SELF-PRINTING: Posts

Here’s a full list of all the “self-printing” category posts which chronicle my entire self-publishing adventure. I’ve tried to organize them in some sort of coherent way, but if you want to read them all—and you have, like, a week or so of your life to spare—you can click here to access all posts tagged with “self-printing” instead. 

NB: Keep in mind that I’ve been blogging about self-publishing for a while and so a blog post I wrote about CreateSpace in February 2010 may not exactly be the most up-to-date information. Also I only update this page every now and then. [Last update: February 6th 2013.] For the last few self-printing themed posts, go back to the homepage. 

Top 20 Most Popular Self-Printing Posts

(in no particular order)

• 6 Ways to Survive Bad Reviews
• Does My Blog Look Big in This?
• 3 Things I’m Not Doing Anymore
• How Much Work is Self-Publishing?
• How Much Should I Charge for My E-book?
• Why You Need an Editor: A Demonstration
• How Do You Know What You Don’t Know?
• How (Not?) To Get Your Book Reviewed
• Why I Might Stop Self-Publishing Paperbacks
• So… [Innocent Whistling] About That KDP Select
• The Minefield That Is Self-Published Cover Design
• Shooting for the Moon (Or, Don’t Just Listen to Me)
• 5 Things I’m Always Having To Tell Self-Publishers
• Why For Me, Print Will Never Be Extinct [Freshly Pressed!]
• Why Promoting Your Book Online is (a bit) like Fight Club
• Non-US Self-Publisher? Tax Issues Don’t Need To Be Taxing
• 5 Things Self-Publishers Shouldn’t Worry About (But They Do)
• Selling Self-Published Books: Read This First [Freshly Pressed!]
• A New and Improved, Even Easier Way to Format Your E-book
• Speak Now: Earn Money From Self-Publishing By Talking About It

All About E-books

(in chronological order)

1. An E-book Extravaganza
2. How I Learned a BIG E-book Lesson
3. Mark Coker’s 7 Secrets to Self-Publishing Failure
4. A Very E-book Christmas
5. E-books: The Tipping Point
6. Publishing E-books: A Checklist
7. How To Avoid Self-Publishing a Crappy Book: 2 Golden Rules
8. The ISBN Zone
9. Frequently Asked Questions
10. To DRM Or Not To DRM
11. So My E-book Sales are Down – But Why?
12. My 99c E-book Extravaganza
13. 99c: The Results and the Kindle “Indie” Bookstore
14. A New and Improved, Even Easier Way to Format Your E-book
15. How Much Work is Self-Publishing?
16. Why is My Book Still 99c? A Smashwords-Shaped Headache
17. E-book Stuff: Links Extravaganza
18. Why I Might Stop Self-Publishing Paperbacks
19. Heads Up: My E-book Prices are Changing
20. 5 Things I’m Always Having To Tell Self-Publishers
21. Why I Won’t Be Blogging About KDP Select
22. So… [Innocent Whistling] About That KDP Select
23. How Much Should I Charge for My E-book?
24. Why It’s a Bad Idea to Overload Your Kindle E-book
25. Low E-book Pricing: The Compensation Problem
26. Checking Your Kindle Book
27. Operation Full Distribution
28. KDP Now Paying ALL Royalties by EFT

All About POD Paperbacks

(in chronological order)

1. The Science Bit: How Does POD Actually Work?
2. Yay! The Proof Copies I Wasted €30 On Are Here!
3. 5 Day POD: Day 1 - Write Your Book
4. 5 Day POD: Day 2 Morning – Editing/Proofreading
5. 5 Day POD: Day 2 Afternoon - Formatting Your Interior
6. 5 Day POD: Day 3 - A Cover Story
7. 5 Day POD: Day 4 – An Upload Extravaganza
8. 5 Day POD: Day 5 – Click the Publish Button
9. A CreateSpace Timeline: How Long Did It Take?
10. Things You Can Do When a Box of Your Books Arrives
11. How To Avoid Self-Publishing a Crappy Book: 2 Golden Rules
12. The ISBN Zone
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Amazon Author Central Adds Nielsen BookScan
15. How Much I Paid for My Self-Printed Cover
16. Cheaper Shipping, Less Mystery: I Heart CreateSpace
17. Self-Printing: I’ve Made a Huge Mistake* – But Also Sold 5,000! 
18. The Minefield That Is Self-Published Cover Design
19. Controversy Corner: Am I Wrong About the Gatekeepers?
20. CreateSpace, Amazon.co.uk and a Potentially Good Idea
21. Why You Need an Editor: A Demonstration
22. When the Postman Brings Proof Copies
23. How To Make a Real Book
24. No Printed Proof: A Very Bad, Very Good Idea
25. Lulu, I Love You
26. Why I Might Stop Self-Publishing Paperbacks
27. Why You Need Some “Self” in Your Self-Publishing
28. CreateSpace in Europe
29. Why For Me, Print Will Never Be Extinct [Freshly Pressed!]
30. Proofing Your CreateSpace Paperback

