THE Group for Authors! discussion

Assuming you have self-published, made it to the finish line and sold books, what was the best part of the experience? Why?

What was the worst part? Why?

For me, editing is the most painful part. I work with a freelance editor, but it still sucks. Also pushing the publish button on amazon, nook, and kobo was just a little bit terrifying. The rewards, however, have been worth every ounce of effort. I've been lucky enough to sell a copy a day since publishing in January and I'm really excited to release my next book in a few weeks. That means, yes, I'm in the crappy editing phase again LOL.

The best part is having total strangers reading your book. It matters more than friends and family, because those are people who are interested in your book for the story's sake, not because they know you personally. It is especially great if they like your book and want more!

The worst part is learning what doesn't work in terms of marketing. Also, finding out the editing to work out as you wanted it, and you have to re-edit it to redeem yourself and your book as much as possible.

Editing has been the worst part for me. I too hired a freelance editor, but the process is so time-consuming. I had this imaginary schedule in my mind of when my book would be published, and it was six weeks later that it was actually published because of editing.

The best part? Seeing it sell and seeing people add it to their reading list on Goodreads. Actually, the very best part was reading an Amazon review in which the person explained exactly what I was trying to explain in the book. It confirmed that I had communicated my message clearly--something I was afraid for. My book is a non-fiction work.

The best part is seeing that manuscript become a book. Of course, selling is great as well.

The worst is editing and marketing. I feel so over whelmed with the marketing and trying to do the right thing.

I'd rather stab myself with plastic forks than market my book. Which is reflected in poor book sales. Then poor book sales lead to self-doubt and self-doubt leads to more plastic stabby-like emotions.

The best part is connecting with people...sending your words out to the universe and having them actually collide with someone and stick. That makes the stabby feelings go away.

K. wrote: "I'd rather stab myself with plastic forks than market my book. Which is reflected in poor book sales. Then poor book sales lead to self-doubt and self-doubt leads to more plastic stabby-like emotio..."

Awwww, too bad, but I completely understand. I hear that after you have a few books out there, the ball really starts rolling, then the marketing becomes more like fun, playing on facebook and twitter! I'm looking forward to that myself.

Best part - I was at a bike rally shortly after publishing my first collection of short stories and a complete stranger ran up to me and asked for an autograph.

Worst part - You'll end up with a stable of works on Amazon, a smoking jacket and a corner of the kitchen your spouse will allow you to call "The Office" (until the cats need to be fed). Your head will swell until it can't fit through The Office door, at which point your self esteem will convince you that your opinion is worth a post on one of these forums. You will write down your thoughts, proof read them once and hit "Post". The next day, you will have a flood of PMs demanding evidence that the GR librarians are conspiring to make you look stupid (an assertion you don't remember, but there it is in the first sentence); your rating average drops two points; your Amazon reviews sound as though they were written by the Unibomber; and the Lutheran church obtains a restraining order against you.

Get used to it. Like chocolate, stopping is impossible.

P.J. wrote: "K. wrote: "I'd rather stab myself with plastic forks than market my book. Which is reflected in poor book sales. Then poor book sales lead to self-doubt and self-doubt leads to more plastic stabby-..."

Six books and I'm still waiting for that damn ball.

K. wrote: "I'd rather stab myself with plastic forks than market my book. Which is reflected in poor book sales. Then poor book sales lead to self-doubt and self-doubt leads to more plastic stabby-like emotio..."

Oh K., I love it! That is me--your first sentence. It doesn't lead to self-doubt about my book, tho: it makes me feel like a stupid schmuck for doing all tht work and then dropping the ball when it comes to selling. I bet I've sold less than you, I'm even ashamed, in this illustrious company, to say how many books of each of mine I have (not) sold!

Four books out there, no rolling ball.

I love to write. The best part for me is the writing, which is probably why I don't try that hard to sell. But it's not like I'm independently wealthy, far from it! It's the tragedy of my life that I can't seem to make money even doing what I love.

The best part is when someone writes me and can't stop talking about the book and asks when my next book will be out.

The best part is holding the finished book in your hands - the worst part is the marketing. When you sell you still don't know which piece of the marketing worked!

P.J. wrote: "K. wrote: "I'd rather stab myself with plastic forks than market my book. Which is reflected in poor book sales. Then poor book sales lead to self-doubt and self-doubt leads to more plastic stabby-..."

Playing with rolling balls I like. I'll be happy to get to that part.

Marcy wrote: "Four books out there, no rolling ball.

