{"id":823330,"date":"2025-09-04T13:45:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?p=823330"},"modified":"2025-09-18T16:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T15:11:10","slug":"my-self-publishing-story-and-the-lessons-ive-learned-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/my-self-publishing-story-and-the-lessons-ive-learned-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"My self-publishing story – and the lessons I’ve learned so far"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hi, I\u2019m Laina, and I write historical fiction as L M West<\/a>. I\u2019d been researching a woman accused of witchcraft here in Suffolk in 1645, and was just wondering what to do with everything I\u2019d found out when lockdown hit. I\u2019d thought of writing a leaflet for our local museum, but everything was on hold. So I thought I\u2019d have a go at writing a novel: a childhood dream!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was 66 years old, with no idea where to start \u2013 just a story in my head. I enrolled for two short online courses with Curtis Brown Creative, and at the same time joined Jericho Writers and watched a lot of their \u2018How to\u2019 videos. All this was invaluable, but when my first book was written, I had to decide what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d assumed I\u2019d take the traditional publishing route, but the more I read about that, the more I realised it was not for me. I didn\u2019t want the pressure of deadlines, possible title changes, major editorial changes and someone else doing the cover art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I watched all the Jericho Writers videos on self-publishing, which helped me to understand that it\u2019s not for the faint-hearted. There is a huge amount to learn, particularly about things like layout, formatting, cover design and editing. Naively, I thought that writing a book was the hardest bit \u2013 how wrong I was!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years later, I have self-published four novels. The fifth is being edited at the moment. My books sell steadily, and I am very happy with my chosen path to publication. I sometimes wish I could hand the novels over to someone else and let them sort them out, but I get a huge sense of achievement and satisfaction from doing it myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on my experiences so far, here are my top tips for anyone else considering self-publishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be realistic #1 – If you are not tech-savvy, it will make life harder.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You may need help, and you will have to pay for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get your book professionally formatted.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You can employ people to do it for you, but I compared costs and decided to invest in Vellum. I\u2019ve been very pleased with it. You put a Word file into it, and it sorts the layout for you. It was expensive, but I worked out that if I wrote two or more books, I\u2019d have recouped the cost. I\u2019m now quids in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the big one… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get a professional editorial report.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You need it, your book needs it, and your readers will thank you for it. I have used Jericho Writers editorial services<\/a> for every book I\u2019ve written, and they\u2019ve been invaluable. It can be gutting \u2013 my first report suggested that I lose the first fifteen chapters of my novel as the action didn\u2019t get started until chapter sixteen! I cried, threatened to give up, swore I was no good at writing, that it had all been a waste of time\u2026 but I came back to it a month later, chopped off the initial chapters as suggested, and started from there. And you know what? My editor was absolutely right! It was a much better book for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Want to read the rest of this article? Log in<\/a> or join our free community – you’ll get the rest of our top tips, plus a truck-load of other resources. Whoever said you don’t get anything in this life for free?<\/h4>\n\n\n\r\n