Reflecting on my book publishing experience.

Hello, MWB Friends.

Many of you have been a part of my book publishing journey, and now that the book, “Tomorrow Is My Birthday,” is nearly finished, I thought I would reflect on the experience and share my thoughts.

Back in May, I decided to go the self-publishing route with AuthorHouse.com. It had been a year since I completed my children’s book manuscript and I finally had the funds to self-publish. Deciding to self-publish would enable me to realize a lifetime dream of publishing a book, and it allowed me to do so in a timely fashion. It was important to me to publish before my daughter’s birthday, since I really wanted this book to be a gift to her.

Working with AuthorHouse was a very positive experience. Through them, I connected with an illustrator who would be responsible for 10 custom illustrations. Honestly, I was extremely disappointed with the first round of sketches. So, I called my account coordinator who then followed up very quickly with illustrations from two different artists. I chose a new artist and the next round of sketches were brilliant!

After a few emails back and forth, my illustrations were completed. Just looking at them makes me smile and I look forward to sharing them soon. The artist did a very nice job meeting my expectations and making all of the requested edits.

Once the illustrations were approved, the AuthorHouse team began working on the galley (the entire layout of the book’s interior) and the cover. The galley needed some changes (font colors and some spacing issues) and the cover needed one or two fixes. All I had to do was write-up and fax the changes. The galley and cover were updated within two days and then approved.

The entire process, from the initial sales call to the book’s approval, was just over four months. It will be another two weeks until the book is available online and then another week before my copy comes via snail mail.

While the overall experience was very positive, please know that this is a fee-based self-publishing service. Because I was paying, I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect … in my mind. The individuals assigned to work on my book were professional, receptive and had excellent follow up. (Thanks, Team Tiber!)

• Would I recommend AuthorHouse to someone looking to self-publish? Absolutely.
• Was it worth the money spent? To me, yes.
• Am I excited to share my book with family and friends? I can hardly contain myself!
• Would I use AuthorHouse again? Possibly. It’s sort of expensive.
• Do I plan to write any more books? I hope so. Here’s to following your publishing dreams!
  
  Shannon
  
  Author of “Tomorrow Is My Birthday” – a story about a masterpiece of a cake and an enthusiastic toddler. The book will be available soon on the following sites: AuthorHouse.com, Amazon.com, Borders and Barnes & Noble.