Monthly Archives: January 2015

Self-Publishing Journey: Week 4

Week 4: Publish Your Book Like A Professional

There are two kinds of self-publishing authors: those who slap it together themselves for cheap and throw it at an unsuspecting public and those who treat their book as professionally as a traditional publisher would. I stand with both feet firmly planted on the second strategy. I take this publishing step as seriously as I took the writing step. Otherwise, what was the point of working so hard on writing it?

When I made this leap into self-publishing, it wasn’t without serious consideration. What I came to understand was that “Why Kimba Saved The World” was never going to appeal to a mainstream publisher. I just had to face up to that fact. The real photos in the book (which some readers love and others don’t) made it different. I’d never published a book before, so that made me an unknown variable. Without an agent to bang down doors for me, I could spend years submitting and getting nowhere. Probably not even getting read. If I wanted “Kimba” to ever see the light of day, I was going to have to do it myself, but I had no idea where to start.

It was now mid-2012, and self-publishing had become the easiest and least expensive it had ever been. I don’t remember the exact train of events, but I had connections with publishing experience from my years of freelancing. Through conversations with other writers and former editors, I was hooked up with a “book guide.” This is an individual who has even more connections, knows how the self-publishing process works, and can walk you through and help you create a book. I had never met Carol Hohle, but I had rubbed shoulders with her husband during the time I worked in Boston doing research and compiling “Blessings of Forgiveness” for the Writings of Mary Baker Eddy. Her help guiding me through the process was invaluable.

Self-publishing is rather like building a house. I remember my sister griping about having to make a billion little decision on the house she built years ago. “I don’t care what kind of hinges are on the kitchen cabinets!” Creating a book is the same way. You need to be clear on exactly what you want the final product to look like and make lots of little decisions along the way.

What size will the book be? What size font are you going to use? Which font? How large are your margins going to be? What will the chapter beginnings look like? That’s not even touching on what the cover will look like. Don’t forget the text on the back of the book. Hugely important! Then there’s the whole process of getting the book set up on CreateSpace and KDP—just the business end of things. It can be overwhelming, but it has to be done right. A good book guide can walk you through the whole thing.

As we have evaluated the costs associated with the production of my first three books, we have already made some changes to move things in-house. That can save on cost, but I would only do this if I felt the end product would look as professional as it did in other hands. There were MANY discussions, and Scott and I didn’t always agree. There are some corners I refuse to cut, no matter how much he sighs.

Carol was heavily involved in both of my first two books, but by Book 3 I was ready to take on some of that on my own. Frankly, I had to. Formatting using InDesign is a time-consuming process, so it’s expensive to pay someone else to do it. Knowing that we are in this for the long haul, we decided to get a subscription for the whole Creative Cloud package (which also got us the invaluable AdobePro system). As a teacher, I can get it at a great price. I also use InDesign to create flyers and table toppers and ads, so it is a really useful program for the business of creating books and marketing them.

There is one point in the process I will never take in-house. You will hear it said from one end of self-publishing to the other, and I won’t be any different. DO NOT CREATE YOUR OWN BOOK COVERS!!! Unless you have serious cred as a graphic designer and artist, do not do it yourself. This is self-publishing suicide. Readers absolutely judge a book by its cover. It’s what attracts them and gets them to pick it up (click on it) instead of the million other books wafting by. I will pass up a freebie if the cover is for crap. And, sadly, I’ve done this more than a few times. To me, it sends a message that the inside will be for crap as well. That may not be true, but I’m a consumer, just like the rest.

I could write a whole blog on cover design, but that’s not my goal here. You can do your own search on that. My point, for my purposes in this series, is that we are not considering taking cover production in-house even though it is now the most expensive part of the production process for us. It is just too important to take a risk on. Scott is not always in agreement on this one. He really wants me to learn how to use all the programs I now have access to through Creative Cloud. For me, it’s not worth my time – also suspecting that I’ll just end up back with my cover designer to help me clean it up.

As I said, what I have started doing is formatting the text through InDesign on my own. This cuts $1,500 to $2,000 off the production costs. It takes weeks to do, and I messed up the book size on “Miss Fatty Cat’s Revenge” and had to go back through the whole thing. Lesson learned. For me, this was still worth it because the CFO across the hall was ready to put on the brakes on Book 3 for a while. I had to do whatever I could to keep that from happening.

