SPA Girls Podcast – EP56 – Top Ten Mistakes Self Publishers Make
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
I don’t actually know how many mistakes we covered in this episode, but I thought that title sounded great. 🙂 But we definitely do go in-depth on all the terrible, dastardly, embarrassing mistakes that we’ve made in the process of self publishing our books.
From not getting our books properly edited and rushing through the process of publishing and putting our books up before we should have, to not being organized enough, to not knowing and understanding our genres – we’ve done it all!
Don’t make the same mistakes that we have – listen to this episode and find out how to avoid them all!
For your first book, it’s allowable to make mistakes. You will learn as you go – everyone does. Hopefully we can highlight some pitfalls so even if you do make a mistake it might not be one of these!
1 Make sure your book is well edited. Reviewers will put a stop on your sales. Pay for a good editor, whatever your budget is. Get sample edits, usually the first thousand words, to see if your editor gets your voice. Ask around – get recommendations.
In the market where there are so many books, do this well. Get as many eyes on your work as you can. You can’t see mistakes in your own work, especially the more you read it.
2 Don’t rush to get your book published without doing your homework. Where does your book fit in? What genre should it slot in to? What do the books in your genre look like – covers – are they dark or light. Do they have people or scenes? What tag words and categories fit your book? Does your Title need a tweak? What sub genres will give you better visualization.
3 Covers are your window to your book. Don’t be set on what your cover looks like unless it is the correct look is for the genre. Understand the visual short hand for designing a cover that will translate into sales.
4 Shar rushed to put a series up and is in the process of taking them down and rebranding them to follow the knowledge that she has gained. You can change/fix anything – so do it if you need to.
5 Trudi spent a lot on her first book in advertising and, although she did okay at the time, realizes it wasn’t the best way to proceed. You need another book to get traction. It’s only natural to want the book of your heart to be out as soon as possible – avoid it if you can. If not, then accept that you may not do fantastically after the first push, and don’t spend thousands
First, ask yourself – Why are you doing this advertising?
Is this a hobby or a career?
What do you want to achieve, and how will you test this? (Brand awareness, Sales, etc.)
Remember, different genres and lengths of books will dictate the price you ask, until you are famous. 😉
6 Allow yourself to feel the joy and satisfaction of publishing and of actually finishing your book. Reward and self-praise is not a guilty secret – you deserve it!
7 Time management is your friend. Write everything down re deadlines, advertising – be organized!
8 Procrastination will be a deal breaker if you don’t nip it in the bud. Don’t be caught up in the process of being a writer, and not producing the words. 80 percent writing and 20 percent on the business. Prioritize and goal set – be focused. Get your processes in place early on in your career.
9 Don’t be envious of seemingly easily famous writers. Understand that this might not be that authors first book. It may be the first published but, trust us, they will have others sitting in a draw somewhere. They learnt as they wrote and they may even publish their earlier work, but it will have the benefit of experience, and will be reworked heavily.
Use them as role models. Read their books to understand their popularity.
10 Don’t forget about your backlist. Use them as tools to advertise by adding links to new works, adding excerpts or blurbs and updating these regularly.
We hope this helps!
