Self-publish fiction successfully by ignoring the trad-pub rules.
by Anne R. Allen
I wrote a post a few weeks ago that some people found discouraging. I pointed out that a number of changes, especially at Amazon, make it more of a challenge to self-publish fiction successfully than it was a decade ago.
Back when the new-fangled Kindle was flying off the cybershelves and Amazon had no imprints of its own, indie authors were Amazon’s darlings. That’s no longer the case, so selling self-published books is more difficult than it was.
But “more difficult” doesn’t mean impossible.
Plenty of indie novelists are starting out right now who will make the bestseller lists. Some will make considerably more money than their traditionally-published counterparts.
A Note About Nonfiction.
If you write nonfiction, self-publishing can often be the better choice. Hot topics have often faded into history by the time a traditional publisher gets a book into the stores.
Indies can publish quickly and strike while the topic is hot.
Nonfiction books are getting shorter, so it’s easier to turn out a bunch of books per year.
Plus people are reading more nonfiction these days, so nonfiction is more lucrative for both traditional publishers and indies.
Self-Publishing Means Opening a Business.
But novelists can thrive as well as nonfiction authors, as Elizabeth S. Craig told us last year in her piece on how to make a living when you self-publish fiction.
However, the indie path to success is different from the trad-pub path.
You can’t cross your fingers, pray for a rave review in The New York Times or Publishers Weekly, put on a book launch party, and wait for the money to roll in. (Which hardly ever happens except in the fevered dreams of aspiring authors.)
Self-publishing means opening a business.
That means indie authors need a business plan before they publish, the way any other business does. Self-publishers who succeed are the ones who provide a lot of inventory, cater to an existing market, and know how to use social media to reach their target audience effectively.
They do need to buy some advertising. But throwing money at a writer’s debut book is not going to pay off. Build inventory before you pay for pricey ads.
1) Wait to Publish Your First Novel Until You Have Several Waiting in the Wings
You can see the tragic laments of first-time self-publishers every day in writing groups and forums. “I spent $1000s marketing my book with nothing to show for it. I am a complete failure and I’m going to unpublish my book, give up writing, and I guess I’ll go eat worms.”
Well, okay, I lied about the worms.
The point is, these people are miserable. They put their hearts and souls and savings into marketing a singleton title. It didn’t sell, so they’re sure they’re failures.
But guess what? No matter how much money you throw at a singleton indie title, your business is not going to take off until you have inventory.
These authors haven’t failed at writing.
They have failed at launching a business.
They were probably seduced by those marketing predators who show up at least once a day in my mailbox. These people offer to market “my book”–always in the singular–for a hefty fee. The predators know their most likely prey is the newbie with only one book out there. Those are the pigeons who can be talked into throwing more and more money at a hopeless cause. Here’s one of my posts about those predators. Authors beware!
The indies who have made it to the big time got there by selling in quantity. Hugh Howey, Marie Force, Amanda Hocking—the indie superstars—made a splash by releasing a whole bunch of books in quick succession.
Authors who self-publish fiction fail when they imitate the snail’s pace of traditional publishing.
“But I need feedback!”
…sez you. Or “how do I know I’m on the right track if I don’t publish?”
That’s like saying, “How do I know if this dress makes me look fat if I don’t wear it on national television?”
Um, how about asking a friend or two to come with you to the dressing room?
We learn from failure, but you don’t have to fail in public.
There are plenty of ways to get feedback without publishing. Use beta readers and sites like Wattpad. Join a critique group. Go to writers’ conferences. Participate in online writing groups.
“But I need to make money!”
This is a silly reason to self-publish fiction when you don’t have several other novels in the wings.
Those debut novelists who are writing the despairing laments — they’re losing money, not making it. Just read the sad stories.
Would you open a store that only sells one product “because you need the money”? Remember that vintage Saturday Night Live sketch about the mall store that sells nothing but scotch tape?
Don’t let that be you.
