Self-publishing - to do/not to do

[TellMeAboutItStud]

Hi all

I have written a couple of novels - both of them had a fair bit of agent interest but ultimately were not taken forward and I am now considering self-publishing. However, everything I have read seems to either say a) you’ll fail so don’t bother unless you want to lose money and spend 14 hours a day on Twitter marketing or b) it’s super-easy, here are all these successful published authors on six-figure incomes from their writing alone.

I’d be very interested to know whether anyone here has experience in self-publishing and how they found it? And what tips or advice you would have found useful when you were starting out?

thank you in advance!

Do you know why the agents weren't interested? When you say they were interested, do you mean they just asked for the full manuscript or do you mean they were seriously considering taking it off? How many agents are we talking about?

I self-publish but don't bother marketing/buying ads and don't "write to market" so my stuff is pretty niche, but it sells a bit.

The harsh reality is that even most traditionally published books don't "make bank" unless you're very lucky and/or you sell media rights. So many authors get dropped after one novel. And you also have to do a lot of self-marketing these days, it's only a tiny percentage of trad published authors who get the red carpet and prime time interview treatment.

With self-publishing you can either do it simply because you enjoy it, as a kind of hobby business that gives you a trickle of income here and there.

Or you can approach it as a business - a job - which means you're going to be doing as much marketing as writing, if not more. You'll have to write what the market wants (and the market is predominantly American in terms of paying for English language works), research Amazon keywords, buy ads, these days probably really figure out how to work TikTok as well as keep other active social profiles. It's a LOT of work.

And you have to keep churning out the books. Some romance writers claim you need to put out a book every couple of months. I think that's probably overkill, at least once you've got a decent sized back catalogue, but it is a bit of a sausage factory. Serials are also huge right now. All the advice is to write serials.

Many successful self-publishers I see also spend big to earn big: for example they may invest $4k in Amazon ads a month and make $6k back. That would be too much risk for me, I'm too chicken/lazy.

@istara Could I ask you how many copies you sell, on average, per year without marketing; and do you format your books yourself or pay for this to be done?

I am in a similar if not identical boat to OP and have considered the self-publishing route. I'm not bothered about making money as I have a full-time job and reasonable salary, I would just like to get my books out there; if even one person enjoyed them, it would be better than having them languish forever in long-unopened files on my laptop.

They can't be all bad, as I did get some 'full' requests for them but all ended with the usual outcome of 'didn't feel passionate enough about it to represent it' blah, blah ...

I DIY everything except a couple of pre-made covers I've bought, I use Scrivener to write and format/export for eBooks, and I format the print-on-demand version in Word (tidying up a Word doc export from Scrivener).

If you do want help formatting there are people on Upwork etc that can do it for a few bucks for an eBook and not much more for a print version.

In terms of copies I'm not sure, about 450 on Amazon last year then some on other platforms, including serialisation platforms like Radish. I don't really rate Kindle Unlimited for my books, they don't seem to do any better when they're in there, so I "go wide" with all my stuff. I publish directly to Amazon and then use Smashwords/Draft2Digital (they merged recently) to get it on all the other eBook platforms.

Definitely don't overlook the "serialisation" platforms - which you can just post whole novels too: Inkitt and Radish are both good. Wattpad can get you a lot of readers but they tend to be tween American girls and the Wattpad management are crap. Radish and Inkitt both seem to have good, proactive teams behind them.

Thank you @istara - that's really helpful.

I have self published my first childrens book through KDP recently which was pretty straight forward.
I used Procreate on an Ipad for the illustrations and then Indesign to put the pictures to the words.
I have not done much marketing yet, but plan to offer books to local schools for raffles , do readings in school, mainly social media.
You can pay for advertising or set up a FB/Insta for the books and get friends and family to share.
I have heard that you can set up an authors profile on Good Reads and Amazon Authors pages as readers like to feel connected and you can keep them up to date with new books.
Try getting a stall at a local fair, christmas fairs will start soon, boot fairs.
These are some of the things I am planning to try. I will be watching this tread as I am interested too !
Good luck !

Another way of publicising is to go to indie fairs or to local events e.g. Macmillan Coffee mornings which take place in a village hall. I sell a few this way and it's fun.

Hello all, my DP is considering self publishing too so I was interested to see this thread. Is anyone willing to share their experiences with any of the self publishing companies? There are so many and I'm struggling to find reviews of their services.

DP has recently had a very bad health diagnosis and I want to help him find the right option for him in the time he has, and not get bounced into something we'll regret.

There is a FB group called 20booksto50k -it has tons of resources for successful self publishing. I have met many people from the group in real life and it has been life changing. Also SPF- Self Publishing Formula- they even run a conference in London every summer. Again- lots of advice from people who have done it themselves.

Be very careful with self publishing companies that charge you money to publish. You should never pay to publish.

OP I hope you don’t mind but I’m following this thread for when I finally write the book I’ve meant to write all my life 🤣

I have zero experience of this as a writer but it’s an area I’m interested in. I reckon you have nothing to lose by self publishing as long as it doesn’t cost you a fortune to do so (I would presume this is not so much if you keep it to e-books initially depending on your genre - maybe not so great for eg art or cooking or young children’s books).

