I recently saw a front-page newspaper article in my hometown about a sixteen-year-old girl who had her first book published. When I read more of the story I came to realize her book was self-published. Don't get me wrong. It's quite a feat for a teenage girl to finish writing a book, or anyone for that matter. It took me until I was over 50 years old to finish writing one. But being published is not an incredible feat anymore. Anyone can publish a book. If your reading this blog you can write something and have it up on Amazon for sale within a week. It's that easy. But there's a catch. Just because you wrote it, doesn't mean you can sell it. That's where so many authors sail their ships into the murky waters of self-publishing and break apart on the reefs of disappointment when it comes to their hopes for their books. I've had writers contact me and ask how do you do it? How do you get readers to buy your books or write a review? I wish I had a magic formula I could give them, but I don't. I do know through experience three things your book is going to need to survive in the piranha-infested waters of the publishing world. These I will list below:
STORY: It sounds stupid to say this, but if you don't have a good story, you've shot yourself in the foot before you even enter the race as an author. Rightfully so, I might add. Your a writer so write something that someone wants to read. Hook the reader from the first paragraph.We live in an age with more distractions than ever to keep someone from reading your story. Netflix, Facebook, X Box, etc. they are all competing for your reader's time. Know your audience and give them something they want. Make them want to give up hours of their time to curl up with your book or sit in the glow of their electronic reader. How do you do that? I can't tell you. That's something your going to have to learn through experience and writing. However, I can suggest that you clearly define the genre your book falls under. If your novel is about ghosts, then make sure it is defined as such in its search keywords. It can be a radical new take on a ghost story and have very little to do with a haunting, but when the potential reader types "ghost story" in his search menu you want your book to come up. Wallah! A potential sale!
EDITING: This is where a lot of self-pub authors stub their toes and fall. You can't edit your work. Sorry. This is one thing that the Traditional publishing get's right. You got to have your work edited by a professional. Yes, it's expensive, but you are investing in yourself as a writer. If your not willing to make the investment then don't expect the reader to invest in you. If your work is riddled with typos you are going to hear it from your readers in the form a bad reviews and 1 Star ratings. This is the death-knell for self-published work. Kindle has a refund policy for their books. A reader can refund it up to one week after purchasing it. If your work is amateurish or poorly written it's going to reflect in your refunds. If you can't afford at least basic Copy Editing then send your book to a traditional publisher and try your luck. Too many self-published authors post their unedited crap online. It gives us all a bad name. Get your work edited. You'll love what a professional will do to make your prose shine. So will your readers.
COVER: This is another area where a lot of self-published authors fall short. They wrap their great story in a crappy cover. Nothing speaks amateur writer more then a poor cover. You can't judge a book by its cover, but readers do when searching for something to read. A good cover gets your foot in the door when convincing a reader to purchase your book. Find you a professional to do your cover. It may run you a couple hundred dollars, but it is worth it. Again it is an investment in you as a book publisher, because that is what you are if you self publish. Make the cover rock!
You follow these three rules and you got a step up on all the floundering self-published authors drowning in a morass of poor sales and low readership. I hope this article helps you in your quest to be a better writer. It's a brave new world out there. The door is open for you to become a selling author like never before in history. The internet changed everything and there is unparallelled freedom for you to succeed. Now get out there and write something.
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