Written by : trablogger

Self Publishing Journey

Published on : September 2, 2015
Filed Under :  Tagged as :
Last Updated on September 2, 2015 by trablogger
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Finally the first book is out in all the time zones. Got the first Amazon Review and a very “high” ranking 😉 Thanks to all the people who decided to buy and read it.

So this post is to answer a few questions that I have received. Let me get started. I will try to explain the self publishing journey step by step.

First step, obviously is to sit down and write the  story.

While hosting the Flash Fiction Chain on this blog a few months ago, I wanted a story to be told just using pronouns. “He” did that, “He” went there, “He” was the reason for that, something like that.  So i attempted to write a story just like that and in this story most of the time the story is all about “He”.

It took me a couple of months to finish the story.  So the next step was correcting all the mistakes I have written. I did the initial round of polishing the draft. But editing one’s own draft can be a stupid idea. Chances are high that you can easily miss a lot of mistakes.

So I asked for help. And the help came from fellow bloggers. I asked a couple of blogger friends to do the editing. Dr. H Bhatnagar and Sona did a great job. And thus editing was done.

In the mean time I did the initial formatting for the print version. From Internet I found a few interesting sites that offered free templates for books. I used those and done a few basic formatting. And the initial formatting was done.

Similar way, cover for the book was also designed. And the thanks goes to YouTube for teaching how to do that. For the cover I had some ideas, but as all of my designer friends were busy with their own life, I had to do it all by myself. So I had to switch to simpler ideas. The only thing I could think of, was to use the backpacker picture you are seeing on this blog. With the help of numerous tutorials, the picture at last transformed into a book cover.

As I had finalized the formatting and thus the total number of pages, it was possible for me to apply for the ISBN. I had no clue how to get a book published. I didn’t even know that first time authors wait for months after sending their manuscript to the publishers, which again might or might not get accepted.

I never had that kind of patience to wait  indefinitely for something with only hope without knowing the end result (which most probably would be a rejection.)

After going through many articles on how to get published, I came to know that with an ISBN I can publish it by myself and get it printed and distribute it.

Then started the research on how to get an ISBN.

Well I already found companies that helps the self publishing authors. But I wanted to cut the middle men, not to make a big profit or anything, but to learn how to do all these things. And after going through understanding and misunderstanding, finally I found a way.

Applied for ISBN and it was totally free. But had to wait for almost a month for it to arrive.  That wait was also like an indefinite wait. I waited for sometime, called them up and got a reply to wait some more time.

Then I lost my patience and decided to Publish it on Amazon as an ebook. I started searching how to do that and it was pretty easy. And one day I uploaded the file on Amazon. Then again a help came from nowhere for the final formatting. Abitha did a great job in making the final version a neater one than the previous one.

Aug 3rd was a special day. So I announced that ebook would be out by Sep 1st which happened to be my 1 year completion date on this WP blogsphere.

Just as I announced the ebook publishing date, somehow the ISBN came with those 13 digits as the unique identification of “Journey I My Path”.

Then  started the frantic search for a place to get it printed. There were print on demand, print in bulk and options like that. At last I found a place and given the final draft for printing. Then there were again problems that happened only because of the mistakes of a novice. The formatting I did wasn’t matching with the specifications required by the Printers. So it was time for a full reformatting.

New software was learned and did the formatting again. And somehow it was ready for printing.

By that time, it was time for the ebook to go on live. On Sep 1st, 00:00 hrs Indian Standard Time, the book went live. Depending on the time zone, it went live on other places too. Now It is available all over the world.

And I received the first few printed copies just after that. Thus I got my paperback as a reality. At last I could touch and feel the idea that was on my mind for the past few months. The journey since inception to the reality was a big and exciting  learning for me.

Now the next steps I am learning is the Distribution part.  I am planning to send the paperback via courier.  All I need is your Name, address and phone number, if you are in India. And all you have to do is to send me a mail.  Just send this simple form and I will get back to you.

So that is my self Publishing journey so far. Hope you have enjoyed a different kind of “travel” story 😉

[contact-form subject=’Need Paperback edition’][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

 

Written by : trablogger
Trablogger aka Jithin is an Indian travel blogger who is obsessed with leading a travel life. When he is not traveling, photographing, writing or blogging, you can see him thinking about sustaining this travel life or helping someone to travel more.
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Trablogger

A travel blog from India focussing on sustaining the Travel life, how to travel more for less, how to travel wide and far and gain life altering experiences from it. The main aim of Trablogger is to inspire and help others to travel more .
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