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Self-publishing from abroad

edited October 2014 in Writing
Has anyone on TB self-published a book while living abroad?

It seems to me that publicising one's book would be almost impossible. No local radio or newspaper to approach, no public library, no English bookshops to invade for a book signing, etc etc.

Then there's the problem that I'm actually on Amazon Espana, not Amazon UK, and I'm technically challenged enough!

I'm rewriting a book with the intention of self-publishing it, but I suspect I shall have to wait until I'm back in England before there's any point in persuing that course.

What's the general opinion and is there anyone with the relevant experience out there?

Comments

  • edited October 2014
    The Amazon Espana bit shouldn't be a problem. Although that's the one you buy from, your book can be for sale on all versions of the site without you having to do anything t do anything more complicated than selecting that option when you upload, just as mine are on 'your' Amazon.
  • Well, it looks like there's no advice to be had from TBers on this subject.

    :(
  • I know of an author in France who has turned self-published books into a success. I can't offer advice on how she's done it but the key will be in the marketing.

    http://alison-morton.com/

    Alison pops up regularly on blogs etc and she was even included in an article in the Guardian a few weeks ago.

    So my advice... it can be done.



  • Lizy, I don't think it really matters where you publish from. I'm Amazon Aus, a tiny market, though I do sell a few through there thanks to a lovely group on Goodreads. Most of my sales, though, are on Amazon US and Amazon UK. It's a matter of getting involved in forums in different places and letting people know who you are (without spamming, of course). I come here, to Kindle Users Forum, Kindleboards, a few different groups on Goodreads and the Australian Writers Forum as well as having a Facebook Page, blog, website and Twitter. Of course, you can't spend too much time there or you'd never do any writing, but it all helps.
  • Lizy, I intend to do that: there are books to tell you how to publish on Amazon, and it doesn't matter where you are; our own Sally Jenkins' KDP for Absolute Beginners, for instance. If you go to Amazon UK and type in self-publishing, you'll find a range of books about KDP. You'll have to buy them from Amazon Spain, of course, but they're all available everywhere.

    The selling and advertising of your book will be the hard part: if you are going to produce print copies, you want them in bookshops, which involves legwork; if not, you want to advertise online and in local papers and anywhere that you think will bring you sales. There are books about that too!
    I can access Amazon UK with the same log-in I use on Amazon.fr, but if we want to buy from Amazon UK, we do it through Mr BB's membership which was set up in the UK.

    You can self-publicise before you publish, of course: join a relevant group or three on FB, for instance. I belong to three or four, and am reviewing for the Historical Novel Soc, which gets my name known in the places where likely readers will be.

    However you publish, you're going to have to shout - no-one will do it for you. So take a deep breath...
  • Thanks all for the useful advice.

    I know about the shouting, Mrs Bear, and the legwork, which is why I think I'd be better off waiting till I get back to the UK/
    I
    Amazon would appear to be a possibility, but if I were to try selling real books I wouldn't have much luck from here - the postage would be enough to put people off.

    As we're actively trying to go home I think perhaps I'll polish up this rewrite then put it on the back burner and try subbing short stories until we've left Tenerife.
  • edited November 2014
    Put it this way: if I had ever been interested in self-publishing something, I would never have contemplated attempting it from Fiji for the same misgivings that you have, Lizy.
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