Top 3 Things I Did Wrong In Indie Publishing

I released CATALYST in 2011. The publishing industry–both traditional and indie–have drastically changed in that time. I learned a lot of things–some good and some bad. But most importantly, I learned three things that I did wrong that will forever stick with me.

3. REVIEWS

Reviews are a tricky thing because all writers need them. I certainly needed them in the beginning and still do (hint, hint), but I didn’t quite know who to go to for them. Or more accurately, I didn’t know who my target audience was.

I thought my audience was meant for people like me–gamers, nerds, geeks, whatever you want to call us. And while it is, I forgot that I had originally first written CAT when I was 13. While both the main character, the story, and themes do get more mature and darker, it does start off skewing towards the younger audience. It took me awhile to realize that THE PASSAGE OF HELLSFIRE was for people who were not necessarily young, but young at heart.

Unfortunately, the world is very bitter and jaded these days. And while I’m not against bad reviews as long as reviewers explain the why and don’t attack the person, that first review I got stung. It was my very first review, it was a negative one, and I was personally attacked. Fun times.

2. MARKETING

I knew from listening to other podcasts and reading articles that you should really only market when you have at least three pieces of work out. I didn’t adhere to that piece of advice, and I’m not entirely sure I why.

I think it was because I was anxious. I had been working on CAT since I was 13. It was time to stop fine tuning it and just let it out into the world. I also thought that I could be different. That in the indie boom that I would be one of the ones that would break through. I don’t know what I was thinking honestly. I knew that it would be some time before I came out with the second book, WHAT ONCE WAS ONE. I just thought it wouldn’t be that long because I had already written WOWO. How much work could that be when you’ve already written a few drafts of the second book? Turns out a lot.

1. COVERS

I’m not a graphic designer, but I do have an eye for what makes a good graphic design. But since I’m not one, I still have much to learn.

I knew what I wanted with my first couple of covers. I wanted something symbolic–an image that would represent the story. And while my cover designers did a good job. With the exception of the WOWO ebook cover, I wasn’t blown away.

I always felt like something was missing, but I couldn’t quite place it nor did I want to spend thousands of dollars trying to figure that out with some of the more expensive people. Unfortunately, I did end up spending thousands or close to it, for all the covers I did get done just to end up changing it. They all add up. I’m not sure how or why, but I found the people I currently work with and they blew me away with what they came up with.

One of the biggest problems I had with my previous designers was that I had to hand hold them too much. I would give them ideas of what I wanted and what the story represented yet they still seemed to struggle with it. They couldn’t seem to get it right and needed more info. Maybe I didn’t do a good job of explaining myself, or maybe they needed more structure. I don’t have that issue with the current team I work with.

Also, I should have just used one designer to do book my ebook and print book. My reasoning was they are different so one cover may not work for the other and vice versa. Or, what I should have realized at the time, is that I could have hired people good enough to do a cover that would look good on both.

I will not lose, for even in defeat, there’s a valuable lesson learned, so it evens it up for me.

Marc Johnson