Publish one book without another ready to go, and you can pretty much guarantee your bottom line is going to bleed red.
2) Release the Books in Quick Succession.
This is how the famous indie authors got their names known. I’m talking about authors who started out to self-publish fiction—as opposed to novelists who were already well known in the traditional publishing world, or people who were famous for something other than writing novels.
Amanda Hocking and Hugh Howey released a large number of books very quickly.
I’m with a small press, so I’m technically ”indie,” but not entirely self-published. But I’m sure the reason I hit the bestseller lists with my first ebooks was that I had six novels and a number of short pieces all ready to go. Two novels had been previously published and the others only needed editing. Five came out in the space of three months, along with three pieces in some well-regarded anthologies.
And yes, it nearly killed me, and I wish they’d already been edited. Those were some long days and late nights.
3) Write in a Genre that People Read Voraciously.
You’re going to do best if you can target readers who gobble up several novels a week. That usually means “escapist” reading—what people call “beach books” or “airplane books.” These are the genres that do best as ebooks, and indies make most of their money from ebooks.
The most successful indie books are crime, thriller, cozy mystery, fantasy, and romance. Especially romance. 45% of all ebooks sold are romance, but only 4% of print.
That includes all flavors of romance: paranormal, steampunk, time travel, historical, Jane Austen fanfic, erotica, chick lit, and commercial women’s fiction.
If you write YA, you’ll be more successful if you write in those same genres for young people.
If you write frankly literary novels, you’re going to have a harder time. I have three more literary mysteries that I happen to think are wildly entertaining, but they don’t sell as well as my Camilla series. (We have one on sale right now. The Lady of the Lakewood Diner–see below.)
That’s because people who buy literary fiction tend to base their reading choices on reviews—professional reviews by respected, trained reviewers. The ones who write for The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. The marketing that’s available to indies is generally not going to reach that demographic.
If you want to be a literary fiction writer, the best way to build your reputation is to write short stories and send them to university literary magazines. (It also helps to have a day job teaching at a prestigious university. 🙂 ) Literary writers often do best with a small literary press rather than self-publishing. (Although here’s a post from a man who’s proved that adage wrong.)
4) Write Lots of Books. Preferably in Series.
That means write a bunch more books after you self-publish fiction that first barrage. Don’t rest on your laurels
Mystery author Carmen Amato — a friend of the blog — recently attended Killer Nashville mystery writers’ conference. She got to study with bestsellers like J. A. Konrath, Anne Perry, and Jeffery Deaver. She said in a blog comment that this was her big take-away:
“Consistent, high quality production is the name of the game. The best known authors in the mystery genre have 30 or more books to their name.”
Thirty books. The worm-eaters can hardly declare themselves failures because they’re not making a living with one title.
5) Write Shorter Fiction.
Indies do not have to follow the stodgy rules of the traditional publishing world. They can self-publish novellas, novelettes, and shorter fiction. They can divide one epic into a trilogy of cliff-hanging short books. (Although it’s best to resolve the main storyline of each book. Readers have soured on cliffhangers.)
And don’t turn up your noses at short stories.
Hugh Howey’s first ebook of Wool was essentially a short story. It sort of ended, but you knew there was more, so you wanted to buy the next episode.
Short stories can be golden, because you can use them to get into anthologies that will raise your profile enormously. And they can be published again and again. You can also use them as freebies to get subscribers to your blog or newsletter. Or issue them as stop-gaps between novel releases.
The forward-looking Fuse Literary Agency helps their clients self-publish short pieces to release between trad-pub books to keep those readers interested. Their “Short Fuse” program has really taken off.
Here’s another quote from Carmen Amato from the Killer Nashville conference. “J.A. Konrath has written dozens of short stories besides his horror thrillers and the Jack Daniels series.” She says he does it for “discoverability.” (See more about this in #7 below.)
6) If You Self-Publish Fiction, Ignore Advice for Nonfiction Authors.