I love to write. The best part for me is the writing, which is probably why I don't try that hard to sell. But it's not like I'm independently wealthy, far f..."

Story of my life, Marcy. You can see why I'm stabby.

Jon wrote: "Best part - I was at a bike rally shortly after publishing my first collection of short stories and a complete stranger ran up to me and asked for an autograph.

Worst part - You'll end up with a s..."

A restraining order by the entirety of the Lutheran church? Impressive.

The best part of self-publishing, is just the fact it's possible. Reaching people without first getting approval to do so from a publishing house. And having readers say that they really loved what they read.

The worst part is not really have a clue how to market and realizing that's what the publishing houses probably do best. There's endless advice on "launching a platform" but if you can't reach people to get them to take a look at your book, then you can't really get people to notice your website, or your facebook, or your twitter, etc. It seems pretty circular and doesn't address the root issue.

Another best and worst:

Seeing multiple sales in a day.
Not seeing any sales for the day.

Best: 1. having total control over every aspect of the creative process including cover, price, etc 2. Not having to deal with agents, publishers, editors who could all use a lesson in honesty 3. Learning fun things like website design, social media, etc
Worst: Spending too much time checking sales stats and comparing progress with those who have been doing serious marketing far longer than me

Wow, I can relate to so many of these. It's like you guys are reading my mind! For me, the worst is probably marketing. I just hate it. Coming a close second is the huge disappointment of a poor sales record for the month. That truly sucks.

The best part of self-publishing is that I did it (I have one book). I know in my gut that if I had NOT self-published, my book would have never. seen. the. light. of. day.

As it is, whatever sales or praise or connections or good will I get from the book are because I took the chance. I'm proud of that.

Best - Readers and reviews
Better - Sales
Absolute best - Writing in the first place

Worst - No sales
Even worse - Marketing
Absolute worst - Editing

I changed those around several times even in the few minutes it took to write them

I deeply enjoy working with other artists and creatively looking at things we can do.

Worst was learning drupal to run a professional webpage.

:)

Best part was meeting readers in Amsterdam, who asked me for my autograph. Receiving my first unsolicited feedback from a fan also ranks pretty high.

I enjoy writing and would do it even if I wouldn't publish.

Worst part is the endless promoting and seeing your book drown in dross despite all your efforts. And doubting whether you should've taken the publishing contract, despite the dismal terms.

K. wrote: "I'd rather stab myself with plastic forks than market my book. Which is reflected in poor book sales. Then poor book sales lead to self-doubt and self-doubt leads to more plastic stabby-like emotio..."

Well put K. I feel the same. We pour so much time and emotion into writing. Our books are part of us, and when they don't sell, or at least not right away, it can feel like rejection of the author as much as the work. For me the editing and marketing is the most difficult.

Robert wrote: "Assuming you have self-published, made it to the finish line and sold books, what was the best part of the experience? Why?

What was the worst part? Why?"

The best part are good reviews and good sales. One of my books sold 85 in one day - I was over the moon, but sorry that it didn't last. The other bad part is going for days with no sales.

Best part is receiving good feedback, reviews and followers.

Worst part is the waiting game, even when marketing yourself, it takes time for your efforts to pay off.

For those of you who struggle with marketing, I can give a couple of suggestions to try if you haven't yet.

#1 KEEP WRITING!
#2 Update Facebook daily with the progress of your current books (if they rank highly on an amazon genre chart, crow about it! Bonus points if you include a screen shot of all the other books it's beating up). Share snippets from the one you're working on and tell them what stage of writing you're at-- drafts, writing, editing, etc.
#3 Tweet your favorite lines from your books along with hashtags and especially the sales link if applicable
#4 Update your blog at least once a week. If you don't have time to write a post, make use of a webcam and record a short message. Make pages for your books that include links to them on good reads, their sales page, and an excerpt.
#5 Reach out to those who have added your book on good reads. Check the shelves your book gets listed under. If there are any users who have you on a 'on the fence about' type list, contact them and offer a free copy of your book in exchange for an honest review.
#6 Be a tiny bit annoying. Get some business cards. If someone mentions they like your genre you could mention in passing that you wrote a book, and slip them your card. Word of mouth is a wonderful thing. If business cards aren't your style, hide book marks with your website listed on them in books of your genre at the store, or custom order some wrist bands to pass out with the link to your author page on amazon.
#7 Above all else KEEP WRITING!

I hope that helps!

Ann wrote: "#5 Reach out to those who have added your book on good reads. Check the shelves your book gets listed under. If there are any users who have you on a 'on the fence about' type list, contact them and offer a free copy of your book in exchange for an honest review."

