[xxxxxxxxxxxmatt]

I'm interested if anyone has self-published or been a part of marketing a self-published book and what they did for that. I'm moving into that arena soon and I'm open for any and all ideas.

[allthewaysaid]

I self-publish erotica out of my van.

[Loveisa4lttrwrd]

Originally Posted by allthewaysaid

I self-publish erotica out of my van.

/thread

[Aphasia17]

One major trend I've noticed with self-published books recently is that a lot of authors are putting them on Amazon as e-books for super cheap (99 cents - $2.99) or completely free. It's a good way to get a lot of people interested and talking about your writing. The cheaper it is, the more likely people are to take a chance.

Also, I worked with a friend of mine on his first two books (as an editor) and he was in college at the time, so he got an interview with the school paper and talked about his book and the bookstore also let him sell 30 copies for $8 each. Not sure how much of the profits he saw but he sold them all.

And if you're looking to publish physical copies, lulu.com will do it for a pretty reasonable price and you get complete control over what the book looks like.

Anyway, hope this helps you out a little bit and if you've got any questions feel free to ask. Best of luck out there!

[t00latef0rr0ses]

No. I haven't.

[seventwenty3]

Same as Aphasia said, I helped edit a friends novel. There's a company Createspace that prints on demand. The books don't come out completly uniformed every time but they aren't bad either. Also the book is up on Kindle and Nook. Check it out Daylight Hours. If you preview it on the kindle you can see what we did with no help from anyone else as far as kindle goes. The hardest part of the whole thing was formatting everything, each company wants something different.

There's some sites for e-books which list everything for free. Amazon gives you about $0.33 for a $0.99 e-book so unless you're selling a lot you might want to go free for exposure. But try to get published first, it's much better send query letters to everyone that delves in your genre. We only got one response back but it was actually constructive.

[Xuut]

A friend of mine self-published a novel not too long ago, I think she used Createspace for her novels. It's a series, so I think she got a deal package or something.

I'd suggest creating a fanbase/interest first because no one really looks up Amazon just for the hell of finding amateur writing. A friend of mine used to write on Fictionpress.com prior to self-publishing and now actually has quite a few people purchasing her novels (for dirt cheap, like $0.99 USD) so maybe give everyone like a free sample (collection of short stories maybe or a novel or something) and then gain interest. Other sites like Livejournal, Deviantart, and tumblr are popular for that too. I think you can sell off Deviantart too but I'm not sure.

Also, be wary of the crappy DIY publishing companies that basically offer you shitty deals to sell your novels.

And if you have an editor friend (even an English major or something), that'd be a good idea to talk to them about your book. Beta readers, any form of feedback is a good idea from your younger siblings to your professor. You don't really realize what's wrong with your novel till someone points it out and trust me, there is always room for improvement and if you're looking just to sell (like my crazy English sub) then they can give you hints on what will sell.

Good luck!