Lina M. Ballester has been writing poems since she was 13 years old. At 15 she finished her first novel, but entering the world of publishing was an odyssey, for that reason, she decided to keep her creations to herself.
Currently, the writer has discovered a new method that has allowed her to fulfill her dream of giving life to her stories and being able to share them with her readers: self-publishing.
Last September, Lina M. Ballester published her latest novel On the Limit of Fragility with this method. The work is about the work of social workers and people who help, support and protect those who are in a vulnerable situation or in danger of social exclusion.
How would you define your latest work? What has moved you to write?
I would define my latest work as a kind of empathy towards social workers and people who, despite all the difficulties and problems in life or the goals they have set, move forward no matter how many obstacles there are, They have problems, they have stories that make them doubt whether they should continue. This work has moved me more because of the solidarity towards these people who help and those who fight to get what they want.
What are the main advantages of self-publishing compared to traditional publishing?
The only advantage is the benefits, the royalties. It’s the only real advantage you have, because you have a lot of work. Being self-published has a lot of work, not only in writing the work, but then moving to promote yourself, so that you are known.
What are the steps that an author should follow to self-publish their work?
Once finished and corrected, obviously, the next thing is to transform it into the layout that the Amazon platform accepts in my case, laying out and preserving the pagination in the book format, the margins, building the cover, etc… Upload it to Amazon and then promote yourself.
Are there specific platforms that are dedicated to self-publishing? How did you come to connect?
Amazon is so well known that it is impossible not to know it. I have always been a reader, I am an inveterate reader and well, you discover it, e-books and digital books, until you say: “Wow, you can upload your book and you no longer need a publisher!” It’s a great job whether they accept you or not and, of course, discovering this platform as a reader was what made me say: “Come on, let’s get complicated.”
What are the common risks that writers face when self-publishing their books?
The most common risk may be that they don’t know you well enough to buy your book. Because Amazon is a platform that has millions of books, it is amazing and even if you play with the keywords and put more data, it is very difficult for your book to be positioned as one of the first. Once published, what you have to do is be seen everywhere, if you don’t find yourself, you, your family and your friends will keep your book.
What advice would you give to authors who want to start considering self-publishing?
Let them do it, obviously. Because it is something that must be experienced to say whether it is my thing or not. But above all, they work. That it has quality in terms of spelling and that they express what they feel, but also that they know that self-published ones have a very bad reputation, since with all this about everyone being able to publish books on Amazon, it is questioned and there is a lot of reading which is not even corrected. I have sometimes read things that I have said, “how could they publish this?” This makes the fame of those of us who work for it dirty.
What role does copyright play in self-publishing?
It is something very important, obviously, there are many pirate websites that I don’t know how they do it that capture digital files and allow them to be downloaded for free. The writer’s job is still an important one, not only because of the imagination and devising a story and presenting it, but also because of your planning, your characters. It is a job and then everything I have explained to you about the layout, the cover and everything. Registering it and preserving your rights is very important.
How do you know what price to set or which cover is right without help from a publisher?
The cover must be something that goes beyond your creativity, it is a message, it must give a message of the story. It has to feel like it explains something of what is inside the book. Look at photos from the free image banks and see if there is something that resonates with you and after all the ideas and inspirations, make your own. As for the price, it is a bit necessary to look at what is already published, whether they have more or less the same pages and also depending on how you value your novel. You don’t set the price exaggerated because, otherwise, you know you are out of the market.
Do you have good experiences in self-publishing or do you sometimes think about starting over with traditional publishing?
Well, I have good experiences, really. Yes, it is true that there is a lot of work, but also since I am a very perfectionist I like to do things myself. If I want to experiment with a publisher later on, I won’t say no either, because I’ve already looked for a couple and I’ve seen them because maybe next time I’ll go with one too to try and experiment to see if I like it better this way or if it was already fine how was.
Have you managed to reach the reader profile you wanted with self-publishing?
Well, not the amount. Getting known sometimes happens too slowly and sometimes you don’t have as much time as you would like to spend time on the social media, but you have to be present. The number of followers I have does not compensate for the number of books I have sold, yet. I must be optimistic. I am aware that I have to be heavier, more interactive and this is what I am doing. I’m also looking for meetings and events like those they do at fairs, to be able to set up a booth with the book and these things. In the end what you want is for people to enjoy what you have written and, if possible, the reviews to be good, to tell you if they enjoyed it or not because in the end for the author that is something very important.
How do authors promote themselves? Are social networks or other means key?
Especially networks or collaborations with boys or girls, sending them the book, and having them post it, giving you a good review. Above all, do not be ashamed of selling the product.
