Self Publishing to Best Seller

After many trials and errors in the process of publishing my first novel, I realized a key point that I lacked in order to be successful: Educate oneself on the principle that self publishing is a businesss, and as such, needs to be approaced in that way. It is mandatory that you adhere to certain guidlines.

It doesn’t matter whether your book is a novel, creative writing, prose, poetry or memoirs, they all answer to the same professional guidance of the company at every step in the self publishing process.

To help you with your self publishing options and ensure an absolutely spectacular job, one worth bragging about, here are some simple but crucial pointers that will help your book become a best seller.

The time to generate marketing ideas is before you write the book. Identify and target your market. Creating an effective book publicity campaign can cost you just a little more than some of your time and a bit of creative thinking. Most publishers don’t individually publicize a book for more than a week. They primarily set certain features in place that enable the author to help publicize it.There is a technique and strategy involved in the publicity game. It requires simple steps to sending the right materials, the right way, and to the right people. Keep 100% of your Royalties to your book. Beware, some unscrupulous publishers will even try and take your rights to your nexr book too, before it is even written. Find a publisher with quality and integrity. To assist in this process, thoughtfully consider writers’ forums, websites and reviews. I for one, found gutskirtspress.com and lulu.com rather useful for my publications.
For digital leverage, publish more than one book. It takes less than twice the effort to prompte two books. The same goes with three or more books. And keep 100% of your profits too, since self publishing requires self promotion.

Have your manuscript professionally edited. Go for optional editing services made available at the publishing company. It costs between $0.02 to $0.05 per word. If they are too expensive than you may want to consider finding someone on your own. Be careful, some publishers tend to make more money editing author’s manuscripts than they do publishing them. Some offer ‘light editing’, but it may not catch all errors. No author should ever edit or proofread their own work.
The interior of the book needs to be professionally formatted too, it ensures proper layout for text and images on the pages.

The single most important element of your book is its’ cover. Hence, having a custom book cover professionally designed to maximize your book sales potential is a must. This is no place to skimp, trust me! Don’t design your own cover, no matter how tempted you are. Prices may vary from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars. Don’t mistake a ‘free custom cover’ offered by many self publishing companies, They are usually an instock photo with your title on top and your byline at the bottom.

Above all, never quit. Keep your antenna out for new reviews, opportunities and freelancers who write content on your topic. Books wrtten 30 odd years ago are still read today – because of tireless promoters!

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