The Hardest Part Of Self Publishing

I think the easiest part about self-publishing is writing the book.

Hear me out. I am in no way saying that writing a book is easy. It is hard. Especially if you’re a perfectionist like myself. Then you will never think your book is good enough and that makes getting through the writing process quite difficult because you always want to scrap whatever you wrote.

With that said, I still don’t think it’s the hardest part. I think many of us, myself included, believe that once the book is written, edited, and out there in the world it will be smooth sailing. I know that’s what I thought when I wrote my first book. The hard part was over. The book was done. It was out there for people to buy and read and love.

Enter the actual hard part; getting people to actually buy your book. Marketing is hard you guys. Especially if you have no background or knowledge of marketing. I have read countless blogs and watched millions of videos on marketing for self-publishers and it is still something I struggle with; even after eight years.

Yes. It has been eight years since I pushed publish on my first book and since then I have published three additional books and it has not gotten any easier. I don’t have a sellers brain and I hate feeling like I’m “selling” my books to people. I put selling in quotes because that is the technical term. I guess. Honestly, I just feel like I’m begging people to read my stuff and that is not a feeling I like.

I think I excel at writing the book. That is when I actually sit down to do it and stop letting doubt creep in. The marketing part however will forever be an unattainable goal.

It’s hard and I don’t like it and if you’re imagining me sitting with my arms crossed and wearing a pout you would not be far off.

Until the next time we talk I am going to go and do some writing and “try” to come up with ways to market my books. Wish me luck?