OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
To be an independent author means taking your book project seriously. But most of us haven't been in publishing for our whole careers, so it's inevitable that we make mistakes along the way.
Mistakes aren't bad either. They are the human way to improve and learn. But it helps if we can help each other!
I'm not perfect and I continue to learn along the writer's journey but here are the worst mistakes I have made and seen others doing too. I'd love to hear from you in the comments about your mistakes as by sharing, we can all improve together.
(1) Not spending enough time learning about you, your book and your audience
You need to get to know yourself, as well as understand the goals for your book and the needs and expectations of your audience. If you don't understand your goals, how will you know what path to follow and whether you are successful or not?
For example,
- Know yourself. If your dream is to have your book in every physical bookstore and airport, then you should be looking at traditional publishing. If you just want to reach readers, go ebook only with a low price or free. If you want to make income, make sure you have other products behind the book.
- Know your book and your genre. If you are writing historical romance, you should be reading that type of book and understanding what the audience look for and then making sure your book fits the niche – or look for another niche
- Know yourself. Are you in this for the long haul or is this one book everything to you?
There are lots more questions to ask yourself. The key is to spend time reflecting and writing around these topics which will really help shape your publishing decisions.
(2) Not getting a professional editor
The #1 criticism of self-published books is that they are not professional enough and I believe quality is in direct proportion to the amount of editing you have. Seriously.
I really think that every writer needs an editor.
If you get a professional editor, and take their advice, your book will improve beyond anything you could imagine. I'll go further and say you need two editors when you're starting out – a developmental one for the structure of the book, and a copy-editor for the line detail and cleanup.
(3) Not getting professional book cover design
As above, we want our books to stand alongside traditionally published books and have the same level of quality. Unless you are already a designer specializing in books, then I recommend you hire someone. Here's a list of book cover designers.
If you want to DIY, then there's a tutorial here on how to make your own cover on MS Word. But remember to compare your book to the Top 100 books in your chosen category and make sure yours is just as good.
(4) Doing a print run without having a distribution deal
This was one of my big mistakes and I still hear of people doing it. Consider carefully whether you really want to publish a print book. If you do, brilliant. For the best result, hire a book designer and go with print on demand as the first option. You can order a few copies at cost to give to people.
But do you need to do a print run locally and have thousands of books delivered to your door?
This is important as you will have to pay in advance for printing. You'll also have to store them and ship them if you sell from your website.
Yes, it works out cheaper per book if you sell them all but are you going to sell them all? Do you have a distribution channel in place? e.g. a speaking platform or a guaranteed bookstore?
See the picture on the right? That's me in 2008 with way too many books that I didn't sell, before I discovered print on demand. They mostly ended up the landfill. Don't make this mistake.
If you need help with self-publishing, then invest in Choosing a Self-Publishing Service by the Alliance of Independent Authors which will save you time, money and heartache on your journey.
(5) Paying way too much for services you can do yourself with a little education
I still get emails from people who have paid $10,000 for an author services package and received 100 books as well as losing the rights. Or people who have paid $5000 for their author website without knowing how to update it themselves. [Here's my tutorial for how you can build your own author website in 30 mins.]
I know most authors aren't that interested in technology, but it is worth a little short term pain to empower yourself with some knowledge and save yourself a lot of money in the process. For example, if you just have a plain text novel, pay $49 for Scrivener and do it yourself. Then you can change the files whenever you like.
It's fine to pay professionals for a service but make sure you know:
a) why you need it
b) how things will work in the future e.g. changing things, which is 100% likely to happen
c) what your alternatives are
(Obviously I don't mean you should scrimp on editing or cover design but shop around and get the best deal for you and the right person for the job!)
(6) Doing no marketing at all, or getting shiny object syndrome
When I launched my first book, I only knew about offline marketing and mainstream media. I made it onto Australian national TV and radio and still sold no books. That's when I decided to learn about online marketing. Life has been a lot better since!
Many authors think marketing involves bookmarks or book signings but these are probably the least effective forms of marketing.
Other people get into blogging, then Twitter, then Pinterest, Facebook, podcasting, video etc all in the same week and then burn out with exhaustion and decide that marketing doesn't work.
This is shiny object syndrome – jumping onto the newest, latest thing without giving the last thing a chance to work.
My advice here is to give something a try for a few months of concerted effort before you expand. I started with a year of blogging, then moved into Twitter and podcasting, later I went with Facebook and video. These are my core marketing and platform building activities but they all took time to build.
Find what you enjoy and give it some time to work.
(7) Focusing everything into one book
When my first novel, Stone of Fire, came out, I was entirely focused on marketing it and making my new fiction career work. I heard the pros say you need more than one book but I was sure I could make it successful.
