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Self Publishing Advice

7 Lessons to Make Your First Self-Published Book a Success

Self-publishing is the ideal choice for any author looking to have total control over their novel and its publication. When you walk the path of self-publishing, you can cut months, even years, off the time required to share your book with the world.

But while self-publishing is the fastest route to market, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done before and after you launch your work. Without a traditional publisher, you’re pretty much on your own when it comes to finding an audience and marketing your book. 

Self-published author Evan J. Corbin knows this firsthand. He recently self-published his debut novel, Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes, and worked diligently to promote his own book… with plenty of trial and error. 

As his professional editing team, Evan kept us informed of what was and wasn’t working. He had so many valuable insights to share, we decided to interview him to share his wisdom with our audience.

About Evan J. Corbin

The author photo for writer Evan J. Corbin, he smiles at the camera in front of a vista of misty mountains. Evan currently practices law in Philadelphia, but he had always wanted to write a book. So when his first great idea came along, he leaned into it: 

What would happen if a secret third testament of the Bible was discovered, one that exonerated LGBTQIA+ people of any religious guilt for their sexual orientation or gender identity?

Writing from the perspective of a closeted fire-and-brimstone preacher, Evan explores the social changes that would come about from this revelation—namely, the titular “atonement camps” for the reeducation of Christian ministers and priests. One reader described these camps as “Alcoholics Anonymous meets sensitivity training meets RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

We were so impressed by the book and the hard work Evan put into marketing it that we knew we had to get him to talk about the whole experience. You can watch our whole interview below, or keep scrolling to read seven key takeaways from his journey.

Lesson 1: Focus on finding readers, not revenue 

“Some authors assume finding readership and finding revenue are the same thing—they assume that each sale earned is a reader earned, and think no further about it. 

“But if you’re a first-time author, you have to make peace with the idea that this is not going to make you rich.

“In fact, it’s probably not even going to pay for what you’ve invested.

“That’s why instead of chasing sales to earn readers, chase readers to earn sales. It’s a subtle change, but it makes a world of difference.”

Self-publishing is a highly competitive industry—something Evan learned quickly in his initial research: there are over a million new books published each year (though there are other claims that put this number much lower.) 

It’s not easy out there for first-time authors. When you’re just starting out, you have no fan base, no credibility, and no experience in the field. Too many self-published authors fall into the trap of thinking that all they need to do is pay for advertising and the rest will somehow take care of itself.

Evan was one of those authors. But after conducting some market research, he discovered the reason ads and marketing and discounted prices yield so little fruit for self-published authors: readers just don’t want to spend time or money on an author they know nothing about, no matter how interesting the book seems. 

Most people have been burned too many times before by the many unedited novels that find their way onto the major self-publishing platforms. 

Rather than focusing on sales, self-published authors should instead prioritize building an audience of readers. There are a few ways to do this, but Evan’s found that the most daunting method of all to be most effective: he gave his book away for free.

For Evan, it seemed no matter how much he reduced the price of his novel, nobody was interested in buying it. It was only when he made it free that he found the audience he was searching for. 

Writing a novel to get rich quick is the wrong motivation for entering this field—though, over time, as you build a body of work, you can expect to see some income. But when you start out, you should be writing because you’re passionate about your stories and want to share them with others. When this is the case, building a readership can be a very satisfying part of an author’s work. 

What Evan learned through the publication of Atonement Camp is that building a fanbase is much more important than making a few isolated sales. Those who read and enjoyed his free book will be much more likely to pay money for his work in the future, and to recommend the book to their friends, family, or book club. 

But how do you get those crucial first customers? Can you really spread word of your novel without blowing tons of money on advertising?

Of course you can. 

Lesson 2: Don’t be afraid to take the road less traveled when it comes to marketing your work. 

There’s more to building an audience than just handing out free samples. Before you can do that, you need to identify who you’re handing those samples to. One of the ways Evan did this was through social media marketing.

“Liam and I were talking about how I was going to market this book, and he suggested I should become active on a social media platform. He suggested Instagram, and I’m like, ‘Liam, ugh. I don’t even like using Instagram myself. Like, I don’t want to have to figure out how this works, and it’s a lot of time…’ but I decided to do it.”

And that decision paid off. 

The best thing about using social media to promote your first novel is that it can be done absolutely free. There are many ways authors can use the platform to catch the attention of potential readers.

With Instagram, it’s easy to use a product like Canva to design some interesting visual posts that will attract the types of readers you want.

But you won’t be the only author using this method. To be successful on social media, you’ve got to stand out from the crowd.  

“People on Instagram want to see content that makes them feel something. Whether it’s provocative, or thought-provoking, or shocking, or even just makes them smile for a bit… it’s got to be evocative. 

“But sadly there’s a lot of uniformity in the way people promote their books on Instagram.

“Most book marketing is pretty… lazy. It’s always, ‘Here’s a photo of the book with some flowers behind it,’ or whatever. And that’s fine sometimes, but if you really want to stand out, you need something different. I wanted to stand out. So I spent a while figuring out how before I started advertising.

“In my book, at these atonement camps, they have pool boys. Beautiful, scantily-clad men going around like bellhops, performing tasks like mail delivery for the campers. I decided I wanted to bring these pool boys to life for my marketing. I found some friends who were willing to pose in that get-up and got some shots of them in front of my blown-up book cover and some other fun props. 

“Even though those posts were clearly promoting the book, they were unique, and they were still relevant to the product. That meant Instagram users would be interested in it. Those who liked it would even follow me, and maybe go on to buy my book. I think that pool-boy campaign was a way for me to break through the noise a little bit and express myself through its promotion.” 

This doesn’t just apply to self-publishing either: Most people advertise in ways that are so safe, they fall on the wrong side of boring and end up attracting no one’s attention. 

People have gotten very good at tuning out ads that scream “NOTICE ME!” over the years. But leveraging organic, relevant, and unique content to market your product or art works incredibly well when building an audience.

Lesson 3: Leveraging existing audiences is the quickest way to grow.

