Mistakes to avoid when self-publishing

 
There are a few things that separate successful self-published authors and the could-have-beens. If you want your book to succeed, avoid these common mistakes.

1. Formatting

There are specific requirements for properly formatting your book. Authors who try to do the formatting themselves may be disappointed with how their book turns out. To ensure your book is formatted properly, either enlist the help of your self-publishing company or look online to find tips if you are proficient in Word formatting. Even if you're an average Word user it's not that hard anymore. After you upload your book, use the preview option to check for errors before you launch. Even if you upload your book and find errors later, you can download the HTML version and upload it again when you corrected it. If your book has a number of pictures then you'll have to zip the file before you upload. Click on the 'paragraph character' which looks like an upside down music note. Found in the 'quick toolbar' at the top. Then use the 'control + F' option in Word to find and replace. Click on 'more' then 'special' tabs to find all the extra 'paragraph characters' that shouldn't be there and so on.
Tip:
A few links to help you:

http://www.ebook-editor.com/7-tips-to-perform-your-own-kindle-formatting-service/

http://needanarticle.com/index2/writing-kindle-ebooks-part-6-formatting-kindle-book/

http://beyondpaperediting.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/at-glance-ebook-formatting-for-kindle.html

2. Front Cover

You may be tempted to save money by using a template cover. Your cover is your first selling point. Despite the cliché 'Don’t judge a book by it’s cover,' most readers do! You want a unique, professionally designed cover that captures the essence of your book and encourages readers to buy it. You can find perfectly good professional cover designers online that don't charge the earth.
Tip: Trawl through Kindle ebooks to find the covers in the genre that you are writing and that you like. This way when you approach a designer they will have a better idea of what you want. If you can find a photo you would like to use (royalty free) then do so. This saves them time and you money.
Try: http://www.fiverr.com

3. Editing

Another area authors often try to save money is editing. They think that self-editing is the best option, but even the best writers can’t rely on self-editing. It’s just not possible to catch all of the mistakes and issues when you are so attached to the project. Always have a professional editor review your manuscript before publishing to ensure your book is the best it can be. Too many mistakes can be costly to your reputation as a professional author. I would suggest you go to http://www.elance.com and find an editor there to suit your budget. It takes time for the editor to review your book so ensure you have factored this into your schedule.
Tip: don't pick the one with the best resume as that can be misleading because it may not fit your style. Instead ask them to send you an unedited and edited sample of their work (same pages). Some may offer to look at a 2 or 3 pages of your manuscript.

4. Back Cover

Paperback: The back cover is just as important as the front cover! Do not rush through this step. The back cover helps hook the reader and plays a role in online search results. A professional copywriter and editor can help make your back cover and blurb great.
Tip: http://www.fiverr.com

5. Time

Do not rush! It is far better to get your book out there when you've spent the time revising your manuscript. I've seen books that I know were rushed and it turns readers away from considering your next book. Those one star reviews hurt you and kill sales. That said, you do need to have a realistic but flexible timeline.

If you think that one book is enough then think again. The successful authors know it is important to get it as good as they can before they launch. These authors know that launching their first book is only part of the journey. As soon as they have one out there, they get busy writing the next one and so on.

Enjoy the journey because if you don't then there's no point writing. It's not an easy road to travel but it can be a rewarding one.

Dean Koontz on writing that bestselling novel

Here's another article I felt was worth posting here:

Tip 4

Minimalist writing, in the tradition of Hemingway, has been taught for so many decades that much of what is published these days lacks character and color. Metaphor, simile, all kinds of figures of speech have evaporated from much modern fiction, and many new writers have no interest in using the language in vivid and inventive ways. Hemingway was a stylistic genius, and his approach worked for him, in part because there were layers of meaning under the apparently simple words. Geniuses are rare; therefore, most minimalist writers end up with brisk and simple language that is barely a first layer and that has nothing under it. Dare to love the language, if minimum prose feels flat to you. Some readers won't get it; many will not only get it but delight  in it.

Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Galleries/koontz-7-bestseller-tips.aspx?p=5#urpALTGS9oc2IFSf.99

Dean Koontz - more tips on writing that novel

More on the battle between Amazon and Hachette and self-published writers

Here's another article I came across. I like the man's reasoning. We self-published authors do get a bad wrap at times. There are books I've bought at the local bookstore that had me scratching my head as to how this author got published by one of the big five as he/she wrote a very thin story which was badly written and the only good thing about it was the blurb on the back and the cover.

Of course, there are many paper books that are written by great writers and I admire them.

Here's the link from the huffington post...

Please Stop Gene Doucette

What's at stake in the battle between Amazon and Hachette

The battle between Amazon and Hachette gets interesting.
Please click on the link below.

Amazon Just Revealed Exactly What's At Stake In Its Battle With Hachette --

How important is a book title?

I imagine it's very important.

I just came across Lulu's title scorer.

Lulu titlescorer

Enjoy.

It was interesting that some of the best sellers didn't score so well. The Secret didn't score very well, but we all know it's a runaway seller.

What makes people buy a self-published book.

Reblogged by me because this is a mine field of information that the self-published author can't ignore.

