David Nix

Thank you so much this is all really helpful!

@SageRadke There are a couple rules of thumb on manuscript length. First, one page equals 250 words, more or less. Second, you need about 150 pages, or 40,000 words to call it a "novel". Anything between about 50 pages and 150 pages can be called a "novella". Your manuscript is currently in that category - maybe 90 pages. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with novellas. Hugh Howey's works are all in novella form, maybe 50 - 80 pages each. Enders Game first appeared as a 90-page novella before the author expanded it to novel length. I actually prefer his novella version. Novellas are actually a great length for telling a story without risking bogging down in details. My latest series, The Well, is a set of three novellas about 30,000 words each. If you are struggling to add fluff, then perhaps your story is best suited to be a novella. You should have no qualms about publishing it.

@SageRadke Self-published paperbacks do not sell very well. The vast majority of your sales will come from e-books. So, why self-publish in paperback? Two reasons, really. One, you can give away copies that cost you about $5 to print on-demand - again, giving them away to get reviews. Some reviewers accept paperback only. Two, you can have the pure joy of holding *your* novel in *your* hands! Amazon owns a publishing platform called Createspace. Similar to KDP, you sign up and go through the steps of creating your book. The steps are similar, mostly involving getting manuscript in an acceptable format and producing a great cover image. In general, you can re-use your KDP document and cover image for Createspace. Once you publish, you may order copies of your novel for about $5 (price varies depending on size and number of pages).
            
            That's it in a tiny nutshell. The most difficult step in any process is writing a compelling story. Second only to it in difficulty is marketing your novel. As I have only sold a few thousand copies of anything, I am not the great guru on this subject, but I am more successful than most self-published authors. I suggest you read all the suggestions you can from those who are good at marketing, try them all, and see what works.
            
            Good luck!

@SageRadke If you choose to self-publish, you can publish in e-book form *and* paperback form for very little money. The number one e-book publishing platform for fiction is Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). There are other sites, such as Smashwords, but I would start with Amazon. About 85% of my sales happen on that platform. Go to the following KDP site and sign up for free:
            
            https://kdp.amazon.com/signin
            
            Then, read the "how-to" guide for self-publishing. The most difficult aspects of getting your novel published are correctly formatting the source document and producing a high quality cover image. The source formatting may be a headache in dealing with Microsoft Word. I believe KDP has a Word template you can use. Producing a good cover image is an entire separate subject. Most serious authors hire someone to do this. Cost can range from $100 for something simple to $700 for something really professional, and everywhere in between. Alternatively, you can attempt your own covers if you are good at image manipulation. I have done a number of covers by downloading images from Bigstockphoto.com (where you pay a few dollars per image for the rights to the image), and modifying or combining them using GIMP (which is a free tool that resembles Photoshop but is harder to use). I have also hired out a couple of covers. In any case, you *must* have an attractive cover image. Most people skimming Amazon make a decision within 3 seconds based on the cover image.
            
            Once you "publish" the e-book on Amazon, you must market it. Again, that is an entire separate subject. Just search the web for e-book marketing advice. The big hitters is this: getting people to review you novel and rate it on Amazon. The more ratings you have (assuming they are mostly positive) the easier Amazon makes it to find your novel. There are a number of ways to do this. The best is to give away copies and beg for reviews. Amazon has a giveaway program that allows you to do this.
            
            Next: Paperback

@SageRadke Hello, Serge. Of course I remember you! I'd be happy to tell you what I know about the publishing game.
            
            First of all, your approach depends somewhat on whether you are publishing fiction or non-fiction. What I describe below applies to fiction.
            
            There are two ways to publish a book. The first is the traditional way: to sell it to a publisher. In this case, you usually receive a monetary advance (e.g. $10,000 for a new author), the publisher spends a year or two getting your novel into production in both e-book and hardback format, they print some limited number of copies (e.g. 20,000), and you get some percentage of each sale (e.g. 12%). Selling directly to a publisher is nearly impossible without engaging a literary agent. Most literary agents are overwhelmed with submissions from would-be authors, so getting an agent is also difficult unless you a) have a popular social media platform, b) are famous, c) wrote something that a particular agent really connects with. Going this route takes much time and patience and networking. A good place to start is with newer agents who are building a clientele. This link is a good source of those: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/new-agency-alerts
            
            The second is to self-publish. With the advent of the e-book, millions of authors are skipping the traditional route and self-publishing. The typical self-published novel sells around 100 copies in its lifetime, but some have sold millions. You must be prepared for the 100-copy scenario, though. If not, then you are writing for the wrong reason.
            
            My next reply talks about about self-publishing due to the word count limit of replies!

@jbhjalen Thank you for the praise! I'm proud of that line, and it is so profoundly true.

@jbhjalen Sorry - it is not on Smashwords. RIght now it is listed under Amazon Prime, and by contract I can't offer it for sale on another platform during that time. However, it is free on Amazon today only. Good timing for you. You can download a free Amazon reader, and get Ugly Girl for free today.