There are lots of ways you can format a book. Word documents can be downloaded to amazon.com. Scrivener has its own system of ebook formatting. Writers I know sing this program’s praises to the moon. Be sure you check it out. I’ll be looking into that more myself in the future. I spend a few hundred dollars having someone create my ebooks, so that program might be helpful. Here’s where the books I am specifically creating are different than adult books or some kids books. I need genuine formatting.

For my Cats in the Mirror books (and Max’s companion book, now in the works) I wanted specific fonts and have fancy chapter beginnings with an icon photo next to the number. There are photos inserted throughout. My books need to be genuinely formatted in a system that will make them look exactly how I want them to look. This was beyond important to me. I wanted to sit on the shelf next to a traditionally published book and look just the same, if not better. Do a “look inside” at amazon.com to see what I mean.

For example, when we first got the ball rolling, Carol asked me what books I thought my books were like. Which books did I want them to look like? After doing some research, I settled on the Humphrey the Hamster series. The cover was like what I had in mind—a real photo mixed with cartoon elements—and it was for the same reading level. That decision drove everything else from the size of the book to the font we used. It helped my cover designer know what style I was looking for.

Humphries

Can you see how similar the style is??

Rezised Facebook Banner Photo

Lesley Hollinger Vernon worked on the cover for “Kimba” with Carol as our intermediary. I never talked directly with her. For “Vacation Hiro” we talked directly to save on time/money. For Book 3, Carol was not involved, but I still went right to Lesley. Developing that relationship and understanding of the style of a series is HUGE! Book 1 went through several stages of cover design and changes to background color and animation. Book 2 had a few changes from the first proof to the final. Book 3 was almost perfect from the first draft. We just tweaked it a bit for color and minor details. We have developed a style for the series, and it never occurred to me to go with anyone but Lesley for Max’s book this spring. Finding that person for your cover design is huge. Don’t skimp on it. I absolutely know that I have sold paperback books, often all three as a set, without the books even being opened. I can talk about the plot, but the covers sealed the deal and sold them. That’s what you need!!

So, in our final analysis, going with a book guide was right for us. Carol saved me tons of headaches and redos, especially in dealing with CreateSpace. But as we have learned and progressed, we were able to take on everything she was doing for us. You may be happy to leave all of that in someone else’s hands. That’s okay too. For us, it was really financial. Carol was worth the money, we just didn’t have it to spend. And, I have to admit, I enjoy doing the formatting myself. I am a proudly professed control freak. I love making little final tweaks to the text as I move it from Word to InDesign. I’ve even changed words so they fit on the page better (never hyphenating words is a decision we made on Book 1). I can end up with everything exactly how I want it. That’s a move I’m glad we made.

Over the next year, I’d really love to learn more about the ebook formatting process and making changes to what is already done. I love the ones I have, and it’s not terribly expensive, but making updates when a new book comes out can add up. It’s also somewhere that design is not really an issue. I’ve already done that. There’s just technology to be learned. I doubt I will have the time to do that before “Max’s Wild Night” is ready to go, but I’ll be poking at it to update the Cats in the Mirror books with links to the new book. Maybe I can figure it out!

There are a hundred ways you can produce your book (ebook or paperback or hardcover). Plot it all out well. Consider everything along the way. Again, are you hoping to make money from this process? You are going to have to take it all as seriously and professionally as a traditional publisher would. You are establishing your reputation as writer and as a self-publisher. Give it 100%.

Do you have a book guide or a cover designer you would recommend?

Next Week: Where to Publish

 

Self-Publishing Journey: Week 3

Week 3: Set Your Goals And Expectations

So now you have honed your writing skills (week 1) and written a fantastic book (week 2). Here’s where you need to decide what your long-term goals and expectations are for this masterpiece. We did that at the start, but instead of goals they were really more like hopes and dreams. We hadn’t taken the time to do research and determine what we could realistically expect. Most of the stories writers hear are the “lightning in a bottle” ones. If your goal is to be that writer, you will end up highly disappointed 99.9% of the time.

You need to be clear about what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what you hope will come out of it. This is where the creative hat needs to be set aside and you need to become a publisher—assuming you want to make any money. A business person. I have run my own business before, so I had some experience with this. My husband has been a CFO, so he rules with a loving-but-practical fist from the office across the hall from me. We weren’t just publishing a book or a series of books. We were creating a business, and it needs to end up being profitable at some point. Otherwise, I can just write articles for magazines.