A whole lot of the marketing advice you see online is aimed at nonfiction writers. Most of that stuff about “make millions with ebooks” that you saw a few years ago was about nonfiction, even though the gurus may not have made that clear.
Nonfiction sells. Especially How-to and Self-help. People love to read books about how to become more successful, safe, sexy, and happy.
Nonfiction can be sold with a soundbite sales pitch. People are much more likely to buy a book when they read “Become a happier person in 10 Days!” or “Get an ideal body in time for your class reunion!”
Going on the lecture circuit, sending out press releases, teaching webinars, presenting at book fairs and conferences, making YouTube videos and podcasts—those are all powerful tools for selling nonfiction.
But for fiction…not so much.
You can write a great pitch: “Lisa has inherited her Great Aunt Ermintrude’s Bed and Breakfast in beautiful Buttonwillow! Will she uncover her family’s dark secrets?”
But that’s not going to appeal to people who don’t read fiction. And it doesn’t promise to soothe or improve the way self-help does.
A fiction audience is simply smaller. And you need to intrigue and charm that audience, not hard-sell.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t move “The Buttonwillow B&B Mystery” and make good money. What it does mean is that you need to do more work pinpointing your target audience. And you need a lot of Buttonwillow mysteries in the pipeline.
7) Get into Anthologies, Boxed Sets, and Joint Promos with other Authors in your Genre.
Again, this means writing more short fiction. As Carmen Amato said in the quote in # 5 above, J.A. Konrath writes short stories for “discoverability.”
Discoverability means getting your fiction in front of as many readers of your genre as possible. A short piece can sell a novel. I know I’ve bought novels because I read the author’s short story somewhere.
Short fiction in magazines, websites, and especially high profile anthologies will expand your discoverability and bring in new readers better than 100s of ads pushed in front of people who are not in the market for a novel.
Yes, you may be giving away a lot of these stories for free or very little payment. But compare that with the cost of paid advertising, and your bottom line looks pretty good.
You also might look for chances to get into a boxed set in your genre with a full length novel. These have been very lucrative for me.
But BEWARE: There are some unscrupulous scammers who put together ridiculously huge boxed sets (35 Vampire romances for 99c!!) There’s often an even more absurd buy-in charge and organizers may even promise you’ll become a “USA Today bestseller.”
These tend to be money-making enterprises for the promoters. There are also stories of horrific bullying by promoters and their minions that would make you cry. Don’t go there.
The successful boxed sets I’ve been involved with have been put together by one of the authors and the buy-in price is only what’s needed for a cover, formatting and the agreed-upon advertising budget.
How do you get involved with one of these? Join groups of authors in your genre and network, network, network!
8) Don’t Expect to Make Big Sales in Brick and Mortar Stores.
I meet way too many potential indie writers who talk about self-publishing in terms of print books and brick and mortar bookshops.
This is not how successful indie authors make their money. They sell mostly ebooks, and sales are mostly online.
Spending your time trying to get paper books into bookstores can be an exercise in futility. Big box bookstores only do business with big publishing. That’s because they have a system in place where books are easily returned if they don’t sell. Big publishing also pays a fee to the big boxes for prominent placement of their books. Even if you could get into the big box, your book would be spine-out on the bottom shelf of a dark corner of the store.
Some indie booksellers will take self-published books on consignment. They ask for a consignment arrangement because they want to be able to return them if they don’t sell the way they do with big publishers. But many of them won’t take anything unless they can order the books through a distributor.
That means they won’t take books published through Amazon’s POD wing (KDP and the former CreateSpace.)
If you hope to sell paper books in bookstores, get your print books through Ingram Spark. Ingram is a book distributor. Amazon is a book seller, and therefore a rival to the local book sellers, who are usually not Amazon fans.
If your dream involves a paper version of your book on a shelf in Barnes and Noble or Walmart, you’ll want to go the trad-pub route.
9) Think Globally.
