Ten steps to becoming a successful self-published author.

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Ten steps to becoming a successful self-published author.

By Mike Jastrzebski

I am not one of the top eBook sellers out there, but in the past twelve months I've sold over 9500 eBooks. The following ten items are the top things I did that I feel have contributed to my sales.

1) First and foremost, write a good book. If your book is poorly written, chances are the word will spread.

2) Make sure the book is well edited and well formatted. Again, word will spread if it's not.

3) The first thing you need to do if you have not done so already is to set up a website. On your site you need to mention your books. You need to have links to the various sites that sell your books. You need to tell the reader something about yourself. And finally, you need to have a means for the reader to contact you. My website is http://www.mikejastrzebski.com/.

4) You need to have a blog. When you blog you should write as carefully as you would your next novel, and you need to write regularly if you want to establish a following. I blog on Mondays at http://www.writeonthewater.com/.

5) You need a vibrant, professional cover. I use Vicki Landis. Her e-mail is bookpainter319@hotmail.com. You can see all of my covers at the bottom of this post.

6) Write a good blurb for you book.

7) Price your book reasonably. Most self-published books that are doing well are priced between .99 cents and $2.99.

8) Promote your books through Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter and other social networking sites, but don't be a pest. People get tired of being sold. I do announce when I have a new book coming out, but I also try to offer the reader something. Most of my posts are links from my blog and I post about things that I hope will help other writers succeed. We're all in this together and I think there's room for many to succeed.

9) Advertise with care. I have tried several advertising sites and the only one that I have found repeated success with is the Kindle Nation Daily blog. They are not inexpensive, but I have always seen a big enough increase in sales to more than pay for the ad.

10) Write. This probably should be number one on the list, but I left it for last as a reminder. If you don't have anything new to sell, your sales are never going to be where you want them to be. I have two books out right now, Key Lime Blues (A Wes Darling Mystery), and The Storm Killer. My third novel, Dog River Blues, will be available at the beginning of August. I truly believe that the more books you have published the more of each book you will sell as readers find you and look for your other books. Good Luck.