The findings surprised me (which surprised me, because I was surveying myself). I found that I knew what made me buy a self-published book when it was in front of me, but not what put that book in front of me, unless I was browsing by genre (e.g. today I feel like reading a romance set in Ulaanbaatar: therefore I will now search specifically for such a story).

It was still hard to know what put those books in front of my eyes in order to buy them; to quote one of the commenters on that post – this is the thorny issue of “discoverability”. How will we find these books in the first place?

So I did the unthinkable, and asked some other people. I surveyed readers and writers alike, in online groups for different fiction genres of crime, fantasy and general fiction,  and more than a few other people who just like to talk to other people about reading and writing. I asked them what factors influenced them most when buying books – particularly self-published books and any other books which aren’t pushed by the major houses.

Their answers were duly collected and poured into a spreadsheet, one rainy morning when I was in my pyjamas, and can be split into 2 camps. Some answers relate to discoverability; others to what makes people buy a book once it’s already in front of them.

In this sample, there are 72 answers. Some people cited more than one factor they considered before purchasing, so regardless of the order in which they placed these factors, I gave them all equal weight.

Having said that, it’s safe to say that in the vast majority of cases, if the cover was amateurish, or unappealing, the book would never have made it to the 2nd stage of vetting, be that the blurb or the sample.

Here are some lovely graphs with my findings. In case you didn’t know, I LOVE graphs. (Although take it from me, they’re hard to cuddle when you’re trying to fall asleep.)

First, we have the overall results:

Overall, by far the most important factors were cover, blurb and the sample (for some, this was the first few paragraphs, through Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature; for others, the full chapters from the e-Reader sample download).

Your cover might be gorgeous. Your blurb might push all the right buttons for the hungry reader. But if there’s a mistake in your first 2 paragraphs, or the reader doesn’t like your style, then it’s good night, I’m afraid.

Several of those surveyed said they had bought self-published books because they had seen other examples of the author online – either from their blog, commenting on other blogs, or articles in magazines or journals. They liked what they saw and then went to see what else was on offer. This is precisely what we mean when we talk about online platforms.

In the case of Twitter (which is the platform most likely to drive me mad when authors simply tweet endlessly “BUY MY BOOK!! SPECIAL ### OFFER!! BUY IT NOW ###  TODAY TODAY!!!!!! (hashtag exclamation point))) – a few people said that they liked to get a sense of the author on Twitter, and then maybe look up their book. So it wasn’t publicising the book on Twitter which sold books: it was the author being engaging on Twitter on a more personal level.

Facebook was more likely to remind those surveyed to buy the book of an author they already liked, rather than introduce them to a book for the first time.

Finally, it was cover, blurb and sample all the way. Reviews mattered, but in different ways. An interesting point, made by some of those surveyed, was that they looked at the worst reviews first – 1* or 2* reviews only – because they found it easier to ascertain whether they were authentic, and because they felt they got a better sense of the book from people who didn’t like it, rather than the people who said they did. (Or gave it 5 stars because they are the author’s Mammy. See here.)

Price was also an unusual issue. There were 2 distinct views: those who made impulse buys (without reading reviews or a sample) under a certain price, and those who would never bought books under a certain price point, because they had no faith that they’d be any good.

There were also good indicators on what turned readers off  self-published books. Another post will follow on that. I bet you can’t wait.

Time for you to weigh in: if you haven’t already had your say, is there something glaringly missing from the above graphs which makes your buying decision for you?

Jan Hurst-Nicholson | August 3, 2014 at 11:22 am

I’m surprised the title doesn’t play a bigger part in selecting a book, especially after reading this.

n 1928 the publisher E Haldeman-Julius was considered to be a literary Henry Ford who had perfected the art of merchandising the world’s classics. In the previous 10 years he had sold 100 million copies of his cheap reprints.

He believed that in order to sell a classic piece of literature, it had to have the right title. He believed that the title must have some connection with the three subjects which most appealed to the ‘reading masses’.

1. Sex

2. Self-improvement

3. Attacks upon Respectability and Religion.

His motto — By their titles ye shall sell them.

In 1926 8 000 copies of Victor Hugo’s play “Le Roi s’Amuse’ were sold. He re-named it ‘The Lustful King Enjoys Himself” and 38 000 copies were sold.

Theophile Gautier’s “The Golden Fleece” enjoyed huge sales when it was re-titled “The Search for a Blonde Mistress.”

Scopeenhauer’s “Art of Controversy” was a dead duck until Mr Haldeman-Julius published it under “How to Argue Logically.” And De Quincy’s “Essay on Conversation’ sold like hot cakes when re-titled “How to Improve Your conversation.”

Always, for obvious reasons, it has been necessary to keep the reader in mind. Any change in title must be validated by the actual contents of the book. The change must serve, not deception, but enlightenment; the change must advance some particular information as to exactly the book’s contents. It would never do to re-title Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, for example, unless the title were also to indicate that the tales were still in archaic verse.

He never altered the text in any way — just the titles. :)

http://www.masterkeymarketingwarriors.com/products/copywriting/haldeman-julius/FirstHundredMillion.pdf

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