4 ways self-publishing is changing the role of the author

One thing you learn very quickly when you first get involved with independent publishing is that you’re not just a writer anymore. There’s a huge amount of other work that goes with the job, as well as the extra responsibility that comes from being entirely in control of what happens to your book.

This can seem daunting, but it’s important to see the positives in the way the role of the author is changing. With this in mind, here are some of the ways self-publishing is changing the role of the author.

You need to have a business mind-set.  There is no getting away from the fact that self-publishing is a business. It means that authors have to be organised and on top of things – and that’s no bad thing. After all, we all want our books to succeed, so taking on the right sort of entrepreneurial mind-set is a definite advantage.
You need to be a marketer. You can’t just self-publish a book and hope that it will be a success – you need to make it a success. It’s great to see more and more authors being creative in their marketing and putting in loads of effort to help their books sell, and this is something that’s only going to continue.
The readers are closer than ever before. Without a traditional publisher, authors and readers are bought closer together. As a self-published author, you’re entirely responsible for managing your relationship with your readers, which can be a really great thing.
You need to be better than ever. Self-publishing is now massively popular, so if you want to succeed at it, you need to be good at what you do. You need to be able to write top quality books that readers will be prepared to buy, and be willing to do whatever you can to improve your books. I think this is a really positive thing; some people might think that self-published books are of a low standard, but the reality is (usually) very different. Self-published authors are putting in a huge amount of effort to write brilliant books that deserve to do well, and with any luck, the number of top notch novels out there will only continue to grow.