Question for those who self-publish

So I'm thinking about self-publishing a previous NaNovel using Create Space. I've always had a bit of a dream of being offered a publishing deal, but the more I read the more it seems like self-publishing is the way to go these days.

Anyway, I'm not really debating which is better, I just had a question for those who already do self-publish. Basically, how well are you doing?

I don't mean specifically monetarily, but in general. How well have your books sold? Is it hard to self-market? Anything else you think I should know?

What it all comes down to is that I want to publish, and I want to sell. I'm looking to make writing my career, and it needs to be worth it because I have a mortgage and a baby, so I can't afford to spend years trying to "make it".

I've self-published. Basically there are two ways to do it.

The easy way includes doing no editing or formatting, using a cover that your POD company provides, and telling all your friends and family, then sitting back and hoping it takes off.

Then there's the more involved way. There are levels with this. At the very least, have a diverse group of people (no fewer than three is my recommendation) who are willing to read your manuscript and be brutally honest about any flaws; these will be your "first readers." Hire a professional editor if you can afford it. Revise your manuscript or rewrite it until you are satisfied with it. The number of drafts needed varies with the writer but the average seems to be about three drafts per novel. Hire someone to design a unique cover or design one yourself if you have the skills to do so. Research to make sure you know how to format for each of the eReaders out there. Create a marketing plan that involves more than word of mouth.

If you can sink a little money into the venture you can actually bypass CreateSpace and all the other POD companies. ISBN numbers are available from Bowkers. It's $125 for one ISBN, but if you want to publish in print and eBook you will need two ISBNs for the same book, because each version gets it's own ISBN. For $250 you can get a block of 10 ISBNs. That will last for ten books if you only sell print or only sell eBooks, or for five if you do both.

For print books: There's a printing company called Lightning Source that does most of the printing for the PODs. Once you have an ISBN they will work with you. They will list your book with Ingrams for $12 per year ($1 a month). There's a book set-up fee and a cover set-up fee of $35 each. You need the file in a PDF. The least expensive software I've found that will let you customize the page size of the finished file is Cute PDF Professional for around $50. The cost per book is lower than what the PODs charge so you can get a higher sales royalty without increasing the price that readers would pay to buy your book. You still need to do your own marketing, but they will do all the printing and fulfil online orders for you.

eBooks are by far a more affordable option because you don't have to deal with printing issues. But there's the formatting for different eReaders to consider. You still need editing. You still need a cover image. You still need to write your own synopsis/summary. But you only need one ISBN.

If you want to do print books don't forget your back cover copy. Might want to run that by your first readers as well.

Hope this has been helpful.

I went more the second route. I wrote it back in 2008 and then have been beating on it since.

With CreateSpace I did take advantage of the easy create cover and am on track to have a Print on Demand edition ready by the end of next week. My Kindle Edition has been up since last Friday.

For sales? So far my sales are to family and friends and probably won't break much past that without some investment. I plan to use some of the CreateSpace avenues to get into local book stores and then call them to introduce myself. I'm also hoping to get a spot at convention in the fall and to sell directly there. At roughly $1 royalty per book, however, I need to sell a LOT of books to cover just the cost of going to convention, let alone the cost of renting dealer space.

You might consider, however, things like Facebook to try to get some word of mouth going and to use those targeted ads to get information about the book to the right people. If your book is similar to Star Trek you can target ads to people who have liked Star Trek. Sadly most people are conditioned now to ignore the ads so... do with that as you will.

Here are some links to what I do have working:
http://www.amazon.com/Fantasti-Con-ebook/dp/B00779JKXK/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rob-Osterman-Writer/109666182493405

The problem most self-published authors have is the business side of marketing. If you want more than friends and family to buy your book, you have to put in a lot of time to spread the word. That's TIME, not MONEY. I'm a free-lance editor, most of my clients self-publish. When I discovered that few knew how to get started on the marketing side of things, I wrote a simple guide that I give to each of them. After reading your post here, I posted that guide on my personal blog. http://purrfect0tale.lifeblog.com/. Give it a read, I think it will give you a good start. BTW - The post following the guide is about the things a line editor looks at, you may find that of use also. Let me know if my info helps by leaving me some NaNo mail.