I am an avid reader though and always have been, so can tell you my advice from that point of view. I would previously have turned up my nose at reading self-published books but over the past decade or so I can see that publishing has changed massively and to me agents seem to unfortunately largely be supporting already very successful authors or celebrities or other very “safe bets”, making it much harder for ordinary people to get a look-in with traditional publishing routes. I’ve read some great self-published books although unfortunately some drivel and poorly edited rubbish that also exists. I would definitely make sure it is well edited before publishing it. I literally don’t read past the first few pages if a book is riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes, I just can’t stand it! I stuck with one longer once because it actually had a good story but it was just so distracting and off putting I gave up about 2/3 through.

I can see that some authors (including some I now love, Jodi Taylor for one) have done exceptionally well using this route (at least to begin with, she has an agent now). So it’s clearly possible. I think a good product is half the battle but I agree marketing is going to be important too. I tend to be more likely to read self-published books if they come up on my kindle recommendation algorithm, especially if they are on kindle unlimited (because I can try it for “free” and abandon it if it’s drivel), or possibly I might be willing to take a risk on one that sounds good for 99p or at most £1.99 (if it’s good then I’m more than happy to pay full whack for later works). I found Jodi Taylor’s first novel, which was self published and super successful (even though as much as I love her she is clearly a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to modern technology 🤣) on kindle unlimited for free download and I have now read every single bit of her prolific output! I honestly believe her that she didn’t particularly set out to become so commercially successful, she is clearly an amazing writer and not at all stupid but I don’t think her success came because she was aware of all the marketing tricks at an early stage of things but rather in spite of it, though her agent pushed things onto another level once she had initial success). Have a read of this article she wrote at still a fairly early stage of things explaining how she got to where she was then (long since surpassed!) She comments that she thinks lots of people were downloading summer holiday reading by coincidence at the time and indeed that’s exactly what I was doing.

https://jerichowriters.com/jodi-taylors-path-to-publication/

In more traditional genres I’m probably still more likely to stick to more traditionally published books (such as psychological thrillers etc) but for sci fi/fantasy/comedy/litRPG stuff, all of which I also enjoy, I’m more likely to find what I’m looking for in an author who self-published at least initially. But I’ll give it a whirl for minimal financial outlay in any genre if I hear about it and the blurb sounds good, especially if it also has good reviews that aren’t clearly written by family and friends or paid bots.

Facebook advertises me books all the time and I quite often click on these and end up buying them. I’m also a member of some fan sites on Facebook, for specific authors like Jodi Taylor, and there is always lots of chat on those sites about similar genres books that other people are enjoying, but also some more generalised groups (for example for litRPG books in general), which is also a great place to find out about new self published books I might like. I know a lot of authors on there have initially gained a following by publishing serialised bits of the story on sites like watt pad and Royal Road, but I have to say I personally don’t use those because staring at screens for too long hurts my eyes (unless it’s a kindle paperwhite which feels like reading paper not a screen).

IMO, self publishing is more likely to give you a sustainable career than being traditionally published, so long as you're writing commercial fiction and no one is throwing high six figure advances at you. I do it and it has changed my life.

Read Let's Get Digital by David Gaughran. Check out courses by Mark Dawson. Ogle at Freida McFadden. Study the Kindle top 100 in terms of covers, titles, blurbs and reviews and do the same for your genre chart. Look for patterns in best-selling packages and try to emulate them in your own publishing. Spend big on a good cover designer. Be aggressive with ad spend. Make sure your book is a page-turner from page one and enrol in KU.

Thanks Britneyfan - this is very useful feedback for authors in terms of what/where/how readers are prepared to take a chance on them.

In terms of books that aren't in KU, is the "Amazon LookInside"/Apple Preview (where you can download the first chapters for free) any use in encouraging you to try a new author?

“Sometimes it’s very difficult to keep the pace if it’s you that you are following”

I loved self-publishing for a few months but it’s soooo lonely and has to be self-motivated non-stop. I had a great launch and good reviews (touch wood!) but I don’t understand marketing and whenever I try to something in my brain starts screaming silently.

If I could have got an agent and editorial team behind me I’d much rather have done that.

If you understand online advertising, go for it.

There’s a lot of self published authors who post videos on YouTube that can hopefully give some honest firsthand experience . One of the major accounts is called Heartbreathings who has sold a huge amount of books. She definitely has made a massive profit but I think yeah that is not the norm but then most traditionally published don’t get million dollar or 6 figure deals!

A few years before I got my book deal I did consider self publishing but I’m glad I didn’t . That said, I think it can work well for some adult genres. I am a traditionally published children’s author , I have had 3 books published so far across 2 book deals. I think it would have been less profitable and less rewarding to self publish in my genre.

My publisher managed quite a wide distribution of my debut. A friend of mine stumbled upon it in a bookshop in Sri Lanka! I think paperback distribution might be quite difficult in self publishing ? But if it was mainly going to be an e-book that’s a bit different.

