Publishing Workshop 


Within the Publishing workshop I shared three main points:

• The value of belonging to a literary community (whether that community is the members of your memoir-writing group, or at another level of engagement).
• Chapbooks as a way of getting your work published.
• The importance of editing as part of the process of publishing. 

 
Belonging To A Literary Community 
Sending work out to magazines. What is your genre? Into what genre does your writing fall? Nonfiction, narrative, short fiction, short story, short shorts, flash fiction, micro fiction, prose poetry, and memoir. See end of this handout for competitions and contests  (if you want to go this route).
 
Belonging to organizations such as the BC Writers Association (who are sponsoring a workshop on self publishing in Nanaimo, BC on March 12, 2016. See http://bcwriters.ca/resources-2/publishing-workshop/ for details.
 
Chapbooks 
Chapbooks are either hand made or commercially published. Google chapbook images for examples.
 
Locally, I recommend Sure Copy Printing in Courtenay http://surecourtenay.ca/
 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/suite-for-ibooks-author/id497704085?mt=12  graphics templates for covers etc.
 
http://naturalexposures.com/how-to-make-a-chapbook/  excellent illustrated guide to making a chapbook
 
http://keithswilson.blogspot.ca/2009/08/making-your-own-poetry-chapbooks.html
 
http://www.selfpublishingresources.ca/projects.html
 
http://bcwriters.ca/self-publish-vanisland/
http://www.artdepartmentdesign.com/  book cover design
 
http://katodesignandphoto.com/  design of book
 
Editing
A few articles you might find helpful.
 
http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2014/08/14/how-to-submit-your-writing-to-literary-magazines/
 
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/how-to-write-a-year-in-advice-from-tc-boyle-karl-ove-knausgaard/420738/
 
http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/get-published-sell-my-work/the-market-for-memoirs
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EZ5G8E8?keywords=martin%20crosbie&qid=1454379565&ref_=sr_1_3&s=digital-text&sr=1-3
 
http://peavi.ca/  professional editors of Vancouver island
 
Which way to go? Self Publishing, hire a service to help you publish? This article outlines the options available to you.
 
http://www.creative-writing-now.com/e-book-publishing.html
 
Do you want to publish your book in digital format? Or do you want a printed book that you can hold in your hands?

There a number publishing options available to you (besides chapbooks).

1. E book publishing

 
Publish an e book to sell in online stores such as Amazon.com, and Apple's iBooks, or on your own website. Here are a few sites for your perusal. Amazon – self-publish to the Kindle via Kindle Direct Publishing. Also free is Barnes & Noble’s Nook Press and Kobo’s Kobo Writing Life. Epublishing distributors offer services that allow you to publish simultaneously to a variety of platforms, and will often provide conversion and formatting as well. The best ones charge no upfront fees, making their money by taking a cut of your earnings. Smashwords and Bookbaby are two examples.

1. Self publishing services

 
Self-publishing services offer electronic publishing across a variety of platforms, usually in tandem with print self-publishing.
http://firstchoicebooks.ca/
 
http://friesenpress.com/
 
2) Print-on-Deman, or POD

With print-on-demand, copies of your book are printed when people order them. Cost of the books at time of printing, though there are costs for setting this up. I believe some print-on-demand services are available at CreateSpace and Lulu.com. People at the BC Writers self publishing workshop would be able to tell you more. 
 
3) Offset Printing 
The other alternative for printing physical books is traditional offset printing, where you print a specific number of books ahead of time.
 
Here are some of the steps in the self-publishing process:

1) Finalize edits of your book. Consider hiring a professional editor to make sure it's ready to publish.

2) Register your ISBN.
 
3) Choose a self publishing service; I give examples below.
4) Ask someone to write a blurb that you can use on your book cover.

5) Hire a cover and interior designer.

If you prefer to do the design work yourself and are not a professional, there are a number of free design tools that can help. (Canva.com for example).  
Most of the self publishing services I've seen offer their own design tools.

Tip: Make sure that your cover design looks good in a tiny thumbnail size, since this is how it may appear in online bookstores.

6) Plan your pricing strategy. Look at the prices of other self published books in your genre.

Normally, self-published books are priced inexpensively, and a low price may significantly improve sales.

7) Once you've decided on a retail price, purchase a bar code if you're publishing a print edition. In most cases, you don't need a bar code for an e book.

8) Plan your marketing strategy. For example, consider reaching out to book bloggers and/or guest-posting on blogs relevant to your readers. Look for ways to get reader reviews of your book as soon as possible.

If you publish on Amazon.com, pay special attention to your author profile page.

9) It might be worth looking at http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/pod/#Self a website that publishes information that can help you be well informed.

Happy publishing!

Somebody asked about Children’s literature: http://vclr.ca/  Vancouver childrens literature roundtable
 
Here are two contests: 
Island Writer Magazine Looking for Submissions http://victoriawriters.ca/island-writer/
Short Fiction Contest Returns for Vancouver Island and Gulf Island Writers See more at: https://www.viu.ca/news/short-fiction-contest-returns-vancouver-island-and-gulf-island-writers#sthash.A5RZWCGG.dpuf 
New Pages http://www.newpages.com/classifieds/writing-contests
Aerogramme http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/tag/opportunities-for-writers/