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My site has just become a book

  1. theianfox
    Member

    My site has always been aimed at a specialist market. Performers who are interested in taking a show to the world's largest arts festival the Edinburgh Fringe.

    To reach a larger audience and make it available to those that like to read in the bath, it's in now in paperback and two electronic formats. It's completely reworked from the articles on my site and expanded on.

    It's picking up some nice reviews, for example, "wonderfully informative and extremely funny" Festival Previews.

    http://theianfox.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/how-to-produce-perform-and-write-an-edinburgh-fringe-comedy-show-book/

    Obviously I have to mention it to as many people as possible now.

    If you've got any questions about doing something similar, I'll happily share my experiences.

    The blog I need help with is theianfox.wordpress.com.

  2. wendymc12
    Member

    Hi,
    Any advice or experiences you would like to share, I would love to hear. I have been using my blog as a sort of rough draft of a book I'd like to write. Throwing out some topics and seeing what has appealed to readers has been invaluable as well as the comments I have received. I quess my main question is what next steps to take.

    Thanks,
    Wendy McCance

    http://www.searchingforthehappiness.wordpress.com

  3. theianfox
    Member

    For self published titles the main issue is always going to be how to sell it. So you need to work out who your potential readers are and how you're going to reach them. Getting the book completed is one thing but once done you have to spend time each day marketing your book.

    The biggest problem is getting the work proof read. Spell checks are only reliable to a point. Microsoft Word has an annoying habit of suggesting you hyphenate nearly every other word, and you become blind to errors yourself looking at the work on-screen.

    I worked with a friend who edited the book for me, correcting spelling, spotting missing words in sentences and general typos. Plus was a great sounding board for ideas and whether or not I should say some stuff or leave it out. I don't think you can do it with out an editor.

    Reading the work aloud is an absolute must, you might feel mad but it helps you spot mistakes. Reading the book to someone else is also helpful. It let me know if I'd explained things clearly enough.

    Once you've got a product ready to go, uploading to Kindle is very straight forward. Getting print ready files is slightly more complicated. I used Lulu for the paperback version and everything is explained very clearly. They allocate you an ISBN number. I designed my own cover. I design artwork for my own shows so I'm quite proficient with Photoshop these days.

  4. wendymc12
    Member

    Great info. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

  5. greyroompictures
    Member

    Just a quick note to say congratulations on the book. It's something that I'm interested in doing but I'm waaay off. Anyhow... well done.

  6. theianfox
    Member

    I'll also add to this.

    Once you're happy with it get a third and fourth person to proof read before publication. I've had some emails about typos from readers.

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