What I Wish I Knew Before Self-Publishing My First Book
(A candid, slightly unhinged love letter to publishing your own damn story)
It’s official: Pacific Cold Front (the final, gut-wrenching chapter of the 3 Truths 1 Lie trilogy) is now live on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. Which is WILD to say. Because the truth is…
This series wasn’t even meant to be a trilogy.
And when I self-published my very first book (Lavender Bay), I had no master plan. No business strategy. Just a chaotic word doc, a dream, and zero chill.
But publishing this trilogy taught me so much more than how to upload a file to KDP (and re-upload it... eight separate times 🙃). It taught me what it *really* means to be a self-published author.
And spoiler alert: it’s not glamorous. It’s messy and magic and me at 2am whispering, “I’ll just reread one more time,” and then finding three new typos, a missing scene transition, and a sentence that makes me question if I’m even literate.
So let’s talk about what I wish someone had told me before I published my first book as I hit publish on my third. Buckle in kids, it’s a wild ride.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Between the Pages with Rachel D. Oak to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.