I’m gonna get all serious on you guys for a minute. I want to talk about self-publishing and what I’ve learned over the last three months or so. Because as much as I researched the process before I started, I’ve learned so much more since I did it.

One of the best things I’ve learned is that I’m now wearing all the hats, and it’s just like any other business that a person owns. Those that self-publish have to be entrepreneurial. They have to see this as a business and make business decisions without their hearts getting involved. This is hardest for me, because I love every one of my books, and I don’t want to make decisions that will harm any of them.

All authors run their own business, whether they are traditionally published, self-published, or e-published. I think this is the fact that easily gets lost. Many new writers think about seeing their book on the shelf and being able to write all day, but even a traditionally pubbed author will say… They have to take care of business sometime.

Those that write by definition are small business owners. Or maybe aspiring business owners if they don’t yet have work out there for the public. But it’s never too soon to treat it like a business. But that’s a post for another day. Today, I just want to talk about a few of the hats that authors need to wear.

Writer

Obviously, this is clear. You need a product. You need a good product that is the best there is. Self-publishing is not a shortcut to writing. You still need to put out the best book you can.

Editor

This goes along with above. Edit. Re-edit. Budget for edits, if you’re self-publishing. Barter for services if you can’t afford it. Get a content edit. Get it copyedited. Proofread. Your book is the product.

Formatter

You can find a decent formatter for pretty cheap. I didn’t expect it to take as long as it did originally. I’m pretty tech-savvy, and I’m familiar with HTML languages and CSS. But still, it took several days, and that wasted time i didn’t have. So, I made the decision that while I CAN format, it might be prudent to hire someone else to do it for me.

·     Cover designer – Figure out your cover design as well as overall book design. Even if you can’t do it yourself, try to learn about covers, find out what looks good and what doesn’t – placement, fonts, colors, jacket copy – and know your book enough to figure out what concept you want. Whether you pay someone or not – you need to know how to define quality work.
Cover Designer
I could go on and on about cover design, but this is my field. Right now, this is what pays the bills over the writing. Someday that might change, but for now, that’s how it is. If you’re writing a series, you need to think about how you’re going to brand that series. Each book needs to have a similar look and feel to it. You need to research your genre, see what looks good, and know the basic concept that will sell your book for you. Whether you pay someone else to do the cover or not, you need to know how to define quality work. A bad cover will tank your sales more than any other tool in your publishing inventory.
Project management
Those are ugly words. I know. But you do have a budget and a timeline, or you should. Courtney Milan had an awesome post on profit/loss statements that every author should read before publishing a title. You need to take advertising costs, cover designers, editors, websites, swag all into account. I have an overall Profit/Loss Statement for my business, and one for each single title.
Distribution
This is tricky. If you have the time to go to every retailer individually, great! The more the better. But even big publishing companies use a distributor. I thought about the time involved, and how many titles I’m eventually planning on having out, and I just didn’t have the time to mess with uploading separately to retailers. So I signed with an ebook distributor, and now when I need to change the file, I upload once, email my customer service rep and let him know. It takes about 2 weeks to filter through all the channels.

But ebooks aren’t all you need to think about. While they might be the “wave of the future” print books are still very much revered. Will you be going POD or small print runs? Where are your books on consignment, what libraries have them? How many copies will you need for upcoming conventions and conferences?
Accountant
You need to know what money you have coming when. Some are daily checkers. I’m not. I might check once a week if I’m curious. But I always know what money from what retailer I’m getting when. I know when my distributor pays out and I know how many units I’m getting paid for. You’ll also need to find out the best way to manage your taxes. And while I’ve been handling this myself, that might change when my business gets to a certain point.
Don’t forget to research

This process is fraught with complications. It’s important to have time to get online and find the answers to your questions in a timely manner. There is no detailed guide. It’s your business. It’s also important to keep up with the market changes, because it will affect your business.

More hats?

Of course there are more. Marketing, Social Networking, lawyer, problem solver… Being a multi-tasker is exhausting. Time management (which I’m still learning) will help out immensely.

All of these hats can be hard to manage, especially if you have a family. Then you have even more hats: Mom, Dad, Friend, Wife, Husband, Chef, Chaffeur…

You’re running a business now.  Don’t get taken in by the many people who say writing is an art. Yes, it is, but if you don’t eventually put that business hat on, who will see your art?