So, in this new business of self-publishing, what are your goals?

Traditional publishing is still an attainable goal. Maybe you want to exhaust that option first. But it isn’t what it used to be. If you think you really want to go that route come hell or high water so you can have a book tour and tons of money and publicity pouring into the promotion of your book, think again. Obviously, publishers have a vested interest in promoting and supporting every book they produce, but, unlike in decades past, they are going to expect most of that work to come from the author. Publishing staffs are limited. Funds are limited. Only the top few books that come out of that publishing house that year will get most of that staff and financial support.

This is why it is increasingly hard to get the attention of a traditional publishing house. They only want bonafide, sure-thing success. I did attempt that route for a bit with “Why Kimba Saved The World,” but I don’t have an agent to fight for me (and I’m not sure that would have helped). I don’t have proven main-stream success. My book is different and has personal pictures in a science fiction story. What’s a traditional publisher to do with that? The odds were highly stacked against me.

Self-publishing is a fantastic way to go, but you need to be clear about what you expect from the experience. What kind of book have you written? Does it have mainstream appeal? Have you written an autobiography so your family can know your history? Do you think you have the next amazon.com bestseller? Who is your target market? How many books a year do they buy? Where are you going to sell and market this book? How padded is your checkbook?

There are literally millions upon millions of books listed on amazon.com. A larger and larger percentage are self-published (31% was a number I saw recently), with varying levels of skill and talent. It is possible, with very little difficulty, expense, or computer literacy, to self-publish your life story. That’s outstanding, unless you expect to make a million dollars selling it. Expectations here are everything. Set realistic goals.

This is where reading up on self-publishing is a great idea. I’m in the middle of reading Write, Publish, Repeat, written as a team by well-experienced self-publishing authors. They are hilarious to read, first of all, but also able to share their success and failures—rather like I’m trying to do now. You need to know what you are getting into. I’ve read a bunch of books on the subject. Some are helpful, some are pie-in-the-sky.

My hopes and expectations for self-publishing were that I could get my books into reader’s hands, cover my costs in the first two years, and actually make a profit after that so I could quit my day job, so to speak. My long-term goal is to have writing be my sole income source. That may not be how seriously you are looking at diving into it, but, as I said in past weeks, I have been writing and making income from writing for years. I was ready to kick it up a notch.

However, I must admit that I’m glad I had not read the statistic that self-published middle grade level books are the absolutely hardest to sell when we started this journey. My husband would have certainly put on the brakes. I didn’t intentionally write a book for that audience. That’s how the story evolved. You have to go with your heart, but when you are setting goals it’s also good to know what you are up against. I guess. But I’m glad we didn’t.

I know it sounds like I’m contradicting myself, but that has happened a lot over the last few years. When those hopes and dreams are bubbling out of you, it’s hard to even hear the realities of the business side of things. Do your best to find out the facts, but don’t let them govern your whole experience. Just let them help make your goals attainable so you don’t end up heartbroken and frustrated a few years down the pipe.

While we have had good years so far, my dream is still a twinkle in my eye. The realities of it all have helped us to adjust those goals a few more years out, but we haven’t let them go.

Just to give you an idea, here’s my sales numbers for “Why Kimba Saved The World” for the last two years.

  • I’ve sold 424 paperback copies, mostly by hand/face-to-face at events.
  • I’ve had 46 copies borrowed through the Kindle Owner’s Library system.
  • I’ve had free downloads of 14,800 copies through amazon.com promotions.
  • I’ve given away 122 copies to reviewers, contests, and giveaways (like at Goodreads.com).
  • I sold many, many more copies of “Kimba” in 2014 than in 2013, which means sales are increasing. Ding! Ding!
Yay, Kimba!

Yay, Kimba!

If you have researched self-publishing, especially for middle grade children’s books, you’ll know that those are actually fantastic numbers. Many self-published books never sell more than 100 copies. But my sales have come at a price. “Kimba” cost around $3,000 to produce between editing, cover art, paperback formatting (which I now do myself), and ebook creation. The book has yet to break even financially. Don’t even get me started on the cost of some of that booth space for those face-to-face contacts. That will be a whole blog installment on its own. That doesn’t mean, however, that “Kimba” isn’t out there building a name for me, winning awards, and gaining a loyal fan base of readers who pick up my next book without question. That kind of book establishes you as a true writer. This is where writing a series, or at least more books, comes into play. Yes, those free downloads drive the sales of Book 2 and Book 3 in the series. More on that another week.