I have a feeling that many readers would feel 'harassed' by such a proposition. SPAs are already viewed as being 'spammy', so that would probably be construed as 'soliciting'.

Ann wrote: "For those of you who struggle with marketing, I can give a couple of suggestions to try if you haven't yet.

#1 KEEP WRITING!
#2 Update Facebook daily with the progress of your current books (if th..."

Ann, thank you for that insightful post. I was really confused as what to do on the business card front. I own a boutique, and for that I have business cards, but they didn't seem like the right solution for marketing material for a book. Your suggestion for a bookmark is absolutely the perfect networking material. I love it!

I will say that as of right now the thought of starting an independent blog seems too daunting a task in addition to writing, editing, traditional marketing, eating, breathing, etc, but I plan on blogging at least some through the Goodreads Blog.

I also like your advice about posting some of the lines from my book. I have been tempted to do that but held off because I didn't know if that was a good thing to do. I am thrilled that you have confirmed that it is.

Thanks again.

For me, the best thing about self-publishing is knowing my work will get out there. Simon's Perfect Web is a children's book I wrote for my daughter that rotted on my hard drive for over six years before I dusted it off and self pubbed it.

Molly wrote: "I will say that as of right now the thought of starting an independent blog seems too daunting a task in addition to writing, editing, traditional marketing, eating, breathing, etc, but I plan on blogging at least some through the Goodreads Blog."

I have a Wordpress blog. Every article I post goes to FB, Twitter and is featured here on GoodReads. And if for some reason you become disenchanted by GR, all your articles are on an independent site.

Martyn V. wrote: "Molly wrote: "I will say that as of right now the thought of starting an independent blog seems too daunting a task in addition to writing, editing, traditional marketing, eating, breathing, etc, b..."
Thanks for that Martyn V. I like the idea of compressing my efforts. If the blog will post to the social media sites automatically, then it really isn't an extra effort.

Molly wrote: "Thanks for that Martyn V. I like the idea of compressing my efforts. If the blog will post to the social media sites automatically, then it really isn't an extra effort."

You have to 'set it up', but Wordpress has widgets that will take care of that for you. And GR Authors have the feature to link their blog, which will post the latest blog article on your author page.

As for the business cards:
What I did is go to Vistaprint and made a business card for my freelance assassin protagonist with the name of her company 'Loki Enterprises' with underneath the description 'experts in fortunate accidents / corporate troubleshooters', followed by the link to my blog and my website, and my author email address.

I slip these business cards in suspense/crime novels and give them to people who are curious about what I'm writing.

I blog through blogger.com and they have 'widgets' you can add that will share to facebook and what not. Goodreads also has a few fun additions for your blog, too.
I linked my blog directly to GR so when I post, it will show up on my author page.

As far as soliciting, I've only had good experiences so far by reaching out. Many times it has been "Free book? SWEET!"
However it is important to come off as friendly and offer the free copy instead of as a used car salesman.

Be nice. Be human. Think about the reader. :)

I really like vistaprint, but I recently came across a site called Moo and their cards look super nice. You can even put a scan code on the back with your info that leads directly to the website of your choice.
I think I'll be investing in a few of Moo's come tax return time ;)

Thank you Ann and Martyn. I like your twist on the bookmark Martyn. And Ann, I too love Moo. I have been using them for about 2 years for my store's business cards and everyone raves about them. I use Vistaprint for my postcards though as Moo can get pricey and the postcards aren't as fancy as the business cards. Do you know if Moo will do a bookmark? They have small tile cards and other assorted sizes but I will have to look into the bookmarks. I am excited to get all of this started.

Love the twist on the business card too! (just caught that, MV). But then you had me at "Assassin". I love Assassin's Creed and Skyrim. By the way, but can we just stop for a moment and appreciate the epic world building that went into Skyrim? It constantly fuels my imagination for building my own fantasy world.

I haven't seen Vistaprint's post cards, but I'm not sure I would know what to do with a postcard? Maybe MV's idea of sending it from the protagonist?

Missing you in the Twelve Kingdoms
-- Glory

(my MC from The Subtle Beauty )


As far as Moo's bookmarks, maybe look into the mini cards? The pictures on the main page sort of look book mark shaped.

They have stickers, too, which might be a fantastic marketing tool if you do middle grade or children's books.

In my case, I think the assassin business card works better than an assassin bookmark. The business card, especially the 'experts in fortunate accidents', will make the recipient wonder what's behind the http://amsterdamassassin.wordpress.com/ link.

