2014 marked the second year of my attempt at self-publishing. I learned a LOT in 2014. I was going to write a list until I realized it would bore everyone but me. I did write it, but in paragraph form so it wouldn’t be as long. Skip the next paragraph if you don’t want to read it.
Suffice it to say, I learned a lot about writing, including Lester Dent’s formula. I learned to trust myself more. I learned that although publishing e-books doesn’t take as much money as some might think, there are some areas where you have to put some money down on the project. I learned that I’ll be lucky if I turn a profit by 2017 and that ten to twenty titles isn’t enough to get much of anything. In other words, I learned patience. Most of all, I learned that I should never write anything I don’t enjoy writing.
I’m more than a little nervous about the coming year. There’s been a number of changes in publishing when it comes to indies and I’ll have to slightly change my approach. Some of the changes will probably make you groan, some might make you angry, and some might make you shrug and say, “Why are you telling us this?”
Either way, here we go. Things I’m going to do in 2015:
- Due to new VAT regulations, the price of my books may go up. I’m going to take a closer look at this, but so far it’s looking like I’m going to have to increase my prices.
- Adding more platforms. This year I’m going to make a point of getting my books out into more venues, such as DriveThruFiction and OMNILit.
- More paper books. I hope to put all the books I have out so far into trade paperback form this year. However, print is a bear so far, not nearly as easy as e-books to put together. I may not realize this goal fully, but anything at this point is good. After all, there’s a lot of people I know who still either read paper books only or who would like a paper copy. Plus, they’re fun to give away.
- Finishing The Lord’s Tale and publishing my space-elves book, Echelon. I don’t think that one requires elaboration.
- Read more. I tried to increase the amount I read in 2014 and it really helped my writing.
I also might add a couple of free books to this site. We’ll see.
Have a Happy New Year everyone!
Amy Keeley 
Thank you and may you have the same! Good luck on your search for an agent. 🙂 I hope you find a really good one.
LikeLike
It’s tough isn’t it? I admit my passion for self-publishing is waning and my goal for 2015 is to try and find an agent, while still trying to fight the good fight as an indie. Happy new year to you, let’s hope it’s a good one with book sales galore!
LikeLike