Insight Into Self-Publishers

Welcome to the last Saturday Blog post of October!

I’ve been working on a secret project over the last several months and I’m finally ready to share it with you all. Guess what? As of Thursday afternoon, I am a published author! I can hear your burning question: “Who published it?” Well…that’s the secret part. I published it myself—with the help of Outskirts Press.

Now, like all of you, I’d heard the warnings against self-publishing places like Outskirts. And believe me, I did the research before making my final decision. This particular book project was important to me and I wanted to be a part of the creative process as well as retain my rights to the story. Because I knew I wouldn’t be able to deal with the stress of publishing completely on my own, I chose the middle route to publishing where I was a part of every decision but still had help with such things as distribution or getting an ISBN number.

Here’s a “bare bones” explanation of my process with Outskirts:
(1) First you send your manuscript to them for evaluation. The point of this step is to figure out what your needs/wants are and to help you decide on which package is best for what you want to do with your book. My book was to be a children’s picture book so I chose the Pearl package geared specifically to such books.

(2) After you choose your package and either pay the deposit or entire fee, the process begins! This is when you get too choose the layout, color scheme and cover design. You have many designs to choose from or you have the option of hiring someone else to design it for you.

(3) This step wouldn’t be for those without illustrations or pictures but you are paired up with an illustrator. You fill out a description sheet for the illustrator to give them an idea of what you want in your pictures. This step was both challenging and exciting because I had to describe what I envisioned so vividly the illustrator would understand exactly what I wanted. Obviously artists put their own “creative flair” into the work but if you’re able to word things well enough, it works out great!

(4) After illustrations (if you have them) are approved, production starts. This is where they create an “prototype” of your book according to your descriptions and layout choices. For those of us who have illustrations or pictures, you’d fill out an instruction sheet of where you’d like the pictures placed.

(5) This is the most crucial part: editing and proofing. Once the book is put together, you are responsible to look it over and make any required changes. I was lucky because my book is very short so the task wasn’t long at all. I merely had to assure my words and pictures went together well.

(6) After all edits are made and approved, your book goes to the printer and, hopefully, within a week or so, is complete!

I had the most wonderful and positive experience with Outskirts. They worked with me, never once tried to sell me things I didn’t need, were generous with their time, answered all my questions thoroughly and quickly and truly made me feel my project was the treasure I felt it was.

All in all, my project cost me about $1800 in total (I also had a few discounts from email coupons I was sent. Watch for those.) It could have been a lot more expensive if I’d added things on but my book is exactly what I envisioned it to be and more: Yes, it cost me money but I had it to spend so it wasn’t a concern for me. Yes, I realize I may have run the risk of a traditional publisher not wanting it in the future but it’s okay, for now. And yes, I know I’ll have to work a lot of the distribution aspect myself but for this project I wanted to have a hand in that part too.

You see, my book derives from the story I wrote for Chicken Soup For The Soul: Children With Special Needs. It’s about how four-and-a-half year old Alexandra explains to people what Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID) is, what it feels like, and what she goes through so people don’t think she’s “weird.” The book is essentially about Jaimie (her middle name is Alexandra) and is to be used as a reference/educational tool to help teach people about SID and to help SID children explain it to their peers or others they come in contact with. The people at Outskirts knew the purpose of my story and what I wanted to do with it. They were there for me 100% and to them, I am so grateful.

Thank you to Laura, Lora and everyone else—especially my wonderful and talented illustrator--who helped breathe life into my project. With your help, people will come to understand SID children better and see them as the beautiful little people they are.

So, don’t write self-publishers off just because of the warnings you hear. Investigate, ask questions and learn for yourself. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Did any of you have positive experiences with self-publishing? Please write and let us know. Oh! And watch for my book, “I’m Not Weird, I Have SID.” It should be available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble soon.

Happy writing!

Chynna
www.lilywolfwords.ca