do's & don't's on self-publishing a horse racing book or any book.

​As the more observant of readers will already be aware, in 2013 I self-published a collection of horse-racing themed short stories, ‘Going To The Last’. I can’t lie, not a successful venture, even if I am reasonable proud of several of the stories in the book. I did it. I persevered. I overcame the tedious road to publication.
I am no businessman. I wrote the stories over many years, believing, naively, that individually, because the theme was rare for the marketplace, a home might be found within the pages of a literary magazine for them. Didn’t happen. Here’s my first insight into the world of fiction. Editors of such magazines, whether they be mainstream or cult, are young, university educated and hip; they have no understanding of any subject matter not covered in any English Lit course they attended. Also, even if one of my short-stories was a romance, editors of such magazines viewed the story as, at best, sporting and decidedly unromantic. It would be the same if the story had a ghost theme or science-fiction. 
So, with no other road to pursue, I gathered the stories together and self-published and the book can be bought either in electronic form or as a soft-back. If I had to offer advice on which media to recommend, I would plump for soft-back as at least you have something solid to offer your local bookshop or to offer to your friends and relatives for their critical acclaim.
It matters little if your book is fiction or non-fiction, be it horse-racing themed or any theme you care to mention, you would find it easier to convince a leopard to go vegan than to find either a literary agent to take you seriously or a book publisher willing to gamble on your sales-pitch. It is tough, verging on impossible, for a first-time author without a public persona to be published mainstream. Honestly, the autobiography of a double axe-murderer or a bronze-medal winning lacrosse player has a far better chance of publication than the expert musings of an unknown, back-bedroom scribbler. Better writers, J.K.Rowling to name but one, than you or I have suffered repeated rejection by both literary agents and publishers. On the reverse, there are writers, still unknown and unheralded who have bucked the system and found themselves on the bookshelves of Waterstones etc and yet have earned barely a penny for their efforts. No one in the big bad world of literature has ever said life was fair.
Selling books is all about marketing and advertising. I am useless at both. Hence the poverty of my existence. It can cost between £350/£600 to have a modest soft-back self-published. To stand any chance or even breaking even, and by that, I mean your original outlay, you will need 10-times that amount to advertise to the world the existence of your book and still you will have to network your way around local book stores, local radio stations, local newspapers, spreading the tentacles of your marketing as far afield as your finances will allow. No paid appearance and free advertising on the ‘One Show’ for you. 
If I haven’t drained you of all enthusiasm for your project, here is my advice to help you along the way to either the top of the bestseller lists or the oblivion of the unpublished.
Unlike all writing advice magazines, I do not propose you only write about what you know but if you do chose a subject not close to your heart you must research, research, research. Always be on top of the facts. Do not lure yourself, through tiredness, into thinking your readers ‘won’t know the difference’, they will, or mix a little fiction into your non-fiction book to give spice to your narrative. You will always be found out by someone. Never take your reader for granted.
Because, yes, you are writing for your potential readers. Not yourself.
Give your book a title that represents what will be found inside the cover. I made the mistake of titling my book after the title of the first story. Any number of the stories would have provided a more alluring title, ‘Yesterday’s Magic’, for instance. In fact, ‘These Stories Are About Horse Racing’ would have been a better title as anyone Googling ‘books on horse racing’ would eventually find the title staring them in the face. Whereas ‘Going To The Last’ means nothing to anyone outside of the sport. If people know about your book you have achieved the first rung on the ladder to selling the damned said book to your first buyer.
Get your work professionally edited. Adds extra cost to the exercise, money you certainly will never see again, but you will have a book that the reader can have no criticism of your syntax, punctuation or spelling. An extra, non-tired, pair of eyes can also spot glaring factual errors and repetition. Remember, you must convince your potential buyers that you are a competent and professional author.
Do not fall into the trap of asking or allowing family or friends to proof-read the manuscript. Never ask them what they think? They love or admire you, they might want a favour in return, and they will not want to hurt your feelings by giving an honest verdict. ‘It’s good’. ‘Didn’t know you had it in you’. Good for the ego, perhaps, but no long term good comes from false praise. Straight down the line cruel but constructive criticism is kinder in the long run, believe me.
Pricing your book is a minefield. Do you price it with a view of a return on your investment as quickly as possible? Do you price it modestly so that you get instant sales? I priced the electronic version of my book modestly and the soft-back at around £10, mainly because it cost far more to get it to market. The e-book I have abandoned, left it to drift into the oblivion of the electronic ether. The softback I half-heartedly marketed; the local bookshop sold the three copies I gave them, as much to their surprise as my own, and I sent copies to local libraries in towns associated with horse-racing, Epsom, Newmarket, etc. And it is listed on this website. Useless, I know. So, make sure you do a whole lot better.
And that is the best advice I can give you: market and publicise your book. Be prepared to work harder at making your book known to as many people as possible than you ever did writing the damn thing. You might even enjoy the process of being an entrepreneur. In which case, it will be all the encouragement you need to start the follow-up book.
I have vowed never to write another book ever again.
(For those in want of where to go to achieve self-publication, I will offer you the people who held my hand along the way. eBook Versions, 27 Old Gloucester Road London WC1N 3 AX    www.ebookversions.com)
Good Luck.
Because you will need it!