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Self-Publishing on a Shoestring

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skeletor:
Pardon me if this isn't the best spot for this post, but I've been giving a lot of thought to this question for awhile and wanted to pick your brains!

If you woke up tomorrow and were utterly broke but still wanted (for whatever reason) to keep self-publishing, what's the cheapest way to could go about it?

Hardware-wise, a device capable of word processing can be found just about anywhere. Ancient computers will run Word or OpenOffice or LibreOffice. So will tablets and even some phones. Even a barebones Raspberry Pi could handle that part. I've even thought about utilizing the computers at my local library (which would be free).

Now, what about formatting the books? What's the cheapest but most professional way to go about it with limited computing power? Plugging one's document into Draft2Digital's free maker seems to me like the best way to get a publishable product. The device you're using will just have to be powerful enough to access their website. (I'm pretty tech illiterate, so I don't know how fancy D2D's website is, but I imagine that even some old computers and miniPCs can run it, yes?) Here, too, even a public library computer could work, possibly.

Once you have a formatted Epub, you can basically take that anywhere. As long as you can access KDP, D2D, etc, you can distribute it.

Cover art, of course, is a different animal. Making your own covers can be very difficult, though cheap/free stock art and Gimp (also free) can yield good results if you're tenacious.

Perhaps this thread is very silly, but if you were down and out (but still obsessed with continuing your self-publishing journey) what would that look like? I've always prided myself on making decent money in this business without putting a lot into it, but it occurs to me that a massive computer failure or similar could put me in a tight spot for a little while, and I love planning contingencies. If you want to make the dream work, just how little can you get by on, technologically?

Post-Crisis D:

--- Quote from: skeletor on September 01, 2024, 08:53:09 AM ---Now, what about formatting the books? What's the cheapest but most professional way to go about it with limited computing power? Plugging one's document into Draft2Digital's free maker seems to me like the best way to get a publishable product. The device you're using will just have to be powerful enough to access their website. (I'm pretty tech illiterate, so I don't know how fancy D2D's website is, but I imagine that even some old computers and miniPCs can run it, yes?) Here, too, even a public library computer could work, possibly.

--- End quote ---

There's also Sigil.  I can run it on a 9 year-old Mac but YMMV.

Matthew:
The trade off is that you have to spend more of your time learning how to do things because you cannot afford certain tools or professionals.

For ebooks, Sigil is useful for touching up a book, but as far as I can tell it's not good for trying to make your entire book in. Also requires understanding the underlying code (XHTML/CSS). Yes, there are some free online tools that you can import your document into. Reedsy will do it too.

For software on your computer, Calibre can make an epub from a document, but it's very barebones. LibreOffice Writer can be used both for writing your manuscript and creating an epub file from it. Basic formatting is kept (alignment, bold/italic/underline, paragraph indentation).

If you're willing to go Amazon exclusive, you can use Kindle Create as well.

I think cover art is the most difficult because you either need to be good at photography or drawing, and even then fonts are a separate issue. If you want to make a cover yourself I would look at licensing a font (some cheap ones can be found for $10 or less, especially on sale). Stock photos can be had for around $0.50-1.00 each, potentially less on sale as well. But while simple to put some text on a cover, you'll probably still need to spend the time and learn the skill of some photo editing so you can start combining multiple stock photos together, and better learn how to do typography.

While I'm sure some free fonts and photos exist, remember you have to contend with Amazon. Licensing gives you a higher degree of confidence that the seller really owns the rights, and that the rights are properly granted. I've definitely seen some "free" stock photos that were blatantly stolen from elsewhere, and I think this also might be why a lot of Canva-created covers have problems on Amazon lately. For fonts, you may be able to find something free directly from the Foundry that created it. That is what I would need to feel comfortable using it. (And still, check the license that you can use it commercially, and if it allows use in print or to be embedded in an ebook if that's what you're doing)

For print, I think your best bet would be doing it by hand in Scribus. You'll have a double whammy of a learning curve if you've never done print by hand before (e.g. in Adobe InDesign, Affinity Publisher) as well as trying to learn how to use Scribus itself. You could also try to more extensively format within LibreOffice Writer and export as PDF.

Again, if Amazon exclusive, Kindle Create can supposedly create files for print, but I've never used the tool to see how flexible it is or what the results look like.

Post-Crisis D:
There are plenty of open source fonts that can be freely used.  But, you want to make sure to obtain them from reputable sources to be sure they are open source.  Sometimes, you can also check the foundry's website to ensure that it is open source.

Anarchist:
I'd get a part-time gig, save up $250, and buy Vellum. It's a small price to pay for the convenience it offers.

If you're not on a Mac, buy Atticus.

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