And now for the news!
This week in the world of self-publishing:
This week, heed some advice from experienced self-publishing authors. Hear from authors such as Janice Petrie, who provides some inspiring words on persistence and passion, Allison Winn Scotch, who provides a realistic and pragmatic outlook on creating professional-standard self-published work, and Joel Friedlander, who gives advice on the technical side of book design.
Janice Petrie, founder of her own indie publishing company, understands how difficult it is to ensure success in self-publishing, that is, if your version of success is selling more books. A self-published author herself, Petrie’s work ranges from picture books to non-fiction true-crime tales. Coming to understand the importance of marketing and editorial reviews is what most helped Petrie create her own following. While writing is a passion for so many of our customers, it is always important to remember that publishing encompasses so much more than typing up a manuscript. Petrie admits that when she started out, her “focus was more on writing and illustrating than marketing” but she’s “spent the past couple of years adjusting this important balance.”
In this article you’ll get advice from Petrie on how to ‘succeed’ at self-publishing that can apply to all self-published authors, no matter what their idea of ‘success’ may be. Find out how to harness your passion, explore social media, and to be persistent with the help of some of Petrie’s advice.
Becoming a New York Times bestselling author is a dream for many authors. With this article from the Huffington Post, you get priceless insights on self-publishing from New York Times bestselling author, Allison Winn Scotch. In this article, Scotch admits that she remains partially skeptical of the self-publishing world, but nonetheless admits that she felt compelled to self-publishing after some disappointing experiences with traditional publishers. While she acknowledges that self-publishing “seems like the easy way to go,” she also calls it a “tricky beast” that can potentially lead to disappointment.
Scotch’s take on self-publishing can be read as both realistic and pragmatic, though it should not be taken as cynical. She insists that “just because you’re self-publishing doesn’t mean that [the finished product] can be amateurish or unpolished,” but that you must focus on heavily editing and rewriting your work, as you would with a traditional publisher. She also addresses how difficult marketing can be if you don’t have an established audience already and advises self-publishing authors to have a plan in place before publishing, so as to make it more probable that their book will reach a larger audience.
Following Scotch’s commentary from the above Huffington Post article, I thought it’d be pertinent to provide some advice for professional looking design options for self-publishing. In this informative article, Joel Friedlander explains why the best book design should go largely unnoticed by the reader. Freidlander outlines some simple rules to not deter readers once they’ve opened your book. These rules range from your work being easy to read to meeting the production requirements of your vendor.
While the DIY approach makes sense for those of us who already have a knowledge of formatting and design, Freidlander stresses the importance of having other parties be responsible for these aspects of the publishing process, especially when designing your book cover.
Lastly, discover the pros and cons of using pre-made book templates in Microsoft Word or Adobe by clicking the link above to read more!
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 