My First Amazon Self-Published Story

After planning for nearly a year about how to launch my self-publishing writing career, I finally took the first step.  I uploaded my story, Shutterbug, to Amazon for release to the Kindle.

Shutterbug is a story that has been caught in my head for over ten years. When I finally got it down on "paper," I was surprised at how fully realized it became.  And how long it turned out to be.  I always knew it would run long, but the first draft came in at just under 11,000 words!  Yeah, that's too long.  I worked and worked it and cut it down by nearly 2,000 words, but still, it was going to be a hard piece to market at 9,000 words.

So, with that in mind, I decided it would be a good candidate for self-publishing on Amazon.  But getting the story completed was the only first leg of my journey.  There was a lot more work to do before I could upload it.

First, I had to format it as an ebook.  My last effort at this didn't turn out all that well, but it was a novel.  This one went a lot better.  Still, it took a good two hours to get it ready.

Then I had to come up with a cover design.  Ever since I had written this story, I had some ideas in mind.  Since I have a decent working knowledge of Photoshop, I felt that I could take a stab at the cover.  (See image above.)  It didn't end the way I started and that's good because I think the end product is better than my original concept.  (Special thanks goes out to my brother's cohort in crime, Christina Paolucci, for helping with the photo.  Her skill and great wide angle lens helped make it happen.)

So, yesterday I did the deed and uploaded the story.  Then I learned that you had to wait at least 12 hours for it to"Go Live."  I was an anxious as could be.  You'd think I was having a baby.  Well, with fiction, each story is a child, in its way.

If you're interested in purchasing the story for a mere $.99, you can find it at:
http://www.amazon.com/Shutterbug-ebook/dp/B00AQ37C98/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355945178&sr=1-3&keywords=shutterbug