Lesson 1: Introduction

While Amazon might have a certain kind of reputation, it has definitively changed the entire game for Indie Authors.

In decades past, hopeful authors had to say a prayer and hope a literary agent liked their query letter and manuscript sample enough to represent them (and this is often still the case! Seriously, the odds of a literary agent picking you up for representation are devastatingly and depressingly low.)

It’s time to take matters into our own hands, and I will teach you. 

Nowadays, after putting the work in to learn some new skills and get comfortable with terminology and industry standards, you can publish your own damn book. 

You can sell it on the biggest retail website in the world, across most of the entire globe. You can order author copies at a discount and sell them on Etsy or at in-person book signing events at a profit. 

This is doable, and self-publishing doesn’t hold the stigma it used to. Well, not as much. Not anymore. Indie authors and publishers are in the game now and kicking some butt.

My name is Mallory Cywinski, and I am a Mom of two, a lover of spooky stuff, and I am an Indie author and publisher. I have my Bachelor of Science with honors from Penn State University, and I am a certified editor and proofreader. My first book, Making Friends with Ghosts was published with an Indie publishing company. Shortly after, I realized how many more stories I had to tell, and how passionate I was about the publishing world. I founded Dark Village Publications with a close friend, and we hit the ground running. 

I have published several more titles, including Desperate Creatures, the Beasts of Grey Haven series, Dark Village, Twelve Months of Horror, and the Twelve Months of Smut anthologies. I am passionate about my online community of friends and support and doing my part in lifting others. It’s my mission to share what I’ve learned in the trenches of formatting and self-publishing so you can do it yourself. 

There’s room for all of us. 

Let’s get after it.

The content in this tutorial is Copyright Mallory Cywinski. Sharing information from the videos, or the link to these videos without paid membership, or downloading content is expressly prohibited and will be enforced to the full extent of the law.

Background Music courtesy ©️ Amy Bennett-Bradway, supernaturalspot.com