Growing up I always thought getting published would mean chasing publishing houses and lots of rejection letters.
Times have moved on, we now have the internet (how crazy is it to realise that we didn't when I was a kid!) and with that we have online self publishing.
I chose Kindle Direct Publishing as I like the Kindle format and it is well known.
First I needed something to publish...
The Marathon Man was originally written using a felt tip pen, in a tiny notebook whilst waiting for my sister to finish one of her volunteer shifts.
Then, I left it alone for a few weeks before typing it up and editing.
I edited it for about two weeks. Its just over 1000 words, if I were editing my novel (a work in progress) then it would take much longer!
When I was ready, I set about setting up KDP...
The basic set up is easy. Name, address etc.
I felt like a technical whizz!
Then it wanted my IBAN and BIC numbers.
Ah crap! I had no idea what these were. Cue me yelling for my Hubby. He's the technical one in our house. He knew what they were and advised me to pop into the bank. The bank manager was happy to help, he printed me off a mini statement and there were the details I needed.
On to the next hurdle...
It needed some tax details. It asked for a 'non us tin number.'
Again I had no clue, this time I turned to Google. Turns out you can simply put you National Insurance number in here.
Simples, you might think! Not quite. The conversation between me and Hubby went like this:
Me: Hunny, how do I find out my NI number?
Hubs: Do you not have it memorised?
Me: NO!
Hubs: Why not?
Me: Because I'm not that sad!
Hubs: Try a payslip?
Me: I've not had a payslip for over five years!!
Hubs: I'll look in the filling cabinet!
Luckily, we found a very old payslip. So old it was in my maiden name and we've been married eight years!!
A few more clicks, accepting some terms and conditions and it was all set up.
I uploaded my cover, which I created using Canva (www.canva.com) and then uploaded the manuscript.
The final step was to hit the publish button.
This was another hurdle. I was suddenly scared. Scared that no-one would like it, scared that it wasn't good enough, scared that I wasn't good enough. I made a coffee, I had a bowl of cereal, I sorted some laundry and all the time that button was there on the screen taunting me.
Finally, I did it.
The world didn't end.
However, there was a message on my screen telling me it could take up to 72 hours for it to be available........
It didn't take 72 hours, it took less than a day.
You can get you copy here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marathon-Man-AJ-Trelawny-ebook/dp/B07HGC4PBL/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537447285&sr=1-2&keywords=The+Marathon+Man
Enjoy :)
Thanks for popping by.
Love AJ xx
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