain why later, when I talk about those personal struggles.)

I looked at Lulu.com (which MANY fellow poets I know have heartily endorsed) and CreateSpace, which is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. Both of them look promising. A fellow poet I network with recently tried CreateSpace for her poetry book, and I'm keeping tabs on her progress. However, I am also asking questions of poets who have used Lulu.com. I have not yet decided on one, but just checking them out and trying to decide which is the better option. (Just a note: these poetry books are a labor of love for me. I'm not doing this to become a millionaire, or anything.)

Money is one of the factors in the decision I will make. I am on a limited income and have only so much money to spare each month. I also have very little time to freelance to make the money I need for all of the things I need it for (my baby's surgery, a laptop, paying the cover designer, etc.). What time I DO have to write has to go towards working on the books I am under contract to write! So the less amount of money I will have to spend for this, the better. Am I being a bad author by skimping on the cost to self-publish the book? I can't say, but I do know I'll give it my best effort with what funds I WILL have available for it.

I am also putting together a marketing plan for this book. I am trying to figure out ways I can promote it (again, on the limited budget!) and how I can market it.

Here's hoping that, as the saying goes, the third time will be the charm.