Lessons Of A Self-published Author
Valuable Lessons Learned From Writing & Publishing A Book
Guest Post By PJ Peterson
1. Professional editing is a must. I didn’t discover developmental editing until my second novel, which I started writing the month after I self-published Blind Fish Don’t Talk. I don’t recall how it happened, but I stumbled onto Reedsy.com and hired a talented editor. She politely but firmly pointed out the holes in my story and gave me excellent suggestions for writing a stronger one.
2. Copyediting is best done by someone with the proper skills, even if you made straight As in English in college. As I write, I occasionally refer to The Chicago Manual of Style but my copyeditor still makes a slew of corrections. I overuse those single quotation marks and can never remember when to italicize, or not, internal thoughts and unspoken dialogue, for example.
3. A strong cover appropriate to the genre helps your novel stand out against the competition. My artist friend and I proudly created a cover using CreateSpace’s design feature for my first book. Once I knew better, I had a genre-specific cover created professionally. I’m envious of my talented author friends who create their own beautiful covers using Canva or Photoshop.
 |
| Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads |
4. Pushing the “publish” button on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing site is not a marketing plan. I like to think I create pretty good stories, but that doesn’t mean book sales unless my book gets in front of the eyes of thousands and thousands of potential readers. In the three years since I pushed that magic button the first time, I have learned about companies that help with promoting my books, started using advertising in various venues, signed up for a book blog tour, and created a webpage, though not in that order.
5. Keywords are vital for queuing up your book to the readers who are more likely to buy it. Publisher’s Rocket (by Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur.com) is one of those valuable aids that will help you identify those few magic words that draw in your audience.
6. Having a professional website is essential. There are dozens of options and opportunities online for creating one yourself, or you can hire a pro. Learn about building a subscriber list and link your website to your books, whether on Amazon.com, Goodreads, or other sites.
7. Potential readers read reviews of books. Consider using a company such as BookSirens, Reedsy.com, Goodreads, and others for a professional review. Search Reviewer Directories, such as The Book Blogger List, for potential reviewers—some free, some for a fee.
8. Learning to use advertising wisely and efficiently is worth investigating. “Build it and they will come” doesn’t work in the competitive world of book selling. There are millions of titles sitting next to your books competing for the same readers. Advertising doesn’t make your book better but does make it more visible which hopefully leads to more sales.
9. Write more books! I hadn’t planned to write a series but it was easier to write a second story (and a third, fourth, and now a fifth) using my protagonist than to create a new one. And I like my heroine and her sidekick, as do many of my readers.
10. Remember to enjoy the process of creating your story. If it entertains you, it most likely will entertain a future reader.
Writing is fun for me even if I don’t enjoy all the other parts of the publishing process. I can’t not write.
And that’s the bottom line.
She loved to read from a young age and read all the Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew books she could find. It wasn’t until she was an adult that she wrote anything longer than short stories for English classes and term papers in others. Writing mysteries only makes sense given her early exposure to that genre. Sprinkling in a little medical mystique makes it all the more fun.
Catch Up With PJ Peterson:
