SPA Girls Podcast – EP432 – What To Do When You’ve Finished The Book
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You are your own publishing house when you self-publish. There’s lots to do, and lots to think about, especially the first few times you publish a book.
That’s why we’ve created this helpful, back-to-basics SPA Girls Podcast episode – to help you go from rough manuscript to published book, with our notes on what you need to plan for and schedule, and how to figure out what you’re going to need to actually do to get your book published on all the platforms.
We haven’t given a specific order for these tasks to be done in – we know too many successful authors who get different aspects of the checklist done at different times. There are also tasks that can be done quickly and others that will take time. The important thing is to know what you need to do, to work out a schedule that suits you and your life, and then to actually do the tasks!
To help out, we’ve also created a handy checklist for you to download; just click the links below!
SHOW NOTES:
I’ve finished the Manuscript, what now?
- Take a break – it’s always good to give yourself a bit of time to get perspective on your manuscript.
- Edits – once you’ve had a bit of time off, you can dive back into your edits with a fresh eye. We’re talking both self edits and then a professional edit.
- Get a friend to read through or get beta readers to check it over. Sometimes it takes someone who is completely removed from the book to spot the little niggling errors.
- Identify the genre, and where it sits on Amazon bookshelf, and find comparable books to yours. This will help with your marketing and to figure out what your blurb and cover should look like.
- Blurb – look at other blurbs, know what’s right for the genre you’ve chosen, write it, get feedback. The blurb is often the hardest piece of writing for this whole project! Don’t be afraid to get feedback from author friends.
- Cover – find a cover designer, or get a pre made cover that fits the genre.
- Set up the business side of things – this includes taxes, bank account, postal address, sole trader vs company etc, and your author email.
- Author nuts and bolts – this includes choosing a pen name, deciding on wide vs exclusive, setting up your social media, creating your newsletter and website, writing an author bio, and getting a headshot.
- Uploading prep – this includes formatting, choosing your categories and keywords, setting up the various platform accounts, Author Central.
- Press the go button, Good luck to you all!
PLEASE NOTE: There are a million other things that could be added to this list, but in the interests of avoiding overwhelm, we’ve kept it simple. We’ve also very specifically avoided talking about overt marketing (other than cover and blurb etc), because we have many other podcast episodes that cover marketing off separately.
Free Downloads For Listeners : I’ve Finished My First Manuscript … Now What Do I Do?
💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your burning questions.
⭐ Get personal online coaching with the SPA Girls each month through our $100 tier. Spots for this are strictly limited and on a first-come-first-served basis.
All the info is at http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
✍️ Visit http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info
😊Watch our weekly show on http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast @spagirlspodcast
Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen, so you don’t miss an episode!
SPA Girls Podcast – EP430 – Just One Thing: How To Simplify Your Writing Life
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Inspired by Dr Michael Moseley’s JUST ONE THING (https://michaelmosley.co.uk/ ) we use his framework to give practical tips for uncomplicating your writing and author business life.
- Keep It Simple
- Be Realistic
- Create A Trigger
- Know Your Why
- Stick With It For At Least A Month
- Try To Replace Bad Habits With Good Ones
- Try To Do It Daily
- Involve A Friend Or Loved One
- Be Kind To Yourself
- Keep A Record
Dr Michael Mosley is a No. 1 international bestselling author and journalist. He trained as a doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London before joining the BBC, where he spent three decades as a science journalist and executive producer.
Resource mentioned: Ohwrite.co
💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your burning questions.
⭐ Get personal online coaching with the SPA Girls each month through our $100 tier. Spots for this are strictly limited and on a first-come-first-served basis.
All the info is at http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
✍️ Visit http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info
😊Watch our weekly show on http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast @spagirlspodcast
Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen, so you don’t miss an episode!
SPA Girls EP – 429 – How To Create Your Author Business Plan
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Business Planning for authors isn’t too often discussed, but the minute you go from hobbyist writer to publishing-for-profit, congratulations! You’re now a business entrepreneur.
So what is a business plan? It’s the foundation of your business, a road map of your business structure, future projects, markets, earnings and expenses.
It sounds more complicated than it needs to be. With that in mind, we’ve put together a simple SPA Girls Business Plan template you can download for free from https://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/businessplan/
Completing this as you’re recovering from the holiday season could be just the ticket to kicking off your new year with a clear mind and solid goals.
💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there!
www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
✍️ Visit www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info
😊Watch the recording on our YouTube Channel @spagirlspodcast
SPA Girls Podcast – EP427 – Our 12 Christmas Wishes for you!
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We’re celebrating you, our wonderful listeners, in the SPA today by sharing our 12 Christmas Wishes for you and your self-publishing journey.
We want you to know how special to us. We’re so proud of this journey we’ve all embarked on and with what everyone has achieved. No matter where you are in the publishing process, it really is time to celebrate!
May your holiday be filled with love, joy, good food, fun, books and time to relax and recharge yourself. 🥰
SPA Girls Podcast – EP425 – Book Launch Strategies
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Congratulations! You’ve finished your first book (or series) and are ready to hit the publish button! So what can you do to get your book noticed in the sea of other new books, and how can you find the right readers for you?
In this episode, we’re getting down and dirty with practical suggestions for you to create your own successful launch plan, even if you have no existing fans / mailing list / backlist!
If you’re releasing rapidly, we recommend listening to our podcast with Elana Johnson
For bonus content information we recommend listening to our podcast EP 268
The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there!
www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
Visit www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info.
SPA Girls Podcast – EP419 – The Best Mindset for Organisation and Productivity with Sarra Cannon
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Self-publishing since 2010, Amazon top 100 best-selling Amazon author with 1 million books sold, Sarra writes magical contemporary fantasy novels with both teen and college aged characters (and lots of twists you’ll never see coming).
Do you feel like a hamster on a wheel?
Sarra talks to us about her solution to planning without all the heartache and leading us to be more joyful. “When we sit down to plan we see the perfect scenario. Then Life gets in the way.”
About Sarra Cannon:
Sarra Cannon writes magical contemporary fantasy novels with both teen and college aged characters (and lots of twists you’ll never see coming). Her novels often stem from her own experiences growing up in the small town of Hawkinsville, Georgia, where she learned that being popular always comes at a price and relationships are rarely as simple as they seem.
With over a million books sold, Sarra loves writing witchy books and connecting with fans.
You can connect with her on her author website here at SarraCannon.com
Click to visit Sarra’s Heartbreathings YouTube channel for authors, and Heartbreathings website with her courses for writers here
