And now for the news!
This week in the world of self-publishing:
This week we’re going to take a look at self-publishing news from around the world!
In this article, garner some tips from six independent writers were able to make it big in the self-publishing world.
First up, Tracy Bloom, author of No-One Ever Has Sex on a Tuesday, a book which sold over 500,000 ebooks since it’s release in 2013. Tracy wrote this book in 2007, and after not being able to find a single UK publishing company that would pick up her work, she decided to self publish nearly six years later. Her piece ended up being a grand slam, overtaking Dan Brown on the top Kindle UK charts. “Her first three books have since been physically published but her digital sales lead the way (with 250,000 digital copies of her debut novel sold compared to 29,000 in paperback).”
Advice from Tracy? “Think commercial.” She says that the key to her self-publishing success was her ability to study the ways in which people navigate Amazon’s website and get them to stop and look at her work specifically.
Next up: Mel Sheratt, author of Taunting the Dead, which sold over one million ebook copies. That’s right, one million. Mel spent 12 years getting rejected by publishing company after publishing company because of her ‘cross-genre’ writing style which mixes women’s fiction, crime and thriller. “At the end of 2011 she self-released her debut Taunting the Dead which reached No 3 in the Kindle UK fiction chart, topped the police procedurals category and has been downloaded 200,000 times. Mel has written 12 more ebooks – six of which she has published herself.”
Mel’s advice to other self-publishing authors is also based on marketing; she recommends creating a yearly marketing schedule that includes offering your book at different prices throughout the year, that way you can promote your book whenever you’d like.
Janet MacLeod Trotter sold a whopping 800,000 copies of her ebook, The Vanishing of Ruth, a piece of historical fiction she self-published in 2011 after being dropped by her traditional publisher in 2010. Her book rose to number one in the Waterstones crime and romance categories the year she published it. “After the success of her first ebook, she self-published her backlist and now has 22 books to her name. The Tea Planter’s Daughter was one of the top ten bestsellers of 2012 for a self-published author.”
Janet’s advice for self-publishing authors is to constantly revamp their book covers, recommending that you “give your books a new look every so often.” After all, a lot of people will be judging your book by its cover. 😉
Rachael Lucas was able to sell over 150,000 ebook copies of her debut young adult novel, The State of Grace Sometimes Means Fitting in and Standing Out. This was a book Rachel wrote in three months “as a challenge” to herself to “see what might happen.” What happened was that she quickly rose to Amazon’s best seller’s chart.
Rachel’s advice to first-time self-publishing authors is: “Set yourself a writing target,” she says, “‘Signing up to NaNoWriMo – [National Novel Writing Month] a worldwide challenge where anyone is encouraged to write a novel in a month – gave me a time-frame and daily word target, and made starting a book much less daunting. Having written 50,000 words in 30 days, it didn’t seem too much of a challenge to finish writing my first novel.’”
As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry. This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.
Self Publishing Advisor 