I Love The Internet, Maybe I'll Get Lucky

For the last four months I have been learning everything I can about self-publishing my books. For the eight months prior to that, I was learning everything I could about publishing my books via traditional publishing. Do you see where I am going with this? I spent twice as much time trying everything I could think of to go the way of traditional publishing, and it got me nowhere. For half the time invested, I learned how to format an e-book, publish a blog, create a paperback version of my book(s), and my latest adventure, creating a website.

So now I have two books that I have self-published, along with a blog, and a website. Am I going to get the exposure that I would have if my books were traditionally published? Who knows. But do I get to keep complete control over my books? You bet!

My adventure in writing has been more for personal reasons than anything. I wanted to see if I could do it, and I did it for myself. Sure, it would be great to have an Amazon best seller (I dare to dream) but just knowing with a lot of research and even more diligence, I was able to create a story and it didn’t cost a lot to make happen. All of this was made possible because of the internet and a dream. (I love the Internet!)

So as I stated earlier, my latest marketing tool I learned about was creating my own website, which actually was easier than figuring out how to set up this blog! Please, take a look and tell me what you think. But remember, I have very limited experience with this type of thing, I am a nurse for crying out loud, and the last time I checked, there was no HTML code in a soppy foot wound.

Shameless plug for my website: Lisagoodwin.net

For anyone that has the dream of seeing their ideas in print the best advice I can offer is keep trying, keep learning, and never ever give up on yourself or your dream. You will be amazed at what you can do if you just believe in yourself.

And as J.A. Konrath says, “Maybe you’ll get lucky.”

John Locke Told Me Too

   When I started on my journey to having my novel published, I decided to follow the traditional publishing route. I wrote query letters with multiple revisions trying to entice (ok beg) any prospective literary agent to take a chance on an unknown author. Needless to say, it didn’t work out very well. With a mailbox full of thanks, but no thanks letters, I decided to research if I would be able to self-publish my novel.

   Lucky for me, the internet provided a vast amount of knowledge. I felt as if I were a kid in a candy store, with all of the information I could ever hope to find, and use in order to help with my book publishing dream. Then I came across a now well-known self-published author, John Locke. I read everything I could find on him (ok, I know what you’re thinking, and no, I am not a stalker.) I found his website, and read directly from his hand to my computer screen. And of course, I bought his book.

   To me, John Locke is the epitome of what a self-published author should be. I have followed his advice, and plan. With my second book nearing completion, I am getting closer to having an even better opening than I had for the first. So do I want to be like John Locke? You bet I do. And I will keep on churning out words and novels, just to see how far I can ride this wave. It has been a great experience so far.

   Even more important that my slight obsession over what has made John Locke so successful is the wonderful world of self-published authors I have been fortunate enough to ‘meet’ via the internet. By connecting via Twitter, Goodreads and Facebook. I have ‘met’ over 1000 people in the past month!

One particular person has made a HUGE impression on me. Her name is Shelly, and this is her blog: http://shellynice.wordpress.com/ She is hosting a contest on her blog to help other self-pub. authors find success. She didn’t know me from anyone, I was nothing special, just another Indie Author trying to get my book out there. She didn’t ask what I had to offer her in return for all of her generous assistance, and never once has asked “What’s in it for me?”

What an asset to have, and meeting her through her website purely by chance when following someone on Twitter, because John Locke told me too.

   It makes me think of all of the other people out there who are hoping to publish, wanting to take that chance and share their work with the world. I wonder how many of those hopeful authors are just as stuck as I was? (Come on, there has to be at least one person?!? Maybe? Hopefully?) I try and put little bits of information here to help those who might stumble across it, in order to help them out.

And having been on the receiving end of that help, I want to share what I know with others as well. Just imagine what we could do, all of the Indie authors band together, helping each other to improve our writing, making each story the very best it could be simply by helping.

   So even though I looked to John Locke for his secrets, and help to promote the best book I could, I found so much more. I have found out what a great community self-published authors are, and how they seem to be very willing to help their own. (Unlike veteran nurses, they seem to eat their own, sorry nurses, but you know it’s true!)

Check out Shelly’s blog, I think you’ll like what she has to say.

And thank you to John Locke, for telling me what to do!