And by easier, I mean not as hard to get traction and a foothold in the market. Six months in, I thought I’d be much further advanced than I am. Granted, I’ve learned a lot, and I can use this knowledge with any subsequent books I release, BUT I can’t help feeling that I’ve lost momentum in the six months I’ve spent wandering dazed and confused around the Amazon wasteland.
If I had my time again, I would have done a lot more research about what is required to be a successful author on Kindle; but hopefully, after reading this post, you’ll go in the direction I should have gone.
Instead, I got caught up with the exciting idea that I was an author, even if I was a self-published one…
- Diane
You see, we all get in over our heads, and there are probably tons of books that will tell you how to be a best-seller, or how to write a book in seven days. You know what they leave out: trusting others with your ideas and budget. I’m all for getting help, but what happens when business deals go wrong? These are the stories I want you to hear before you take this journey. I want you to know that the steps I provide for you are tried and true. I’ve made mistakes myself, and my fellow self-published authors are sharing their stories to let you know they have also made mistakes and failed attempts.
My best piece of advice comes from my own failed experience. When working to promote one of my books, I hired a social media/public relations firm to help with promotions. We did have a signed contract, and things were going smoothly for the first several months, after which things started to degrade. Posts and emails would be sent with my signature without approval or with misspellings or information I wasn’t looking to share. The biggest fail came when I got a bill for several hundred dollars more than I had budgeted for graphics, because the individual kept outsourcing the graphic and promotional work without approval. We tried to reach out and settle the difference, but each time I was referred to the bill, and the graphic company had several overdue statements that I was not aware off. Everything has been settled now, and that relationship has unfortunately been terminated. It was a tough and expensive lesson to learn, but now I know more about business, contracts, and staying on top of vendors who have spending control.
-TS Krupa
When we have this vision of being an Author, we do some research, but reading information without actually trying something leaves a large gray area for the what ifs.
Here’s another fail story from one of my fellow authors:
I knew nothing about self-publishing when I decided to book this blog and publish it as the Love & Other Stuff series. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Actually, that’s not true. I knew nothing about self-publishing (other than I’m quite IT savvy so how hard could it be?) and a bit about publishing (as in I’ve been rejected by both major and minor publishers alike, and I read published books). What I did know was that I wanted to publish, and more importantly, with the tools that are currently available, could publish. And publish I did: two books down and four more to go, plus an infinite number of possibilities for Love & Other Stuff. And a whole lot of other writing and publishing projects demanding my attention.
The good thing about publishing one book, though, is that when you start the second, you know more than you did when you began this crazy adventure and the whole process gets easier. From designing the cover, to collating my content, to editing, to understanding e-book file types, to uploading my book, to marketing, I’m much more efficient and confident. And much less scared.
(Actually, if anyone tells you that self-publishing isn’t a scary kind of caper to be involved in, they’re either lying or stupid or both. It’s all kinds of scary. You have your work—you!— right out there with no protection, no safe cover, no camouflage, waiting to be judged by readers. And judged you will be. From people disliking your cover and your structure and your pacing and your font and your editorial choices to schadenfreude over a missed typo and derision and/or disappointment over not doing a print run—you will be judged! Lucky for me, I’ve been blogging for a while, so my hide is reasonably tough. For those of you hitting the publish button for the first time, well, I feel your pain. And anguish. And vulnerability.)
Part of my journey included incorporating the learnings of other self-publishers who had gone before me, and who generously shared their own experiences via their books and blogs. These included the dreaded tax requirements of the IRS when sorting out Amazon and Smashwords payments for non-U.S. residents, to Kindle’s blurred cover issues, to Amazon’s missing reviews, to setting up my MailChimp opt-in on my blog.
- Lilly Shore
Does it make it easier for you when someone outlines all her fails for you? I want you to really read these stories and understand that self-publishing is worth it when things start to roll. I want you to understand that this is a decision that will change the way you think. I don’t want you to just take my word for it, and that’s why I have included these self-publishing fail stories; the information I will provide for you to create your book within your budget will save you the hundreds of dollars that these authors have lost.
“Self-publishing is so easy.”
“My friend is making so much money as a self-published writer.”
“Self-publishing means you make all the money.”
Does this sound familiar? These are comments I heard many times when I was debating whether to self-publish.
I’m an Australian romance writer and had been writing and learning my craft for nine years before I made the momentous decision to self-publish. Had I known how hard it would be, I may not have ventured into this demanding and difficult world.
Yes, it turns out self-publishing is hard. Hard, as in really, really hard. All those authors who “seem” to be making money so easily are actually working hard. And because I listened to this so called great advice, I made mistakes, a lot of mistakes.
Let’s zip back to July 2015 when I put my debut novel, Falling for Mr. Wrong, on Amazon, Barnes, and Noble, iTunes, and Kobo. Okay, let’s celebrate, woo hoo, as I’m now a published author. But did I make any sales? Not much. A few friends kindly bought my book, but really, it just languished there.
On Amazon, it started with a good placing and then it dropped and dropped some more, till it became buried in the hundreds of thousands of Kindle paid books where it was unlikely to be seen again.
Think about it. Most readers will look at the top one hundred to two hundred books to buy before they do something else. They’re not going to find you at 798,123!!!!
The few sales I had from friends and family helped, but there was no way I was even close to recovering the cost of editing, formatting, and the cover (approximately $1000).
My self-publishing fails:
Fail #1 – listening to the wrong people and believing that self-publishing would make me a well-known author. Fail!
Fail #2 - try before outlaying a wad of cash. I was recommended an editor, so I gave her four books to edit. Turned out, she wasn’t the editor for me. Nice person, but not the editor I needed. This mistake cost $2000!!! (I had to re-edit those four books with a different editor.)
Fail #3 – work with people who respect you and your deadlines. I worked with a cover artist recommended to me. Not only did she turn out to be super expensive, but she stopped answering emails, didn’t do the job, and I almost missed a deadline. A mistake that cost $150 and an almost missed deadline.
Fail #4 – expecting your writing friends and colleagues in the industry will support you like you supported them. There is no cost to this except for hurt feelings and a wonder why your friends are not there for you.
Fail #5 – paying way too much for promotions. Companies are there