@TellMeAboutItStud

I started my writing career by getting a contract with two separate publishers, both of whom turned out to be very disappointing. After that I self published (often referred to as indie publishing) something like12 novels on Amazon, selling the large print and audio rights separately after the Amazon sales began to kick in.

I was lucky that a Christmas themed novella I wrote somehow got picked up by the Amazon algorithms and made it to just outside the top 100 on the U.K. Amazon chart. After that I seemed to be on their radar and my books made me a decent income, particularly on KDP. If you're not aware of this, KDP is for Amazon exclusive authors (your books can't be on Kobo or Apple Books etc) and they can then be 'borrowed' by readers with a Kindle Unlimited account. You get a small payment for each page read, and I often earned twice as much from pages read as books sold. There are also other deals Amazon can offer to help get your book(s) noticed, like daily/monthly deals, or inclusion in Prime reading. However, Amazon have to offer this to you, rather than you seeking these things out. Some of my friends have really cracked the use of Amazon and Facebook ads to sell their books, but I could never spare the time to get my head around that properly.

I signed to a new publisher a couple of years ago, who are brilliant and everything my first two publishers weren't. As such, I haven't put any new indie published books out since 2020, but I've sold around 500,000 books on Amazon as an indie since 2011, and a further 500,000 with my new publisher since April 2021. I don't think I'd ever have got the deal with my new publisher without my indie success and I'd definitely suggest going for it. However, I think AI is changing the landscape and providing new challenges for authors, which I can't really comment usefully on, now that I no longer indie publish. My advice would be to join a group like ALLi (the Alliance of Independent Authors), which is a great forum for up to date guidance.

I've never regretted indie publishing my books and it means you can publish whenever you're ready. It might also open other doors, or you might choose to stay indie forever because you love it so much, as some of my friends have done. Either way, I wish you the best of luck 🍀

Thank you all for the wonderful advice, you e given me a lot to think about! I currently have my full manuscript out with a couple of agents (the agonising wait has been dragging for a couple of months now so I’m not holding my breath about it being positive news!)

I think I need to learn a lot about marketing before taking the plunge into self-publishing thank you for all the resources and tips!

@istara absolutely, I exclusively read on my kindle these days (after really resisting it initially I’m now a total convert!) and I use this feature for pretty much everything. It’s so useful because I can start the story and then decide if I want to pay to read on basically. It also serves as a kind of wish list to go back and look at when I’m looking for something to read. With my kindle I can download a book pretty much any time of day or night (unless I’m on a plane!) so I tend to only download a book at the point of reading it or before a holiday for the journey.

The only time I don’t download the free kindle sample to begin with before buying a book is if it’s completely free, or sometimes if it’s on kindle unlimited (not even always then as there is a limit to the amount of books you can have out on kindle unlimited at any one time). Or for the handful of authors where I really rate their work and already know I’m for sure going to be buying the book regardless so sometimes I’ll just cut to the chase and get the book now!

Never pay! You can pretty much DIY, and pay for a cover design.

Those saying 'never pay', are you only publishing online? DP wants physical copies with sone photographs and we were assuming we would need to pay for that. Or are you saying we can do this our self and pay the printers etc directly.

Without wanting to sound over dramatic, his health means we may not have much time to do this - so my main priority is having physical copies he can share with friends and family, and an ISBN.

Personally I think his book is bloody wonderful and were time no issue I'd be encouraging him to do all the promotion that is discussed upthread but that isn't the main goal now.

Well, if you publish on Amazon you can buy author paperback copies at half the list price, they are for selling on as well as sharing with others and you can order up to 999 copies of a book. I don't see this as 'paying'. I know trad publishers will give an author a number of 'author copies' (6?) but that doesn't happen when you self-publish on the internet or anywhere else, you must pay for your copies, usually at cost. And you are right, time is limited and it needs going for.

I can recommend Troubador - www.troubador.co.uk

It all depends which services you want, how much you're prepared to do yourselves, etc.

Check out the CIEP for editors and proofreaders: www.ciep.uk/about

Good luck!

Thanks so much everyone. Troubador look like exactly what we need, so special thanks @TheSpikySpinosaurus

You're very welcome. I hope it all works out for you.

I do formatting and book covers for self published authors - be really, really careful what you pay for. Most of the money to be made in self publishing is in the services, not the writing.

A good cover is very important. Nobody bothers picking it up if the cover isn't interesting. Make sure the title is big enough to read in a thumbnail image, but not so much that it overpowers the rest of the design.

Interior formatting, done well, shouldn't be something you notice. But badly formatted interiors are an absolute pain to read.

Marketing is tricky. It's draining. If you're not natural at it, it takes a lot of time. But if you want to make any money, absolutely essential.

Good luck!

KDP is easy to use. Update as often as you like as long as it doesn't change drastically.

IngramSpark is a bit fussy, and charges you for changes after you set it live. Easiest way into bookshops.

A lot of my clients use Lulu. Seems reasonably easy to use.