The US-UK market is pretty saturated at the moment. The last 10 years have added millions of ebooks to the retail cybershelves in the US and the UK, and the pool of readers isn’t growing.
But there are growing English-speaking markets all over the world.
Ireland also has one of the most vibrant publishing climates around. And don’t forget that in much of Africa, and India, English is the common language. This month I’ve sold more books in India than in the UK.
Write Regencies? Pakistan has one of the world’s largest Jane Austen societies and you can join the Pakistani Janeites on Facebook.
Thrillers are popular in China, where UK author Mark Williams’ thriller Sugar and Spice topped the bestseller list for months.
Do some research and you’re likely to find a niche your trad-pub counterparts haven’t filled. If you want to find out more about global markets, subscribe to The New Publishing Standard, which is celebrating its first year anniversary this week. TNPS is read in 180 countries and sends out global publishing news every day.
***
Yes, the days are gone when you could load your half-edited first draft to Amazon, slap on a homemade cover and sell 100 copies a day.
But that doesn’t mean self-publishing is dead. Far from it. It has grown up. Self-publishing is a growth industry because a lot of top indies are putting out consistently good product.
Be one of them, not one of the miserable ones who didn’t do their homework before they published or got taken in by silver-tongued marketers who care a lot more about separating you from your money than they do about selling your book.
If you want to know about how to advertise your book wisely, there’s an in-depth article by marketer Nicholas Erik on David Gaughran’s blog that does all the math and offers charts and stats so you can make informed decisions about where to put your advertising money.
You’ll notice I haven’t said anything about email lists, newsletters or superfans. I’ll be writing about them next month. Stay tuned….
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) September 23, 2018
What about you, scriveners? Have you become discouraged after publishing one book? Were you talked into spending a ton of money marketing it? If you self-publish fiction successfully, how many books did you have out before you started making good money?
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Anne,
Thanks for sharing your blog. I am a 62 year old newbie with a lot of world experience. I learned a lot this morning by reading your blog. My biggest takeaway is about having an ‘inventory’ when you get into this field. Thanks to you, I will not be making that mistake! I am here to listen and learn.
Much, much appreciated.
Ken Strange
Ken–Welcome! Good to connect with you on Linkedin and see you here. Inventory is the name of the game. It’s good to have inventory if you want to go the traditional publishing route, too. Agents will ask to see what else you have. Trying to write your second novel to deadline when you’re busy promoting the first is a big pain. Plus writers who have only got one novel often get writer’s block when the second is in the contract.
Anne—Solid, sensible, practical advice. Thanks!
Ruth–Thanks!
And you really do have to have a lot of books out so you get the trickle down effect. Everyone images writing one book and having it turn into a best seller…and then what? The book’s not going to be a best seller forever, but if you have more than one, people will buy the next one to read.
Linda–Exactly! I read recently that even James Patterson’s books only sell for about six months. Once they’re off the bestseller lists, people want a new one.
Excellent advice for those who self-publish. Most of the authors I know who do self-publish often put out several books in a row and many are novelettes so they can get them out faster.
Alex–Yes! Novellas and novelettes are an indie author’s best friends. That’s the way to build inventory and keep your fans coming back.
I’m sharing this one. It’s really the whole magilla, and I’m chuckling at how LITTLE of this I do.
“Self-publishing means opening a business.”- that is so completely correct, Anne. And I should have hit this metaphor early on- I watched my folks open, run and eventually close a by-the-skin-of-your-teeth organic food store for 25 years and the parallels are perfect. Maybe that’s been my problem- I never liked working in that store…
But all of this is what I need to be doing. And I’m hardly doing any of it! Note to self- no complaining. Hit the list!
Will–Haha–do as I say, not as I do. I only write two books a year myself. But I’m trying for more next year. None of this is easy, that’s for sure.
Thanks Anne. I am all ears. What you are saying makes great sense. I am working on two books—one about hiking the Camino in Spain (nearing the finish line) and another called “Feds”—short stories re my law enforcement career. I will take your advice and keep writing! ????
