Hey people of Mastodon!
I have just (finally) finished the second draft of my novel, and the daunting task of self-publishing it is looming ever closer.
I've never done it before. If anybody has any advice, or anything they wish they'd known before they did it, I'd love to hear it.
oh, oh heck.
okay. here we go.
things you're likely already aware of:
* this will not suddenly make you a superstar in human culture
* unless you win the popularity/word-of-mouth lottery and then all bets are off, it might reshape your life radically
things maybe you're not (all subject to not winning the lottery above):
* this will change your taxes a bit, esp if you have a day job, but not in terms of more taxes, just more paperwork
* fanfic will happen sometimes, just be aware
* there's a ton of stuff out there to try to make it easier to self-publish, and some of it's paid, and some of it's not. don't lock yourself into a specific workflow without looking at the pros and cons of the elements of that workflow -- stuff that runs on your systems this year may be unsupported next year. evaluate a few options and then pick your best one, but keep your backup options in mind too.
* going wide is, AFAICT, the currently held wise move compared to uni-market
* that may change, as the market evolves. the entire self-publishing market has been radically shifting for a while now and it has not matured yet and likely won't for a while longer. don't assume it will pay for a second house, even if it produces that much money suddenly. treat it as bonus money, a one-time thing, and assume nothing about stability of income on it.
Grem
Sydney Falk, An Oversensitive SJW Type