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Anyone here have experience writing (and publishing) a book? The training NCOIC from my unit self-published a book, and while I didn't talk to him about his experience, it seemed to work for him. I wished I had asked though.
I digress.
Several years ago—in those dark days before Facebook—on a local interest website someone asked for short, true stories, which I obliged. Long story short, those stories became very popular and remain so, even though that site itself isn’t popular anymore. I took my stories and have been editing them with the intent of assembling them into a book, which I am thinking I should self-publish because: A) I don’t know that any publisher would be interested & B) if one would be, I wouldn’t know where to find them or what to do…basically self-publishing seems easier. Either way, I hold no illusions that it would be a great success.
Has anyone written a book and if so did you self-publish it or did you find a publisher? How was the process? Positives and negatives?
Additionally, I was thinking about launching a website/blog partially as a sales outlet for my book, but in the long run, to use it as an outlet for myself and others to share similar true stories.
I digress.
Several years ago—in those dark days before Facebook—on a local interest website someone asked for short, true stories, which I obliged. Long story short, those stories became very popular and remain so, even though that site itself isn’t popular anymore. I took my stories and have been editing them with the intent of assembling them into a book, which I am thinking I should self-publish because: A) I don’t know that any publisher would be interested & B) if one would be, I wouldn’t know where to find them or what to do…basically self-publishing seems easier. Either way, I hold no illusions that it would be a great success.
Has anyone written a book and if so did you self-publish it or did you find a publisher? How was the process? Positives and negatives?
Additionally, I was thinking about launching a website/blog partially as a sales outlet for my book, but in the long run, to use it as an outlet for myself and others to share similar true stories.
Posted in these groups: 
Writing
Creative Writing
Writing Creative Writing
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 8
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I have several self published books, One a memoir of my horse, one romance novel, and three short stories in anthologies. I'm in the process of publishing a second romance novel that will be released by September. I have used both the print on demand services of create space for print books as well as e-books. I'd be happy to answer questions if you have any specific ones. I haven't made tons of money, but my sales have covered the cost of all my editing and cover art as well as given me a tiny bit of extra (but unreliable) income.
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Maj (Join to see)
I used Createspace to publish my books and then they are sold on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.
Note: if you worked for certain agencies or held certain clearance you have to get preapproval from the government prior to publishing your book. For instance: I was assigned to the NRO and have a life time obligation to have anything I write approved.
https://johniew398.wixsite.com/briananderson-series
Note: if you worked for certain agencies or held certain clearance you have to get preapproval from the government prior to publishing your book. For instance: I was assigned to the NRO and have a life time obligation to have anything I write approved.
https://johniew398.wixsite.com/briananderson-series
Book Website
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You've asked a bunch of seemingly simple questions which have long answers. Here's my latest royalty report and why I'm self-publishing my second book:
http://the-military-guide.com/2015/05/14/the-military-guide-sales-update-the-gsa-schedule-rocks/
If you enjoy writing and want to be published: Kindle Direct Publishing or CreateSpace. Most authors hire a graphic artist and some hire editors (or ask family/friends). You need a website to market your book, and the biggest boost comes from WordPress (for a few $$) or Blogspot (mostly free). This is literally a hundred-dollar startup (or less).
If you enjoy writing and want it to pay for itself: CreateSpace and a book series. Graphic artist and almost definitely an editor to advise you on subsequent books. You want to create a topic franchise (either non-fiction or fiction) and you want your readers to eagerly await your next book (with maybe an eBook or novella in between).
Use WordPress (the .ORG version on a self-hosted site like Bluehost) to market your book. Use Google AdSense, Amazon Associates, and other advertisers/affiliates to generate blog income. Start a Facebook group to answer reader questions, share personal writing stories, and generate the buzz for the next book. Start accounts on Twitter, Linkedin, and other social media sites. Depending on what you want to do and what you choose to delegate, you're between $150-$1000.
