Jennifer Oko | Head Case: A Mind-Altering Journey into Self-Publishing or How I am Learning to Self-Publish Without Losing My Mind

A couple of weeks ago I published my third book, a humorous mystery novel called HEAD CASE. My first two books entered the world in the traditional way, getting some very nice pre-launch print reviews ("simply riveting," said the New York Times, "sharp and fast-paced," said Publishers Weekly), and then landing first on bookstore shelves before making their way into people's hands. But the world of eBook publishing has dramatically changed the book selling landscape, and this seemed like a great moment in history to take the publication of my latest novel into my own hands.

HEAD CASE is about a young woman named Olivia Zack—a neuroscientist, pharmaceutical consultant....and murder victim—who embarks on a postmortem quest involving ethically challenged executives, spotlight-hungry celebrities, romantic entanglements, third-rate mobsters, and drug-dealing babushkas as she attempts to deconstruct the events that led up to her mind-altering death.

After reading story after story about once conventionally published authors having lots of fun (and occasionally great success) in the brave new world of digital self-publishing, I realized that an eBook would be the perfect publishing platform for this somewhat unconventional book.  I choose to go through the Kindle Direct Publishing platform (this means it is free for members of Amazon Prime!). And for January 17 and 18, it is FREE to all the world!

It turns out, however, that to do this self-publishing thing right, it's not as simple as just clicking "upload" and kicking back to watch the book start to sell.

So, for all of you out there who are curious about this brave new world of ebooks self-publishing, here are a few things I have learned so far:

1. Dress the part. If you want your book to hold its own next to books with huge publishing houses behind them, your book has to look good. Really good. Inside and out. And that costs money. I did a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for things like the cover art, proofreading, formatting, and promotional and marketing support. It was also a great way to make me accountable to my "investors" and give me the kick in the pants to finally put the book out there.

2. Know who your friends are.  Create a team to help share your tweets and posts.  It's an awkward thing to directly ask people to do, but unless you have a following like Lady Gaga's (in which case, you probably don't need to read this), chances are you alone can't get the social media outreach you will need to let the world know that your book even exists.

Please be my friend at facebook.com/jenniferokoauthor and follow me on Twitter at @jennifer_oko. ;-)

3. Fill up the empty seats. Nobody wants to pay for a meal at a new restaurant if the tables are empty. Same goes for book buying. It's critical to get at least a few reviews and ratings up from the get-go. Soon after launch, I ran a free promotion, and Head Case landed at #7 in Amazon's free book "ghost" category and #15 in "female sleuth," which was very exciting. It got some great reviews as well. I am running another promotion January 17 and 18, so please check it out and if you like it, please rate and review. It is hugely important for authors!

4. Be patient. I laugh at this one, because I can't take my own advice, but I know I could use it. When I published my first two books, I was told there was a three week window for reviews, and if your book didn't hit then, forget it. With self-published eBooks, the window is much bigger. Overnight sensations are rare. Many of the new self-publishing superstars talk about how things started slow, but over a few months time, books started to move.

5. Be realistic. For every self-publishing superstar, there are hundreds of thousands of other authors who are lucky to turn a profit at all. But just remember that even if the book doesn't become a bestseller, it has more readers than it would have had if it just sat on your harddrive year after year. Hopefully some of those readers will enjoy the book and tell their friends about it. I hope my readers will enjoy Head Case as much as I enjoyed writing it!