The Back Story - How I Got Here

This blog is going to be about my experiences in self-publishing. It's not going to be definitive or broad-ranging in scope. I don't have the time or resources to compare different options. Rather than touch lightly on a lot of options, I'd rather go a bit more deeply into how it's playing out for me. From there you can make your own choices about how to handle your project.

First I should give you a little background into how I ended up with a book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the iPad, in local bookshops, etc.

I've been a photographer for many years, specializing in live event photography and in particular music photography. In 2009 I had the opportunity to spend a week touring Britain with the Vancouver gypsy-klezmer-celtic-polka-cider-folk-punk band The Dreadnoughts. I originally went just to take photos, but quickly started making notes as a cathartic outlet. Those notes and photos were put together into a book that was completed in December 2010. On October 26, 2011 I officially launched "This Place Is Awesome." As of this moment I've sold over 200 physical copies in the first three months. I don't have online sales figures yet. And the reviews have been very nearly unanimously positive.

Currently the book is available from six local book and record shops, independent bookstores in Toronto, Ottawa, and London, online in printed form from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and as an eBook for the Kindle, iPad/iPhone, Nook, and Sony eReader. It will shortly be available on the Kobo and in another format I can't remember. It's also available directly from me via mail order.

The book is self-published, with printed copies being produced by lulu.com and the eBook managed by BookBaby.

Over the course of this blog I will explain how all of that came together, what I did to get reviewed in the papers, how I promote and publicize the book, and various other bits of information that might be of interest or amusement.

As they say... your mileage may vary.

Comments are always welcome.

Thank you for your kind attention.
Adam PW Smith