Whether you’re an experienced author or just starting out, here are 5 things you should know on your writing journey.
1. An editor is essential to your book’s success.
You may have written a book with a great plot, but if it’s full of typos, missing punctuation, telling instead of showing, and rambling narrative, then readers won’t like it. A trained, experienced editor such as those found at Purely Prose can help you fix all these things and polish your book to be the best it can be.
2. A good book cover can make or break your book.
The cover is the first thing potential readers see when they look at your book. If it’s not appealing and appropriate for the genre, they won’t buy it. It’s important to keep an eye on the trending conversations regarding book covers to ensure that your book is enticing enough for your readers to want to pick up.
3. You need a thick skin.
Not everyone will like your book. You’ll get criticism from editors and reviewers, and some of those reviewers may be downright mean. Don’t take it personally; instead, take the pieces of criticism to improve your work, while keeping in mind that not all criticism is actually valuable.
4. You should offer your book everywhere.
Offer your book as an ebook; this is a digital age, and ebooks are cheap to produce, market, and sell. At the very least, you need to sell your book on Amazon; it is the biggest market for ebooks. If your ebook isn’t enrolled in KDP Select, then be sure to also sell it on Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Google, Kobo, and Smashwords. Also offer your ebook in international stores, even if your book isn’t translated (people in many countries can and do read books in English). Additionally, invest in a print format for your books. With all these buying options available, you won’t miss out on readers who want to buy your book from a certain vendor, in a certain format.
5. You’ll need to promote your book often.
Marketing is never a one-time thing. If you want to sell a lot of books, you need to promote them, even if you are with a traditional publisher. The most effective promotion strategy is to temporarily discount one of your ebooks and schedule a promotion on a site like Book Cave; this increases sales and reviews of that book, as well as sales of your other books (especially if the book on sale is part of a series).
Other marketing tactics include an author blog, an author newsletter, social media posts, effective back matter, and using a street team.
Being an author is an incredibly treacherous journey but also extremely satisfying to see other people enjoy the world that you’ve built through your words. Following these tips will help you reach an audience that appreciates your writing.
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Article derived from My Book Cave
