Cheap Self-Publishing

Cheap Publishing Websites, part 1

Loyal readers will note that I have come out strongly in favor of having your own publishing website even if you are driving most of your sales to Amazon. I often get push-back, though, that talks about how expensive having a website can be. Fair enough; let's talk about it.

I spend about $13 on a domain name (like, for example, DegreePress.com). I also pay for hosting that website. While it's hard to tell exactly how much I pay there because my hosting account covers more than a few websites. I can tell you that you can host a single domain at HostGator for about $5.50 a month (if you pay for a year). So, total for a year for the domain and hosting is $79.

Might I suggest that, if you cannot afford $79, you might not want to consider self-publishing.

However, let's continue. At this point, you would likely let me know that there is more to having a website than just a domain name and hosting service. And you would be right. There is the website development piece (i.e. making it look right for sales).

Do you know about Wordpress? Wordpress is the software used by many companies and individuals to create websites. What you may not know is that, as soon as you have paid for hosting, you likely have access to Wordpress for free. It is available in your cPanel as an option. From that, you can create a very plain website.

The "vanilla" version of Wordpress is ugly. It's not meant to be used for a website. You will want to select a WP theme to use. Many are free; some cost money.

What you may not know as well is that there are many resources available from which to learn how to use Wordpress. Youtube has many videos and there are many websites solely dedicated to teaching you how to create WP websites. Here is an example of a Wordpress site that I created myself. It's fairly good.

I should tell you that I have no great Wordpress or website development skills. For better, higher-profile websites, I hire someone to do the work for me. That being said, I feel that my skills would be enought to create an adequate publishing website doing exactly what I have described here.

And so can you.

Look for my next article where I show you one of the free ways to develop a publishing website. I also have an interview with my web developer coming up. You will be able to see what he has done for me and for others (and, I should note, he does it using Wordpress).

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Cheap Self-Publishing Gone Wrong, Part 1

 

Cheap Self-Publishing Gone Wrong, Part 1

Early on in my publishing venture, I made most all of the mistakes that someone could make. Everyone makes mistakes when they first begin self-publishing. The difference is that I am willing to confess my sins. In this series of articles, I will point out those mistakes and tell you what I should have done (and what I have done).

When I first got started, I knew that I was interested in publishing more than one book. I thought then and think now that they best plan for publishing is to produce a significant number of books. At the time, I was thinking mostly about print books.

Therefore, I needed a website. A website where I could showcase dozens of books. Some of mine and some of other writers. Big dreams.

Now, and this is important, I had no books written.* While there is nothing inherently evil about having big dreams, it's also important to get some things down on paper. 

So, because I desperately needed a website for those non-existent books, I had one designed (by someone I found on eLance). I paid too much for it relative to its use. I did use it a little, but not much. Waste of money for the most part.

If you go to my publishing company website now, you would discover a site that has some books as well as clearly a plan for forthcoming works (both print and digital). I paid a very reasonable price, but, importantly, before it was developed, I already had content for it with a plan to develop further content. 

So what am I saying? 

Don't fall in love with the idea of being your own publishing company to the exclusion of making good business decisions. First, be the writer. Yes, you will most definitely need a publishing website and, yes, it will need to happen before you publish your book (even if most of your sales will be through Amazon), but best not to put carts before horses. There will be time.

This was my first mistake. Spending money that didn't need to be spent for that website. Trust me, there have been others. Stay tuned for my next big cheap self-publishing mistake!

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*I should clarify that, prior to this, I had authored or co-authored three books with a mid-sized publisher, Ten Speed Press, in Berkeley, CA.

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