Starting as an indie author

Earlier this year I found the Writers' Guide to EPublishing blog and am so pleased I did. (Don't ask me how I found it cos I can't remember - prob via another blog). This was my intro to epublishing. Reading this and other stuff about epublishing, I began my journey of becoming an indie author. Last month on WG2Epub blog, there was a list of things to do for a new indie author. Here is my take on this:

1. Read everything you can about epublishing. Well, WG2EP was my start. I have read about it in writing magazines, and have recently bought John Locke's ebook about how he earnt so much in so many days.
2. Have an avatar image. I have now. It used to be a photo of me, but now it is the cover of The Railway Angel. I have been told this is good, cos when you see it you know it is me.
3. Decide what skills you are going to use. Eg I have decided to try to format all my works into ebooks myself and pay for a cover designer.
4. Hire a professional editor. I did this for Railway Angel and will do this for all my indie books. I feel this is essential, because you are too close to your own writing to see for real errors.
5. Treat epublishing as a business. I am now going to do that. I shall try to do some work on my wips each day.
6. Have a website. I have two. One of my angel series (www.angelseries.wordpress.com) and one for my other writings (www.julieaday.co.uk).
7. Read all Author Agreements. I didn't before but will do on my next ebooks.
8. Write a fab blurb. I feel I did this for Angel book 1 and have to do the same for Angel 2 and my romance series.
9. Join Kindle and Nook boards. I have done this and introduced myself. Need to chat not just about my books now.
10. Write and read, write and read. I do this all the time anyway. Esp read. I read both children's and adult books. And have recently bought indie authors ebooks who write for WG2EP to see how they write.

Well, that was my take. Next post will be about my writing goals for next year.