Everything I know about self-publishing

The funny way would be to leave this post blank.Honestly, though, the self-publishing biz shifts so rapidly that anything you know is suspect almost as soon as you’ve realized it. So if it’s not June 2015 when you read this, take it all with a big ole grain of salt.

It’s all about the fans

Sounds like a platitude, but this is actually the key to the self-publishing business strategy. Here’s how it all works:

A reader discovers one of your books.
The book is written well enough to leave them a positive impression.
Now a fan, the reader buys everything else you publish, because they trust you will deliver a positive reading experience.

Let’s break it down further.

Discovery

There are two ways a reader will discover you.

One: Word of mouth. Someone they trust talks you up. Write the best books you can, and this might happen.

Two: Position your books intelligently. Readers are attracted by your title, blurb, and cover. These three elements create expectations in the minds of your reader. They are bait, and should clearly indicate the genre of your book, its tone, and the kind of experience you’re offering.

When it comes to covers, make it look like all the other top-selling covers in your genre.

Only better.

Impression

The key to converting a reader to a fan is a positive reading experience. You do that by meeting or exceeding the expectations your title, blurb, and cover set. That is, to readers, a good book.

To some readers this includes “well written”, but a poorly written book will definitely harm you more than it helps. So always write to your maximum capacity. Do the best job you can with each book, and you will maximize that book’s chance of success.

Other Tips

Any book might be the one that, through no fault of your own, takes off big and launches your career. So write as many books as you can, of the highest quality that you can.
Write in series. Series are easier to write, easier to market. Make the first book free to hook potential fans. Fans of a series will buy the whole series, but what you really want are fans of you.
Have a mailing list. I’ll talk about marketing stuff another time. But start the mailing list soon.

How do you write a good book? Read a lot. Write a lot. It’s something you train yourself for. If you need a guide to get you started, read the one I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year. It’s all solid information.

There you go. You now know as much as I do about self-publishing.

Questions? You are invited to either leave a comment below, or ask directly through the comment form.

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