For the most efficient use of your time & effort, start the blog now. Use your book outline as one of the first posts. Subsequent posts should work through the outline until you've written the book. Then gather all of those blog posts into the manuscript and start the publishing process. Along the way you can use the blog for reader feedback, cover-art polls or contests, and personal stories about the process. By the time you self-publish you'll have a ready-made audience and a higher keyword ranking to help drive sales.
This is dangerously close to a full-time job, but you can set your own pace until your readers start pestering you.
If you really want to make a career out of your writing then consider public speaking (especially for non-fiction) or start hustling media appearances & conventions (for fan promotions on fiction). At that point the books are mostly giveaways to leverage your speaking & appearance fees. You probably won't want to even consider this until one of your books sells over 10,000 copies, and you'll be running an entrepreneurial business. You don't want to quit your day job until the royalties pay the bills, or until you've saved up two years of living expenses.
Let me know if you want to drill down on an area in this, or contact me if you have more detailed questions. Every year I attend FinCon, and every year several dozen of my fellow bloggers & entrepreneurs have published their next book.
You can also scroll through this category of posts:
http://the-military-guide.com/category/books-publishing/
About half of them are book reviews, but over the last four years I've also written extensively about writing, blogging, and publishing.
http://the-military-guide.com/2015/05/14/the-military-guide-sales-update-the-gsa-schedule-rocks/
If you enjoy writing and want to be published: Kindle Direct Publishing or CreateSpace. Most authors hire a graphic artist and some hire editors (or ask family/friends). You need a website to market your book, and the biggest boost comes from WordPress (for a few $$) or Blogspot (mostly free). This is literally a hundred-dollar startup (or less).
If you enjoy writing and want it to pay for itself: CreateSpace and a book series. Graphic artist and almost definitely an editor to advise you on subsequent books. You want to create a topic franchise (either non-fiction or fiction) and you want your readers to eagerly await your next book (with maybe an eBook or novella in between).
Use WordPress (the .ORG version on a self-hosted site like Bluehost) to market your book. Use Google AdSense, Amazon Associates, and other advertisers/affiliates to generate blog income. Start a Facebook group to answer reader questions, share personal writing stories, and generate the buzz for the next book. Start accounts on Twitter, Linkedin, and other social media sites. Depending on what you want to do and what you choose to delegate, you're between $150-$1000.
For the most efficient use of your time & effort, start the blog now. Use your book outline as one of the first posts. Subsequent posts should work through the outline until you've written the book. Then gather all of those blog posts into the manuscript and start the publishing process. Along the way you can use the blog for reader feedback, cover-art polls or contests, and personal stories about the process. By the time you self-publish you'll have a ready-made audience and a higher keyword ranking to help drive sales.
This is dangerously close to a full-time job, but you can set your own pace until your readers start pestering you.
If you really want to make a career out of your writing then consider public speaking (especially for non-fiction) or start hustling media appearances & conventions (for fan promotions on fiction). At that point the books are mostly giveaways to leverage your speaking & appearance fees. You probably won't want to even consider this until one of your books sells over 10,000 copies, and you'll be running an entrepreneurial business. You don't want to quit your day job until the royalties pay the bills, or until you've saved up two years of living expenses.
Let me know if you want to drill down on an area in this, or contact me if you have more detailed questions. Every year I attend FinCon, and every year several dozen of my fellow bloggers & entrepreneurs have published their next book.
You can also scroll through this category of posts:
http://the-military-guide.com/category/books-publishing/
About half of them are book reviews, but over the last four years I've also written extensively about writing, blogging, and publishing.
"The Military Guide" Sales Update (The GSA Schedule Rocks!) - Military Guide
This update took a few extra months to put together. It’s even more outdated than usual. When I talk about book sales with my writing friends, I get confused looks and pitying smiles. Most of them have self-published their manuscripts as eBooks, or used a service like Amazon’s CreateSpace for both hardcopy and eBooks. …
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Look into Writers Digest They publish a magazine and a yearly book that lists comprehensively all of the publishing houses and their requirements. It is a very useful monster of a book. Good luck with the book. I'd like to see a story or two.
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