All About Selling Self-Published Books

(in chronological order)

1. The Best Things Online Are Free
2. Self-Printing Make ‘n’ Do: Book Trailers
3. I’ve Made a Book Trailer: Now What?
4. Get Crafty: Book Trailer Boxes
5. The 5 Stages of Amazonitis
6. Ready, Set, Sell
7. Adventures in Self-Printing: The Book Launch
8. What Do Self-Publishing Success Stories Have in Common?
9. Using Social Media to Sell Books (from One Stop Conference)
10. Is Your Target Audience Finding Your Book?
11. To Launch Or Not To Launch?
12. Self-Printing: My Biggest Mistake
13. Self-Printing: I’ve Made a Huge Mistake* – But Also Sold 5,000! 
14. Self-Publishing Goals – What’s Realistic?
15. What’s With the “Be Professional” Thing?
16. Max Barry’s How to (Reluctantly) Make a Book Trailer (Brilliantly)
17. Does My Blog Look Big in This?
18. Shooting for the Moon (Or, Don’t Just Listen to Me)
19. 5 Things I’m Always Having To Tell Self-Publishers
20. Why I Won’t Be Blogging About KDP Select
21. On Air: How To Survive a Live Radio Interview
22. Judge a Book By its Cover? Results Gets a New One
23. So… [Innocent Whistling] About That KDP Select
24. Title Woes, or Why I Wish People Would Stop Taking Things So Literally!
25. How (Not?) To Get Your Book Reviewed
26. Why It Doesn’t Matter Whether or Not Your Book is Good
27. Amazon Customer Reviews: Bringing the HUH? Since 1995
28. Why For Me, Print Will Never Be Extinct [Freshly Pressed!]
    
29. How To Sell Self-Published Books: One at a Time
30. My Not So Scientific Theory of How To Sell Self-Published Books
31. Where to Find Your First Readers
32. Launching Your Book Online
33. The Amazing Amazon
34. Don’t You Forget About Me
35. Why Promoting Your Book Online is (a bit) like Fight Club
36. Hit and Miss With KDP Select
37. Twitter DOES Sell Books—Just Not Directly
38. The Writer’s Guide to Making Google Your Friend
39. Low E-book Pricing: The Compensation Problem
40. How To Get Your Book Reviewed: A Practical Lesson
41. Why Flashy Book Trailers Don’t Work

The Number Games

(in chronological order)

1. The Big Reveal Part I (Sep 10): Mousetrapped’s Costs and “Royalties”
2. The Big Reveal Part II (Sep 10): How Many Did I Sell?
3. The Big Reveal (Mar 11): Mousetrapped‘s Sales, One Year On
4. So My E-book Sales are Down – But Why?
5. The Numbers Game
6. So… [Innocent Whistling] About That KDP Select

ITIN/US Tax Withholding for Non-US Residents

1. Applying for an US ITIN (Tax Number): A Saga in 3 Parts
2. The ITIN, 30% Withholding, Tax Refund Saga: An Update
3. US Tax Info and Alphabet Soup (or Why You Don’t Need an ITIN)
4. Non-US Self-Publisher? Tax Issues Don’t Need To Be Taxing
5. The Easy Way to Get Your US Tax Back

The Early Days: Mousetrapped

(in chronological order)

1. Why Am I Doing This? A Self-Printing Prologue
2. SPS: Self-Publishing Snobbery
3. Talking Purple Unicorns: Why I’m Calling It Self-Printing
4. Yay! The Proof Copies I Wasted €30 On Are Here!
5. Adventures in Self-Printing: The Book Launch
6. The Big Reveal Part I (Sep 10): Mousetrapped’s Costs and “Royalties”
7. The Big Reveal Part II (Sep 10): How Many Did I Sell?

Take Two: Mousetrapped‘s Second Edition

(in chronological order)

1. Operation New Edition: What’s Changing?
2. Operation New Edition: A New Cover Story
3. Operation New Edition: The Proof Copy is Here!
4. New Mousetrapped Amazon Product Description
5. Title Woes, or Why I Wish People Would Stop Taking Things So Literally!

