1. Relying on friends and family for editing
Whether your book is nearly perfect or has a face only a mother could love, you, as the mother, are bound to be blind to a few of its flaws as are your friends and family. At the very least, hire a copyeditor to make a professional pass through your project. Of course, a professional editor is your best bet, and will point out problem areas or potential goldmines you weren’t even aware of. A fresh pair of unbiased, honest eyes makes all the difference. Need a professional editor? Look here https://bookfuel.com/services/editing.
2. Not researching cover designs for your genre
Do your research! It is important to know what is out there, what the best practices are in your genre, and what you are competing against. A well-designed cover matters because the author has seconds to grab the attention of a potential customer.
A well thought out, better-designed cover helps to sell books. R.L. Mathewson, a romance writer updated her book cover and went from selling up to six copies a day to over 1,000.
Create a well-designed cover here https://bookfuel.com/services/create-cover-design.
3. Avoiding social media
Our world revolves around social media and as a writer you need to make sure you’re in the loop. Not only can social media be a great and affordable way to get the word out about your book but it also provides a connection to your readers that was not there twenty years ago.
Avoiding social media puts you behind the curve. In order to be relevant and stay relevant you must use social media to your advantage. If navigating your way through the ever changing world of social media is overwhelming, just start with one platform. Once you have that mastered, maintain that site and try out a new platform.
4. Assuming publishing a book is the same as selling a book
Books will not sell themselves. Simply publishing a book will not translate into sales . Sales directly correlate with marketing efforts; you must create a marketing plan that drives your sales goals.
Determine your sales goals and form your marketing strategy around what it will take to meet those goals. Seek professional help. There are people and companies that specialize in this. Don’t feel bad if marketing is not your forte, get the help you need to reach your goals.
5. Not marketing post launch
There is a lot of hype that happens during the launch of a new book. Creating excitement through marketing is a focus during the launching phase. Don’t let your marketing efforts disappear after the initial book launch. If you want sales, marketing must always be a focus. Follow this link for marketing help https://bookfuel.com/services/marketing.
6. Overlooking the importance of back matter
Including appropriate back matter in your book is a great way to relate to your audience and build a valuable marketing avenue for future sales. Don’t miss out on an opportunity by overlooking the importance of back matter.
A head shot is important to include in the back matter of your book. Think of it as creating a identity or brand for yourself and your projects. A professional head shot of you helps your audience identify with you and your brand.
Add a link to sign up for your mailing list. This is a great way to build, keep track of, and interact with your audience. As this list builds, it becomes an irreplaceable resource for you with your next projects. Also include a link to your Amazon page where customers can access all of your products easily.
Promote your website. Invite people to come to your website and make it clear what they’ll get when they visit. Offer a downloadable book club guide, an author Q & A, or a special video discussing the backstory of your hero or heroine. Insider glimpses build a relationship between author and reader. Direct readers to your website, where they can learn more about you, your writing, and other books you have written or may be writing.
Invite people to connect with your social properties. When you engage with readers on social media, you become visible to their friends and family. Use your back matter to invite readers to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, GoodReads, or any social media platforms where you’re active. Every tweet, retweet, follow, share, comment, and pin will help readers share your books with a wider audience.
Tease your audience with a sample chapter from your new book. Use your back matter to include the sample chapter and a paragraph description about the upcoming book, the title, and the publication date, if known. You’ll garner the double bonus of previewing your new book with readers most likely to purchase it, and you’ll encourage them to help you promote the new book by sharing feedback on your Facebook page, which will be visible to all of their friends.
Market your backlist. When a reader buys your book and discovers other books of yours through the back matter, you’re promoting your books to them at the exact moment in which they’re most likely to want to purchase another book by you. Make sure they have the links, titles, and descriptions of all the books you’ve written in one easy-to-access place through your back matter.
Entice readers to sign up for your email list with a special offer. Promote a special offer to readers of your book by directing them to a dedicated landing page just for them. Give them a bonus short story as a reward for signing up for your email list. Encourage them to tell you what they think on Facebook for added visibility.
7. Giving away your rights and royalties
Traditional publishing through an agent may require you to give up the rights to your book as well as a percentage of your royalties. The landscape of publishing is changing. There are great self-publishing options that allow to you keep your book rights and royalties.
With Book Fuel you retain all of the rights to your book and also keep 100% of your net sales. For more information look here https://bookfuel.com/boost-program.
8. Going it alone
You are not alone in this process! Band together with other like-minded individuals and groups. There are great resources available that connect and help authors. You can bounce ideas off of other writers, get great advice from others in your shoes, cross promote each other and much more. Be active in your community. Connections in this industry can help tremendously with your success.
Check out this great community resource https://bookfuel.com/community.
9. Setting goals too high
There is nothing that gets you down more than failing to reach your goals. In the self-publishing world, setting goals is very important. Even more important is setting realistic goals. Honestly evaluate where you are in your process, where you would like to be, and what it will take to get there.
Ask yourself: What goals are most important to me? What capacity do I have to reach them? What steps must I take in order to make my goals a reality? What is my time frame to reach my goal? Asking yourself these questions will identify what is in your reach at where you are in your unique self-publishing journey.
As you grow, goals that were out of reach in the beginning of this process may start to become attainable. Start with what is possible in your current capacity. As your capacity increases so will your goals.
10. Not embracing your inner authorpreneur
A authorpreneur is an author who writes, promotes, distributes, and sells their own book. Promoting a book is hard work. It takes time, dedication, perseverance, and passion.
Before the rise of self-publishing and vanity presses, an author could rely on its publisher to do some of the heavy lifting when it came to marketing and promoting his/her book. Those days are largely gone, and although major publishing houses do run aggressive marketing campaigns, smaller authors are left to their own devices to get their book into the hands of readers.
So embrace your inner authorpreneur and treat your book like a business.
