SELF-PUBLISHING SUCCESS
G'day folks,
Welcome to a guest post from James Ventrillo.
Lady in
the Water, have
you seen it? It was that movie about a mermaid that lived in Paul Giamatti’s
pool. It was written, directed and even co-starred M. Night Shyamalan. Night
based the movie on a fairytale he made up for his kids. He was hot off the
success of his previous movies and presented the story to his distributor,
Disney, who footed the bill for his previous hits. Disney took one look at the
script and had Night escorted out of the building.
Night ignored
Disney’s criticisms and did what any multi-millionaire would do — he paid for
it himself. The movie bombed and Night had to eat Ramen for the next six
months. Why am I telling you this story? Because books, just like movies, are
supposed to go through a rigorous production process. For movies, dozens of
people have to read the script and approve it, making improvements along the
way until it is ready to be filmed. Then even after the movie is made it is
edited, where entire scenes, subplots and even characters are completely
removed. Next it is screened, and audiences critique the film, often sending it
back for more changes until it is finally ready for mass release.
But Night
did not do that. He bypassed the system because he could, and he paid the
price. As a self-published author you are also bypassing the system. To save
you from Night’s fate, I am going to give you some steps that will guide you
through the self-publishing “system” so you and your book will be more
successful.
Step 1 – Finish your book
You did?
Great! Move on to step 2. Whoa… did you reeaaaally finish? Over the years at
Readers’ Favorite we have had hundreds of authors wanting to update the book
they sent in for a review or entered in our contest. In every one of those
emails you could always find the same exact line: “This is the final version, I
promise.” If you finished your book yesterday, you did not finish. Put it away
for two weeks, then come back and give it another read. If you can get through
the whole thing without wanting to add or remove something, then
congratulations–you are done!
Step 2 – Polish your book with editing or proofreading
What is
the difference between a proofreader and an editor? A proofreader will
find typos, poorly worded sentences, and grammatical errors. An editor does the
same but also identifies structural problems, ranging from character and plot
issues to point of view (POV) and other mechanical problems. Simply put, a
proofreader will help you polish your current book. An editor will help you improve
your book and then polish it.
Editing
is the best, no doubt. But at $5 to $20 per page, it’s pricey. Too pricey, in
fact, for most self-published authors. And if you get a bad editor, all you
will wind up with is a really expensive proofread. Without an editor you are
just going to have to rely on your own writing skills to create a good story.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t Google “Writing Point of View” to figure out
how to write POV correctly. POV is tough, but it’s critical to a reader’s
ability to enjoy and follow your book. The rest of your book’s mechanics are
pretty much common sense, so I wouldn’t worry too much about them.
So
editing is not mandatory, but proofreading is. Let me say that again. You must
have your book proofread. Authors just aren’t capable of analyzing their own
work; that’s why even professional editors who write a book hire someone else
to proofread it. The analyst must be objective, because when authors read their
own work their minds will add missing words or letters, creating not only typos
but sometimes gaps in the story itself.
As the
author you have done your job and written a compelling book. Now you need to
let a proofreader do their job and ensure your book is being presented in the
best way possible with a professional proofread; it simply is not finished
until you do.
Step 3 – Reviews, reviews, and more reviews
You know
you need reviews; I am not telling you anything new here. But there are a
couple of things to keep in mind. The more reviews you have the more advertising
you have–that is the real key to reviews. Reviews are usually listed on the
website that produced them, which adds to your search engine results and
overall exposure. Not to mention all of the other places you will be posting
them.
And as
hard as it is to accept, sometimes negative reviews can help us find problems
in our work. However, negative reviews can hurt us more than help us if they
are posted for others to see. I am proud to say that to my knowledge, Readers’
Favorite was the first company to not post negative reviews. We provide them to
the author as a helpful critique, but we only post positive reviews. Today,
more and more companies are adopting this practice.
So when
you look for a review company, start with the ones that do not post negative
reviews. Get some reviews back to make sure your book doesn’t need any
additional work, then hit those sites that post regardless of review rating.
You need all the reviews you can get, which means you can’t afford to only
choose those sites that don’t post negative reviews.
Step 4 – Contests, contests, and more contests
Enter as
many contests as you can. Book awards grab the attention of book stores,
publishers, libraries, and readers, which can translate into increased sales.
As an award winner, you will be able to identify your book as an “award-winning
book” and yourself as an “award-winning author,” which dramatically increases
the credibility of both you and your book.
Yes,
contests are expensive. But that is the nature of the beast. As a self-published
author you do not have to give away most of your sales revenue to a traditional
publisher. But you need to spend some of that money to market your book, to
garner more recognition and exposure, and contests are the way to do that.
When
picking a contest, make sure it is an annual contest and that the cost is
commensurate with what you win. You can also tell a lot about a contest by the
quality of the website. If it’s a cheesy website, it’s a cheesy contest.
Step 5 – Selling your book
Since
2008 the number of self-published books has surpassed those produced by
traditional publishers. Today, with a 50 percent drop in the production of
paper books and a 150 percent increase of digital book production, not to
mention the bankruptcies of industry giants like Borders, the inexpensive
self-publishing of digital books has reinvented the publishing industry.
Paper
books are still desired, so get your book on Amazon to sell a physical version
of your book. But you must also get your book converted to the various digital
formats used by popular e-readers like Kindle, Nook and iPad. You simply cannot
be successful without them.
In conclusion…
When you
complete these steps you will have a finished, polished book, with a physical
copy available on Amazon and digital versions available on the most popular
e-reader platforms. Keep getting reviews and entering contests, attend book
fairs and conventions, build a website, get on Facebook and Twitter, and start
getting the word out about your book. In time, word of mouth will hopefully
take over for you and your book will go viral.
For those
of you who decide to skip a step, be careful you don’t slip and fall right into
Paul Giamatti’s pool.
Author
bio: James
Ventrillo is the president of ReadersFavorite.com, the fastest growing book review
and award contest site on the Internet. Readers’ Favorite has earned the
respect of renowned publishers like Random House, Penguin and Harper Collins,
and has received the Best Websites for Authors and Honoring Excellence awards
from the Association of Independent Authors. In addition to providing free
reviews to authors who range from the first-time self-published author to
seasoned professionals like James Patterson and Nicholas Sparks, they also host
a respected annual international award contest to help authors obtain more
recognition and exposure.
Clancy's comment: Thank you, James. Ah, reviews. Aren't they wonderful?
Hope this has been helpful to you authors and writers.
I'm ...
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