Diary of a would-be-self-publisher

Or could be 'Diary of a Non-Wimpy Woman.'

Starting today, I'm going to record progress towards self publishing the first volume of my memoir. Got that? FIRST volume.

Obvioulsy I've given up on the idea of publishing through so-called 'mainstream' publishers. Theyr'e far too busy looking for the next blockbuster or celebrity tell-all. I'm going DIY.

Steps taken so far: (between Oct - Nov 2011)

 . Attended a seminar on publishing your book through a company which supplies books on demand. It's a new Australian company called Lightning Source. (see previous blog)

. Second draft of memoir completed.

. Enrolled in a life writing Master Class with Patti Miller starting this time next week. It goes for two days held at Varuna the writing house in the Blue Mountains. It's a fabulous spot, most conducive to writing.

. Discussed plans with Writers Dozen who came up with great ideas re marketing etc. one of which is to give talks about my self publishing experience. This is a first step of recording that process.Thank you girls!

. Read a great article in the Dec issue of the Writing Magazine about self publishing. The author John Wade gives practical tips on how to calculate the size of your book, the number of pages etc so that you can approach a printer with the correct specifications and get a realistic quote. I had to email and thank him, and he replied which was nice. As it stands now, the memoir will be 388 pages, plus photos, index, acknowledgements etc.Just a tad longer than Stephen King's fabulous book 'On Writing,' but the same height and width.

. Discussing design of the book cover (front and back) with Helen one of the aqua gals.Got a possible image to go with.

. Have enrolled in two 2-hour seminars at the Sydney Writers' Centre: Dec 7 'Selling your ebook on Amazon.' (I'm looking to publish electronically too.) And Dec 12 'Self-publishing - how to do it.'

After I've finished this blog I'm going to look at book design software for some ideas, another tip from the aforementioned John Wade.

Watch this space.