Origami books. With thanks to Sarah Buchmann.

The Independent Publishing Event2013

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“As an English author living and writing in Switzerland, near Lausanne, I feel a need to be in at the kick-off. The great freedom of being an indie writer is that you don't always have to listen to all the how to write a book rubbish that pervades the industry. There are no rules, except to enjoy what you are doing by writing what you want to write. If you don't enjoy your writing why the heck should anyone else? If you follow advice beyond what strikes you as common sense, you will only be copying yesterday’s great invention and losing your own.” Richard Bunning

The TiPE TakeawayHerein you can find all the key information delivered at TiPE The Independent Publishing Event (26th January, 2013) plus some quotes from independent authors from all genres of the world.

SpeakersJoanna Penn – www.thecreativepenn.com

JJ Marsh –www.beatrice-stubbs.com

JD Smith – www.jdsmith-design.co.uk

ModeratorLibby O’Loghlin – rowinggirl.com

Joanna Penn

Joanna spoke on the pros and cons of indie publishing, ebook publishing tools and file formatting with Scrivener, Amazon, Kobo and Smashwords, budgeting, and potential pitfalls to avoid.

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“Be true to yourself and your writing, don't write for others or you'll never achieve your true potential.”

Anthony Lavisher

“No matter what successes you achieve and what chances come your way, always remember why you started in the first place, and don't let things that might seem like great opportunities deflect you.”

Dan Holloway

“There's still life in previously published books. I was handed back the rights to More Ketchup than Salsa, previously published by Summersdale in 2006. It sold 5,000 copies in three years. I re-published it on Kindle as an indie and it's sold almost 20,000 copies in 18 months.” Joe Cawley

Jill Prewett and ALLiThe TiPE event was also the launch of the Swiss branch of ALLi, of which Jill is the Swiss representative.

The Alliance of Independent Authors provides a wealth of advice, support and alerts, and actively negotiates on behalf of indie authors. The Swiss branch will involve monthly Meetup of small groups – no more than 10 people per group – to offer support for those interested in going indie. Meetings will be on the first Tuesday of every month.

The inaugural meeting will be onTuesday 5th February, 19.30 at the James Joyce in Zürich.

Author membership of ALLi costs around 100 CHF per year, but you can join one of the Meetups without being a member (non-member cost per event is 10 CHF).

Sign up here: http://www.meetup.com/Zurich-Alliance-of-Independent-Authors/events/suggested/

Joanna fields questions from the floor

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“Believe in your book & don't give up. Editors said House of Silence was unmarketable. It's sold 30,000 downloads so far.” Linda Gillard

Jane Dixon-SmithJane spoke about the importance of cover design, why quality formatting is essential, what formatting issues are involved for print and ebooks, the differences between copyediting, proofreading and formatting, and other design considerations.

Print-on-Demand (PoD) companiesLightning Source: http://www1.lightningsource.com/Createspace (Amazon): https://www.createspace.com/Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/gb/Bookbaby: http://www.bookbaby.com/

International Standard Book Number

An ISBN identifies your book, like a fingerprint. If you’re based in Switzerland, you need to apply for Swiss ISBNs from the SBVV. Site in French or German, but Béatrice Hediger, who deals with ISBN enquires, speaks English. Those with an address in the UK, US, Australia, etc., can apply via those countries. In Britain, you have to buy a batch of ten. The US, Australia and Switzerland allow you to buy individual ISBNs.

Do remember that you will need a different number for each format, paperback, Kindle ebook, Smashwords ebook. Also a single ISBN costs 115 CHF, whereas ten cost 300 CHF.

Amazon offers Createspace users a free ASIN (an Amazon identifier), which identifies Amazon as the publisher. Lulu likewise.

Swiss site (German/French): SBVVUK site: http://www.isbn.nielsenbook.co.uk/controller.php?page=121US site: https://www.myidentifiers.com/Australian site: http://www.isbn.nielsenbook.co.uk/controller.php?page=121

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“Go with your heart – even if your story breaks the mould in terms of its subject matter or length. If you feel in your bones that it's right, then it probably is.” Karen Inglis

“Sometimes we write to change the world – other times to make people laugh, which might also change the world.” Dixiane Hallaj

Piranhas and sharksOne of the unfortunate things about the explosion in self-published books is the number of piranhas circling.

Do your research and choose your Print-on-Demand publisher wisely. Many of the companies, even those apparently fronted by major names, are charging premium prices to use the same PoD printer you could deal with yourself.

Two excellent resources which assesses the myriad “opportunities” offered to indie authors are Writer Beware, headed by Victoria Strauss, and Preditors and Editors. From overpriced “services” which you can achieve independently to blatant scams, check them out first.

Zurich Writers’ WorkshopThe next workshops for writers will be on 12-14 April, with tutors Sam North and Lee Weatherly of Cornerstones Literary Consultancy.

Sign up at: ZWW (ZurichWritersWorkshop.com)

DIY – with a spot of collaboration One of the suggestions that came out of TiPE was that we find a way for professionals to connect and offer publishing-related skills to others who might be considering the indie-publishing route.

Over the coming months, the Nuance Words team will be collecting details to put together a “Yellow Pages Directory”, so please feel free to send in your details (contact email, website, skills offered) to: Libby, Jill or Liz @ nuancewords.org.

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“It's good to take control and see your work reach an audience, but I'd say be patient – it's not a race. Hone and polish before you get your writing out there.” Ruth Barrett

“There's room for just about anything in indie publishing - from single short stores to novellas and mini-collections to full length novels.” Dianne Ascroft

“Keep your sense of humour and develop a thick skin.”

Celia Stander