10 Things You Didn’t Know About Becoming a Published Author
1.The biggest surprise about becoming a published author was how hard it was to get the attention of a traditional publisher.
Of course, I was like most authors when I first started. I had a “great” book idea. Who wouldn’t want to sign me and my book up to a million-dollar deal? But I had done absolutely no research on what the sales prospects might be for the type of book that I was trying to get out to the world. I had no clue, at all, about the publishing business. If I had done a little research, I would have soon learned that literally thousands of new books are published and offered to the public for sale each and every single day – year end and year out.
The competition for a particular book to reach the eyes of a traditional publisher is mind boggling and nearly unreachable for most authors. . .even if you have the most amazing idea ever.
2. My second biggest surprise was the discovery of how easy it is to self-publish.
Literally anyone can do it. Many avenues are available for self-publishing and distribution of books but KDP seems to be the most lucrative because of their close ties to Amazon. That organization absolutely rules the book world today. It is truly shocking how fast they overtook every other book seller out there.
My first book was self-published through Create Space. I was so thrilled to have found them. That was before Amazon – KDP absorbed it into its vast organization. The best feature of Create Space was that you could set up a wholesale book page through them. Amazon does not offer that ability. I wish they would because an author on Create Space could hand out coupon codes to anyone who wanted to purchase the book in bulk (like independent book stores, non-profit organizations and such). Those books were delivered straight to the customer from Amazon. That was very useful and convenient.
3.In the beginning, having your book listed on Amazon almost insured that your book would be seen in keyword searches. It might be on page 100 but at least it would be there. Those days have swiftly departed.
Not long ago, search lists were mysteriously reduced to a max of about 10 pages. Even if there should be many more pages because you know without a doubt that your book contains the word or phrase of the key word search, you might not get to see it. In fact, we’ve come to a point where your book title might not even be found when you key the actual book title into the search box. That can be very vexing.At least you can still find it in a search by listing the title of the book and the name of the author. . .for now.
So, what, exactly, can this strange phenomenon be attributed to?
4.I’ve come to the painful realization and I’m sure many others have as well, that it’s absolutely true that whoever spends the most money on advertising gets the most results in getting their books in front of potential readers.
Here’s the really sad part. . .even if you are spending money on advertising, your book might not show up on the search list because too many others in that 10-page search result list are spending more than you are. It is sad because most authors really do not have a lot of money to spend on advertising.
What is an author / entrepreneur to do in their endless effort to get eyeballs on their book?
5.When I decided I wanted to be a writer. . .and then later to self-publish, I never realized I was going to become an entrepreneur. I never gave one second of thought to marketing and promotion. When I realized I might have to start doing some of that stuff, I had no idea what avenues to take or what was available down each of them.
Now, I know there are more ways than you can count to promote a book. I also now know without a shadow of a doubt that if you don’t promote your own book, no one will ever know it exists. Once it is published on Amazon (or what ever self-publishing service you ultimately choose. . .and there are many) each book has a permanent web address. That address is your link to possible sales and you must promote that link everywhere you possibly can.
Visit Rockin’ Book Reviews Blog to read the last 5 things I didn’t know about becoming a published author.
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