Ken–Maybe “Feds” can be a series of novellas or novelettes. That way you’ll have more titles, and you can start to build a following. Here’s a guest post on novellas and novelettes from Mara Purl. https://annerallen.com/2018/06/novellas-novelettes-short-stories-flash/
And you’ve come up with yet another entertaining, informative post about this nutty industry (which I regularly find downright overwhelming — the industry, not your posts). Thanks again.
CS–The industry is indeed nutty and overwhelming. But I think it always has been. I’ve been reading about all the hoops the Bronte sisters had to jump through to get published (and paid!) The nutty and overwhelming things change, but the hassles remain.
“That’s like saying, “How do I know if this dress makes me look fat if I don’t wear it on national television?” Haha!
Great post, Anne. I haven’t followed all this advice and definitely do not promote and/or market well but…eh, I’m working on it. I do love your attitude (in quite a few posts and comments) about short stories, novellas, novelettes… They’re gold. For readers and writers. 🙂
Sarah–I have to tell that to dozens of writers a week, and yet, they publish that first draft practice novel anyway, and can’t figure out why they’re not overnight successes. And yes! short fiction is pure gold. We all need to write (and read!) more.
I’m all for that. I do both. Read it (a lot) and write it. Gold! 🙂
Wow! Rock solid advice. Thanks for that
Ian–Thanks for stopping by!
Great post Anne! I have a collection of short stories and a novelette that I’ve just finished going over before they are about to be sent off to a copy editor. I’m hoping that by starting with some shorts, it helps to give people an idea of my writing before publishing longer works. It’s keeping the production line on-going that I really need to work on! 😉 Thanks for the advice, it’s much appreciated.
Debbie–Think inventory/ Think of your target demographic. Do the love qne hop3 you can rest!
Thanks Anne, but sorry I don’t quite get that last sentence.
Debbie–Haha! I don’t either. Who wrote that?? 🙂 Obviously my fingers were on the wrong keys. That’s the trouble with having 10 different conversations on social media and email and the phone at the same time. Everything’s dinging and pinging at you and you just dash off something.
I’m afraid I don’t have a clue what that multi-tasking person was trying to say. But I do think you’re on the right track. Send those stories out to places that will reach your target reader.
(And don’t pay attention to everything I say in the comments!) I apologize.
I love this article. Both because it’s informative and because it proves I’m (mostly) approaching this correctly 🙂 I’m thinking of *not* spending a lot on marketing my first novel and waiting until I have 2-3 out. Of course that doesn’t mean I’ll just plop “Storytellers” on Amazon and hope it magically promotes itself, but I’m not going to sink $1000s (which I don’t have) into it. My plan in general is to take all the earnings – if there are any – from “Storytellers” and use them to promote it.
Indie publishing is so different from trad publishing, and I love finding out more and more. Thank you, Anne.
Bjorn–Congrats on getting yourself on the right track. The best thing to do is plan your second book while you’re working on the first, so you’ll have at least two books ready to go when you start publishing. It is very different from traditional publishing, where you can wait years between books.
Wow! You outdid yourself, Anne. Great, comprehensive post on what it takes to sell books as an indie author these days. I need to save the link to this post and send it to people as they hire me so that they will better understand what they’re getting into.
Frances–Thanks so much! That’s high praise indeed, coming from you. I hope more newbies will read this and save themselves some heartbreak.
Another great blog post, oh guru! And thanks for the shout out to Fuse Literary. We’re trying to give our clients all the advantages we can in this crazy quilt of publishing options.
Laurie–Thanks for stopping by! We’re looking forward to your annual “crystal ball” post in January, when you’ll predict the publishing events coming up in 2019!
Thanks for the advice. I’m a 33 year old writer that’s been writing since I was 10. I self published a book back in my 20s, and I relied heavily on it becoming successful. Now, i’m putting my nose to the grindstone to get out more novels in rapid succession. I just released a book back in July and have another one ready to release some working on two others. Thanks for the advice!