I put everything into the launch and utilized the large network I had build up over years online, but my initial sales weren’t enough to really launch any kind of career. Fast forward a few years and I have a lot of books and the income is substantial. I'm now one of those (annoying) people who preach that the best marketing is writing another book!
I definitely believe that you need to do some marketing to get the sales rolling, to gain initial reviews and build your platform for the long-term, but you also need to get writing.
The long haul career of a pro-writer involves always working on the next book.
Celebrating the last, but getting on with the next. This is our passion, but also our job. Obsessing over marketing one book isn’t as important as getting on with the next.
I hope my mistakes stop you from making the same ones!
I'd love to hear your comments. Do you agree with these mistakes and what else can you add?
Bobbi says
Joanna- You are so dead-on. I started my book series 10 years ago. There has been a lot of soul searching over the years and plenty of revising. After so many turn-downs but so much interest in my books, even in the entertainment industry, I decided to go ebook. I set up the blog-site and FB accounts long ago, then went to LinedIn, Branch-Out and finally Twitter. Twitter tends to overwhelm so I’m learning to manage it better now. I designed my cover with help from my Artist Husband and have had so many people comment on how beautiful it is. I just launched the book last month, have been promoting it heavily, while working on final edits on the next book. I used 2 editors on the first book but I’ve learned to fix the mechanical errors so I’m mostly using 1 on the second. I’ve had great response to the launch and I’m waiting on reviews from some Indie reviewers plus encouraging readers to give reviews on Amazon and B&N. Reviews are VERY important! I will be launching the second book within 3 months. So far I’ve spent a total of about $1,000 for the editing (both editors), promotion and the publishing. It’s really working well. Now, if a publisher wants the book it will be ME who has control over the product. Also, another author told me that he was offered only $0.20 per book the publisher would sell at $17.99 per book (hard copy). The minimum I make through ebook is $0.34 per download on a $0.99 book. My second book will be $2.99 and I’ll make $2.09 per book then. When you sell 30,000 at that rate it adds up and can make a difference. There’s little difference between how much a publishing company does for you in the way of promoting, you tend to do most of it yourself no matter what. Having hints like yours for those who are unsure which step to take next is a great way to decide for yourself if you’re ready to take it on or let the publishers take over. For me I’d rather do it myself.
Rich Amooi says
Great stuff Joanna,
I am finishing my first novel and working on my platform and the info you provide is outstanding! I also love your video-interviews and look forward to more of those. I am taking a marketing class at Stanford right now and will definitely share your website with the class. Thanks again!
Joanna Penn says
Thanks Rich – I really appreciate people sharing the site – I do love to interview people so I’m glad you enjoy the videos.
Carmel says
Great post Joanna. One comment though. Points 3 and 5 conflict somewhat. Professional design does not involve just the cover. Most authors do not have the skills to produce a professional-looking interior layout, even if their book is purely text. In fact, many small so-called ‘publishing houses’ don’t either. Poorly set text screams ‘self-published’ just as much as an amateur cover. Recently I was shown a book produced by a small publishing house in the UK. Cover was great, but the inside … ugh! Poor choice of font, font size much too large, double paragraph spacing AND paragraph indents, text running into the spine, bad word spacing (almost inevitable with large justified text and no hyphens), terrible use of space on chapter title pages … and so on. The general effect was that the book had been ‘padded’ to create more pages.
Most readers don’t aren’t consciously aware of what is wrong, but these things are not just cosmetic. Typographic conventions have been developed to make the reading experience easier and more pleasurable.
All of the above applies to print books and PDF ebooks. Kindle and ePub, alas, are so limited that design considerations have to be tossed aside. They ALL look like they were created by a bad typist.
I’m biased, of course, because I’m a designer.
LaConnie says
Bravo. . .bravo!!
Thanks so much Joanna for sharing this information in plain English. Not only was I impressed with this particular post, but your entire site as well.
I’m a follower from this point forward!
CL Parks says
I wish I would’ve found this blog before I published my first book. I was told I needed to be on every networking site there was. I found myself completely overwhelmed and even stopped writing for a while. Now, I’m taking advice from those wiser than me (you and others, lol) and taking things one book at a time.
Richard de Meath says
Hi Joanna,
I have bookmarked this page for further study, as I’ve decided to take the next few months away from writing. I’ve written 8 books over the past 5 years, and subsequently decided to put more work into the first three.
I desperately needed to read your pointers, finding them helpful and sensible.
Writers write books for others to read. My main buyers are friends and their friends, which has given me a niche, but a very small one.
With the knowledge you share, I plan to spread my net a lot further.
