A Dublin mum who started writing her debut novel during the first lockdown has now shared her tips on how to self-publish.
Chelsea Keogh was just completing her online journalism course and taking care of her baby son at the start of Covid when she was struck with an idea for a book. Three years later, she is now ready to launch her debut novel, Second City, an exciting dystopian romance inspired by the first lockdown.
She has taken the self-publishing route and has learned a lot about what it takes to make a book happen. Getting into the whole process completely blind, she now gives five tips on how people can successfully publish a book by themselves.
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Do some research beforehand
Chelsea said: "Do a lot of research on your genre and read other books that are similar to your books so you know the price range and how the cover should look and what people are looking for so that you're not going in blind, so you don't get too overwhelmed."
Have a budget
The writer highlighted how important it is to have a budget ready. There are many big and small things that might require money: getting an editor, getting someone to format the book, or hiring a sensitivity reader "to make sure you're not saying anything that might offend somebody" if the story has sensitive topics.
"There are a lot of little things that you are gonna need to pay for, unfortunately, in advertising and stuff. So, just have a budget in mind, a plan on how you are gonna spend the money you have without spending too much and not getting a return on it."
Get into TikTok
Advertising trends are shifting, the writer says. "[Going] viral is how you get anything nowadays. It's no different for authors and books.
"You need to be present there, to be able to connect with your readers. Nowadays people like authors or even just famous people in general to be more personable, and TikTok and social media is the way to do that.
"People are sharing a book and then it goes viral and it's trending on everyone's reading it. So, you just need to get on and you need to start engaging with other people that are writers, other readers." It could take one viral video to really set off a book. #booktok is where the magic happens for writers and readers.
Have a support system
Self-publishing can be pretty overwhelming since there are so many details to think about. Chelsea said: "I was really lucky to have a lot of people around me who support me and who are there for me when I got too overwhelmed.
"And [self-publishing] is not something that you can do just on your own by yourself. You do need other people just for support and just help - like to read this paragraph or do this or do that."
Use Instagram and Facebook for more writing and publishing tips
While the book corner on Instagram is smaller than TikTok's, there are a lot of Instagram pages and groups that have writing and publishing tips, Chelsea says. Meanwhile, Facebook is helpful for finding readers to read the book before it's published to see if there are any issues.
"There's a lot of groups on Facebook where you can find that, where it's just a group for authors to post and for readers say, 'yeah, I'd love an opportunity to help you with this'."
Chelsea's debut novel, Second City, will be out on June 2. It is an exciting enemies-to-lovers romance set in a dystopian world 60 years from now.
Regarding the concept of the book, Chelsea said: "When Covid was happening, I was thinking, what if a bunch of rich people just were like, 'Nah, not gonna do this'? And they just built themselves an island - just for rich people, so they didn't have anyone else to bother them?"
Sixty years later, the island is split into three parts, the rich part and two other parts that have fallen apart. The main character, Lara, is a bounty hunter working for the poorer parts when she gets blackmailed into infiltrating an enemy gang in order to save someone she loves.
You can find out more about Chelsea's book on her website.
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