Dipping my toes in the indie waters...

So easy a caveman can do it? We'll see.

I've been following with interest the journeys of my friends and fellow authors as they've decided to try their hands at self-publishing. Some of them have published original works and some have re-released stories that were originally published elsewhere.

Well, it's finally my turn. I just got the rights back to my erotica novella/short story MIDNIGHT TREAT, originally out with The Wild Rose Press in 2008. At first, it sold pretty well and garnered some great reviews, but now it's just selling 2-3 copies a month. On a good month LOL. I still plan to write for TWRP as they're an awesome, author-friendly publisher, but this story is making neither of us any money right now, so why not try self-publishing it.

MIDNIGHT TREAT has a Halloween theme, but other indie authors convinced me to release it now. Even though it's nowhere near Halloween.

I know next to nothing about self-publishing, so I thought I'd journal about the process on my blog. You can learn with me as I go.

The first thing I did, as mentioned above, was ask for my rights back from my publisher. I looked in my contract and realized they owned my rights for two years. It's been almost three. Your contract should specify how to go about getting your rights back. In my case, I just sent a simple email to the editor-in-chief. No big deal at all. I had the rights back within about a week. I was a little concerned about asking for my rights back when I hope to continue publishing with them, and mentioned this in my email to them. They were very kind about it -- no bridges burned there. Whew!

Next, I want to hire a cover artist. I asked around for some names, and already knew of some myself. I checked out their websites and portfolios, then contacted my top three choices. One immediately wrote back and said she's booked out and isn't taking on new clients. One never wrote back. But the third is available--yay!

Tamra Westberry was actually my first choice, so I'm really excited to work with her. She sent me a cover art questionnaire, which I'll be filling out ASAP.

What are my next steps?

1. Choose some stock photography that might look nice on my cover. This is easier said than done. Any idea how many zillions of photos there are out there? Holy cow. Trying to find one that suits my story is going to be a challenge.

2. Find out if I can use the original blurb, or if I need to rewrite it. If I need to rewrite it, then...

3. Rewrite the blurb

4. Read over the manuscript and make any necessary changes. After it was originally published, there were a few things I wish I'd written differently. Well, here's my chance.

5. ???? I don't know enough about this process to know what comes next. So, I guess I'd better start asking around, eh?

Until next time...

:)Becca