About Self-Publishing…
I’ve written a few books over the last five or so years, nine in total, in fact publishing my ninth book last week. I began self-publishing over on Amazon, which I still do, but the last two books, along with the second edition of my first book, Confessions of a Back Porch Herbalist, I published over on Draft 2 Digital, a platform that publishes books on a variety of bookseller sites including Barnes & Noble and Apple Books.
I switched to D2D because I wanted a greater reach, and I’m currently in the process of re-publishing books I have over on Amazon onto D2D’s platform. Since several are still part of Kindle Unlimited, I have to wait until they come off of that program. One comes off toward the end of August while two more are available for republishing in October.
Self-publishing has been a fascinating experience. I’ve learned about embedding fonts for pdfs and more than I ever knew was possible about manipulating pictures I’ve taken for book covers. Amazon gives authors help in that regard, but I prefer my own pictures over what they have to offer. That said, I ultimately used two different covers for Witch Notes because, alas, the paperback version wouldn’t take the Kindle version’s picture. A frustrating experience to say the least.
When I published the 2nd edition of my first book, Confessions of a Back Porch Herbalist, on D2D, I confess that I wasn’t happy with the presentation. They offer several templates and I chose the best one I could, but I still wasn’t happy with it. For my most recent book Herbal Magicka, I finally found the template I like, and I used it for the other books I republished there as well.
Confessions of a Back Porch Herbalist describes my healing from severe rheumatoid arthritis using cannabis concentrates and later, after achieving remission, adding in traditional herbs as well. In short, after beginning my own treatment regimen, two and a half months later, I had achieved clinical remission. I discontinued all but one of my prescribed medications, which I finally discontinued a couple of years later. Now, I use herbal teas and tinctures to maintain my remission. I wrote the book to share my experience with others who suffer from chronic illnesses in the hope that they too can heal.
After Back Porch Herbalist was published, I kept writing, first a small grimoire titled, Grimoire of a Crone, followed by Magick and the Aligned Witch, a book about invoking magick from an aligned Higher Self state of awareness.
From there, I published Empath, which represents my own concept of a witch with empathic ability, followed by its sequel, When Vampires Attack, which discusses the nature of vampiric intrusion and methods of dealing with it.
Somewhere in there, I published Hedgewitch of the Village, my first attempt at writing a novel. The story is set in an alternative time and involves Willow, the village hedgewitch, her boyfriend, students, owners of a hardware store, and a few demons who assist Willow in repairing an ailing portal. I really enjoyed writing that one.
I believe Witch Notes was next, a small book of the correspondences I use in magickal workings and it would also be the last book I would publish solely on Amazon.
Upon moving over to Draft 2 Digital, I published Shifting Perception, a self-described manual for transformation. It includes information and meditations that I use to shift my perception to a higher vibrational frequency associated with Higher Self awareness.
And then, finally, Herbal Magicka, the book I’ve been most anxious to write. An herbalist as well as a witch, I use herbs in magickal workings and it’s nice to have a handy reference with everything in one place.
The downside of self-publishing is that the author must do everything. We are our own editors, graphics design person, layout person, advertising/promotion company, cheerleader, and anything or anyone else that might be involved in publishing a book. I’m not someone who feels comfortable promoting myself, so publishing my own work is a huge step outside my comfort zone.
Having a YouTube channel is also a terrifying experience but I’m doing it anyway. In fact, all of this has been such new territory for me that I’ve had little time to focus on my fear. Otherwise, I still wouldn’t know what embedding a font is let alone how or why to do it. I’ve also learned how to hook two videos together when the first one freezes at the end before I’m done which is an amazing feat in and of itself.
So, if you’re considering self-publishing, do your research, and then choose the right platform that meets your needs. Look into all the aggregate-type publishing companies such as Draft 2 Digital as well as single publishers like Amazon. In fact, you might want to begin with Amazon just to get the hang of self-publishing. That said, you’ll have to decide whether or not to enroll your book in Kindle Unlimited. On the one hand, you do get paid for pages read, and it really can be a good way to introduce your work to the world-at-large, but if you do, and you want to migrate the book over to another platform, you’ll need to remove it from Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program which doesn’t happen right away. So, at least be aware of the impact of all the boxes you’re excitedly checking as you’re publishing your book. Your journey is only beginning!
Happy self-publishing!
If anyone intends to either quote something I've written, or intends to post any part of my work, including my videos, on any other site, please ask permission before doing so. Any reposting of my work without permission can be considered as copyright infringement, so please ask. And if I give permission, you MUST clearly reference my name as author and my website. No exceptions. The words an author writes are sacred. Unapproved use is not.
Thank you... Jan Erickson
