Self-Publishing.

To get ready to self-publish for the first time, I've done a lot of research to ensure I know what I'm doing or least have some approximation of knowing what I'm doing. There is so much to learn.

One thing I have learned is there is a lot of contradictory information out there depending on who you ask or what blogs you read/follow and what Facebook groups you belong to.

These are the things I came across that have the most conflicting opinions:

1.) You don't have to register the copyright of your work because it's automatic versus you should always register the copyright which allows for better chances of winning against copyright infringement etc.  -- Personally, I'm going the register for copyright route. I'd rather pay the fee for the piece of mind.

2.) Don't bother purchasing ISBN numbers because you can get them for free through Amazon or if you use Draft2Digital versus you should buy your own ISBN numbers so that your book will have the same ISBN across different platforms such as Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, etc. It will still have a different ISBN for ebook and one for paperback because each type requires its own ISBN. Personally, I'm going to use the free numbers for the short term. The ISBN numbers are, in my opinion, expensive and my budget is limited as I begin my foray into self-publishing.

3.) Use Draft2Digital (D2D) or Ingram Spark to upload your books to various platforms versus upload your books yourself to each platform. While it's more work, you aren't paying someone to do it and you have more control.  Personally, I haven't made this decision yet. I have to check out each platform and find out how difficult or how much work is involved to upload them myself or if it's easier to pay the 10% to 15% royalty to D2D on each book sold. I don't know a lot about Ingram Spark yet so I need to do a bit more research on it before I make a decision.

Next up on the list to learn is the correct formatting of the manuscripts to be able to upload them either to individual platforms or to D2D or Ingram Spark. This includes adding in front and back matter such as the copyright page, dedication page, links to my social media, links to other books, any pre-order links, etc.