How I Wrote and Self-Published a Short Story

In the Shadow of Death (a fantasy short story)

It’s the release day of In the Shadow of Death, my urban fantasy short story about love and loss. What better opportunity to share with you how I wrote and self-published the story. In the Shadow of Death (*Amazon affiliate link) is an urban fantasy inspired by the myth of Castor and Pollux and takes place partly in the modern world and partly in the Underworld.

1) Planning and Writing the Short Story

This story took me very little time to write and get ready for publication but at the same time it took me a decade. The very first idea for the short story is a scribbled note on my notebook dated May 11, 2014: “Castor and Pollux, except a married couple.” If you don’t know, Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces) are figures from ancient Greek mythology. They were twin brothers who were devoted to each other, and my idea was to explore a similar relationship between a married couple in a modern setting. A few pages later in my notebook, from July 24, 2014, I have a note that is a rough idea for what became the first scene of the short story. But after that, the idea merely lurked at the back of my mind for a decade, waiting for the right time to be written.

Last fall, I decided that the time had come. During NaNoWriMo last November, I spend the hiatus between the third and the fourth draft of Project Prehistory planning, outlining, and writing ten short stories, and In the Shadow of Death was one of them. I’ve written a more detailed blog post on how I planned and outlined my short stories – you can find my simple five-scene structure for writing a short story and a free short story template here. I used the structure to outline the plot and the character arc of the short story.

Out of the ten short stories, In the Shadow of Death was one of the easiest, if not the easiest. The story simply poured out of me, and when I read it again in early December, I was certain that it was almost ready for publication. But before that, I wanted to let it rest so I could look at it with fresh eyes a bit later to see if my assessment was correct. My critique partner read the story in December as well. Her feedback was really encouraging; she said that she loved the story and had no critical comments.

 

2) Self-Edits and the Blurb

I put the short story aside until I had more time to look at it. It’s usually recommended to give from at least a few weeks up to a month before you start the first round of self-edits, but I let the short story rest even longer and didn't look at it until early April (so about four months later). I had more time to focus on the self-edits in April during Camp NaNoWriMo.

I talked about this process in more detail in my Camp NaNoWriMo blog posts and vlogs, but I started the editing process by reading the text three times. The first time I reread In the Shadow of Death after the four months, I had tears streaming down my face. That’s when I knew I had done something right. The story did need some minor tweaks to make it even better (and to make me cry even more as I was adding those elements). I can get really self-critical when it comes to my writing, but this story is truly something that I'm proud of. It’s a heart-wrenching, beautiful story that I love with all my heart, and I hope other people will love it as well.

After self-edits came the awful bit. The dreaded blurb, or the back-cover text used to promote the book. I wrote the blurb before copy edits so my copy editor could check that it was grammatically correct as well. I’m not a native English speaker, so I wanted to make sure there weren't any grammatical issues. But before sending the blurb to the editor, I sent it to three people who beta read it and gave me great feedback on how I could improve the blurb. Here's what I came up with in the end:

“She said she’d walk to hell and back for me. Little did I know she meant literally.”

Robin and Jamie have it all: a loving marriage, a beautiful home, and a successful pottery shop. But when Death snatches one of them to the Underworld, they are faced with a heartbreaking decision that will change their lives forever. How far are they willing to go to save each other?

Inspired by the myth of Castor and Pollux, this urban fantasy short story explores the themes of grief and loss—and love’s power to conquer everything.

 

3) Professional Line and Copy Edits

Unlike Project Prehistory, which is currently on its third round of self-edits, In the Shadow of Death only needed one round of self-edits before I deemed it ready to be sent to a professional editor. My editor was Lila LaBine, and she did line and copy edits at the same time. She had a really neat way of structuring the edits that I haven’t heard other editors using. She did the first round of edits and sent the file back to me with her changes and comments that I could then react to, ask her questions, and explain why I had made certain stylistic choices. She then did the second round of edits and sent me back the final copy as well as the style sheet. Her turnaround time was also really fast, but this was obviously a short story of about five thousand words so she could squeeze it in between other editing projects. I loved working with her and can highly recommend her services if you’re looking for an editor!