Sadly, I have not seen all of my goals come to fruition yet. I’ve adjusted some along the way. Yes, it will be a couple of years before I can hit up Scholastic to do a boxed set of Cats in the Mirror books. That dream is still a twinkle in my eye, but it is still a twinkle. You have to have dreams! Dreams and goals can intersect, but the goals should be more practical.

What do you really hope to gain from this self-publishing journey this year alone? In the next five years? Will you stick with it, no matter what? (I have a YES on that one in my heart, but financial reality is another thing.)

There are folks out there living off an income from self-published books, but it didn’t happen in a year. As I am doing, those folks wrote and wrote and built a reputation. Traditionally published authors have to do that as well. I know writers who give away their books all the time. Some just write because they love it, don’t ever hope to see a dime, and just want to share what they have done. Others are hoping to attract fans through those free books. Again, it’s all about your expectations.

Before you jump off the self-publishing cliff, take some time to write down exactly what you hope to gain from the experience. Will you just publish this one book? Are you clear on who it is for? Are you willing to set up booths at craft fairs, pay for advertising, accept honest (maybe bad) reviews, talk at conferences about your subject (non-fiction books require this), and step outside your comfort zone to get your book noticed?

There are many ways to go about this process of self-publishing. We’ll talk about the ways to actually create the book you can sell next time. Being clear on what you hope to gain from the process can help you decide what steps are next. Don’t care if you make a dime? Don’t spend $3,000 on creating the book. Easy-peasy. You want to make this a career? You are going to have to pay some folks along the way, buy some computer systems (like InDesign and AdobePro), and put some cash into it. I don’t regret a penny that we spent on “Kimba” because it looks fantastic and I learned so much in the process. I can do much of that work on my own now, but I would have had no clue without the help and support of the book guide I hired (thank you, Carol Hohle Communications!). More on that later too.

If you are hoping for that writing career track, spend a good chunk of time researching. Know the market for a book like yours. Make sure the title is unique. Make sure the book has something unique to offer. Find where you fit into the world of books and set your goals clearly. Be ready to adjust (I certainly have), but it help to know what road you are running down before you set off on the journey.

Next Week: Publish Your Book Like A Professional

 

Self-Publishing Journey: Week 2

Week 2: Write the Best Book Possible

For the second installment in my self-publishing reflective journey it only seems prudent to start with the most logical but often overlooked part of the business: You have to write a good book. It would seem like this goes without saying, but from what I have found out there in the indie-pub world it is a major problem. Just because you wrote it and love it does not mean it is good enough for publication. I’m not even talking about technical stuff and proofreading. Write a good story. Readers still want a good story. As I take stock of the projects Serenity Mountain Publishing has going forward, this is still our number one goal.

As with anything that becomes easy and inexpensive to accomplish, like self-publishing, not everyone doing it should be doing it. My husband and I have a running joke that at every event we attend selling my books someone will stop at our booth and tell us how she has a great book idea…if only she had the time to write it. Being a writer and producing a good book is not a matter of having some spare time. Actually, most writers can tell you stories about what they gave up to find time to write. Writing is an art. Writing is a craft. Writing is a business. As with anything else under those banners, someone who has never even dipped his toe into the medium and magically thinks he can produce a good book simply because he has a good idea is living in a fool’s paradise.

Writers don’t just write, they go to workshops to perfect their craft. They go to conferences to network and learn from other writers. They have their writing critiqued and edited and listen to beta readers and redo and rewrite until they think their heads will explode and maybe their hearts will break. Double that effort if the manuscript has potential to be really good.

If you have never published your written words (your blog doesn’t count), start out with some articles or short stories. Submit to literary magazines. Find a writer’s group in your area. Go to local and regional conferences and enter their annual competitions. Get genuine feedback on your writing. Mom and Dad don’t count. If you have an idea for a book, by all means write it. Work on it. But you should probably wait to publish it and put it out into the world until you are sure it is the best it can be.

