Whether you’re about to dip your toe into the self-publishing waters, or are an experienced writer, you’ll probably know that there are no quick fixes when it comes to self-publishing, or anything else in life that’s worthwhile, if we’re honest.
You won’t find a ‘silver bullet’ solution here, but you will find some sound advice on how to succeed as a self-published author.
Here are some of the cold, hard truths about self-publishing.
Read More…Think you know what it means to self-publish? Do you have a preconception in your mind about the ‘standard’ of a self published book or book cover, the ‘quality’ of the writing, or the credibility of the author?
In this day and age, lots of the things you already think you know about self-publishing are actually unwarranted.
Many people have a gut reaction when they hear about self-publishing. They think it’s somehow traditional publishing’s ‘poor relation’. That it’s what you do if you can’t get an agent, or your work isn’t good enough to entice a traditional publisher into backing you.
But this simply isn’t true any more.
Read More…One thing we frequently discuss with aspiring authors is whether it’s possible to build a reputation, and a successful writing career, with just one book.
The simple answer is, no. To be recognised as an author, you really need to have the weight of several books in your repertoire, but really the discussion is about whether you can launch a writing career with just one book under your belt.
There are arguments for both sides. Let’s be honest, it’s a struggle to get your first book out into the world. Not just the mammoth effort of actually writing the words, but the huge learning curve to navigate editing, formatting, cover design options and self publishing platforms. Not to mention the post-publication marketing efforts to actually produce any sales.
For the purposes of this blogpost, I am drawing a distinction between these two terms.
Let’s look at the dictionary definitions:
Writer
noun
noun: writer; plural noun: writers
a person who has written something
Author
noun
noun: author; plural noun: authors
someone who writes books as a profession
There you have it. The crucial difference between the two.
Now, not every writer wants to become a professional, and this is fine. Some writers are publishing academic papers, or a family history only intended for a select group of people.
But if you’re a writer who dreams of calling it your career in a few years, there are certain steps you need to take. You need to build a bridge to get from being someone who writes, to being someone who writes as a profession.
Here are nine suggestions to help you make that leap.
I want to start this blogpost firstly by saying: don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
That’s how we all learn. When we’re children, we try to walk, fall over, get up and try again, and think nothing of it. As adults we’re just out of practice at getting things wrong, or perhaps we never put ourselves in the position where mistakes are possible.
The best thing you can do to avoid unnecessary mistakes is to arm yourself with as much information about writing and publishing as possible. But life is a learning curve and none of us would be where we are today if we didn’t get it wrong sometimes.
Here are some tips to help you on your way:
This is a question we get asked a lot by authors.
I don’t know about you, but I had never really thought about books being published in different sizes. When you stand in a bookshop, it’s obvious of course, but it’s not your first consideration when you’re thinking about self publishing.
These are the traditional sizing conventions publishers tend to use:
Copyright. Wow, it sounds boring doesn’t it?
You’re probably asking yourself: Do I really need to know about this?
Well, if you’re about to publish your creative work, then there are few things you should know. But don’t worry, it’s not complicated, and not even that boring.
You may be aware that creative works have a copyright attached to them, which protects the original work from being copied or redistributed.
But does this apply to books? And if so, how can you protect YOUR creative work, and do you actually need to?
Imagine if someone asked to you to summarise your whole life so far in one page of text.
How would you go about it?
Which events would you describe, and which would you leave out? Which loved ones, family and friends would you include, and how would you talk about them?
It seems like a difficult task, doesn’t it?
Many authors feel like this when trying to write the blurb for their back covers. How on earth can I sum up my whole book in just a few paragraphs? Then there’s the added pressure of knowing readers will make a judgement on the whole book, based on just this brief bit of text.
It’s a tall order, but if you follow these tips you’ll be able to write a blurb that shows off all the features of your story, and will have your readers dying to get to the rest of the book.
One of the stumbling blocks for the self-published author is the question of ISBN numbers.
Lots of authors come to us struggling to get their heads around what’s required:
So we’ve put together a list of the most frequently asked questions about ISBNs, and some answers to help you.
