I self-published “Nelson Beats The Odds” on August 21, 2015 through Creative Medicine: Healing Through Words, LLC. I used Createspace to distribute my book. The experience taught me many valuable lessons that I share in my workshop “Self-Publishing and Social Justice“. I created the workshop to help prospective self-publishers create stories with social justice themes. During the workshop I share self-publishing “do’s and don’ts” and share how I self-published my book. I also include these 10 self-publishing tips.
1. Find your Voice and Speak to your Target Audience
Speak your truth. Your story needs to reflect your values, opinions and experiences. I was intentional in creating a story that featured predominantly African-American characters because it reflected my experience growing up. My biggest goal was to create a story that resonated with African-American boys and encouraged them to read. We need diverse books that address social justice issues.
2. Hire/Recruit Free Lancers and Friends with Desired Skill Sets
When I realized that I was going to do a children’s book, I reached out to my friends on Facebook to see if I could find an illustrator. I had over a dozen referrals, but none really caught my eye. I’m a perfectionist and I wanted my book to be done right. I joined Hire An Illustrator and eLance. I found the illustrator for my book on eLance. What sold me wasn’t their spectacular portfolio, but the fact that one of them was diagnosed with Dyslexia. I felt safe leaving my story in his hands because I knew he could relate.
I reached out to a good high school friend named Tiffany and a member of a Facebook group I joined to edit my book. Tiffany was the lead editor and she did a phenomenal job. She had a great eye for detail and helped me frame my story.
3. Build a Following
Unfortunately, my following for the book wasn’t built until after I decided to write it. The first things that I did was start a Nelson Beats The Odds Facebook, Twitter and Instagram page. I also started this blog because the “experts” said so. It was overwhelming trying to keep up with both my business and personal social media accounts. Not to mention I was also running a website.
Currently, my Facebook page has a little over 800 followers. I’ve found success with Facebook’s Boost feature. I’ve also joined Black Educators Rock, an online group with over 145,000 African American educators. Sharing posts in the group helped my book become an Amazon Best Seller in the Kindle Store Learning Disability category. The group also helped me sell 56 paperback books in December, giving me my best sales month thus far.
I also asked friends to share photos of their children reading “Nelson Beats The Odds”. This has been extremely effective in exposing my book to a larger audience. I believe it brings out the competitiveness in parents when others post photos of their child reading my book.
4. Don’t Stress Over Money & Be Fearless
You’ll never have enough money. Get use to overdraft fees, maxed out credit cards and empty pockets. I’ve had a lot of success the past few months but there is always something to pay for. I purchased “The Alchemist” and “The Secret” audio books and they’ve helped me stay grounded. I’m in search of my personal legend and once I decided to jump, I became fearless.
5. Set a Modest Kickstarter Goal or Use Sites like Indiegogo
The biggest mistake that I made was setting my Kickstarter goal at $10,000. I was really ambitious and thought that I could raise that much money in 45 days. I only managed to raise about $1,800. Since I didn’t reach my goal I was unable to receive any money. When I began working on my second book, “Nelson Beats The Odds: Tameka’s New Dress“, I set my goal for $700. I raised a little over a grand this time around but hit my goal. Kickstarter is a great platform, but I’d encourage you to research other crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo before you make your decision.
6. Start with Createspace and Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
I encourage everyone to go through Createspace and Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. “Nelson Beats The Odds” is my first book and I didn’t know anything about publishing. Every website that I searched recommended using Createspace and I see why. The site is free, easy to use and has great customer service. In less than a day my book was available on Amazon and Kindle.
Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service is best thing since sliced bread! They have a feature where you can offer your eBook for free five times over the span of 90 days. The feature allowed my Facebook and Twitter followers to sample my book and helped drive my paperback and Kindle book sales.
7. Use Multiple Publishing Platforms & Distributors
Publish your book in paperback, hardcover and eBook. It’s very difficult as a self-publisher to get your book in stores. I’ve been able to get my book into two comic book stores on consignment. In terms of distributors, I use IngramSpark, iBookstore, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords. I have plans on publishing a “Nelson Beats The Odds” audiobook and translating the book into Spanish in 2016.
8. Promote Your S@#t Like it’s a New York Best Seller
I know that I have the best children’s book out right now. I was so confident that I knew I would win an ALA award this year for “Nelson Beats The Odds” (still keeping hope alive, lol). When you exude that type of confidence people buy into you and your product. I worked hard to create a solid product with educational value. Every day I’m online promoting my book. Every weekend I’m at a church, school or event vending or speaking. I’m starting to yield big results. I’ve had 5 school’s purchase fifteen or more books from me. Hamilton-Holmes Middle School in King William purchased 75 copies this month.
9. Network & Cross-Promote
I send at least 15 emails a day to special education administrators, teachers, professors or staff. I’m working my way through Virginia’s public school systems, colleges and special education organizations. I’m meeting people at churches, farmer’s markets, conferences, practically anywhere. Networking is key for self-publishers.
I’ve also developed the Nelson Beats The Odds Comic Creator on iOS. The self-esteem app allows users to upload photos of themselves and add characters from the book. The app gives the brand an additional platform to promote on. The app will be available on Android March 2016.
Since writing “Nelson Beats The Odds”, I’ve had an opportunity to meet authors, musicians, poets, clothing designers and artists. I’ve realized that I needed to cross promote because everyone that follows me knows about my book. It is a great way to share great products with a wider audience.
10. Expect Nothing and Appreciate Everything
Don’t expect your family and friends to buy into your dream. Expect disappointments. Expect things not to go right but appreciate those experiences. I’ve learned more from my failures than my successes. When you’re putting your own money up you learn quickly.
I’ve had black people buy my book without even looking at it just because I’m black or they like that I’m doing something positive. I’m not mad because it’s money in my pocket but I feel like my product is slightly cheapened. I’ve also had tons of white people walk by my book and dismiss it after looking at the cover. At the end of the day, it’s all love! Appreciate everything and expect nothing.
Creative Medicine: Healing Through Words 