I created this website because I am a writer, and (according to the writerly community of 2011 anyway), if you are a writer, you need a blog.
Over time, I realized that the all-writers-need-a-blog idea probably should have been…
… “All writers who have a book to promote, or want to make money online with a website, need a blog.”
Well, that didn’t apply to me. Then.
BUT!
One day soon, fingers crossed, I will be promoting the book I have been working on, in between work and life. Finally!
Self-Publishing 1995
My kids’ school had asked me to write a book for students who finished their classwork early. It was to be “interactive”. So I wrote it, typed it, and put it in a 3-ring binder.
Each page was a sheet protector containing an 8-1/2” x 11” piece of construction paper with the typed page of the book glued onto it. Every page was a different color than the others around it. It was 50 pages long.
After delivering it to the school teacher, I decided I’d make 25 copies of it. I planned to give away some copies to some of my home-schooling friends, and other friends with kids, and see if I could sell the rest.
At the office supply store, I used the self-serve copy machine to make the 25 copies. Then I used their special hole-puncher to punch the holes into the left side. The last step was putting on the binder. I’d calculated that each copy was costing me about $2.80.
Income!
While I was fitting the plastic combs onto each book, a man standing in line for placing a copy order was watching me. Eventually he walked up to me and asked me what the book was. I showed him, and he asked if he could buy a copy for his kids.
“Sure!” I said. “How about giving me $2.80?”
He refused. “$2.80? No way, that book is worth way more than that!” He reached into his wallet and pulled out $8.00. “Sorry that’s all the cash I have.”
I, of course, being definitely NOT a business woman, argued that it only cost me $2.80. He explained why I needed to charge more than what it cost me to purchase the copies and binders from the office supply store. I begrudgingly took the money.
And it was so sacred I didn’t spend it! For 25 years, even as I found homes for my writing and the odd check in the mail, it was tucked away in a drawer as a happy reminder of that first writing income.
Self-Publishing 2025
Now, with this other book, I’m going well beyond the one or two booksellers in my city that would carry my book. The beauty of the technology is in the ease of online marketing, and nation-wide access to potential buyers.
It has taken a while to update this book, but I can finally see the light at the end of the new self-publishing tunnel.
Though, in the meantime… OH MY!
Decisions, decisions, decisions!
Stick with the old make-print-copies-and-set-up-a-tent plan? There are plenty of farmer’s markets and festivals. And I do know some potential buyers.
Or go big: Ingram Spark? Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing?
After a ton of research, I have some leanings. What about you? Have you self-published lately? By all means, if you have any helpful—or funny, or harrowing—experiences to share, or suggestions for or against various self-publishing plans, please leave a comment!
With appreciation to the following for free images:
Cdn.pixabay.com , img.rawpixel.com , www.PublicDomainPictures.net
Happily Writing 
Ramona this was a joy to read! Is your next self-publishing adventure non-fiction or fiction? Mine is fiction.
Mine is non-fiction. Pretty excited to hear about your upcoming fiction !