I’ve written the book. Edited five times. Trashed several chapters. Rewrote numerous scenes. Gave in to giving it two readers and thought I was done. Get an editor, make a cover, and hit publish.

Call me delusional, but that’s exactly what I thought would be happening and my mid February release date would be oh so awesome.

Epic fail.

I should have realised that there was still a ton of work ahead of me. From copyediting, to cover design, to proofing, and promoting and figuring out the little things in between, I was no where near ready to hit that awesome publish button.

While Google is your friend and these you can find an answer to just about any question, from what to eat for breakfast (oats, eggs or fruit with greek yoghurt are my favourites), to how many self-published books are on Amazon? (Apparently in 2012 over 391,000 were published). I felt lost, confused, and on the verge of swapping writing for drinking.

Then I happened on a fantastic blog. Catherine, Caffeinated. I wasn’t expecting much at first. Then she blew me away with all the useful information her blog provides. It was like someone holding your hand throughout the entire self-publishing process, paving the way for your future as an author or writer of any self-printed book. Without giving you any false hope, in fact, she’s more likely to bring you back down to earth before you go on dreaming up the New York Times bestseller lists, foreign rights, six figure book deals, and Hollywood knocking at your door. Hey it can happen, but she lets you know to hold your horses and be realistic. You can dream later.

If you’re interested in self-publishing, buy Catherine’s awesome book, Self-Printed. It’ll answer pretty much every question you have from the stab yourself in the eye with a fork simple to the more complex like organising a US tax number for a foreigner. Now, I purchased it as an ebook which is great but I think the paperback copy would be even better so that you can put post its in all the relevant sections and make notes about your next steps in the self-printing world…and there are a lot of steps.

One thing I have realised, self-publishing is not for the faint hearted, or for the lazy, or for those who are cash poor. It will be painful at times, it will be damn hard work with late nights and long days, and it will cost you money. But with perseverance, many bottles of wine, lots of good coffee, several books, successful promotion, sweat, tears, and a shit load of editing, you can make a living as a published author.*

Each person will have their own definition of making a living: for some it’s $20k per year for other’s it’s $200k.

Lethal Disposal available in May 2015.

Are you self published? What has your experience been?