So I'm trying something for #LTPthreads. Our lecturers are on strike this week so the MA writing gang are left to our own devices/our own discussions. Gonna do 3 threads leading off this. 1 for self-publishing, 2 for collaborative publishing, 3 for DIY publishing. Any Qs? HMU

Thread 1.a My self-publishing experiences. I published my 1st novel in print & ebook 7 years ago. I chose this route because it was quick & I suspected any trad publisher would've chopped up/discarded it. It was a classic 1st novel trying to cram everything in...

1.b It didn't reach a big audience because it's lit fic/spec fic (or what's now known as cli-fi aka climate scifi, I had no such marketing term back then). Books that tend to do well in the self-pubbing sphere are easier to categorise/find a following for...

1.c They're either genre fiction (romance, fantasy, horror & crime tend to be popular), or non-fiction. These work because they're easy to find with search terms and they have a set following. Eg people who like vampires, or people who like canoeing...

1.d Which isn't to say self-publishing is easy for anyone. It's really hard. Marketing a book is hard full stop, marketing a book before you have a following all by yourself is

1.e I was able to produce a printed book through a small inheritance. I paid for it to be edited by a pro (v. important), had help formatting it (ebook formatting can be awful), and paid for 500 print copies through Lightning Source, as this also meant it would be POD...

1.f POD means print-on-demand. It meant, in theory, if a bookshop got asked for it they could order it. But it works out very expensive for the buyer. Mine were going for £14 POD or £9.50 direct from me...

1.g For me, it wasn't worth doing POD. I still haven't sold out of my stash of books. So if I was doing it again I'd print through these guys - https://digital.imprint.co.uk/  - as I did with Darren's book (see thread 2). The quality v price for short-run books is

1.h As for ebook, again if you're writing a genre series or non-fic it's probably worth it. But for me, all that hassle formatting it for Kindle wasn't time well-spent. (Has formatting ebooks got easier, can anyone tell me?) I sold maybe 30 at most...

1.i So it was good as an experience, as I mentor writers. Good to have tried it. And it's good to have it there in print, a testament to my 20s. But it was the wrong type of book for that route-to-market. My next novel is going to an agent, but it's more publisher-friendly...

1.j End of thread 1. Any questions about self-publishing? ISBNs? Not having a shit cover design? How to launch your book? I learned many things along the way