Book Number Two: Backpacked

(in chronological order)

1. Self-Printing: My Biggest Mistake
2. Announcing: Backpacked
3. The Backpacked Cover is Here!
4. Finished! But What Next?
5. More on Backpacked!
6. When the Postman Brings Proof Copies
7. Welcome to Backpacked Week!
8. Backpacked Week: The Evolution of a Book Trailer
9. Title Woes, or Why I Wish People Would Stop Taking Things So Literally!

Foray into Fiction: Results Not Typical [NB: Since unpublished]

(in chronological order)

1. What The Dream Looks Like: Why I’m Still Pursuing Traditional Publication
2. 3 Bombshells (Maybe…?) Before Breakfast
3. Meet My Novel: Results Not Typical
4. The Full Results Not Typical Cover is Here!
5. When the Postman Brings Proof Copies
6. The Results Not Typical Blog Tour
7. Results Not Typical is Out Now!
8. Results Not Typical Blog Tour Digest Week 1
9. Results Not Typical Blog Tour Digest Week 2
10. Results Not Typical Blog Tour Digest Week 3
11. Judge a Book By its Cover? Results Gets a New One
12. Results Not Typical: Now FREE on Kindle!
13. So… [Innocent Whistling] About That KDP Select.

Self-Pubbing a Self-Pubbing Guide: Self-Printed

(in chronological order)

1. Announcing: Self-Printed
2. Self-Printed: The First Proof
3. Self-Printed: The “Is This Book For You?” Quiz
4. Self-Printed: The Cover is Here!
5. How Much I Paid for My Self-Printed Cover
6. Self-Printed Preview #1: The Stigma of Self-Publishing
7. Self-Printed Preview #2: Self-Publishing Goals – What’s Realistic?
8. Self-Printed Preview #3: The Minefield That Is Self-Published Cover Design
9. Self-Printed Preview #4: What Does the Dream Look Like?
10. Self-Printed Preview #5: What’s With the “Be Professional” Thing?
11. Self-Printed is Out Today! And Some Other Stuff
12. My Self-Printed Interview on Writing.ie (VIDEO)

My Latest Project: Travelled

1. Travels in 2012 and Travelled in 2013

Guest Posts I Wrote for Other Blogs

• 5 Things I Learned From My Self-Publishing Experience (The New Author)
• Recipe for a Perfect Book Launch (Writing Come Hell or High Water)
• Self-Publishing the Non-Gatekeepers Way (on Talli Roland’sblog)
• Why Self-Publishers Need to Start Minding Their Manners (on Taleist)
• Getting Your Book Critiqued, Edited & Proofread: Why You Should (on Ladies Who Critique)
• Am I Selling E-books Just Because My E-books are Cheap? (on The Bookseller’s Futurebook blog)
• Who is Reading the 99c Books? (on Emma Newman’s blog)
• Self-Publishing: The Family and Friends Problem (on Sally Clement’s blog)
• What Doesn’t Matter in Self-Publishing (on Ellen Brickley’s blog)
• Why I Self-Published a Novel… When I Said I NEVER Would (on Duolit Self-Publishing Team)

All Self-Printing Category Posts

(in chronological order)

