Self-publishing Author Counting Down the Days...

I do realize at this point that I am a complete nobody and am essentially blogging to myself.

But that’s ok.

It’s good practice for when my book catches on and a few more people begin to wander by.

As of today I have about one more week of waiting until my highly anticipated boxes of printed books arrive. I am a self-publishing author and in some ways I’m operating outside of the self-publishing box (which is operating outside of the traditional publishing box). For me, there’s really not a right way or a wrong way to go about self-publishing. I’ve relied heavily on my own inspiration throughout this process. If I tank, I tank under my own control.

One thing I did early on was secure my domain name and build myself a website. Because I’ve never done anything like that before (“html” might as well have stood for “how to make licorice” in my mind), and because I’m a tragically broke writer (as I should be), I searched around for an easy and economical way to create a web presence. I opted for Web.com because they met both criteria. By the time I finished building my website (patriciacurtis.com) I had learned a great deal about the process and became pretty darn good at it. (I went on to build websites for my sister and my ex-husband, charging them a small fee – which I immediately invested in copies of my own book to go out and market).

Having a website out there a month in advance of my book printing as been a terrific advantage. I’ve already managed to move to the top of some search engines, and to the first page of Google. This is quite an accomplishment considering I haven’t spent a dime beyond the hosting charges. There are a few tricks that push a site up the listings. It pays to study what other authors are doing.

Another thing I did was set up a MySpace page.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=57099399

Weird, I know, but I’ve discovered that it is an effective and FUN marketing tool. I'm having a ball making good contacts out there. And glory be…my MySpace page shot to the top of the Internet searches literally overnight! By adding a blog to a MySpace page and my official website I now have a pretty good jumpstart on decent web presence.

Tomorrow I’ll be blogging about my search for a self-publishing company, my choice, and my experience producing the book. It’s been a wild ride since the first manuscript word I typed into this very computer nearly a year ago. I can’t wait to see what’s in store once I get those book in my hands next week…