Robert–It can be disappointing to publish one book and have so much expectation riding on it. I did that too. My publisher put some publicity into it, but it just sat there. Sigh.
Good for you to have more books in the pipeline. Inventory is the name of the game!
Wonderful advice! Looking forward to releasing my trilogy in quick succession. Almost there…I think!
Christine–Having a trilogy all put together and ready to roll is the best way to publish. I’m sure it’s going to work for you!
I stumbled into following your rules this month. I am publishing two collections of horror stories in rapid succession in an attempt to flow into the Halloween month. Short stories are, ah, well, short which fits with shorter attention spans, horror is popular in novels and movies of late, and I linked the two collections with having the same characters in one book show up in some of the stories in the other, but not necessarily in the way you might expect.
Don’t worry. I am a gentleman visitor. No hawking the titles. I just smiled at the coincidence that I happened to be following smart advice for once without even having read it! 🙂
Thank you, Anne, for being there for those of us with dreams yet to be realized.
Roland–Great to see you! *waves*. You’re the only other author I know with a book called Ghostwriters in the Sky 🙂 . Best of luck with your horror stories. I think you’re doing it exactly right–time of year, genre, and linking the books!
Anne, thanks for the shoutout 🙂 Going to Killer Nashville was a real eye-opener not least because the self-publishing vs traditional publishing was the uninvited guest at the banquet. J.A. Konrath and Christopher Greyson gave a great session–the last but hopefully not as an intentional message–on self publishing. Your point that “Self-publishing means opening a business” came through loud and clear. Both have full time help (spouses and employees) and outsource many tasks. I came away wondering how to get to the next level as a “solopreneur” with only so much emotional energy and creativity.
Besides the good advice and friendly voices on your blog, I can recommend the encouragement in Bobby Bones’s book FAIL UNTIL YOU DON’T. Besides being a contender on this season of Dancing With the Stars, he is the host of the #1 country music morning show in the US. From a difficult childhood in rural Arkansas and struggling with OCD, Bobby rose to become one of the most powerful people in radio broadcasting. The book is organized around his mantra of “Fight. Grind. Repeat.” Are you fighting for big goals? Are you grinding it out day to day? There’s no time to sulk over failure. There’s no need to waste time. Don’t stop. Just Fight. Grind. Repeat.
Carmen–I really appreciate your helpful report on Killer Nashville. It sounds like a great conference. J.A. Konrath’s comments were especially enlightening.
And yes, it’s hard for one person without paid help to do all this stuff.
Thanks for the recommendation of Bobby Bones’ book. That’s a new one for me. Thanks!
Thanks for a great post with a lot of useful advice. I have eight novels in four series (sci-fi, steampunk and cozy mystery), sales are slow, despite advertising. Will I give up? No, because there are always new ways to try and get yourself noticed. I’ve barely scratched the surface. And I’ve seen a lot of scammers, once bitten, etc.
Richard–It’s tough to get a brand going when you write in several genres, but once you do, all that inventory will help a lot. Glad to hear you’re not falling for the scammers anymore.
Really thorough overview of the industry as it stands today, and fantastic advice. The Konrath nugget about using short stories for discoverability is pure gold.
The great — and sometimes head-spinning — thing about self-publishing is that even within the general “rules” you’ve outlined here, there’s still tons of room to be creative, both on the writing side and the business side.
Everyone’s path is different, what works for one doesn’t for someone else, lots of trial and error, etc.
Always love your posts!
Ktom–It is head-spinning, isn’t it? But you’re right that everybody has their own path and there is room to be creative. And when you’re your own boss, you can write what you like and go hunting for the audience.
I made the mistake of the 1st bit of advice. I didn’t give up though, but I definitely see the wisdom in waiting until you have more ready to publish.
