My Experience Self-Publishing

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I recently self published a book of two short stories. It was a little daunting.

I got the opportunity to do a self-publishing unit at my university. It was a great opportunity and taught me a lot. We were all walked through the self-publishing process, going through a print on demand platform. By the end of the unit the class held a joint book launch where we all did a reading, a Q & A, and sold a few copies of our books to friends and family. It was a lovely event.

After the book launch I set out re-self-publishing my book. This was because it was published under the university’s imprint and that was impractical moving forward long term.

I got a business number, bought some international standard book numbers, and reworked my way through the process of the print on demand platform we had worked with during the unit. That was pretty straightforward and went mostly as expected.

But then more things came up. I needed to donate my book to the state and territory library as a legal obligation. I wanted my book to be available in ebook form which we had to skip over during the unit due to time constraints and practicality. And life just got busy.

I knew I needed to advertise, but I got a bit overwhelmed by it. I’m very much a lurker when it comes to social media, and being online in general. I also needed to rebrand my Instagram, which I proceeded to procrastinate on. Marketing is something I struggle with; I expect I’ll get better with practice.

I got a bit overwhelmed and life got busy and my to do list for my book slipped to a lower priority.

But I love to write. And I want to share my stories. So, I chipped away at the to do list: I got an ebook format organised, I learnt how to donate my book to the appropriate libraries and did it, and I finally rebranded my Instagram.

I was very blessed to be able to do that self-publishing unit. It definitely made the whole process easier and overall less daunting than I think it would have been without it. Now I think I’m ready and able to keep writing and self-publishing books.

The book that I published is called Stories From Thear. It is a fantasy book that contains two short stories.

The first story it titled “Ponderings of a Recently Retired Warrior”. It is in the format of journal entries written by Andra Anderson a human who retired as a warrior the year before and is now faced with decisions regarding the Elven town she is residing in as the Elf and dragon battle draws closer and threatens the civilians.

The second story is titled “The Case at Jadestone Docks” which follows Ebony Phillips an Avian police officer. She gets assigned a new partner, George Smith, a Human officer, to help her with her current case tracking down an illegal smuggling ring of magical artifacts.

The two stories stand alone but are both set in the same fantasy world Thear. I don’t currently have any plans for direct continuations, but I have many stories in Thear to tell.

-Mikayla

Website: https://www.mikaylajohnsonauthor.com

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