In July 2021, I finally finished my novel! At 60,000 words, it’s a little small, but I don’t care. I had completed the story I wanted to tell! All that was left was to get it published. Literary agents were a gamble, taking two-to-four months to send a response, and I wanted people to begin reading my work. I researched self-publishing and found two great websites:
- Ingram Spark: https://www.ingramspark.com/
- Draft2Digital: https://www.draft2digital.com/
IngramSpark is great for print and/or e-books. Draft2Digital is great for e-books only (at the time of this post), but they publish through numerous merchants, such as Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, Scribd, and many more. I chose to use IngramSpark for paperback publishing and Draft2Digital for e-book publishing.
Draft2Digital began publishing within hours, presumably because it’s digital and requires no physical product. IngramSpark took a little longer to publish through. Within a week, I was seeing sales from family and friends, as well as their family and friends, and many others.
Some tips to help you along:
- You’ll need your chapters all in one document for uploading. I had written each chapter separately, so this took a little time to compile. Make sure each chapter starts on a new page.
- Have your cover image ready to go. This can be a drawing (your own or someone else’s), words only, or a photograph. Remember that you will want to give others proper credit for their contribution. I used Unsplash.com for a royalty free image.
- Begin your social media campaign, if you haven’t already. Set up a blog, join Twitter, and/or create an Instagram account. Pinterest is even a great place to share images or quotes related to your book. Simply use these as ways to engage with new and existing readers.
I hope this information helps you as you write and complete your story! Feel free to email me with more questions at info@shannacrobillard.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Author Shanna Robillard 