Patricia–Most newbie authors do exactly that. They can’t wait to see their words in print, so they jump the gun. It’s a natural thing to want. But holding off does pay off it you can.
Wow, it’s great to see that what I have read before on multiple pages put I one organized place. The first one makes me think of a pie shop analogy by a prolific writer and how, since it’s digital, you get infinite slices to cut and sell, but only works if the shelves are full.
I have three collections of short stories (that are all related by the MC) that I hope to publish this year and this has me excited to get my ducks in a row so I can get started next month.(^^)
Sara–Thanks. I love the pie shop analogy. One slice of pie is not enough to bring in the customers.
It sounds as if you’ve got some inventory there. You might even consider releasing some of the longer short stories as separate ebooks, either as a perma-free enticement or to release between bigger book launches.
Thanks for the shoutout, Anne. I didn’t get a chance to read this right away, and when I did, I was pleasantly surprised to find the link to my own blog post here! Great points from you as usual, and I sure wish I had known more of these before I started. Looking forward to the next one.
Mike–That was a great piece, and it gives literary writers the courage to fight the conventional wisdom and try the indie route for themselves. Thanks!
I just found this site following a link trail that led to your blog post on pirated ebooks. I don’t know if you have updated the topic since then but even in 2016 finding perfect copies identical to the original published version was easy to do. People who are actually serious about torrents never use the ‘pay’ sites. They know better and go to the well-known sites instead, which each have 100s of proxy links. The Pirate Bay is blocked almost everywhere but it can still be found using one of the ‘onion’ browsers for searching the dark web. None of the well-known piracy sites would allow a torrent consisting of a garbled mess of a book to stay up. Their books are in perfect condition. It is still easy to pirate ebooks, but now people do much more p2p and private communities for books.
I’m working on writing some of my own work bu I’m not in any hurry. I don’t think my work is very good. I hope people taking your advice here won’t do what I have seen in the self-published section of Amazon. There are writers with 35-40 books available within 1-2 years after their first book, and every one of them is poorly written and not worth 99 cents. There are some good authors out there in the self-published world but there are far more writing just to get it out to sell.
It has completely turned me off to the self-published work, but I used to scan the new self-published authors frequently looking for the next treasure. I can’t do that anymore. There is too much trash saturating every genre and all of them have some glowing, 5-star, ‘best I ever read’ reviews. That works for a while until more people start buying and reading. Disappointed readers leave irate reviews and those books soon have more negative reviews than positive. I completely understand wanting to take advantage of momentum to get sales after the first book but the constant influx of terribly written books and series is making self-published work a huge risk to purchase.
Jane–From what I’ve read about the Dark Web, and I’m afraid authors can do little about policing it, since law enforcement can’t police it either. If you’re a criminal, you’re a criminal and there’s not much I can do to stop you until the tech is developed to do that. We have to accept that piracy happens.
Tools like Blasty can help get pirated books taken down, but they have no power over the Dark Web.
As Neil Young said “piracy is how new work gets around these days.’ When you think of how much authors pay Bookbub to give books away free, you can just see piracy as one more way of getting visibility.
I certainly have taken a “look inside” of lots of terrible self-published books. The subtext of this post is: learn to write first, and publish later. Get feedback from your peers, not customers.
Thank you for this post. Unfortunately it has come a bit late for me as I have now got 7 books published, but probably too slowly.
Speaking of publishing books quickly, one successful author who publishes very s-l-o-w-l-y is George R. R. Martin. I read the.first books in A Song of Ice and Fire long before the TV series came out, and it was not weeks, or even months between books. Still, he was successful.
Well, we can’t all be such a brilliant author, can we?
V. M.–If you started more then 7 years ago, you have no problem. It was easy to start a career with one or two books before 2013 and the advent of K.U.
These tips are for self-publishers. Traditional publishing has always proceeded at a snail’s pace and it works great for them. George RR Martin only makes his fans more eager to buy his new one when it comes out.