1. Why Am I Doing This? A Self-Printing Prologue
2. SPS: Self-Publishing Snobbery
3. Talking Purple Unicorns: Why I’m Calling It Self-Printing
4. The Science Bit: How Does POD Actually Work?
5. Yay! The Proof Copies I Wasted €30 On Are Here!
6. Going Public
7. The Best Things Online Are Free
8. Self-Printing Make ‘n’ Do: Book Trailers
9. I’ve Made a Book Trailer: Now What?
10. Get Crafty: Book Trailer Boxes
11. 5 Day POD: Day 1 - Write Your Book
12. 5 Day POD: Day 2 Morning – Editing/Proofreading
13. 5 Day POD: Day 2 Afternoon - Formatting Your Interior
14. 5 Day POD: Day 3 - A Cover Story
15. 5 Day POD: Day 4 – An Upload Extravaganza
16. 5 Day POD: Day 5 – Click the Publish Button
17. An E-book Extravaganza
18. A CreateSpace Timeline: How Long Did It Take?
19. The 5 Stages of Amazonitis
20. Ready, Set, Sell
21. Things You Can Do When a Box of Your Books Arrives
22. T-Minus 5 Days Launch Countdown: Countdown Begins
23. T-Minus 4 Days Launch Countdown: The Bookstore
24. T-Minus 3 Days Launch Countdown: Stock Options
25. T-Minus 2 Days Launch Countdown: Rent-a-Crowd
26. T-Minus 1 Day Launch Countdown: About the Author
27. Adventures in Self-Printing: The Book Launch
28. What Do Self-Publishing Success Stories Have in Common?
29. Self-Printing Promotion: Thinking Ahead
30. Self-Printing Promotion: Blogging & A Book Site
31. Self-Printing Promotion: How To Send People to Your Blog
32. Self-Printing Promotion: Book Trailers
33. Self-Printing Promotion: First Chapter
34. Self-Printing Promotion: Amazon Adventures
35. Self-Printing Promotion: Forum Fun
36. Self-Printing Promotion: Contests, Giveaways and Freebies
37. Self-Printing Promotion: Fun with Vistaprint
38. Self-Printing Promotion: Complimentary Copies
39. Self-Printing Promotion: Of Book Launches & Book Tours
40. Self-Printing Promotion: What Not To Do & Some Final Thoughts
41. Using Social Media to Sell Books (from One Stop Conference)
42. How I Learned a BIG E-book Lesson
43. How To Format Your E-book (the Non-Migraine Inducing Way)
44. Mark Coker’s 7 Secrets to Self-Publishing Failure
45. A Very E-book Christmas
46. E-books: The Tipping Point
47. Publishing E-books: A Checklist
48. The Big Reveal Part I (Sep 10): Mousetrapped’s Costs and “Royalties”
49. The Big Reveal Part II (Sep 10): How Many Did I Sell?
50. Is Your Target Audience Finding Your Book?
51. How To Avoid Self-Publishing a Crappy Book: 2 Golden Rules
52. The ISBN Zone
53. Frequently Asked Questions
54. Amazon Author Central Adds Nielsen BookScan
55. Making a Living as a Writer in the 21st Century
56. Operation New Edition: What’s Changing?
57. Operation New Edition: A New Cover Story
58. Operation New Edition: The Proof Copy is Here!
59. 6 Ways to Survive Bad Reviews
60. Me, in The Sunday Times!
61. To Launch Or Not To Launch?
62. Self-Printing: My Biggest Mistake
63. What The Dream Looks Like: Why I’m Still Pursuing Traditional Publication
64. Announcing: Self-Printed
65. Announcing: Backpacked
66. The Big Reveal (Mar 11): Mousetrapped‘s Sales, One Year On
67. To DRM Or Not To DRM
68. Self-Printed: The First Proof
69. Self-Printed: The “Is This Book For You?” Quiz
70. Self-Printed: The Cover is Here!
71. How Much I Paid for My Self-Printed Cover
72. Special E-book Author Guest Star Week: Sally Clements
73. Special E-book Author Guest Star Week: Suzanne O’Leary
74. Special E-book Author Guest Star Week: Lindsay Edmunds
75. Special E-book Author Guest Star Week: Vanessa O’Loughlin
76. Special E-book Author Guest Star Week: Hazel Gaynor
77. Special E-book Author Guest Star Week: Rebecca E. Brown
78. Cheaper Shipping, Less Mystery: I Heart CreateSpace
79. Self-Printing: I’ve Made a Huge Mistake* – But Also Sold 5,000! 
80. Self-Printed Preview #1: The Stigma of Self-Publishing
81. Self-Printed Preview #2: Self-Publishing Goals – What’s Realistic?
82. Self-Printed Preview #3: The Minefield That Is Self-Published Cover Design
83. Self-Printed Preview #4: What Does the Dream Look Like?
84. Self-Printed Preview #5: What’s With the “Be Professional” Thing?
85. Self-Printed is Out Today! And Some Other Stuff
86. New Mousetrapped Amazon Product Description
87. Controversy Corner: Am I Wrong About the Gatekeepers?
88. CreateSpace, Amazon.co.uk and a Potentially Good Idea
89. Did You Know Amazon Deleted Kindle Book Tags?
90. 3 Bombshells (Maybe…?) Before Breakfast
91. My Self-Printed Interview on Writing.ie (VIDEO)
92. They’re Ba-ack! (Kindle Tags, That Is)
93. Announcing: 99c Self-Printed Shorts
94. So My E-book Sales are Down – But Why?
95. Say Goodbye to Grants, Say Hello to Kickstarter
96. Self-Printing: 3 Things I’m Not Doing Anymore
97. Self-Printing: 3 Things I’ve Started Doing
98. The Backpacked Cover is Here!
99. Rant O’Clock: No, JK Rowling is NOT Self-Publishing
100. Another Day, Another Amazon Change
101. Meet My Novel: Results Not Typical
102. 20k Books Sold: My Game Plan
103. Mousetrapped in Magazines
104. Why Self-Publishers Need to Watch Their Manners
105. Finished! But What Next?
106. My 99c E-book Extravaganza
107. Introducing Self-Publishing Formatting Services, by Me
108. More on Backpacked!
109. 99c: The Results and the Kindle “Indie” Bookstore
110. HOW Self-Publishers Can Mind Their Manners
111. Max Barry’s How to (Reluctantly) Make a Book Trailer (Brilliantly)
112. The Full Results Not Typical Cover is Here!
113. Why You Need an Editor: A Demonstration
114. When the Postman Brings Proof Copies
115. Why I’m Self-Publishing: A Guest Post by Roz Morris
116. The Numbers Game
117. Welcome to Backpacked Week!
118. Backpacked Week: A New and Improved, Even Easier Way to Format Your E-book
119. Backpacked Week: The Evolution of a Book Trailer
120. Backpacked Week: How To Make a Real Book
121. Backpacked Week: How Much Work is Self-Publishing?
122. Backpacked Week: 5 Things Self-Publishers Shouldn’t Worry About (But They Do)
123. Why is My Book Still 99c? A Smashwords-Shaped Headache
124. No Printed Proof: A Very Bad, Very Good Idea
125. Lulu, I Love You
126. E-book Stuff: Links Extravaganza
127. Writing with the Door Open
128. The Results Not Typical Blog Tour
129. Results Not Typical is Out Now!
130. Results Not Typical Blog Tour Digest Week 1
131. Results Not Typical Blog Tour Digest Week 2
132. Results Not Typical Blog Tour Digest Week 3
133. Why I Might Stop Self-Publishing Paperbacks
134. Heads Up: My E-book Prices are Changing
135. How Do You Know What You Don’t Know?
136. Does My Blog Look Big in This?
137. Applying for an US ITIN (Tax Number): A Saga in 3 Parts
138. (Some) Writing Dreams (Still) Do Come True
139. Shooting for the Moon (Or, Don’t Just Listen to Me)
140. 5 Things I’m Always Having To Tell Self-Publishers
141. Why I Won’t Be Blogging About KDP Select
142. On Air: How To Survive a Live Radio Interview
143. Judge a Book By its Cover? Results Gets a New One
144. Results Not Typical: Now FREE on Kindle!
145. The ITIN, 30% Withholding, Tax Refund Saga: An Update
146. So… [Innocent Whistling] About That KDP Select
147. Title Woes, or Why I Wish People Would Stop Taking Things So Literally!
148. Grammar Geography: Does It Matter To You?
149. Grammar Geography: The Results
150. US Tax Info and Alphabet Soup (or Why You Don’t Need an ITIN)
151. How (Not?) To Get Your Book Reviewed
152. Non-US Self-Publisher? Tax Issues Don’t Need To Be Taxing
153. Could Your Self-Published Book Pass THIS Test?
154. The Answer To All Your Design Problems
155. Why You Need Some “Self” In Your Self-Publishing
156. Amazon Customer Reviews: Bringing the HUH? Since 1995
157. Why It Doesn’t Matter Whether or Not Your Book is Good
158. Why For Me, Print Will Never Be Extinct [Freshly Pressed!]
     
