As an indie author, I focus most of my budget on editing. One, because I want to get a FANTASTIC book out there, and two, indies in general have a bad reputation. And that bugs me. Some of us put really terrible stuff out in the world, I won’t deny it. But then again, so do many trad publishers.

Anyway, putting a high quality book out there means my budget for everything else is quite…restrained. And making a book is not JUST about writing and editing, oh no, my friends. I wish it was.

So here are a few things that you, as an indie on a tight budget, will need to take care of (besides writing a great book):

THE TECHNICAL STUFF

  • The basics: Writing an enticing blurb, your copyright page, your back matter, dedication, acknowledgments, about the author, etc
  • That was the easy part. And no, I’m not joking
  • Designing book covers for your ebooks and print books (a.k.a. becoming a Photoshop ninja and spending some money (an average of $23 per book cover), on websites such as Shutterstock or Getty Images). Granted, Photoshop is expensive as fuck, and if designing is not really your thing, there are tons of cheap cover designers out there, but it’s really hard finding a good one. Sherry at SwoonWorthy is actually super great and not at all pricey. She made my SWORD WITCH cover

switchamazon

  • Formatting your book for print. It’s incredibly time consuming, but here’s a pretty great book to get you started
  • Drinking half of a wine bottle as you learn how to do the above
  • Creating an ebook file. Heard of Scrivener or HTML coding? Ha! You better. If you want to stay away from HTML like moi, and you’re on windows, use Scrivener + Sigil +Kindle Previewer. It’s a rather quick learning curve. If you’re on Mac, just go with Scrivener.
  • Drinking the other half of that wine bottle
  • Understanding technical stuff, such as ISBNs and ASINS. And going for ASINS and alike because IBANS are expensive as fuck. You can buy them later when you start making a profit
  • Uploading your book into the necessary platforms
  • Curse all said book platforms (Yes, I’m looking at you, fucking Createspace)
  • Pricing your book
  • Hitting that “publish” button
  • Crying in the shower, hoping it is all over now that your book is published.

But guess what? You haven’t even started.

Next post: THE MARKETING STUFF a.k.a. Just Shoot Me Now

 

dorothy parker