The timeline starts today

This is when things start to get interesting.

Today I sent out for quotes for formatting and cover design suitable for ebooks. The plan is to release Battlesongs of Hope on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords by the end of August.

I decided to self-publish rather than follow my one lead with a for-real-life publisher after I started following Joe Konrath. In September, I'd gotten farther with a publisher than I ever had before; they read the entire manuscript at least, and requested further edits before they could offer me a contract. Which is a rejection, but it's a qualified, not entirely final rejection.

But after I made the changes and started following Joe, I realized that even if I could get a book deal with this publisher, I may not be much better off. They are an ebook only publisher, which means no shelf space in Walmart, and they charge $5-$6 per ebook, regardless of the author. I don't know what their royalties are, but I'm willing to bet they pay a lower percentage than Amazon's 70% for a $2.99 copy.

So I'm jumping in the self-publishing world. I'm looking at $200-$500 for cover design and formatting, and plan on releasing at $1.99 per copy. Self-pub royalties scale with price, so I'm looking at about $1 per copy. If I can make $1 more in royalties than it takes to get this thing out there, I'll at least have not failed.

But however far I go past that, well, I'll find out in time.