More often than not, I’m asked what it’s like to be a self
published author. I happen to enjoy what
I do, but it isn’t for everyone. To
thrive as a self pub you need extreme determination and grit. You also need time and most importantly, you
need to have realistic expectations.
At this point in my career I’ve spoken to hundreds, if not
thousands, of aspiring authors who had unrealistic expectations of what would
happen when their first book became available.
(By the way, I was one of those folks in the beginning so I’m not poking
fun at anyone.)
Here’s a list of commonly believed myths about book
publishing:
1. I can quit my day
job because the book is live and sales will be more than enough to pay my
bills.
FALSE. Chances of you making enough money to support
yourself in the beginning are slim. You
have to keep in mind that as a new author, you most likely have little to no
reader base. If you sell 50 (and that
number is very high) copies in the first month, you are doing VERY well. Now I
know 50 might not sound so bad to you, but let’s work the numbers.
A .99 cent book on most web stores will garner you a whopping .32 cents
per sale. 50 x .32 = $16.00.
Not so awesome, right?
If we say the minimum base to cover household bills is $1,000 per month
that would mean you would HAVE to sell 3,125 copies of your book per month, to meet that requirement. Even if your book is $2.99, you’d still have
to sell 479 copies per month to make
the $1,000 goal.
TRUTH: There are
authors out there who, right out of the gate, had huge sales and were able to
do this. They are few and far (I mean
really freaking far) between. It can
happen, but generally, that is not the way it goes down.
2. As soon as my book
releases, my reader base will grow exponentially.
FALSE. Although it is easier to get new readers when
you actually have something for them to read, getting people to pick up a book
from someone they’ve never heard of, is harder than it sounds. Take into consideration how many books are on
avid readers TBR lists. They might have
100 books on that list from authors they’ve already read and love. How do you get new readers to bump you to the
top of their list? If you figure that
out, clue me in.
3. My friends and the
people on my fan page will share all my links and soon everyone will have heard
of me.
FALSE. Okay,
sort of false. I’m sure you will have
friends who will relentlessly pimp your book/books and you might even find you
have a few super fans who’ll do the same, but don’t expect that to last too
terribly long. It’s the friends of your
friends/fans who will throw the wrench in the works. People get tired of seeing the same old thing
in their news feeds. Eventually, someone
will make a complaint. Then another,
then another....then the sharing will either stop completely or come to a very
slow crawl. This is in no way, shape, or
form a reflection of your friend/fan’s feelings about you or your work. It’s simply the way it is. (By the way, if you happen to find people who
don’t care what others say about what and how much they post.....ask them to be
on your street team and start one. LOL)
You must also take time into consideration. People use social media to connect with
friends and family. Some use it simply
for down time to play games and relax.
With facebook’s changes and new policies many of your followers are no
longer even seeing your posts, so those who might share for you, don’t know the
post is even there. You can’t count on
shares to build sales or a reader base.
TRUTH. Joining giveaways from bloggers and book
pages is a great way to build a reader base.
Building a dedicated street team can be instrumental to boosting sales
and visibility.
4. I have hundreds of
authors on my friend’s list. They will
help me get the word out!
FALSE. This particular issue is one I see come up
almost daily. Let’s take a look at any
given day in my life to get to the bottom of why authors don’t share as much as
readers.
I get up, make coffee, sit down at the computer to check
emails and sales, then move to facebook.
Once there, I answer any messages I might have on my fan pages or in the
inbox. I try to post on the fan page,
check in with my street team and PA...and then....IF I see posts in my feed
about other authors books that need shared, I will absolutely pass them on. IF.... Sometimes my feed is full of nothing but
funny pictures and save the animals kinds of things. So I scroll.
There are days I scroll for five minutes looking for a post to share
before I actually find one. Then it’s
time to work. (Or if I’m not caffeinated
yet, I play a game and get my mind in the zone.) Now, in between all of this, and trying to
write, I have phone calls, grandkids and kids coming in and out of my work
space. Although I try to share something
every time I’m on facebook, I don’t always find anything. (And I don’t have time to stalk people’s
pages most days.)