When it comes to advertising your work, be careful what you pay for. For first-time authors, there are so many different ways to spend any budget you have to promote your book, and it can be virtually impossible to know which ones are legit and which ones are a waste of money—or worse, a downright scam. 

“I’ve probably spent a couple of thousand dollars on every possible way that I could market the book and get it in front of people. Pay-per-click advertising on Amazon. BookBubs is a good one too.

I could name a dozen or more that I’ve invested in, and absolutely none of them materialized in any discernible sales.”

Without an audience to build on, these big and indiscriminate pay-to-play options often aren’t worth it for your first novel. But Evan did find that there were some advertising options out there that were more personalized, and therefore more successful at helping him find and build his audience.

“I found out there are companies that’ll organize Bookstagram (the book-focused side of Instagram) tours for your book. My book caters to an LGBTQ audience, so I found a Bookstagram advertising company that works in that niche and reached out to them.

I don’t remember exactly how much it was, but it wasn’t any more than $50, and relative to a lot of advertising options out there, that’s pretty affordable. 

What this company does is reach out to their network of Instagram accounts—popular users who’d already reached out to them—and find individuals willing to adopt, promote, and share your book for a given period of time.”

An Instagram tour is one of the more novel ways to market a book. Using a service like Bookstagram, an author finds readers willing to read and review their book, or at the very least post about it on their public accounts. Over the period of a few weeks, their book will feature prominently on these readers’ accounts, showcasing their work to the accounts’ audiences. However, as with most methods of book marketing, this won’t be effective by itself. 

“And that got me no sales. I thought it would (it didn’t), but this is a two-step process.

“Once someone would like a post, what I would do is I would go and I would follow that individual. And then a pretty substantial number of the people I would follow, who already engaged with my work by clicking the like button, would follow me back.

“And that’s the start of a relationship. They’ve already been introduced to my work. They’ve already manifested their interest in it by clicking the like button. And then when I reach out to them with a solicitation, a fair number of them would either buy a book or we would engage in dialogue.

“It’s one thing to see a book on the shelf. It’s another to have a direct phone line through Instagram and direct messaging to the person who wrote it. “That makes it more personal. And I think that personal connection is what you need to build that authenticity.”

 Of course, Evan didn’t do all this himself.

“My time is valuable. No one wants to be hunched over their phone following Instagram users all day… so I used a program called Inflact instead. It’s a cheap subscription-based service that does quite a lot of stuff, but I only use it for one purpose: every time someone followed my account, I had Inflact send them an automated welcome message on my behalf.”

Over time, Evan saw results from this form of (paid) Instagram marketing on top of what he was doing organically. As people replied to his welcome message, and he developed a relationship with them, they’d sometimes go on to become readers. 

Lesson 4: The quality of your manuscript matters… a lot.

There’s a persistent stigma that self-published books are of a lower standard than traditionally published books. And honestly, there is some truth to that. Many self-published works don’t go through the rigorous “quality assurance” books taken by full-scale publishing houses do. As a result, there are plenty of error-ridden, poorly developed novels out there that make it harder to overcome the trust barriers between you and your audience. 

That’s why the only way to succeed as a self-published author is to apply the same strict standards of quality to your own work that traditionally published novels are subject to. 

And that means editing. 

When you type The End on your novel, don’t let your first instinct be to research publishing platforms. Finishing your first draft should be seen as just that—finishing a first draft. There’s more involved in the process of finishing your book.

“There are certain things that I did that I’m absolutely going to do again. Developmental editing, line editing, proofreading (essential), good cover design. The benefit is I don’t have to search the world now for these professionals to assist me with those things, because I’ve used them before. I’ve worked with them.

“I trust them. So it’s going to be easier and faster for me to go through that process.”

Evan worked with the team of book editors at Invisible Ink Editing to polish his novel draft and help him successfully launch his first self-published book. 

Lesson 5: Find real beta readers to give you feedback.

Beta readers are market testers for your novel. Typically, beta readers aren’t professional editors or marketers themselves. They’re laypeople, average members of your desired audience who can offer feedback and critique from the consumer’s perspective.

Making good use of beta readers is an essential part of the editing process. The order of operations we recommend is to finish a first draft, self-edit that draft at least once (if not more!) and then do a manuscript evaluation, which is sort of like a review of your outline. Only after all this is done should you think about beta reading. 

Evan has some insight on how he went about it himself.

“One of the first platforms I discovered in my research is BetaReader.io. It costs a couple of dollars a month, but it’s well worth the money.

“BetaReader.io is populated by individuals who’ve volunteered to beta read for writers. Once you sign up as an author, you can reach out to them and let them know a little bit about your work to see if they’re interested in reading it. 

“If they are, they read it through Betareader.io’s own platform, which lets them react in real time to your story. If they like a line, they can highlight it, respond with an emoji—thumbs up, heart, cry, laughter—or they can leave a comment. And at the bottom of every chapter, Betareader.io leaves a space for readers to give a mini review of each segment, telling the author what they liked or didn’t like about it, what they’re hoping to see next, etc.

“So once you’ve got a few beta readers, you can look at the document and see their collective comments and all the things they like, even the patterns of what works and what doesn’t. You can tell right away that, “Wow. You know, once people get to chapter seven, that’s when they’re all going to freak out, because there’s this big plot twist.” And sure enough, you see the evidence of that.

“And then after a while (and I noticed this later again when a lot more people read the book), the things that work and don’t work become much more obvious. You know instinctively what readers are probably going to like, because you’ve had seventy other people telling you the parts they enjoyed, many of which are the same parts!

It was so good because it gave me the confidence to know, ‘Hey, this isn’t a dumpster fire. People actually like this, even in its raw, unedited format’.

“So that gave me the confidence to reach out to an editor after that and say, ‘This is worth my investment for us to collaborate and turn my manuscript into a polished diamond rather than just an unpolished stone.’”

Lesson 6: Embrace the process.

 Writing is a skill like any other—it takes time to develop your style, and it may be a while before you’re recognized for your skill.  

For every breakout success you have—think Joseph Heller and his bestselling debut, Catch 22—you’ve got a Brandon Sanderson, whose eleventh book is the one that eventually got him an agent. We’ve all got different journeys as creatives, and for some of us, our roads will be riddled with potholes and roadblocks. There’s nothing you can do to get past them besides what you should be doing anyway: writing, working, and growing as a creative.

That said, you shouldn’t view your “roadblocks” as obstacles so much as steps on a ladder. Every mistake you make is another important lesson. Assuming you’ve got the courage to take ownership of them, there’s something to be learned from every one of your beautiful screw-ups. Evan has firsthand knowledge of this fact.

 “I think I had to make a lot of mistakes and go down a lot of dead-end roads just to prove to myself that, yeah, these are actually dead-end roads. Because you don’t know! Like, what’s going to happen if this ad gets 10,000 impressions on a website, surely that will work!

“Oh no, it didn’t.

“Maybe someone else would have had a different experience. For me, it didn’t work. But I needed to make those mistakes in order to know for sure that they were wrong for me. Even though there were wise voices at the time telling me that’s exactly what was going to happen.”

Mistakes are an opportunity for growth if you allow them to be. They’re a product of your actions, not a consequence of a universe that’s out to get you. Channelling their power will take your writing, your work, and your life to the next level.

Every mistake you make brings with it the opportunity to avoid making it again in the future. In Evan’s words:

 “I think the benefit is… I’m not going to make the same mistakes. I’m going to make different ones!”

Lesson 7: Stay positive

In this article, we’ve talked a lot about the difficulties of self-publishing. First novels don’t typically see massive sales, advertising takes a ton of personal effort, most paid advertising doesn’t produce results, brutally honest feedback is the only way to get your book up to snuff… it’s a lot. Especially if you’ve waltzed into this expecting an easier ride than traditional publishing. 

But that’s no reason to get disheartened. Just as writing, editing, and even beta reading are iterative processes—with multiple drafts, multiple readings, multiple chances to better yourself and your work—your journey as a creative is iterative too. 

In the end, the writers who quit before success are the only ones guaranteed not to make it. 

If F. Scott Fitzgerald had packed it in when his agent hated the first draft of his novel, we’d have never gotten The Great Gatsby.

For most of us, it takes time and effort to succeed—so don’t beat yourself up just because your journey’s taking longer than you’d like. Appreciate it for what it gives you. Learn to love the potholes; they’re the only way to find out how good your tires are.

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Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: Which Is Right for You? You wrote a book... Now what?

It’s done.

After dreaming about your book for years, you finally sat down and wrote it. 

Your plot is everything you wanted, and the story itself is a literary gold mine. But what’s next?

Thirty years ago, there was a simple answer to that question—you sent your manuscript to an agent or publishing company and crossed your fingers.

Today, traditional publishing isn’t the only kid on the block.  

Make no mistake, traditional publishing still exists, but if you want to bypass all the waiting—and the lower profit margins if your book is accepted—you can self-publish. 

But is self-publishing really everything it’s cracked up to be? Which method of publishing is the best way to get your future best seller into the hands of dedicated readers? 

In this post, we’ll walk you through what self-publishing and traditional publishing are, the pros and cons of each, and, ultimately, what the best option is for you.

Traditional or self publishing
Both options have strengths and weaknesses. Which will prevail for your book?

What is self-publishing?

Self-publishing is when you (the author) bear the full responsibility and expense of editing, publishing, and marketing your book. Authors who self-publish use programs such as Kindle Direct Publishing or Smashwords to publish their manuscripts and get them out to the public.

Related: Publishing tips for indie authors

Self-publishers don’t have to deal with lengthy querying processes, painful rejection letters, or large commission fees. But they do need to handle all their own marketing, hire editors, book formatters, cover designers, and build their own audience. 

What are the pros of self-publishing?

Pro #1: You work according to your own timeline

Instead of waiting weeks, months, or even years for an agent or publishing company to accept your manuscript, self-publishing lets you immediately dive into the editing, publishing, and marketing process. 

If you’re very eager to get your story out there, you can design your own cover and get the novel live on the major platforms in a day or less.

Alternatively, you can take your time working with an editor, promoting your book before its release, and finding the perfect designer for your cover. With self-publishing, you get to set your own deadlines, and you can extend them as you see fit. 

Pro #2: You guarantee the publication of your book

When you go through traditional publishing, there are no guarantees. 

You could submit your manuscript to a hundred different literary agents or publishing houses and still get rejected every time. In the end, traditional publishing could sequester your book instead of putting it in the hands of thousands.

Or…

You can publish the damn thing yourself—and to hell with the naysayers and the gatekeepers. Self-publishing puts your book out there and lets it live or die by its own merit. You don’t need anyone else’s permission to share your story with the world, and if it is successful, you’ll have your pick from the flood of traditional publishers who, upon learning the error of their ways, will break down your door with pens and contracts wet with ink.

Sure, a traditional publisher will help you market your book to a wide audience in ways you couldn’t alone, but publishing directly to Amazon or Barnes and Noble’s e-book marketplaces will still get your novel in front of a lot of eyeballs.

Pro #3: Self-published books can be wildly successful

The Martian, written by Andy Weir, was originally a self-published e-book on Amazon. It went from being a $0.99 e-book to getting picked up by Crown Publishing, becoming a New York Times Best Seller, and earning the honor of being the highest-grossing blockbuster from Fox in 2015. 

E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Gray, a notorious and much-loved erotic romance novel, was originally a self-published piece of Twilight fanfiction. Eventually, the author eliminated the Twilight references and made it available on her website chapter by chapter for free. It, too, was found by a publishing company, turned into a New York Times Best Seller, and transformed into a hit movie. 

E.L. James and Andy Weir
Not sure if self publishing can lead to success? Just as E.L. James and Andy Weir how they’re doing.

And these two books aren’t the only examples: The Shack by William P. Young, Eragon by Christopher Paolini, and No Thanks by E. E. Cummings were all originally self-published before becoming massive successes. 

Of course, you might not achieve the same level of success as The Shack or 50 Shades of Gray (especially not on your first try!) but one thing’s for sure: All these authors proved that self-publishing can help you build a faithful audience. 

