Writing and independently publishing nature books
For years I’ve wanted to write books. Until just a few years ago, I’d assumed I’d either need to find a publisher. Or publish myself and store a large and expensive print run in the garage. I don’t own a garage (or house for that matter), so storage wasn’t an option. And finding a publisher could take years: maybe I’d never find one?
Then I discovered The Creative Penn Podcast. Joanna Penn is an award-winning, best-selling author of both fiction and non-fiction. She earns a full-time living from her published books. But she doesn’t have a publisher. On her weekly podcast, Joanna interviews successful self-published authors. I binge-listened to her podcast backlist. I discovered David Gaughran and his best-selling book Let’s Get Digital - a guide to self publishing. Both Joanna and David taught me that one can independently publish books and make a reasonable living doing so.
I’ve set about my own nature book writing and independent publishing journey and I’ve set out my process in this short guide: Writers in the Wild. In my short guide I outline how I:
Draft my manuscripts on my iPhone, iPad Mini and iPad Air
Self-edit my drafts and will, in future, commission professional freelance editors
Easily create my own book covers using the free software package called Canva
Format my manuscript using the free tool on Draft2Digital’s platform
Publish myself, with ease, on all major online bookshops and in libraries using Draft2Digital, and on Amazon through Kindle Direct Publishing.
The steps outlined above really are straightforward. Because most books you purchase online these days are produced via ‘print-on-demand’, meaning a copy is printed for you as you place your order, there’s no inventory - no need to store a print run in your garage.
I’m working on building up my own nature writing life. Anyone can do this. If you have a passion for the natural world, and would like to write nature books and earn a side income - or full-time living - from your writing, you can.
I’ll be writing some more articles here setting out how one might go about doing this. My short guide sets out my processes. Stay tuned, or pick up my short book for more detail here: https://amzn.to/3UVfubE (this link, and the links above, are Amazon Affiliate links. If you click on those and end up buying on Amazon, I may receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you.)