I’ll use “Why Kimba Saved The World” as an example because it’s the best one I personally have. Week 1’s blog already established that I had the first part of being a writer in hand. I had been edited and critiqued and published substantially. I was a genuine freelance writer. I had the foundation I needed to take this story idea—about my cat being part of an alien race that communicate with the mother ship through the mirrors in our homes and maybe want to take over the world—and turn it into a book. This was also not my first stab at writing a book for children. I have a few still in my drawer waiting for the right time and story evolution to publish them. A picture book idea was declined “with regret” years ago, which depressed me at the time, but now I know that it should have been encouraging. I got a personal answer at all!

Kimba Cover KDP Version 3

“Kimba” started off as an early reader book in 2011. With over a decade as a reading-focused teacher and tutor, I saw a big hole in quality reading for first and second grade kids who are ready for chapter books. That’s what the first draft of “Kimba” was aimed toward. Simple story. Simple writing. Story wise, it was okay. There’s only so much you can develop at that level, but I was happy with it. Submissions began and went on for over a year. “Nice, but not right for our list” came from the two or three publishing houses who even bothered to respond. One agent agreed to read it but then didn’t feel it tickled her fancy quite right. None of this is uncommon, even for books that end up being huge traditionally published successes, but I was running out of options. Most publishers are closed for non-agented submissions.

So I revisited the manuscript and pondered its future. One idea that niggled at me was that maybe I should kick it up a notch for older readers. That would allow for so much more story development. A few weeks later I got back the critique results for “Kimba” from an agent at the SCBWI conference in Brazos Valley, TX. (If you write books for kids and do not know about the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, stop reading this now and click on the link to find out more!) She thought it was a cute story but suggested that it might be a good idea to develop it more for older readers. Ding, Ding.

My tweenage daughter wanted to take a couple of friends to Dave and Buster’s for her birthday party, so I armed them each with a prepaid game card and set them loose. Then I tucked myself in to a booth in the bar area and began to “what if” for Kimba and her story. This is a tried and true method for breaking writer’s block or helping a story progress. For over two hours, I just made notes. I imagined all kinds of side stories for Kimba’s character and developed what other characters she would need around her during those adventures. I filled pages of a yellow legal pad. When we walked out of Dave and Buster’s, I had ideas not only for a more developed version of “Kimba” but also for other books in the series. The titles for “Miss Fatty Cat’s Revenge” and “Slinky Steps Out” came quickly afterward. Months of revisions and notes and rewriting followed. I got inspirations at conferences. My beta readers gave me ideas. It sat in the drawer now and then and rested. My editor got her two cents in.

By the time it was published, I felt that “Why Kimba Saved The World” was in the best shape it could be. That doesn’t mean it is the best book ever published, or that I wouldn’t tweak a few things now, but it was ready. It has been rewarded with predominantly good reviews (which is the best you can hope for), won a Bronze Moonbeam Children’s Book Award as “Best First Book” in the chapter book category, earned a Silver Mom’s Choice Award, and is Story Monster Approved by kids. Over 15,000 copies are out there in the world on kindle or in paperback. All that tells me that I’m on the right track, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t go through all the same dramas with the next books along the way.

Writing well should always be the first goal, and it’s a never-ending process.

A good book doesn’t just leap fully developed from the head of Zeus. Okay, there’s always that one example of lightning striking that everyone loves to hold to. I’m not saying it has never happened. What I’m saying is that I have attempted to read many, many self-published authors who THINK this is what happened for them. They are absolutely wrong.

Learn how to write. Get writing experience. Become a writer. Keep becoming a better writer. Professional actors still take acting lessons and have coaches. Professional singers continue to get training and work with teachers. Professional writers are exactly the same. Every book, every story, is a new adventure, and it needs the best you have in you.

Here’s the thing. If you are not really interested in being a writer and learning the craft, you are wasting your time publishing a book. It only gets harder and more demanding from there. We will talk about goals and target market later. If you are just doing a family memoir that no one but your kids will ever read, whatever. I’m talking about a genuine book. One that could be sold at Barnes and Noble on the shelf next to traditionally published books. If that’s what you want to produce, write the best book that you can.