Kindest regards,
Richard de Meath
Marilyn says
I totally agree with all your points, although I didn’t know about book runs, since everything seems to be POD.
In promoting my children’s book, The Leopard and The Mouse, I have found that posting comments on internet sites, or similar interest websites has yielded interest in the book and increased sales.
JayDannenberg says
A friend ” really” of mine told me he spent a total of $16,000 with Hillcrest Media to publish his upcoming book. I know nothing about publishing but thought this cost was excessive even with exposure . Your thoughts much appreciated.
Joanna Penn says
Yes, that seems totally excessive! Please tell your friend to use print on demand next time.
Carole Remy (@carole_remy) says
Great advice, Joanna!
One thing I’d add, though certainly not for everyone: If you’re in it for the long haul, consider publishing an anthology of other writers. I learned the ropes publishing an anthology of 75 Alabama women writers, plus I had 75 eager promoters. When I published my own book, everything was in place. BTW, I didn’t start out with all this in mind – I just thought there were a lot of underappreciated women writers, and I wanted to help them get in print!
The title of our anthology is Ordinary and Sacred As Blood: Alabama women writers. It’s out of print now, but I’m looking into putting it out as a e-book. Will let you know when that happens!
Thanks again for a very informative and helpful post!
Carole
Christian Schade says
Hi Joanna
Interesting blog. I have just signed up for your newsletter/posts on writing and I started reading when I came as far as this sentence at the beginning:
‘If you want to make income, make sure you have other products behind the book’.
Can you talk a little more about that subject?
I am danish, living in Denmark. English is my second language. I am a journalist and I have been writing in Danish for over 25 years. Now I have written my first book. The Danish market is to small (5 mio. people) so I had it translated into English. To be honest: It did not turn out that well, but that is another story.
Do you know americans who specialise in helping foreign writers to publish in the US. In my experience Danes dont care much about foreign writers. My guess is the same goes for Americans. Americans want americans (-: But with a penname that could be changed. Anyway, any comment on the topic would be highly appreciated…
Thanks
Christian
Joanna Penn says
Hi Christian, check out this video on multimedia products http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnx4Y_IYbUU
and also this blog post which is a guest post on another site I wrote
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/10/author-entrepreneur/
and I actually have a course teaching people how to do it all (closed right now but will open again in March) http://www.ideasintocash.net/
Re being foreign, I’m in the UK and it doesn’t matter at all who you are re publishing in the US anymore. Check out this post re publishing http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/01/15/how-to-publish-a-book-101/
Darren Freebury-Jones says
This is a superb article. Just started following you on Twitter and I’m trying to promote my new novel, CINNAMON TWIGS. So far I’ve been using social networking as a promotion tool and have, well, fifty more sales than I did yesterday. Still have much to learn I believe. Your Twitter profile will be remarkably helpful. A follow back would be grand: DarrenF_Jones
Many thanks,
Darren Freebury-Jones.
anthony phillander says
informative and enlightening shining a light on the business of indie publishing
Annabelle Drumm says
Excellent article Joanna. You’ll be pleased to hear I heard about it virally.
I read about John Locke who sold 1 million ebooks on kindle. His advice was the same as yours. One book takes a lot more effort to market than more books. For him, he decided to write 5 novels and launch them together at 99c each. I notice they are up around $3-5 each now that his reputation has grown but it was a genius way to get the numbers in. Don’t underestimate building numbers before profit. People follow the buzz.
Deidre Greenly says
Thank you, Joanna! Extremely helpful advice. I’m in the process of completing my first novel and looking heavily into Indie vs Traditional. Each point you’ve made has touched on the many questions shooting through my mind. What I value most is that you’ve experienced every step along the way. If I can learn from example, I will.
BTW…love the name “The Creative Penn”
Shennon Doah says
Thank you for taking the time to write about and share your “mistakes”. I find myself, at this very moment, doing the same things. I self-published my first novel in May. Even though the rough draft to the sequel is nearly completed, I have spent more time trying to promote this first book than finishing up the second and beginning the editing process on it. So thank you so much for reminding me to be patient with sales, and to continue whole-heartedly with what I really love – to write!
Alexander says
I am going through the self publishing hoop and am having 100 copies of my first book Ywnwab! delivered tomorrow. It has been quite an interesting learning experience. I think for the future I will probably do the same without ending up as you did with books for landfill, or another friend with a garage full of books he is going to use for insulating his home. The main marketing thrust will be on e books. An e version of Ywnwab! is planned for October. I had Ywnwab! checked for grammar spelling and punctuation. I also had 100,000 words of a long book professionally edited twice in 2011 to make sure I was on a sure footing to write more. Thanks for the comments on your site all very useful.