Pro #4: Higher profit margins

When you self-publish, the profits are split two ways—between you and the platform you’re selling on.

Many self-publishers go through Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing)—in fact, Amazon owns 72 percent of the online retail book market, which includes both digital and printed books. Amazon also generates 80 percent of all online book sales.

Amazon offers book royalties of 35 to 70 percent. For example, if you sold your novel for $10 on Amazon, you’d be earning $3.50 to $7.50 per sale. 

When an author goes through a traditional publisher, however, the profit for the book is split between the author, the publishing company, the literary agent, and the platform that sells the book.

Traditional publishing companies typically offer 6 to 25 percent of profit (with an average of 10 percent) earned on the book. You may sell more books, but you’ll likely receive lower revenue on each book sold. 

Pro #5: It’s easier than ever before 

Though self-publishing is as simple as uploading your book and clicking Publish, it does take more effort than that if you want to be successful.

This is a pro and a con—while it takes hard work to get your book ready for its self-publishing debut, it’s easier than ever to take on this challenge yourself, with help from platforms and agencies whose sole purpose is to ensure self-published books hit professional standards.

What do you need to do to self-publish?

If you’re ready to take publishing your book into your own hands, there are a few things you need to do before you can release your first novel on Amazon: 

Book editing

To get your book ready for its debut and ensure it is at professional standards (grammatically correct, free of typos, with a cohesive plot and correct syntax), you will need to hire a book editor. Fortunately, there are many professional editors available for hire online.

But how do you choose which one? We’ve put together a quick guide on how to find a book editor for your novel. (You can also submit your manuscript to us, and we’ll provide you with a free sample edit along with a price quote and estimated turnaround time.) 

Publishing

Kindle Direct Publishing, which now encompasses CreateSpace, allows you to create both print books and e-books through Amazon. You can also use the platform’s cover-design templates and book promotion services. The site even provides a step-by-step guide to publishing on Amazon. 

Kindle Direct Publishing also offers great programs for new authors, such as KDP Select. This service makes your book part of the Kindle Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited, services that help readers discover new authors more easily.

KDP Select even helps with marketing. They promote books through discounts and countdown deals. This service does require ninety days of exclusive rights to Amazon, but if you find success in KDP Select, you can re-enroll your book as many times as you want.

Amazon’s CreateSpace makes physical book publishing stress-free. It is print-on-demand, which means you can sell as many or as few copies as you want. 

Self publishing platform logos

If you choose to go with a service other than Amazon, there are multiple self-publishing companies available:

  • Lulu—One of the oldest online self-publishing companies around, Lulu retails books through their own bookstore and distributes them to other online stores (including Amazon) and book distributors (Barnes & Noble and Ingram). Lulu also offers both hardcover and paperback formats for print books. 
  • Smashwords—Similar to Amazon, you can upload your own novel, with your custom-made book cover, right to the Smashwords platform for direct sale. 
  • Barnes & Noble Press—Formerly known as NOOK Press, Barnes & Noble’s self-publishing platform offers print-on-demand publishing. But if you self-publish with them, your work will be restricted to their own e-book devices and physical bookstores. 

Book design

Don’t like the templates of covers made by your self-publishing company? Want to hire someone else to make the absolutely perfect cover for your book? There are plenty of online book cover designers to choose from. 

One of the top names in book cover designs right now is Damonza. They have been vetted by hundreds of authors, and their gorgeous covers speak for themselves. 

If, however, you want to hire a freelancer to design your book cover, here is a great article by TCK Publishing to help you figure out how much you should pay and how to find a freelance book cover designer. 

Book Marketing

Once your book is on the platforms of your choice, you’ll need to shift your focus to getting it sold. There are many independent book promoters out there who will help you get your book in front of the right people, but this is another cost you’ll have to cover out of pocket if you’re self-publishing. 

You can also do some marketing on your own—virtual book tours, social media, and reader exchange programs are all popular options, but they do take time and effort.

Pro #6: Creative Freedom

Perhaps the most enticing aspect of self-publishing is creative freedom.

You get to decide what is included in your book.

You get to decide what types of edits you make to your novel. 

You determine exactly what you want your book to look like.

This kind of creative freedom does not exist when going the traditional route. Your agent or publisher will have demands about how you edit your novel, what the cover looks like, and how you market it, and that can be very difficult for some authors. 

What are the cons of self-publishing?

Con #1: You are responsible for everything

Since you are the sole person in charge of producing your book, you will have to spend a lot of time and effort on things you may not find interesting.

To be truly successful, you’ll have to either learn a lot about marketing and design or hire someone else to help you. 

For some authors, this is an exciting opportunity to expand their skills while maintaining control over their work. For others, the long list of tasks required to self-publish saps the joy out of the writing experience, and may end up preventing them from ever publishing at all. 

Related: 5 useless fears all writers should dismiss

Con #2: High up-front costs

Even though your profit margin is higher as a self-publisher, getting your book to professional standards can become expensive quickly. 

You will need to make a budget for editing, cover design, and marketing. 

If your book is 55,000 words (the standard word count on a teen novel—an average word count for an adult novel is 90,000), you can end up with a budget that looks like this: 

Book Cover: $100 to $200

Developmental Editing: $800 – $1,200

Line Editing: $1,500 – $2,000

Proofreading: $600-$800

For marketing, Amazon has a minimum daily budget for Amazon Sponsored Ads of $5.00 per day ($155 a month) even if you do not make any sales. 

Of course, you can look for ways to skip or save on some of these services. For example, you may want to find alternative, more affordable ways to market your novel (a virtual book tour) or create a book cover (Canva or Photoshop). 

This can help you save on the investment needed to self-publish, but remember that readers want a professionally edited book with a well-designed cover. Cutting costs at the start could impact your sales later. 

Con #3: Your audience will be limited

With a traditional publisher, you’ll have immediate access to an audience. Publishers have relationships with book sellers who will stock your novel. With self-publishing, you’ll need to build your own audience.