I’d love to hear who supports your writing! My husband and family are always my first readers—and are happy being totally honest with me—and I pay editors along the way. Currently, I am a member of SCBWI, the Ozark Writer’s League, and an honorary member of the Northwest Arkansas Writer’s Workshop. I’ll make it to a critique session one of these days! Find the other writers and readers who can support your journey. Write the best book that you possibly can.

Do you enjoy face-to-face critique groups? Do you use beta readers? What associations, groups, and conferences have been most helpful? Who has supported and is supporting your writing journey? Share in the comments section below.

PS: My Word of the Week video for Stanley and Katrina is live. Max joined me for this one since his book is up next. Click here! It’s a great program to follow for kids at home or in a classroom setting!

MegDendlerChortleCollage

I also just finished proofreading a book called “Depraved” for Pen-L Publishing. Excellent! I’ve seen the cover, and it is fantastic too. An alternate title might be “Bitches Be Cray-Cray” because the characters in this book need some serious therapy. I’ll post the link once it is up.

Next week’s blog: Set Your Goals and Expectations

 

Self-Publishing Journey: Week 1

Week 1: Introduction

Starting off 2015, I’m taking some time to review the self-publishing journey that we have been taking here at Serenity Mountain Publishing over the last three years or so. When thousands of hours and dollars are being invested in any venture, sometimes you have to stop and take stock of the situation. What worked? What didn’t? What REALLY didn’t? As my business partner (my husband, Scott) and I makes notes and regroup, I thought I’d share what we have learned and hopefully help others who are in the middle of the same journey or wondering if they should make the leap. This is not going to end up as a book. There are enough of those. You can just be a part of our mental download and evaluation sessions after the whirlwind that started in 2012 when we decided to self-publish my first middle grade book, “Why Kimba Saved The World.” It is now Book 1 in a best-selling, award-winning series, so I think we made the right call!

Rezised Facebook Banner Photo

The Cats in the Mirror trilogy.

 

In case you have just stumbled on my blog, I’ll give a brief resume of what I brought into this journey. I’m not just someone who decided to write a book and throw it out into the world. I have been writing, well, for as long as I knew how to put sentences on paper. In 5th grade, a picture book I wrote won a contest at the University of Illinois. I can still remember sitting at my school desk and writing more adventures for those characters while friends waited to read them. I journaled and wrote poems (one was even published when I was in high school) and majored in Public Relations because it was in the Journalism Department and had the most writing-related classes. I really wanted to be a teacher, so I returned to school at the graduate level and earned my certification and Master’s Degree in Education, but I continued to write freelance and published dozens of articles in newspapers, magazines, and on web sites while I was teaching. For a year I wrote a column for www.religionandspirituality.com called “Spiritually Significant Cinema” and had the opportunity to interview some major celebrities. I love doing interview pieces! I’ve won first place in regional writing contests, and my self-published books have won international honors.

What I’m saying is that I came into this self-publishing world as a professional writer with some street cred, but that doesn’t necessarily prepare you for the business side of being your own publisher. We have stumbled along, very blindly at times, and taken advice that was both excellent and terrible. Based on the statistics and averages, we have actually been successful. Our hope is that by really taking a look at what has worked for us specifically we can have an outstandingly productive 2015.

I hope that you’ll sign up for my blog (on the right side bar) and follow along. I would also love to hear from you. What questions and concerns do you have? I’m not going to be researching and sharing what other folks are saying. This is all going to be my experience in the trenches and what I have found to be true. I must say, it rarely matches up with the “expert” advice we have gotten.

In 2015, I will be self-publishing a companion book for my Cats in the Mirror series as well as having an adult book traditionally published. I’m sure dealing with those two different ways of creating a book will spark many more blog posts for next year.

So stay tuned! I’ll be posting every Monday for the next several weeks. Blogs already on the agenda are:

Write the Best Book Possible

Set Your Goals & Expectations

Produce Your Book Like A Professional

Where To Publish/CreateSpace

Online Presence & Networking

Reviews

Contests & Awards

Book Release & Scheduling

Live Events & Blog Tours

Freebies, KDP, & Discount Promotions

Book Stores/Consignments

Keep Writing/Book Series Benefits

Best Resources & Support I’ve Found

What would you like to hear about? I’d love to have you share your experiences too, but let’s wait and add specific anecdotal comments to the post on that subject so it can stay focused and others can benefit more.

However, feel free to introduce yourselves and where you are on your own self-publishing journey in the comments section this week!