How to be a self-published author, my version!

February 2014 sending my first book to printers

At least once a month someone asks me, “How did you become an author?”

I stifle my self-conscious giggles and admit, “it just kinda ... happened.”

In 2008, I thought my husband Lawrie’s idea of retirement in paradise was an amazingly brilliant plan – but after five years I was bored silly. I needed something to occupy my brain so I taught myself to write and publish books. 

But that’s not exactly what the person is asking when they say how did you become an author. What they really want is for me to tell them in a twenty-minute conversation, what has taken me years to learn.

Lynda and Diego Medina (Illustrator)

With this vocation the learning curve only goes one way – up, it never flattens out or descends. There is always something more to figure out. Perhaps it is a change in Kindle Direct Publishing or different ideas on how to manage your keywords so that your soon-to-be-world-famous-novel will even show up when readers search for their particular interests. I am still discovering more information every single day.

My first book was an illustrated bilingual book for children, The Adventures of Thomas the Cat - Las Aventuras de Tomás el Gato. Two island friends Caroline Beebe and Harriet Lowe, gave me a gentle shove - right between the shoulder blades. They suggested I write a children’s book.

I told Lawrie what I planned to do. He said, “Great! Do it.” He was always up for a new adventure.

So, I did.

How much do they weigh? 38 boxes of books

I needed an illustrator – Diego Medina became that person. I needed translators – Maura Medina and Christy Dix helped with that. I needed to get the books printed – I searched Mexico, the USA, and Canada for affordable printers, and in the end, ordered direct from China. The shipment took two months to travel from China to the western side of Mexico, across the country by truck, and then finally arrived in Cancun.

Then, Lawrie and I drove into the city, loaded the boxes, drove home, and unloaded the boxes. The next day we humped them up nineteen stairs to our storage area on the second floor and later celebrated with a cold cervesa.

As a self-published author, an Indie (Independent), I am the writer, the marketing director, the accountant, the warehouse staff, and the delivery person.

Sparky - I'm bored with this writing stuff!

Wearing my writer’s cap, I find a different way to phrase a sentence, come up with plot ideas, invent characters, and make stuff happen to my imaginary people. I also load the manuscript into publishing programs and search for formatting errors. Each book can take several hours of reviewing, reformatting, and re-posting. I write the marketing blurbs and sometimes I am the photographer for the covers. Our friend Tony Garcia’s beautiful photographs grace the covers of my first three novels; Treasure Isla, Trouble Isla, and Tormenta Isla. I used my photos for Temptation Isla, Terror Isla, Twisted Isla, and Tangled Isla because the photos just happened to suit the mood of the titles.

I was stuck in banos at fair

As the marketing director, I continuously monitor my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Bookbub, and worldwide Amazon profiles and pages. Amazon has many different markets that require individual updates for author profiles. It’s time-consuming, but I do get a few sales from other countries other than just the USA, Canada, and Mexico. I have learned lots of different terms like Search Engine Optimization and keywords. With a very small, almost non-existent marketing budget I frequently ask or beg for reader reviews to be posted on Amazon, Goodreads, or Bookbub. Reviews make a big difference to the visibility of a book when a potential buyer is searching for something new to read. 

(Did you catch that? I managed to squeeze in another plea for a review.)

Another part of my marketing responsibilities is to participate in local artist's fairs. Selling books one-on-one is rewarding both financially and personally, but time-consuming and tough on my feet and knees. 

Copies that need collating for editing 

As the office manager, I keep track of expenses and revenue hoping that one day the revenue will be more than the expenses, a lot more. Paperback copies that I sell on the island are subject to shipping and importation fees. Amazon takes a big bit out of my revenue for income tax holdback because I am not an American citizen, and for hosting my listings, printing the paperbacks, electronically delivering the e-books, and promoting my books. Promoting-ish. The Amazon machine primarily pushes the successful authors. Perhaps one day that will be Sparky and I.

The warehouse manager, yep, that’s me, takes delivery from the Fed-Ex or DHL driver then humps the thirty-five-pound boxes of books up our spiral staircase, sets up the displays at artist fairs or book signings, and delivers copies to retailers and or guest houses on the island. The warehouse staff – me again – also ensures there is sufficient stock on hand to cover island sales.

2016 the Artist Fair on Isla

As an Indie author (Independent) I rely heavily on the kindness of friends. I have a gang of volunteer editors and proofreaders who do a fantastic job of catching my mistakes. Carmen Amato, a very successful author of the Detective Emilia Cruz series re-designed my first two covers. My friend Diego Medina has created the last three book covers. I have a group of local friends who willingly share stories about growing up on the island. They are the folks who help make my stories authentic.

Sparky and I are still working on the rich and famous thing. As it stands, Sparky enjoys a small steak on Saturdays and I treat myself to a favourite bottle of red vino. He’s famous, I’m his lesser-known servant, and we’re definitely not rich.

Has anyone else noticed a recurring theme in this blog post? I do this. I do that. And Sparky does what? I need to renegotiate his contract.

If you are truly interested in becoming an author just get in there and do it. It’s hard work, it’s fun, and for me very satisfying to create something out of thin air.

I really miss Lawrie’s insightful assistance and our celebration after the successful launch of yet another book. Tuesday, September 3^rd will be the first anniversary of his passing, and I am pushing hard to have Book #5, Terror Isla available on Amazon to commemorate him.

My assistant 2017

Chat soon, cheers

Lynda & Sparky