 

4) Formatting the E-Book and Making the Cover

Then it was time to get the files ready for publication. My first step was to get an ISBN. That’s not necessary for an e-book if you publish it on Kindle Direct Publishing, but I wanted an ISBN so I could publish it under my own publishing house Caudex Books. Getting an ISBN might not be something you want to do if you live in US, as Americans have to pay for the ISBN. In Finland where I live, however, you can get an ISBN for free from the Finnish National Library. So if you live outside of US, make sure to find out where you can get your country’s ISBNs because you might not have to pay for them.

After I got the ISBN, I could finalize the copyright page, update my author bio, and write the acknowledgements. That meant I had both the front and back matter ready for formatting alongside the main contents (a.k.a. the short story). I formatted the e-book using Sigil, which is a free e-book formatting software. You just need to know the basics of html to be able use it, although it helps if you can also create css. Anyway, if that’s all Greek to you, I offer book formatting services for both print and e-books.

I made the cover myself. That’s something a lot of people say you shouldn’t do, but I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a short story cover. And I have to say I’m quite pleased with how my cover turned out. I chose a dark marbled background for underworldly vibes. The pottery and the meandering border represent how the story is inspired by ancient Greek mythology, and the vase also ties in with the main character’s occupation as the owner of a pottery shop. I tried to balance the fantasy aspects and the more contemporary setting of the story by using two fonts in the title. The title font Cinzel Decorative is getting a bit overused in fantasy book covers, but I decided to use it anyway as it’s an easy way to tell the readers what genre they can expect. I paired it with simple Garamond font so that the title doesn’t scream “this is a fantasy story,” as the story takes partly place in the outwardly normal contemporary world.

 

5) Setting the Files for Publication and Marketing

The next step was to upload the files to Amazon and Draft2Digital. I used Draft2Digital to distribute the short story to other e-book retailers such as Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Apple Books, as well as libraries. So if you want to read this story for absolutely free, you can request that your local library gets a copy of it! Or if you want to buy the short story from other retailers, you can find them listed here.

In self-publishing lingo, that meant that I’m “going wide” with the e-book distribution. Amazon has restrictions: if you want the story to be available on Kindle Unlimited, you can’t sell the e-book through other retailers. I chose the Kindle-Unlimited-route with my debut novel Caytee (*affiliate link), but this time I decided to see what happens if I go wide. Obviously, I can’t compare the sales of a fantasy short story to the sales of a Jane Austen retelling novel, but I’m curious to see if I make sales through other retailers.

As an indie author, reviews are extremely important, so I also got some ARC (advanced readers copy) readers to read and review the story in advance. Since this is only a short story that I’m selling for $0.99, I’m not going to make a huge bank on the sales. That’s why I’m not spending any money on marketing (at least not right now). My marketing happens solely through Instagram posts and Youtube videos (and this blog post).

One of my favorite marketing strategies was a book trailer. I loved making one for Caytee, and I wanted to make one for In the Shadow of Death as well. Luckily, Pixabay has amazing royalty-free videos and music that I could use. I found one piece of music that captured the mood of the story perfectly. The only problem was that it was five minutes long! I ended up editing the music to fit the one-minute limit of Youtube shorts, but I also wanted to make a full-length version. Someone might call it a bit excessive, but I love every second of that extended version. See below for yourself and tell me if you liked it!

 

The Cost of Self-Publishing a Short Story

Self-publishing can be expensive, but for a short story that will probably not generate massive sales, I wanted to go for a rather cost-effective route. The only thing I paid for was the line and copy edit, which for a five-thousand-word short story was a little over 150 euros. The cover, formatting, ISBN, and setting the short story up for publication were all free, and I don't have any marketing costs either at the moment.

Let me know if you have any questions about the writing process or self-publishing and I’ll do my best to answer them!

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*As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.