The lightning fast changes in the publishing industry provide opportunity and limitations, all at once. As Indie authors, we have the ability to adjust our publishing plans and our writing schedules as quick as necessary to accommodate the ever-changing demands that come our way. But our ability to adapt creates its own challenges like a billion titles to compete with.
So many titles makes visibility hard and leaves self-published authors everywhere with an always moving target. What strategies can we use in order to be seen among the masses of other authors? Should we write a series? Release them all at once or close together? How many books do we need to write in a year?
Some authors are finding success by releasing a new book every single month, saying that the only way to maintain a steady income is this constant release. Other authors despair because they don’t feel they have the ability to write that quickly. With this constantly changing environment, is there any sure fire recipe for success anymore? Does it depend on genre? Frequency of release?
While none of us have a crystal ball and the ability to forsee the future, seasoned indie authors have some tactics that we can all use to aim for success. I interviewed a few different authors and here’s what they’ve got to say. Most all of the published writers that I spoke with have very similar advice.
- Write. Pick a genre you love to read and write that.
- Edit. Pay someone to catch your mistakes and help you look good.
- Get a great cover. Hire a designer and make your cover gorgeous.
- Publish. Hire a formatter if necessary and push your book into the world.
- Promote that book. Email your fans, buy some ads, get some reviews.
- Return to step 1 and do it all again. Yup. Rinse and Repeat.
Now, wait, before you get mad and say, “that’s so obvious, Auburn, give me some “real” advice, hear me out.
Success is not a magical formula. There is no easy button. There aren’t many guarantees any of us can make in this industry, but I can promise you this: You cannot sell a book that you have not written.
So, you must continue to produce content, make that content excellent with the help of an editor, give your words a beautiful cover so as to give it a fighting change in the world, tell folks about that book through various methods of marketing and promotion, and then write the next book.
Do not get hung up on how quickly your write or stress about your slow writing speed. You write the best book you can, for today, and then do it all over again.
It’s easy to get lost in the chaos of all the information we get as authors. We are inundated with supposedly magic formulas that will help us market and create the best ads, but it’s important to stay focused in all that noise.
Keep writing, keep publishing. Again and again and again.
Write on, brave ones.
For more tips on publishing success, check out Learn Self-Publishing Fast.
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