Self-Publishing

Advice on Book Publishing from Indie Author Ashley Fontainne

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By Ashley Fontainne

Ready to Ride?

Ashley Fontainne

Ashley Fontainne

Do you remember learning how to ride a bike? How many times did you fall down, scratch your knees, elbows, or even nose? What about the first time you navigated across a street or passed by that one neighbor’s house with the big, snarling dog who decided you looked like a threat and chased you down?

Deciding to be a writer and go into book publishing is very similar to mastering riding a bicycle. Your first venture alone is scary, thrilling, exhilarating, and sometimes, dangerous. If you’re lucky, you’ve got a strong support system behind you, encouraging you, cheering you on as you take the handlebars and pedal down the sidewalk.

You’ll encounter stumbling blocks, such as coordinating your mind and body to work in harmony to keep the bike upright and steady. There will be cracks in the sidewalk, a random rock, traffic to watch out for and distractions like the barking dog.

Writing and publishing your book in print and/or ebook format can have just as many hurdles. Finding a good editor, cover artist and someone with experience in formatting the interior are daunting tasks for those of you like me, who choose to independently publish. Marketing, and which avenues to distribute your carefully crafted story, are other things to consider as well.

Independent adventurers in the world of publishing are faced with many decisions after their stories are written, including how much money to spend and where to spend it. Thankfully, the folks over at Pressbooks have created a way for all of us adventurous souls to grab those shaky handlebars and straighten out the tires!

Pressbooks offers you the ability to upload your story, pick the layout from over 50 options, export your book as a print-ready PDF and ebook, and even create a cover.

All for less than $100!

It sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Well, I can attest from my own personal experience it’s the real deal. Since discovering Pressbooks, I’ve used their easy-to-use site to prepare my last four novels for publication. Their helpful video tutorials, online user guide and prompt responses to questions via email, makes working with them a pleasure.

The four books I created with Pressbooks would have cost over $2,000 had I opted to hire others to design them for me. Instead, I paid less than $400. Talk about taking the handlebars and riding steady!

Conclusion? Save your money and spend it on buying a nice, juicy bone for that annoying, barking dog, a.k.a. marketing!  Now, let’s ride!

Ashley Fontainne is an award-winning and international bestselling author of numerous thriller, mystery and suspense novels. Her short thriller Number Seventy-Five, touches upon the sometimes dangerous world of online dating. Number Seventy-Five took home the BRONZE medal in fiction/suspense at the 2013 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards contest and is currently in production for a feature film. 

Her paranormal thriller The Lie won the GOLD medal in the 2013 Illumination Book Awards for fiction/suspense and is also in production for a feature film entitled Foreseen. 

Ashley recently decided to delve into the paranormal with a Southern Gothic horror/suspense novel, Growl, which released in January of 2015. The suspenseful mystery Empty Shell was released in September of 2014. Ashley teamed up with Lillian Hansen (Ashley calls her mom!) to pen a three-part murder mystery/suspense series entitled The Magnolia Series. The first book, Blood Ties, released the Summer of 2015. Whispered Pain released in October of 2015 and Night Court releases December 13, 2015.