A Dream Coming True. I Wrote and Published a Book. My Self-Publishing Journey

     Today I am proud to announce the release of my first book - Practical Malware Prevention. The notion of writing a book has always crossed my mind. I've always loved books growing up and I love technology. I have a lot of computer books. This project started back in October I believe as I sat down at my desk and stared at a blank document in Microsoft Word. I knew I wanted to write something that would help people solve computer issues like malware, viruses, ads, and combating slowness. I would be targeting the Microsoft Windows environment, although most tips and resources work across various operating systems. I also feel the most comfortable in a Windows environment as I'm able to put a lot of this software into use at work on the many computer systems within the school district I am at.


     I chose Microsoft Word 2013 because I already had a copy and I'm pretty familiar with Word. Along the way, I've heard stories about other programs such as Scrivener being a better bet. In the future, I might try to use it more but I was focused on using Word. I had two main goals during writing: 1. Keep the costs low. Not only for myself, but for readers too. I wanted to showcase the best tools available that are free to use. 2. Self-publish the book on my own.  The "stack" of apps and services that I used for my book consisted of:

Word 2013
Calibre
Sigil
Paint.net
Irfanview
Adobe Acrobat 9
Dropbox
Google Drive
Handy Image Mapper
Paletton.com
Kindlegen
Mailchimp
Createspace
Smashwords
Testing numerous software packages to give readers the best software available for each task
Reading though numerous sites to point readers to the best resources/guides on the web
LOTS of Staples yellow legal pads



     I had a general idea of what I wanted to include in my book. I began taking notes and doing research. I would think of something during the day and jot it down and come home and write about it later. I ended up having a lot of notes:

Notes added up quickly

     I knew I would be using Createspace to publish my work. I looked up formatting guides for Createspace and went from there. When I had the slight resemblance of a book, I printed out all of the pages and sat down with a red pen. Once I thought it was passable enough, I submitted my first proof to Createspace. They will give you tips, but I found that having the correct margins set in my document went a long way. There are all kinds of good resources around on this top like this one.

     Once my proof had passed the Createspace review, I was able to order my first proof. Note: The review process for Createspace takes around 12 hours to complete each time. My first proof showed up in the mail and I was pumped:

First proof

     I marked more fixes and added more things in. I could feel the book becoming more solid. Having an actual printed proof copy of your work is great motivation. I edited and uploaded a new version of the book. Waited again and ordered a new proof. I began making my final edits.


     When deciding on the cover, I thought of using Fiverr. I looked into some of the cover design services and they seemed good for the prices, but I wanted to try and keep the costs low, so I opened up Paint.net and got to work. Many technology books have a focus on their content rather than their covers, so I figured I could get by with something modest. I began playing with colors and finally came upon something that I felt was catchy enough yet subtle at the same time:

My book cover

   
One thing that made me very happy to see was this:

     Wow. Things were starting to shape up. With the cover in place, I was ready to submit my final copy to Createspace. Now, I needed to worry about a pricing model and a site.


     For the site, I decided to go with simple free hosting though my Google Drive account. I wrote up a post about this a while ago.  This also helped keep costs low. For the pricing model, I did some research and finally settled on something similar to this. I ended up going with Smashwords for my eBook version, Createspace/Amazon for my paperback version, and Paypal for the value package version. I chose Paypal because readers can use Paypal, debit, or credit card payments and I can handle the shipping of the items from there.

    The breakdown would be: eBook - $2.99 Paperback book - $8.99 Value package - $29.99

    I love this type of pricing model. It gives everybody a fair chance at the content and also my prices compared to other technology books would stay very low.

    For the value package, I decided to get 8GB flash drives and pre-load all of the software that I used in my book. Value packages will also come with the digital eBook versions on the flash drive as well. That would leave around 7GB free for the user to have use of. I loved this idea because anybody getting the value package has access right away to the great tools that I use within the book. They can quickly begin following along without having to look up links or download anything first.

A package deal is born

     Looking at the project folder for my book, I could see that I had come a long way:

Book files

It was getting pretty serious. Then this happened:

My book on Amazon!

     Seeing something I created on the Amazon bookstore is an awesome feeling. Being able to search for my name and see my book come up is amazing. I also decided to upload my book to Smashwords. I like Smashwords because the user can pick which type of file they want to receive. I ended up offering .epub, mobi, and pdf through their site.


With these steps completed, I was ready to order some final copies of my book:

They're ready to go

     Overall, I had a good experience making one of my dreams come true. I urge any writers that ever had the any inkling of getting a book published to get there and publish it yourself! Be your own motivation and get things done. Nobody is going to do it for you and if you wait for a publishing deal, you may be waiting a long time.

The Good: The paperback and .pdf versions of my book are awesome. The paperback came out very crisp and easy on the eyes. I'm very happy that I can point people in the right directions for software/resources that may not only help them, but empower them to be able to help others.

Having an ISBN for my book is also really cool. To go to a ISBN look-up page and type it in and see my book come up is really cool.

The Bad: Kindle formatting is rough. So many things were breaking in the Kindle version. Also, Word formatting can be tricky at times. Changing something at the bottom of the document would result in me having to go back through the top and fix things that got moved. I could definitely see myself getting to learn Scrivner better for any future projects.

Also, my site formatting is a little off. I tested everything with my huge monitor and didn't really factor in that people are using screens smaller than mine. This will be looked into/changed hopefully soon.

As of now, the best way to view the book site on a mobile device is by flipping your phone so that it is in landscape mode.


     THE GOOD STUFF/GIVEAWAY:

    For those interested, you can check out and order any of the book packages from the site here:

https://4749cda6551a5850645b1d5859d317b961050ceb.googledrive.com/host/0B5qOIaafmEh3MEFuMEdURXdQcUk/Book%20Site/index.html


GIVEAWAY TIME! I'll be giving away 3 eBook copies of my book through the above site. To enter, go to the site on the giveaway page and enter your email, first name, and last name. You will then get a confirmation email that you must confirm to be eligible. Winners will be announced the week of March 22nd and will receive further direction.

My book on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/528183

My book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Malware-Prevention-Michael-Kelley/dp/1507729111/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426732616&sr=1-1


Thank you and happy reading!


~Michael