NEW AUTHORS - BOOK WRITTEN? WHAT NEXT?

New Authors-What Next? 

 

You have worked hard writing the book. But the work doesn’t stop there! What happens next?

EDITING: You can pay a professional to edit the book for you or you can do it yourself using online tools such as :ProWritingAid., AutoCrit., Grammarly and many more, these are not recommendations just an example of what is on the market. A good font is also required and Garamond is an established book print, size 12 or 14.

BOOK COVER: it is important that you find a good cover that takes the eye, first impressions count and the cover is the most important first impression, The different ways to do this are; Create the cover yourself if you have the skills or pay for it. The minefield of paying for it is the costs vary significantly from $10 to $1000 dollars bespoke. Personally, I paid around $50 for each of my covers and they do the job without breaking the bank, but it does take a few hours pouring over the different online book cover sales outlets.

You are now ready to go, the next thing is the most difficult of all MARKETING. Where do you start? The first place should always be Amazon,

why?

Amazon is probably the easiest platform to upload your book and you can decide if you want to upload your own book cover, there are also templates within the site to upload ready-made covers, (They are not quite as professional and other books can use the same covers.)

You can set up, an eBook, paperback, or hardback simply with basic copy-and-paste skills.

ISBN: You will need an ISBN number for your books, Amazon offers ISBN numbers free, or you can purchase your own ISBN. I would recommend you purchase your own ISBN, this can be used on any site, and you own it, amazon owns their own ISBN. ISBNs are easy to purchase through Neilsen in the UK and Bowker’s in the States.

Amazon marketing is also easy with some great ways to advertise at a budget to suit your pocket, Amazon has around 42% market share and is by far the largest outlet for a self-published author..

Once Amazon is set up and running you will need to look at other platforms, these may include: Smashwords, Ingramspark, Lulu, and many more. I personally like Ingramspark because it offers some great outlets to large companies, (however I have noticed an increase in marketing costs). The advertising with Ingram tends to be in a catalogue that is sent monthly to book stores, they can purchase your book from the catalogue (be aware of the sale or return clause.)

If you intend to sell your eBook through Amazon and other outlets, this is acceptable but you must take the KDP option

KDP 35%-This is an offer that allows you to sell your eBook on amazon for a royalty of 35% of the book sale price. The plus side to this is you are free to sell your eBook anywhere in addition to Amazon. The obvious downside is you are taking a reduced royalty, some find not being at the behest of selling their eBook only on Amazon as a major advantage. This is the simplest format really, you decide to sell at 35% for access to other platforms. If you don’t want to sell your eBook through other outlets then KDP Select will pay you a 70% royalty!

 If you market your paperback or hardback book through local stores ensure you get an agreement before you commit to getting the books printed or you may end up with a batch of books and nowhere to sell them. You probably won’t get a deal with national stores as they usually only deal through larger outlets or publishers, also you need to take into consideration that the book industry works heavily on return or sale, this means, you will get paid upfront off an outlet at a reduced cost to them, however, they have the right to return it at the full RRP so you could be out of pocket, in some cases by a large amount, however, if the book sells it can be very rewarding.

Be aware that most self-published books fail miserably due to the authors’ lack of publishing and marketing knowledge, but those who do win, win big, taking home all the royalties, consider carefully how you market your book if you want to earn money, many authors however just write for many other reasons which are not financially driven.

 Then there is other marketing to consider, social media, local bookstores, small supermarket chains, etc. ( I wouldn’t recommend large stores because your chances of getting in are very small, you will need an agent or publisher, and the risk of sale or no return on high volumes could be a risky step to take)

Another area I find productive is hiring a book stall, I buy books from auctions and sell them on, and I also link in my novels. You can also sell on eBay and Etsy to name two.

If somebody buys your book off eBay you can automatically send the copy from Amazon to the purchaser's address, taking advantage of the print-on-demand facility they offer.