Supporting Your ... 'Self-Publishing' Journey

KSP Writers' Centre workshop course with Lisa Wolstenholme from Wild Weeds Press, plus special guest presenters Annabel Smith and Holden Sheppard.

This workshop is brought to you by the KSP Writers' Centre with support from the Shire of Mundaring and Wild Weeds Press. Tea and coffee provided.

Interested participants can book for the whole course, which will be run monthly over four months, or individual sessions (1 and 4 only). Online booking fees apply. To avoid paying fees, please phone KSP directly to book and pay by debit/ credit card: 9294 1872.

SESSION ONE: Saturday 17 August 2019, 1-5pm, Polishing and Proofing with Annabel Smith
SESSION TWO: Saturday 14 September 2019, 1-5pm, Finalising and Typesetting
SESSION THREE: Saturday 26 October 2019, 1-5pm, Preparing and Selling
SESSION FOUR: Saturday 16 November 2019, 1-5pm, Publishing, Promoting and Publicising with Holden Sheppard

SESSION ONE:

Polishing your manuscript with Annabel Smith

Just like you'd prepare the soil to plant seeds, your manuscript needs to be the best it can be. We will spend time reviewing and editing your work so that it is in tip-top shape before work commences with getting it ready for printing.

Proofreading

Contrary to what you may think, there are various cycles of proofing your work prior to printing. After editing, the purpose of proofing at this stage is to remove potential ‘blind spots’ i.e. doubled-up words, wrong words with a correct spelling etc.

Pre-requisites

Attendees will be required to bring the final draft of their work, and a WiFi-enabled laptop with Microsoft Word.

SESSION TWO:

Finalising

It’s tempting to run straight off to a printer, manuscript in hand, and ask for your book to be printed. But what about the size? The cover? The formatting inside? Copyright and registration information? We'll go through what you need to know before starting the task of formatting your book ready for printing.

Typesetting

Now that you have the necessary book information, the task of formatting the book for printing begins. We'll guide you through some simple formatting tricks to get your manuscript interior looking like a professional book.

Pre-requisites

Attendees will be required to bring their polished and proofed manuscript, and a WiFi-enabled laptop with Microsoft Word.

SESSION THREE:

Preparing your manuscript for printing

By now, you should have an edited, proofed and typeset manuscript that is almost ready for printing. Another round of proofing should iron out any typos or formatting mistakes. You also need to have the full cover and blurb ready to go, but have you checked the total cover size, spine width, paper thickness, cover type etc? Have you had a quote for printing? How many do you want to print? Do you want an eBook? Have you purchased your ISBNs? We'll guide you through this process and help with decision-making so that your book is ready to go to print.

Determine your selling channels and strategy

So you’re almost good to go–what next? Do you have your selling channels figured out? Have you nutted out the genre, keywords and placing? We'll go through some of the opportunities and strategies for selling that will help you get your book out in the market place.

Pre-requisites

Attendees will be required to bring their polished, proofed, typeset manuscript, cover design or ideas, and a WiFi-enabled laptop with Microsoft Word.

SESSION FOUR:

Publishing

So your book is ready, now what? Send your manuscript, cover and book details to the printer and/or upload to the likes of Ingram Spark and Amazon, and start thinking about the launch. Get your book registered with the State Library and make sure you have figured out how and where you’re going to sell. We'll guide you through the steps involved with publishing so your book is ready to go out into the big wide world.

Promoting and Publicising with Holden Sheppard

What are your selling channels? Do you have a Facebook page, Instagram account, website? Is a launch arranged? Invites sent?

How will the world know that your book is now published?

Prerequisites

A published book and and WiFi-enabled laptop. A sense of who you are as an author. A willingness to get on or learn more about social media and spruik yourself.

About the Facilitators

Annabel Smith - Annabel is the author of US bestseller Whiskey & Charlie (published in Australia as Whisky Charlie Foxtrot), digital interactive novel/app The Ark, and A New Map of the Universe, which was shortlisted for the West Australian Premier’s Book Awards. Her short fiction and non-fiction have been published in Southerly, Westerly, Kill Your Darlings and Review of Australian Fiction. She holds a PhD in Writing from Edith Cowan University, and is an Australia Council Creative Australia Fellow. She teaches creative writing for the Australian Writers Centre, and regularly runs workshop at libraries and writers centres including Writers VIC and KSP Writers Centre.

Holden Sheppard - Holden is an award-winning Young Adult author born and bred in Geraldton, Western Australia. His debut YA novel INVISIBLE BOYS won the 2018 City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award and the 2019 Kathleen Mitchell Award. It will be published by Fremantle Press in October 2019. INVISIBLE BOYS also won the 2017 Ray Koppe Residency Award, leading to a writing residency at Varuna, the National Writers’ House, and was Highly Commended in the Australian Society of Authors’ 2018 Emerging Writers’ Mentorship Prize. Holden’s novella POSTER BOY won the 2018 Novella Project competition and was published in Griffith Review in October 2018. He graduated with Honours from Edith Cowan University’s Writing program in 2013 and won a prestigious ArtStart grant from the Australia Council for the Arts in 2015. Holden currently serves as the Deputy Chair of WritingWA, and as an ambassador for Lifeline WA. He is represented by agent Haylee Nash of The Nash Agency.

Lisa Wolstenholme - Lisa is the executive officer of Wild Weeds Press and has been helping KSP members to publish their books from start to finish since December 2017. Lisa is also the KSP Board of Management Secretary, Retreats Coordinator and a published author. Her debut novel The Sunrise Girl is being published by MMHPress in November 2019.