I'll check out Moo. And I do offer free copies of my first book to people who friend me on GR, but I don't approach people who just add my books to their TBR list. My reason is that if someone adds a book to their list, they don't assume the author is paying attention, however, if they send out a friendship request, they are interested in interaction, so that gives me the opportunity to offer my new friend a free ebook.

I feel there's a difference between to-read shelves and a shelf that actually says "can't decide" or "on the fence about". The latter ones I watch for and offer free copies. I avoid contacting the plain "to-read" people. (please tell me you guys have noticed shelves like these on your book pages! They come upon mine on the right side of the page, along with a small "see top shelves" link)
As an extrovert, I'm always interested in interaction, so I tend to say "let's go for it!" and do it.

Ann wrote: "As an extrovert, I'm always interested in interaction, so..."

I'm socially extroverted too, but I realized from a thread on authors 'liking' their own reviews and 'thanking reviewers' that some reviewers become very uncomfortable with the author 'peeking over their shoulder'. So I'm wary about approaching someone who hasn't 'friended' me or contacted me. If someone friends me or sends me a PM, I feel free to interact and offer them free copies of my books, no strings attached, but those people who are on the fence*, they could just as easily consider you an insensitive spammer...

*I don't seem to have many people 'on the fence'. Either they want to read my books or they give them 1-star ratings, which means they most definitely don't want to read my books.

Surveying these responses,the best part of self-publishing seems to be personal, and the worst parts impersonal.

That is, the major beef is that you must impersonally promote your book to someone you don't know. The major reward is that someone you don't know turns into someone who knows you (or at least your writing).

The next major beef seem to be editing. I wonder why this is so hated. It's true that editors ask some god-damned uncomfortable questions. I enjoyed the questions my editors asked because resolving the issues made my work much better.

I disliked going over my lengthy bibliography a thousand times looking for misplaced commas. Yuck. I'll probably pay more for copy-editing next time. Coming down the home stretch I found hundreds (yes that many) minor typos and inconsistencies in a 70,000 word text. Fortunately for me I had a formatter with the patience of Job who helped whip everything into shape.

Robert wrote: "The next major beef seem to be editing. I wonder why this is so hated."

I love editing my books. I often equate writing a book with making a movie: I make sure I shoot all the material before I go into the cutting room and turn the rambling manuscript into a coherent book.

I actually dig editing too. It feels good to fix things that are going terribly wrong, to turn a piece if the puzzle here or there and make it suddenly work.

Robert wrote: "Surveying these responses,the best part of self-publishing seems to be personal, and the worst parts impersonal.

That is, the major beef is that you must impersonally promote your book to someone ..."

I always get someone to edit my books.

I'm curious about all of the people who listed editing as the worst part of the self-publishing experience. I don't want to hijack this thread though, so I created a topic here for anyone who's interested in elaborating:

"What is bad about your editing experience?"
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

i don't think editing is bad, but it does get monotonous sometimes. I edit my work to death and then send it to a copy editor for one last pass.

Ken wrote: "i don't think editing is bad, but it does get monotonous sometimes. I edit my work to death and then send it to a copy editor for one last pass."

I only hate it when I'm editing my own work, and it's the 15th time I've gone over it. I become sick of my own writing and wonder how anyone could possibly stand to read it. lol

Martyn V. wrote: "I love editing my books. I often equate writing a book with making a movie: I make sure I shoot all the mater..."

That's the best approach. I tell new writers that the most important thing is to get it all down on paper - in whatever way it comes out. Don't edit while writing!

Putting on your editor hat will knock off your writer hat, and you might not be able to find it again for a while.

My favorite part is the control over the whole asspect. Social Media is a must these days and my blog shows both my Goodreads reviews and my twitter feed. Well I have two blogs actually. I also partake in two blog hops on Sunday. Weekend Writing Warriors and one on FB called SnippetSunday. You post 8 sentences of your WIP or published book. Then of course I post the link on my own FB page and twitter when I posted. You meet cool writers and is a great way to connect and have a resource for a guest post on other blogs.

The worst? The learning curve to format for ebooks.

Edward, that's the exact same advice I just gave to an aspiring writer yesterday. Write first, edit later. ~

I think my favorite part is connecting with my readers.

They're such amazing people; they inspire me. <3

I also self published my book The dead veteran, and I think this process is easy and you also get better share of royalties. I also have my own blog .
They all create the book edit it,as editing by yourself can be a little painful.So over all I think self publising is good for new writers.