Getting Self-Publishing Help

The first step in my self-publishing journey? Ask for help from friends who've done it before!

Enter my friend Jaclyn, multi-talented savvy businesswoman. She's an actress, writer, filmmaker, and owner of the best photo booth company in LA, Lucky Laughter Photo Booth.

She recently added published author to her credits with the release of her first children's book Friends With Fins. I've been seeing posts on her Facebook wall about getting press for her book and going on a book tour - very impressive.

So when she asked me to help her figure out her blog in exchange for lunch, I suggested we do a trade instead - Blogger info for a lesson in self-publishing. She agreed! The date was set.

The chai tea was flowing as she told me all about the ins and outs of self-publishing on Amazon, her platform of choice. Just a few of the key points I learned --

• Every format requires a different account with a different service. CreateSpace for hard copy books, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for Kindle Edition books, and iBooks for iPad ebooks.
  
  
• Each service will give you a basic template and guidelines for formatting your book. So no need to download a $50 template from an outside site!
  
  
• Getting press attention takes chutzpah. Jaclyn pitched a human interest story to the local paper in the town she was visiting as an author, and they covered it on the front page! The article resulted in her selling out of all the books she brought as well as selling out online. Press works!
  

Jaclyn's information was invaluable and so helpful. I've decided to just do a Kindle version of this first short story collection, so I'm signing up for KDP as we speak.

Thanks Jaclyn! On to the next step!