Earlier this week I finished a read-through of my book and now it is in the hands of my family members for their critique and editing assistance before I send it out to others for critique and editing.

The front cover design is finished and I’m having a photo shoot in the morning so that I will have a current bio picture for the back cover. Then will follow the task of writing a bio and the back cover copy.

I met with a good friend of mine last week to discuss the interior page design and layout. After reading my previous post on page layout, she offered her services to me and I am SO relieved to not have to learn how to use a new software program on top of everything else right now!

I also met with another friend who has agreed to be my Marketing Manager. She is starting to compile contact lists and work on some other marketing-related research. I am so grateful for her input and help!

One thing that I am definitely learning is the importance of collaborating with others. My tendency is to try to do everything myself, but it has been invaluable to have the assistance of friends with various aspects of this self-publishing business! I know I will have a much better product in the end because of the expertise of those who are contributing to each aspect of the project.

So, my advice to all self-publishers…get help! There’s a reason there is a whole industry devoted to publishing books. 🙂

Morris Rosenthal, of the Self Publishing Blog, posted an interview with Brian Bischoff, author of Crystal Reports. Brian shares a bunch of things that he learned from his experience self-publishing his books and it was very instructive just to read his thoughts. I wish I could find more interview formats like this to learn from the self-publishing experiences of others…if anyone knows of any, please do share!

Last Sunday, a friend from church told me about the Elance website. I looked it up the next day and have been exploring it off and on to get a better feel for how it works. The tagline for the company sums up nicely what the overarching objective of Elance is: Where businesses hire and work with qualified professionals [to get work done]. Elance allows an entrepreneur to conceptualize an idea and then employ a qualified professional to help make it a reality. Whether it’s design work, logo development, writing or software programming, there are numerous professionals that may be accessed through Elance.

The way I understand it is that you post a project and specify what you need and then receive bids from professionals who are willing to meet that need. You select the bid you want and then work with that person to see the project to completion. Here’s one of their recent blog posts about a successful company that got off the ground by utilizing the services offered through Elance.

I can see this being valuable to self-publishers in a variety of ways:

* book cover design
* book interior design
* website development
* written contributions in areas that an author may need further expertise

I’m looking forward to exploring the site in more depth, but it sure seems like a great tool for self-publishers who desire to present a professional image and product! If anyone has any experience with Elance, I’d love to know what you think!

Several friends sent me information they saw about a workshop series being hosted by Perfect Peace for aspiring authors and self-publishers. I signed up for the July workshops and am looking forward to attending the first one tomorrow. It is titled, “The Self-Publishing Experience” and the presenter is Gina Nachtigal. In addition to learning from the experience of others, I’m also anticipating meeting other authors and self-publishers in the local area. I’m hoping to take lots of notes and post them on here for easy reference in the future by myself and others.

It’s amazing the things you come to find out about people when you tell them you are writing a book! At a wedding Saturday afternoon I enjoyed a conversation with a local artist. I found out that he has done book illustrations before and I eagerly jotted down his name and phone number to pass on to my friend who is writing a children’s book. Then, later that evening, at a cook-out at some friends’ house, I met someone else who does free-lance editing work. He was exciting about the possibility of helping me edit my book when I get to that point in the process. I know it will take a network of people to finish this project and it’s exciting to see the Lord bringing people across my path who are willing to be part of it!

In response to an e-mail I sent out announcing my forthcoming book and this blog, I received lots of encouraging and helpful responses. One especially helpful piece of advice came from Mike Cox, father of my good friend, Myklin, who has self-published the course, What Every Girl Should Know. He suggested that I join the Christian Self-Publishing Yahoo Group. I joined right away and am eager to begin looking through their archives and participating in the discussion.

On top of that, after introducing myself to the group, I received a very insightful e-mail from Marc Carrier, another member of the group. He and his wife have authored and self-published several books and sell them through their website, Values Driven Family. Marc included some links in his e-mail that eventually led me to this Author Resources page that is chock-full of informative articles and helpful tools. In particular, I found this article on Creating a Children’s Book from Concept to Illustrations. I have a friend who has just started working on a children’s book series that I am thrilled about, so I sent the link on to him.

Oh, and be sure to request the Free Self-Publishing Guide from Author House as well. If their website is any indication, the guide will be a treasure trove of helpful ideas!

I am compiling a list of people who have self-published, so if you have self-published a book and would like to be included in the links list that I’m putting together, just leave me a comment or send me an e-mail. Include your name, the title of the book you self-published and a link to your website or a website where the book may be purchased. Thanks!