Yes, I Made All The Rookie Mistakes As A Writer

I've been researching about writing and self-publishing since 2014 to make sure no crickets chirped around my book when I eventually launched it. I took notes, made lists, read some more, asked questions and came up with a plan. And then, when it was time, I launched the book in April 2016. Guess what? Yeah. Crickets.

Writing is fun. It's drudgery work but it's also creative, cathartic to some extent and exciting. I love it! But marketing is challenging on a whole new level. All those things I read about, I have no idea why I didn't implement them the way they said I should. But I realise more and more now, how right they had been and how mule-headed I'd been.

Rookie Mistake #1: Rushing to publish the book before I even had a following. This one is not easy. It's better to start early.

Rookie Mistake #2: Not contacting reviewers earlier (like, two months before the launch). This should be a topic on its own. Maybe I'll blog about this in the next post.

Rookie Mistake #3: Not learning how to use Goodreads correctly. This one is so dumb I can't believe I've fallen prey to it: Just this morning, I discovered I had received a couple of reviews on my book. I was ecstatic but I didn't know which button to click to read them so I fiddled with it for about ten minutes before I had it figured out. Not acceptable!

Rookie Mistake #4: Not having fun with Goodreads earlier. I had delayed this until my book was published because I figured nobody'd be interested in hearing from someone who didn't have a book. I had no idea I could have done so much as a reader. I could've i) offered to read & review other authors' books, ii) added more friends, iii) given my opinion on books, iv) participated on polls, v) asked other authors questions. Man, these are fun things! And I had been ignorant. But it's not too late to jump into the foray. I've already started offering free review service and I'm thrilled by what I've read so far.

Rookie Mistake #5: Not having an author website. Practically every guide out there says this is a must along with a mailing list. I haven't started one yet and I might regret this later. But for now, I think I'll meet my peeps and make friends here in Goodreads first. I find I enjoy having one-to-one conversations here than starting another website no one visit. Who knows, maybe no one will read anything I say here either. But it's been good so far. I get messages every day and there's always something to talk about. Maybe a few months down the line I might start a website after all and give out a free book. For now, I'm going to just have fun making up for the lost times here on Goodreads.
So come on, send me a message or a question or whatever and we'll talk :D



Rose