159. How to Sell Self-Published Books: One at a Time
160. My Not So Scientific Theory of How To Self-Published Books
161. Where to Find Your First Readers
162. Launching Your Book Online
163. The Amazing Amazon
164. Don’t You Forget About Me
165. Why Promoting Your Book Online is (a bit) like Fight Club
166. Hit and Miss With KDP Select
167. Twitter DOES Sell Books—Just Not Directly
168. CreateSpace in Europe
169. How Much Should I Charge for My E-book?
170. The Writer’s Guide to Making Google Your Friend
171. Why It’s a Bad Idea to Overload Your Kindle Book
172. Do You Ever Want To Go Back?
173. Read All About It
174. Why For Me, Print Will Never Be Extinct [Freshly Pressed!]
175. The Easy Way to Get Your US Tax Back
176. Low E-book Pricing: The Compensation Problem
177. How To Get Your Book Reviewed: A Practical Lesson
178. 50 Shades a Self-Publishing Success Story? I Don’t Think So
179. Proofing Your CreateSpace Paperback
180. Checking Your Kindle Book
181. Why Flashy Book Trailers Don’t Work
182. NaNoWriMo: I’m Only Going To Say This Once, Okay?
183. Agents Self-Publishing and The Mysterious White Glove
184. Travels in 2012 and Travelled in 2013
185. Plans and Goals and Stuff
186. Operation Full Distribution
187. Speak Now: Earn Money From Self-Publishing By Talking About It
188. My Favorite Plotting Book EVER* (*Contains Cats)
189. KDP Now Paying ALL Royalties By EFT

Wow. Sees like a lot, right? No wonder I get nothing done…