The Roadmap To Self-Publishing Success
8 Secrets Revealed
Like every writer, I started out dreaming of getting an agent and landing a traditional publishing contract.
It didn’t happen.
I made the effort. I pitched to literary agents I’d researched online. I pitched to agents at writing conferences.
I received some form letter rejections, and some very nice personal notes on why my writing wasn’t what they were looking for at this time.
So, like many authors these days, I took publishing into my own hands.
I now have eleven novels self-published, and more on the way.
Here are eight key points to keep in mind if you want to publish your own books:
- What’s the purpose of your book? This especially applies to non-fiction authors. Think about this from the reader’s perspective. What’s in it for them?
Are you writing to entertain, inspire, solve problems, or motivate your reader?
My novels are purely for entertainment.
2. Find a hot topic on the Amazon best-seller list within your category or niche market. This is especially helpful for non-fiction authors, but I’ve researched this too for best-selling novels in my genre. It helps me see the covers and trending blurbs that people are buying from.
Other great places to find hot topics are:
- YouTube
- Magazine covers
- Niche blogs
- Facebook and other social media groups
3. Market research can reveal clues using reviews and ratings.
4. Create (in your mind) your ideal reader. Stephen King talks about the ideal reader in his book, On Writing.
Who is your ideal reader? Write to that one person instead of trying to write to ‘everyone’.
5. For self-publishing, use a book template.
I write in Word, some write in Scrivner, Google Docs, and a variety of other programs. Then I copy and paste my manuscript (when it’s all done, edited, and ready to go) into a publishing template.
With my first book, I formatted all the pages myself for publishing on Amazon. But it was a LOT of work. Now I drag and drop it into a template and, Voila! It’s ready to load onto Amazon, or wherever you want to publish.
6. Keywords are king! Use keywords in your book title (if possible), subtitle, and description. Do your SEO work behind the scenes to make sure your work reaches your readers.
7. Use Grammarly or ProWritingAid in your drafts, but don’t rely on them for the final version of your book.
Once you’ve gone through all your revisions, have your book professionally edited.
8. People DO judge a book by its cover. If you’re a talented cover designer, you might get away with making your own covers. But even then, run it by several groups of people to see their reaction.
I hire a professional Cover Designer for all of my books. It’s worth every penny.
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Your friend, fellow writer, and lover of all things supernatural,
Sherry Briscoe
Reader, Writer, Wordsmith Advisor — navigating the universe of fiction and fantasy, sharing words of wisdom and inspiration. Send coffee.