Most sellers won’t stock physical copies of self-published books, and popular book publications are not likely to promote them, so you will need to create your audience using clever book marketing strategies.

Although this can be challenging, services like KDP Select and Goodreads are available to help you find and connect with readers.

What is traditional publishing?

Traditional publishing means submitting your book to a literary agent or publishing company, who will then bear most of the responsibility for editing, marketing, and distributing your book. 

Though traditional publishing comes with a wider audience for your book, you must share the control, rights, and financial profit of the book with the publisher.

It’s also important to note that traditional publishing is extremely competitive, and many authors never receive an acceptance for the manuscript, even after months of waiting. 

What are the pros of traditional publishing? 

Pro #1: Money up front

Unlike self-publishing, you do not bear the financial responsibility of getting your book to professional standards and producing/distributing your book. 

So if you’re tight on cash, getting a traditional publishing deal can be very helpful, as most publishing companies will pay authors an advanced royalty, and your up-front costs of producing the book (editing, marketing, design, and distribution) are all covered by the publishing company.

Note: There are some costs involved in the querying process, as many publishers charge a fee for submission (not to mention printing and mailing costs if they don’t accept electronic submissions). 

Pro #2: Production help

Instead of you captaining the production of your book alone, a publishing company will provide a team to assist you. This team helps eliminate some of the early stress of ensuring your book meets professional standards. 

They will edit your manuscript multiple times. They will design the best possible aesthetic for your book cover and layout. They will help you publish and market your book (often as an e-book and audiobook), then distribute it to various sellers, which lets you focus on the sole reason you became an author: writing.

Pro #3: Street cred

If the publishing company accepts your manuscript, it’ll put its fancy logo on the spine and title page of your book.

But why does that matter? 

The symbol is the golden ticket to being sold at major book sellers. In fact, most well-known book vendors won’t even sell a book unless it is backed by a publishing company.

It also creates brand reliability—it lets your future readers know that this book was good enough to be picked over thousands of others by industry experts.

This doesn’t mean that only the best books get picked up by publishers. Traditional publishing involves a lot of luck—there are plenty of famous authors who were rejected time and time again before finally landing on the right publisher’s desk. Many of the best books out there may still be sitting on their authors’ computers, untouched, because their writers grew tired of reaching out to agents and publishers. 

What are the cons of traditional publishing?

Con #1: Lots and lots and lots of waiting

Unlike self-publishing, where you work on your own schedule and at your own pace, traditional publishing leaves you at the mercy of others.

To begin, you will need to wait for a literary agent to agree to take you on as a client. They receive thousands of interested clients annually, so it can take months or even years to be accepted.

Louisa May Alcott
Even beloved authors like Louisa May Alcott have gotten rejected by traditional publishers.

You’ll also need to grow a thick skin, as you will almost certainly receive multiple rejections. Before she published Little Women, Louisa May Alcott received a rejection letter from a publisher who stated quite plainly, “You can’t write.” Fortunately, most rejections aren’t as personal as that, but you’ll still need to get used to hearing the words not interested. 

If and when your book is accepted by a literary agent, you are looking at about a two-year process before it will hit shelves. You have to wait to receive a contract, agree to it, sign it, deliver your manuscript, work on edits and revisions, and wait on the design team to create a proper cover and layout. 

In short, self-publishing is often faster than traditional publishing because the author is in control. But we still recommend taking advantage of having complete control and spending as much time as you need working with editors and book cover designers on making the best edition of your novel possible.

Con #2: Limited creative freedom

Just because you are the author doesn’t mean you get a complete say in what is or is not included in your book.

When you sign your contract with a publishing company, you give them the right to help adjust the contents of your novel. They may tell you to lose a certain subplot, change things about the characters, remove entire sections of the novel, or write in plot twists and turns you hadn’t planned on. 

Though you can negotiate with them on some of these changes, it’s not uncommon for publishers or agents to set ultimatums—if you refuse to make a change they request, you could lose your contract entirely. 

Con #3: Smaller profit margins

All the wonderful help you received getting your book to a professional standard doesn’t come for free.

Any profit you receive on your book will be split among you, your agent, your publishing company, and the bookseller. 

So instead of profit margins of 35 to 70 percent (the standard e-book profit margin through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon), you will receive a profit margin somewhere between 6 to 25 percent. 

If your book becomes a massive best seller, this may not be a big deal. However, if sales are on the conservative side, you may find yourself pining after that greater royalty share you could get from Amazon or other online platforms.  

Should I self-publishing or traditional publish?

So which is better, self-publishing or traditional publishing?

Ultimately, it all depends on what works best for you. 

If you enjoy setting your own schedule and having complete control, higher profit margins, and full creative freedom, then self-publishing is probably your best course of action. 

If, however, you became an author to write; if you have no interest in things like marketing, design, and publication; if you don’t mind sharing responsibility and creative control, then traditional publishing is the path for you.

You can also choose to do a combination of these two processes. You can start out reaching out to traditional publishers, and if you grow weary of waiting or can’t find the right fit, there’s nothing to stop you from taking the self-publishing route later on.

The book is yours, and so, too, is the decision of how you publish your book.

Which will you choose?

Categories
Uncategorized

7 simple tips for writing a better book blurb

So, you’ve finished writing your manuscript—congratulations!—and you’re following all the prescribed next steps. You’ve gotten feedback from beta readers, and had your book professionally edited and proofread. You even have a plan for distribution once your novel hits the (e-)bookshelves.

You’ve got a marketing plan, too. There’s just one little piece of it left, but somehow it has you cowering in a corner.

The dreaded book blurb.

There are plenty of common fears among writers, but writing a book blurb is way up there on the list of daunting tasks. How do you convince readers—in just a few hundred words—that your book is the one they should read next? Knowing it’s an essential piece of your marketing package can make it even more stressful.

After helping dozens of self-published authors produce stellar book blurbs for their novels, I’ve compiled a set of seven simple tips for writing a blurb that will be sure to lure readers new and old.

