Our Self-Publishing Adventure
We published a book! That was our high point, but the journey that became The Coffee Cup Companion began in 2011 when I and three friends – Jo-Anne Hemming, Gina Kirby, and Heather Storey – decided to form The Capital Writers.
We met in Heather’s kitchen twice a month to share our writing and help each other with editing. We wrote fiction and creative non-fiction, essays and poetry. By 2014 we each had a collection of work we believed to be finished. We had no delusions of grandeur but were ready to expose our work to a wider audience.
And so the idea of an anthology evolved. Before long we decided to simultaneously help our community by donating the profits to a local charity. It was exciting and a little intimidating as we reviewed options to produce a quality product at an economical cost.
Self-publishing proved to be the most viable option. After much research, we decided on CreateSpace, the self-publishing affiliate of Amazon.com. CreateSpace has ‘for fee’ services that cover editing, formatting and cover development. However, we opted to do everything ourselves using their free tools, as we felt this would maximize profits for our charity. Besides, how hard could it be? Little did we realize how much we had to learn.
It was thrilling to create an account and enter ‘The Coffee Cup Companion.’ No paths worth taking are completely smooth and we eventually hit a snag. That was when we discovered the benefits of CreateSpace’s most useful free tool: the Contact Us button. With a few clicks we narrowed the type of question and chose Contact by Phone. We received a reply before we had time to pour a cup of coffee. Each time we used this option, a knowledgeable person called immediately with clear answers and helped us to move from hesitancy to confidence.
Forty-two pieces of our writing made the cut. We read them aloud for flow. We double-checked tenses and grammar with our online expert, Grammar Girl. We shuffled stories to vary the authors and genres, and we paid attention to appearance. We wanted each story to begin on a new page but didn’t like the large white spaces this often created. Our solution was to insert images. For some pages, Gina produced sketches. For others, we felt that photographs were more appropriate, discovering a Canadian source for low-cost, quality images.
First impressions are important — readers are attracted to a cover before turning over a book to read the back. None of CreateSpace’s cover templates suited us so, with my husband’s help, we designed our own. Formatting the interior presented challenges but, undaunted, we devised solutions until everyone felt satisfied with the content and appearance.
We uploaded the cover and content files onto CreateSpace and, within 24 hours, received confirmation that our submission met the print requirements. Success! Rather than use their online reviewer, we ordered a hard copy for proofing. When our ‘baby’ arrived, we oo-ed and ah-ed, pleased with its appearance and quality – and yes, with ourselves. The few errors corrected, we resubmitted the final version, set the price and added descriptive information for The Coffee Cup Companion’s availability on Amazon.
Our initial order was for 300 books. Minimizing shipping costs meant more money for the Fredericton Homeless Shelters, so we had the books shipped to Calais in Maine and paid the 5% customs tax.
Marketing began on October 2, 2014 with our launch at the Fredericton Public Library. More than 60 people attended and we sold 39 books. Energized by that bang-up start, we made posters, prepared gift packs and booked every sale and pre-Christmas market we could handle. Each step of the journey had its own rewards, the final one coming when we presented $2,750 to the Fredericton Homeless Shelters.
Would we do it again? YES!
Heather’s kitchen is a safe place for The Capital Writers to share their love of writing. The decision to step outside that comfort zone and make our stories available to the public is one we never regretted. It took us on a superb adventure of learning about self-publishing and marketing. Positive public response energized our writing, and we made a contribution to our community. What more could one ask for?
