My experiences with ePublishing

A few weeks ago I was asked if I’d be willing to answer a few questions about why I’d decided to give self-publishing eBooks a try. As I’m always telling my students to reuse work I’ve decided to follow my own advice and share my answers here. So here they are:

Q:
Which books have you turned into eBooks?
A:
Anansi The Trickster Spider: volume one (Amazon UK – Amazon US – Kobo)
Anansi The Trickster Spider: volume two (Amazon UK – Amazon US – Kobo)

Q:
Why did you decide to publish this particular book yourself?
A:
It was an experiment. Originally I’d written them with the intention of trying to place with a publisher. However I wanted to give self-publishing a go and felt these would be suitable.

Q:
Where did you go for help and advice?
A:
Some members of The Scattered Authors Society (which I’m a member of) had already taken the first steps into publishing eBooks, so I put a call out for help and as always they came to my rescue. I also started to blog as part of a team on Authors Electric who were just fantastic as sharing their knowledge.

Q:
What skills/services did you need to pay for?
A:
None! ‘Him-in-doors’ and myself decided we’d learn what needed to be learnt and work on the project together.

Q:
As anyone who has done this knows, the hard bit is selling/marketing. Which of the various options have you used and which have you decided not to use?
A:
We’ve given the books away over a short period and found this had no impact on later sales. We’ve tweeted and found this appears to have no impact on sales. We’ve Facebooked and found this appears to have no impact on sales. Our most recent attempt at marketing is to have www.anansi-spider.com built where readers of my books can download free and exclusive activity sheets that are linked to the stories. The website hasn’t been up long enough to gauge if it’s having any impact on sales but with fingers crossed it will.

Q:
You have a 150-word soapbox – what would you like to share?
A:
Don’t be disappointed if you don’t sell hundreds of books and become the next ‘big’ thing. There are very few of us who do. If you have an idea for boosting sales then give it a go. If you don’t know how to do something don’t give up. Ask questions then act on the answers. Be prepared for the frustration when things don’t happen overnight. Think of alternate ways to improve sales for example I’m having my first book translated into Spanish, so we can sell to an alternate market. Also be prepared to learn new skills. I’m in the process of getting to grips with CreateSpace. The plan is to turn both volumes into a bumper Anansi storybook that will be available as a print on demand. Lastly as you learn share your knowledge. You’ll be surprised on the feedback you receive and how others are also willing to share their knowledge with you.