When you self publish there are a few basic facts that often get overlooked. Here are five of them.
1. You are your own editor
Unlike with traditional publishing, a self published author is their own editor. This means that you do not have a second -more exprineced – pair of eyes looking at your work.
You should consider finding both high-quality beta readers and/or a professional editor.
2. You need a proofreader
You are your own proofreader which is never a good idea. No matter how often you read and re-read your work, you have seen it too often to spot all your mistakes. We’re all human; we all make mistakes. Get someone else to check your work.
If you want to produce a professional book, you may need to shell out for a proofreader. It will be money well invested as your product will be of a higher quality.
3. Publicity is also your job
Join any Facebook group for self-published authors and you will see a lot of people either trying to sell their book there (never works) or desperately trying to find out how.
The best time to start building publicity (email list, followers, and fans) is when you were ten and a half. The next best time is right now. When the book is already out is far too late.
To build an author platform, you are going to want to brush up on:
4. Sell is hard and you have to do it
If you want to sell books you have to go out there and sell books. Even if your book is the best book that will ever be written, no one is going to care. You have to go out there and find ways to make small groups of people care enough to buy the book.
Good luck with that.
Selling books is a business. That means that for every pound you spend, you want to earn that pound back and some more on top. If you can do that, you can earn money from your writing.
It is not easy. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Selling is work.
5. People judge a book by its cover
People judge a book by its cover. You cover may be all that you have to sell your book. Creating a cover that does that is an art in and of itself. Seriously, just hire an expert in your genre because it will shift more books than a hundred Facebook and Adsense campaigns.
Take a look at books like yours on any large book selling website. Compare the best sellers and the weak sellers. What are the good ones doing that the low volume books are not. Figure that out and make your cover ready to compete with the best of them.