So are they being mean and shady? Absolutely not!!! If it’s that hard for me to find posts to
share, and this is my full time job, imagine how difficult it must be for the
working author who writes on the side.
Wowzers!!!
TRUTH. More times than not, I have found that
other authors, be it Indie, Self Pubs, or Traditional, are happy to pass the
word along about your book. Do keep in
mind that many authors, especially authors who are doing very VERY well, must
take into consideration what they are passing along to their fans. They MUST.
If you haven’t read a book, and have no idea whether it’s good or not,
and pass it along to your plethora of readers....and they don’t like it....you’ve
just damaged your credibility as an author.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t share books we don’t know anything
about. But if you are expecting your
NYTs Bestselling buddy to pass your book along and they haven’t read your book,
don’t get offended if it doesn’t happen.
It’s not personal I assure you.
(Which brings us to the next myth...)
5. I have 150 NYTs bestselling
authors on my friend’s list. I’ll have
them read and review my book!
FALSE. And seriously? Dude...how many books do you have time to
read? Do you have any idea how many
books are being released and published every day? Add into that how many authors follow/talk to
Bestselling authors. If they did that
for everyone, they’d never write another book.
It’s not personal!!! I
promise!!! It’s unrealistic to think
they’d have the time to do this and if they started with you, where would it
end?
6. My book cover is
good enough. People will read the blurb
and know what it’s about.
FALSE. It has been my experience that most folks don’t
bother reading the blurb unless the cover catches their eye. I don’t even know how many people have stated
they had no clue Birthright was a vampire novel until they started reading
it. I can’t count them. (Hence the recent cover change.)
If you want your book to sell, you need the BEST cover you
can provide. The BEST blurb you can
write. AND (and this is so very important)
the BEST editing you can afford. And
even then, it may not sell. Not having
these things is an almost guarantee it won’t sell, but it doesn’t lock in those
sales for you.
7. I don’t need an
editor. I got good grades in English and
I have spell check.
FALSE. See number six above and holy cow!!!
8. My book is
awesome. Good reviews will pour in and
that will sell my books!
FALSE. Oh wow.
This is a hard one. First, understand
that getting reviews is difficult.
Getting people to actually go to a site and take the time to write down
what they think about your book is akin to shoving a stalled locomotive uphill,
in the snow, barefoot, with just your own physical strength. (Believe it or not, that’s not an
exaggeration.)
The flip side of this is
that people who hate your book, will do it in a heartbeat. They have no qualms about telling the world
how bad it sucks. LOL You have to have
thick skin to weather reviews. I mean triceratops
thick. And while we’re at this
point....PLEASE do not EVER respond to a bad review. Don’t even talk about it in public, unless it’s
something you find amusing. (I happen to have a favorite one star review. The person who wrote it is hysterical and I’d
seriously like to meet them, just because it was so funny.) Responding to a review can damage your
reputation. Yes, your fans might rise up
to stick up for you, but in the long run...even that could do more damage than
good. You know that whole saying about
any PR being good PR? Don’t fall for
it. That is a lie.
In conclusion:
I could go on for days with this, but this post is already
much larger than I intended. I am in no
way trying to discourage anyone from self publishing. I love being my own boss. I LOVE having the final say so over how
things will work. However, some days I
hate those things too. You won’t know if self publishing is for you until you try it.
Try it! You might love it
too! But be realistic in your
expectations. Over the last several
years, I’ve watched people fight to tackle their dream of being an author and
then give up and walk away. This career
is a long haul career for most of us. It
could take decades to get where you want to be.
It might never happen at all. If
this is really what you want to do, if writing and publishing is your absolute
passion, do your best, and keep your expectations in check...and no matter what...don’t
give up. Just don’t!!!
Willow Cross