1. Hook your reader and reel them in.

“You think you know the truth. The truth is you know nothing.”
—Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben

“In the heart of Trenton, N.J., a killer is out to make sure someone gets his just desserts.” —Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich

“The traffickers. The drug dealers. The smugglers. They know what it takes to get a gun into Morocco, and so does Detective Laafrit.”
—Whitefly by Abdelilah Hamdouchi

What do the quotes above have in common? They all happen to be opening lines from blurbs of books published in 2016, but more importantly, they all make me want to keep reading. Not every great book has a great hook on the cover (trust me, I’ve looked at a lot of them). But when you’re self-publishing your novel, a strong hook can do wonders for catching readers’ interest. Even if it’s not as pithy as Harlan Coben’s, your blurb should open with an enticing tidbit—at least, enticing enough to get the reader to move on to the second line.

A fishing pole being cast into a body of water

2. Focus on the main character(s).

Fiction readers love great characters, and a blurb is your first opportunity to introduce your readers to your protagonist. The bulk of your blurb should focus on the protagonist (and what’s happening to them). If you find yourself talking about minor characters, especially in the opening lines, your blurb probably isn’t living up to its potential. Does your novel include dual POVs? Then both your protagonists should make an appearance!

Keep in mind, we don’t want your main character’s whole life story—just a basic outline that shows why the protagonist (or what’s about to happen to them) is intriguing. It’s even possible to have your whole blurb focus on a main character, if the story itself is heavily character-driven.

3. Don’t summarize.

This is probably the most common blurb-related mistake I see as a book editor. As you sit down to write your blurb, it’s only natural to be thinking about all the ins and outs of your story. So you start typing away, and before you know it, you have a summary chock-full of plot points and details. Here’s the problem: if I can get the whole story from the blurb, why would I bother to open the cover?

Give your readers only the most important nuggets they need to understand what makes the book worth reading—never reveal the twist, the grand finale, or the entire arc of any character.

4. Cultivate mystique.

My best advice when it comes to writing a book blurb is to think of it like a teaser or a movie trailer. Rather than telling readers what to expect in any great detail (see No. 3), use this opportunity to entice them to start reading in the first place.

Imagine potential readers skimming blurbs for books in the same genre as yours, trying to find the next novel they want to sit down with. Beyond that catchy hook you’ve written, what makes your book the most intriguing? Once you have a good sense of that, don’t state it outright—use creative language to hint at what the reader will want to find out. Apply the principle of show vs. tell to your blurb, just as you did to your prose.

Spooky stairs leading into a dark basement.
What’s down those stairs? Don’t give it away!

5. Embrace the drama.

Writing your book blurb is a good excuse to go a little over the top. Be hyperbolic! Use metaphor! Many book blurbs start or end on a question (e.g., Will they be able to solve the mystery before time runs out?).

The following blurb for Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train uses a tight two-paragraph structure with a catchy lead-in before each, a bit of hyperbole, and a hypothetical question to wrap things up:

EVERY DAY THE SAME

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

UNTIL TODAY

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

In short, it’s dramatic—but not so dramatic that I roll my eyes and click away. That’s the sort of balance you’re aiming to strike.

6. Keep it short and sweet.

In most cases, your blurb should be between 200-300 words. With nonfiction or self-help books, where you really need to sell your reader on what they’re going to get out of it, you can get away with a longer blurb. If you’re already a well-known writer, your blurb might be a bit longer too, since you may include some promotional quotes and praise that your work has received. But, newbie writers, beware: calling your book a “page-turner” or yourself a “gifted storyteller” in your own promotional blurb might make you come off more pompous than professional.

7. Consider your blurb in a marketing context.

If you’re going the traditional publishing route, the team at your publisher should have this covered. But what if you’re self-publishing? Perhaps you’re tackling marketing all on your own, or you’ve enlisted the services of a private marketing consultant. Either way, your marketing team isn’t exactly gigantic, so you’ve really got to do your due diligence.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • Does my blurb convey the right mood for the novel?
  • Do the blurb and the cover (and my other marketing materials) go together thematically?
  • What styles of blurbs are other authors in my genre writing?

A little market research—aka reading other blurbs on various e-book retailers—can help you make sure you’re (a) not copying anyone else and (b) keeping in line with your readers’ expectations. After all, when it comes down to it, the point of your book blurb is to, well, sell your book!

I hope these seven writing tips are just what you need to start or finish an amazing book blurb for your upcoming novel. If you’re still having trouble getting it right, or you want a fresh pair of eyes on your copy, Invisible Ink Editing can help! Click here to learn more about our blurb editing service, or send us an email with questions anytime.

—Leah Wohl-Pollack, Senior Editor

Categories
Writing Advice

How to come up with character names

Struggling to come up with a name better than “John Smith”? Here are a few strategies you can use to create interesting, memorable, and believable names for your characters.

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Hannibal Lecter. Veruca Salt. Atticus Finch. Katniss Everdeen.

Simply reading the names above can summon vastly different emotions—anything from terror to admiration. The names are memorable not just because of whom they represent. These are successful character names because their sounds, shapes, and root meanings support the lives and environments of the characters and their stories.

The names of your main characters will be among the most common words to appear in your novel, so it’s important to get them right. Fortunately, there are a few tried and true ways to choose the perfect name.

Each author will have their own method for picking names, but if you’re ever feeling a bit lost on what to call your characters, try out these suggestions:

Get a baby name book

Many years ago, at a garage sale, I stumbled upon a tattered copy of The Baby Name Survey Book by Bruce Lansky. It’s since become an essential tool in my writing toolbox.

This book not only lists out more first names than you could ever hope to imagine—it also tells you what people think of that name based on survey data. To top it off, it lists the meaning of each name in its root language, as well as any celebrities who share that name. (Fair warning: It was published in 1998 and desperately needs an update, but it’s still useful.)

We all have our own associations with names, thanks to our personal relationships and experiences, but being able to see the patterns that names evoke is truly valuable. If you aren’t as interested in survey results, then I still highly recommend having a baby name book on hand simply because they list out so many names that may not be on your radar.

Of course, there are also websites with endless lists of baby names available. But sometimes opening a random page of a book is the best way to start.

Google it

Any character name you are considering must go through a Google search to make sure it’s not associated with anything or anyone unintended. Use quotation marks around the name to ensure that Google searches for the exact name, and be sure to try searching for some variants just in case.3422416038_4a1f0d42f8

Of course, most common names will probably have some matches. You may find, however, that your character shares a name with a public figure—like a politician or serial killer—that you weren’t aware of and don’t want associated with your novel.

Interrogate the name

Once you have a name or two you’re considering, try answering and experimenting with the following questions:

  • What are the character’s initials?
  • What nicknames would this character’s loved ones use?
  • What nicknames would this character’s enemies use?
  • Would the character like this name? (Note: They don’t have to!)
  • How would this character introduce themselves?
  • How would the character answer the question, “Why are you named ________?”
  • Is this character named after anyone?
  • Say the name aloud in all its variations. How does it sound?

By the time you finish this exercise, you will hopefully have a better understanding of the name itself, and know whether or not it’s right for your character.

Compare and contrast

Unless this is the first name you’re choosing for your book, the next step is to compare the name to other character names in your novel.

The best way to go about this is to write out each of your characters’ names in a list. Pay extra attention to the first letter in the names—if possible, your main characters’ names should all start with a different letter.

Of course, there are circumstances that call for similar names—telepathic identical twins, for instance—but overall, the more unique your characters names are from one another, the easier it will be on your reader.

For example, if you have a main character named Tyler and you want to add a new character named Taylor, you are almost guaranteed to confuse some readers, even if these two characters have starkly different personalities and behaviors.

How to choose a character’s last name

Coming up with a first name is one thing, but a last name can be a bit trickier. Thinking of something off the top of your head can result in awkward, unrealistic, and/or utterly boring results.

A good way to start is to consider your character’s ethnic, racial, religious, and demographic backgrounds. Unlike first names, which are typically chosen, a last name usually has a long history. Even if you don’t plan to reveal your character’s family background in any great detail, as the author, you should still have a full understanding of whether your character’s ancestors were Greek or Peruvian, or born on a distant planet in an alternate dimension.

Once you have that figured out, dig up a list of common last names that fit your character’s background. This is, once again, a great opportunity to use trusty Google—searches like “common Jewish last names” is more than likely to bring you solid results. (Just be sure to check out a few sites to make sure you’re seeing similar results.)

Of course, a common last name isn’t always what you want, so don’t be afraid to stray from the norm. But if you start out by finding a common last name and then playing with variations on that name, you’re much more likely to end up with a result that is believable and doesn’t catch your reader off guard.

Don’t latch on to it

After you’ve assigned a character name that feels right, it’s easy to become infatuated with the name. In an ideal world, your beta readers will always agree with you, but in some cases, you may find that you’re getting negative feedback around a particular name.

With any feedback, it’s important to weigh it carefully and with an open mind, particularly if you have several readers who all tell you the name doesn’t work. In such cases, it may be best to go back to the drawing board and try something different.

Ask your editor

If you’re still feeling conflicted when it comes time for a professional edit or critique, let your editor know when you submit your manuscript. It’s always useful for us to hear about the feedback you’ve already gotten, and any areas of the novel you’re concerned about.

How do you choose your character names? Any tips or tricks we missed?

—Liam Carnahan, Founder and Chief Editor

Categories
Self Publishing Advice Writing Advice

Andrew Butcher on writing motivation and how to outline a novel

Why can’t I write a book series?

This simple thought changed everything for author Andrew Butcher. Like many writers, Andrew never dreamed of becoming an author—in fact, he didn’t even like reading much until he discovered Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles as a teenager.

“I devoured the series,” Andrew said. “I was at college at the time, and I began writing whatever came to me, with no thoughts of plotting or character development or anything like that.”

(A note for American readers: college = high school.)

But it was Charlaine Harris’s The Southern Vampire Mysteries that got him wondering why he wasn’t writing the kind of dark and gruesome novels he loved to read.

 

“It was as simple as that,” said Andrew. “I began plotting and planning my series, then began writing, and eventually I had my first book, A Death Displaced.”

A Death Displaced is the first of the Lansin Island books, a paranormal series set on a mysterious island in the Celtic Sea. Andrew is currently working on some nonfiction projects and a new standalone fiction piece, but still plans to write more Lansin Island novels.

Andrew took a break from juggling his many projects to chat with Invisible Ink about his writing life, and offer some sage advice to new writers. Read our interview with Andrew Butcher below!

To keep up with Andrew’s writing, be sure to sign up for his newsletter. Andrew can be reached on his website, www.andrew-butcher.com, as well as on his Facebook and Goodreads author pages. You can also follow him on Twitter @Andybutch13.

Your paranormal books, the Lansin Island series, have reached the No. 1 spot for their categories on Amazon (Paranormal & Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Suspense/Supernatural Suspense). How did you get the idea for the series?

The idea for the Lansin Island series essentially came from a “what if?” question. It was a question I came up with in college, years before I started writing seriously: If someone was fated to die, but they were somehow saved, what would the consequences be?

Ebook Cover for Displaced by Andrew Butcher
Displaced contains the first three books in the Lansin Island series.

From there, I kept asking and answering more questions until I had the beginnings of a story. I came up with the premise that the person who was saved from their fated death would begin to see ghosts, because although they were physically saved, fate wouldn’t let them off that easily. The person would still spiritually die and their soul would move on to the Otherworld. This state of being “displaced”—anchored in two worlds at once—would give the person the ability to see spirits from the realm that lies in between the two worlds: the Spiritworld.

From that initial “what if?”’ question, I managed to develop an entire world and rules for it; every new answer created more questions, which needed more answers. It’s a lot of fun coming up with ideas this way!

With the first three books in the Lansin Island series complete, you decided to branch out into creative writing instruction. Tell us about Write a Novel Outline from Scratch!, your popular video course on Udemy, and now an eBook as well.

Write a Novel Outline from Scratch! guides anyone with an interest in writing fiction through the entire process of outlining a story (from scratch!), so that by the time they have finished doing the exercises, they will feel ready to write.

I decided to create the video course because I know a few people who constantly talk about how much they would love to write, BUT [insert excuse]. Often the reasons they haven’t begun writing are variations of “I don’t know where to start,” or “I have a great idea, but I don’t have any characters,” or simply “I don’t think I’d be any good at it.”

And when I thoughtThe eBook cover for Write a Novel Outline from Scratch! by Andrew Butcher about it, I realized that most people start from the same place, really. I wasn’t born with story ideas in my head. I didn’t know much about writing when I began. But I managed to create a process that has helped me write three full-length novels, and I’ve put my work out there.

I hope that people who read Write a Novel Outline from Scratch! or take the Udemy course will come away feeling confident in their ability to outline a complete novel, including character bios, location summaries, and much more. There are so many naysayers who will happily tell you why you shouldn’t, can’t, or will never write a book—but the truth is, you can if you want to, whether you believe in yourself or not. This is one tool to help you begin your writing journey.

What have you learned from teaching others about outlining? Has your personal outlining process changed?

There are too many things I’ve learned to name them all! Students of the Udemy course share their own outlining processes on the course’s forum all the time, and I’ve learned loads of great tips from them. So yes, my process has changed a little because of this.

I think writers are always adapting their approach to writing, learning more with each new project. I try to never think of my own process as a fixed formula. I encourage all of my students to take the parts that work for them, leave the parts that don’t, add anything else that already works for them, and keep on experimenting.

“I love great characters and compelling stories. I also read plenty of nonfiction, because I hate the thought of stagnating; stagnation equals death, in my mind.”

Any other advice for budding authors?

Learn to trust in your own voice and writing process. Take criticism with a pinch of salt. Of course, you should take feedback on board. But there are so many writers and readers out there who try to tell you that their way is the way, when actually some of their advice might be generally helpful, but that doesn’t mean it’s right for everybody. It may even be harmful. And don’t obsessively check reviews and sales; these things fluctuate and will throw you off center if you come to rely on them.

You’ll hear that to be a writer you have to write every single day. You don’t. Also, some people will say that if you’re not enjoying the writing process, then you’re doing something wrong and your quality of writing will drop noticeably. Not true! I’ve written while in almost every mood and even while depressed, but it doesn’t seem as if any, or at least many, readers have been able to tell.

The list of “truths” and “rules” regarding writing is endless. But ultimately, you have to decide for yourself what feels authentic. None of my favorite authors are known for following the rules; they’re known for the exact opposite.

Finally, learn to “switch off” from your writing when you’re not doing it. Otherwise the people around you will sense that you’re not really present. In other words, seek balance.

Are you a tried-and-true “plotter,” or do you consider yourself a “pantser” at times?

It’s different for each project, but I think in general, I’m about 80 percent plotter and 20 percent pantser. But it also depends on what part of the writing process I’m at. Most of the time I plot so heavily that I (think I) know the story inside out, but then when it comes to writing, I mostly put the outline aside and just go with the flow. This allows me to enjoy the writing, and to be surprised if the story takes new directions. But I also have the comfort of knowing that if I get too far off track, I can look at my outline again.

What inspires you to write if you’re not in the mood?

I find it really difficult to do anything I don’t feel in the mood to do. If I get any whiff of obligation, I will find a trillion ways to resist doing the work. I’m so good at procrastinating that I even wrote a short nonfiction piece called How to Procrastinate … Like a Pro!: 101 of the Most Deadly Procrastination Techniques. (Even writing this book was a practice in procrastination; I was avoiding finishing the third book of the Lansin Island series at the time!)

If I’m really struggling to write, I create a reward system where I write for two or three hours and then take a break to eat or watch an episode of whatever TV show I’m currently addicted to. I also try to remind myself before sitting down to write that most things are never as difficult or frightening as we imagine them to be. After breaking through the first twenty to thirty minutes of writing, in which the resistance is strongest, I usually find some flow and enjoy it more than I expected to.

You’re entirely self-published. What does your editing and publishing process look like?

I’m really happy with my editing process because I was lucky enough to find a great editor I’ve been working with for a few years now: Leah from Invisible Ink Editing.

Ebook Cover for A Note Below by Andrew ButcherBecause I’m a bit of a perfectionist, my first drafts are usually fairly clean (I think—Leah might disagree!). But I always go over everything again at least once myself before sending it to Leah, who then makes her edits and sends it back to me. I then approve or reject her edits (I approve 99.99 percent of them!), and then I usually send a copy of the book to around fifteen beta readers, who are fans of my series. They usually notice a couple of easy-to-miss mistakes, which I edit immediately. If more than two or three of my beta readers comment on the same issue, like some dialogue sounding out of character, I will look at that particular thing and consider changing it. But normally this is just a final sweep.

Then I pay for a professional book cover and formatting. I’ve been using Damonza.com for these services for the past few years, and I highly recommend them. It normally takes up to a month for me to decide on a cover and formatting I’m happy with.

Finally, I fill out all the information on Amazon and the other platforms and hit “publish”!

Lansin Island seems like an interesting place to live. Would you want to live there if you could?

Knowing what is really going on behind the scenes on Lansin Island, I don’t think I would live there. I’d go on holiday there, though, especially for one of the celebrations they hold for the seasonal Sabbats! And I’d visit the The Burning Grounds too.

If you could ask one of the characters in the Lansin Island series to tea, who would it be?

I don’t want to give away spoilers, but it would have to be someone from the Otherworld, because I’d want to know everything about their world and their magic! Otherwise, it would be Tamara Trewin, the last living descendent of the Lansin Island Witches. Because she’s a true witch, I’d ask her about her magic too. Also, I think she’d make a good cuppa.

Andrew Butcher currently resides in Hitchin, England, with his partner and their pet tortoise, Tricky. They hope to move to the Costa Blanca region of Spain one day.

The Lansin Island series, Write a Novel Outline from Scratch!, and more of Andrew Butcher’s books are available on Amazon and other online eBook retailers. To learn more about Andrew’s writing or to get in touch, visit www.andrew-butcher.com.