Indie Author Learning Curve

Indie Author Learning Curve
Indie Author Learning Curve…

With any new skill or career path you choose, there’s always a learning curve. And becoming an Indie Author is no exception to the rule.

The learning curve at the beginning is steep, but as you progress, this begins to level off. So I wanted to share some of my insights into this world…and this article is particularly directed at newbie Indie Authors.

So what’s involved with becoming an Indie Author?

Well the first obvious step is to become an author…and the only way to do that is to write a novel. Or a book.

My understanding is, in order for a book to be a novel it really needs to be 60,000 words or more. However, the average length of a novel is somewhere between 75-120,000 words though.

As an aside, I was originally told to keep your first novel to between 70-85,000 words.

So the chances are, if you’re reading this article, either you are considering writing your first novel…or you have written it and deciding on what to do next.

So the first advice I would give is to find some good software.

You can use Microsoft Word, as this will do the job. But I would recommend using Scrivener, as this is designed for book writing. I would even recommend you buy it if you’ve already written most of your book, as it is a great tool for setting your book out.

Scrivener is also ideal for publishing your book either as a Kindle version or as a paperback. For more information on this book-writing software please check this article Novel Writing Software Scrivener.

What about getting it published as an Indie Author?

The usual starting place is as a Kindle version on Amazon, which is a relatively easy process. If you went ahead and purchased Scrivener, this process is made easier too.

If you then want to to have a paperback version…you have a number of options. The first and cheapest option is to use Createspace. Just so you know, Createspace is an Amazon company and is based in America.

Createspace will not charge you to upload your book and you receive a royalty payment each time one of your books is sold, either directly from Createspace or on Amazon.

However, at the time of writing this article, it is only practical to sell books directly from Createspace to book readers based in the US, as it takes too long to deliver otherwise.

Although, paperback books ordered on Amazon, will be shipped anywhere in the world, all within their usual quick and efficient delivery times…it amazes me how they do it, but they do.

No upfront costs…

This is important, as it does not cost you any up-front money.

Of course, you can go to a printer and have a batch printed and send them out yourself, but of this will require some upfront investment by you.

What about the marketing?

Once you’ve published your novel on Amazon, you’ll be joining the millions of published books out there. You will join the thousands of Indie Authors looking to sell their novel and you’ll be jostling to get noticed.

This is where the second part of the work really begins…you need to shout out about your work.

This can be done on Facebook, on Twitter and all the other social network sites around.

You can also use paid-for adverts on the likes of Facebook and on Amazon, but this is a whole new article and there are many courses around to learn how to do this.

A readers paradise…

I would also recommend you promote your novel on Goodreads. Goodreads is a community of book readers and authors. It’s a great place to meet both and to get your book reviewed.

One book-marketing tip is to use their free giveaway. Your book is entered into a competition. You’ll have to send a free copy of your paperback to each of the winners of the competition. Although there isn’t a requirement to review your book, they often do. The other bonus of this promotion, is that a proportion of the readers who didn’t win, will go ahead and order it in any case.

Other tips to becoming an Indie Author…

Something I found out only after I’d published the paperback version of my novel, was that I’d output the manuscript in a larger font than I would have preferred…14 point rather than 11 point.

It was only when the book arrived that I found this out. It was a setting on the Scrivener Software that I had not set correctly…you live an learn.

What this meant is that the pages had larger text and there were therefore more pages than I would have preferred.

The Kindle version was not the problem…it was the paperback version.

I wanted to change the publication to have smaller text…and hence less pages. However, this meant getting a new ISBN number. It was important that I understood this, as I was about to have a run of books printed in the UK. I was about to do a book signing in Waterstones. I would have used the original ISBN number (which is derived from a number of things, included the number of pages) for my print run, but fortunately I discovered this …before I went to print.

A Local novelist…

As a last tip, if you go into your local Waterstones, they will agree to your having a book signing in the store.

Simply visit your local branch and ask to speak with the manager and they will be happy to arrange this.

You will need to have a few copies to sign, and they will be sold through the till at Waterstones. This means you’ll have to get some printed in advance and you need to set the price beforehand. This can be the same price as it is sold on Amazon.

Waterstones will pay you an amount per book that is sold on the day.

A final good luck…

I wish you all the best in your new adventure. It is both fun and challenging.

Enjoy the journey and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me in the comments section below.

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