Sam Kaufman asked A.E. Rayne:

I'm a writer too, and I've just stared my first series. I was wondering how you knew when your books where ready to hit the shelves and if you have any advice for self-publishing a book?

A.E. Rayne Hi Sam

Thanks for the question!

With my first book, it was all just 'figure it out as you go along'. Now I have a better sense of how to prepare a more polished book. I edit my books myself and also design the covers, so I’m the only one who really gets to decide anything - which is the joy of self-publishing. But I would suggest that you find a group of people to read your book once you are happy with it yourself – An Advanced Readers Team. They will spot problems and mistakes if there are any lurking, and they can give you constructive feedback. You can do that going forward with your series by giving them an advanced copy in return for them reviewing each book. It helps to have a good number of reviews to draw more interest to your book when it’s starting out.

If you’re not a confident editor, then I would advise you get some professional help. Same with cover design. Both will tell a reader a lot about you and your book. The cover will draw them in and should match your genre (look on Amazon to survey the types of covers in your genre and what they have in common), but if you have a poorly edited book, that may turn them off from going any further.

And lastly, I would suggest that you look up authors who offer courses on self-publishing like Nick Stephenson and Mark Dawson. I have never done their actual courses but have watched many helpful webinars and videos from both men over the years, and they always offer loads of useful tips in their emails too.

I hope some of that helps, and I wish you heaps of luck!

Very best wishes

Amy

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