Indie Publishing Experiment - Part 1: Ebook Through Amazon, KDP

by Cindy R. Williams

My writing career is bizarre. Isn't yours?

I have at least 30 WIPS, anywhere from 2,000 words to 65,000 words.

Even better, I have seven books complete and in various stages of making it out to the world. All forward movement and good stuff, but . . . what I want to visit with you about right now is the book I am experimenting with in the Indie Publishing world.

I completed a book I call, WELCOME TO THE MOTHERHOOD. I submitted it to Deseret Book and it made the cut up to the marketing meeting. They didn't know quite how to market it so . . . alas, earwax--back in my hands. I decided to try my hand at Amazon; KDP for ebooks and CreateSpace for the printed version.

What a fun journey it has been. A big help was attending the ANWA Workshop in February. Jennifer Griffin taught about how to do this exact thing. I took copious notes and rolled up my sleeves and gave it a go.

It was quite a learning curve, and took me around 30 hours to get WELCOME TO THE MOTHERHOOD available for sell on Amazon. Don't grown, or shy away from trying it yourself. It really has been worth it.

I jumped through the hoops on formatting and found that it wasn't hard, it just took time to figure it all out, but was doable. About six of those hours was spent on creating my own cover. I experiment with tons of covers and pictures and colors and finally created one that made total sense and popped! I did my own drum roll and pushed the button to upload and voila . . . readers are purchasing it even though I chose not to market it yet, nor do a book launch party for it until it is available in print.

In May, our family made the annual trek to Disneyland. Back at the hotel one evening, my middle son, Hunter, received a text from a former sister-missionary from his mission in Dallas. She asked if the author, Cindy Williams, was his Mom. He texted her back that, "Yes, she is indeed my mother." She then told him that she bought WELCOME TO THE MOTHERHOOD for her mother for Mother's Day, and they read it together. They loved it and wandered when the printed version would be available. They wanted to buy some for other family members and friends.

It has started, Indie publishing is selling books while I sleep.

So, what next? CreateSpace and the printed version of the book.

Stick with me and check my next blog on July 2nd, for what happens next.