10 Tips For New Self-Publishing Authors
Writing a book can be an intimidating and daunting task, especially when you are deciding to self-publish. I chose to self-publish because I didn’t know where to start, but I knew that it would probably be easier to do it myself than looking for a publisher to do things for me. I didn’t want to have to sell myself or my books to someone before they decided it was worth their time. Writing has always been a passion for me, but writing a book isn’t the same as writing in a journal or a diary, or writing essays. I’ve made a lot of errors along the way, and I want to share some of those lessons with you.
1. Choose your pen name wisely
I suggest researching your chosen name and then seeing how many, if any, authors there are with the same name. You want to be original and stand out, but you have to consider the theme of your genre as well. Someone named John Johnson might not be a selling point for someone who writes fantasy. In my original pen name, Leo Brown, I wanted to sound more like a man than a woman because, unfortunately, there is the stigma that people are more likely to read a book by a man. It isn’t fair, but most stigmas aren’t.
There was only one author with my pen name back then, and he wrote children’s books. I didn’t do much research before dedicating myself to that name. When I discovered it was on Goodreads, I quickly regretted my decision because it was constantly pulling up the children’s books when I googled myself. This time, I verified I was the only one with my pen name, and if not, I was the first author with it.
2. The title is just as important as the name
I wanted to be deep and express myself in my title, ‘The Cult that Raised Me.’ It was on target with the content but not with my audience. On top of that, my title kept pulling up with other religious cult books on Amazon, which was definitely not my genre. I wasn’t considering the placement of my book and where Amazon’s algorithm would place it. My book was buried so deep in the religious book genre that I had to search by my author’s name and book title to find it.
3. The cover can make or break you
If you have the resources, invest in someone creating your book cover or waste time experimenting on your own. People will naturally look at the ebook cover before deciding if it is worth reading the description. My original cover art didn’t convey the idea that I was writing young adult fiction. I honestly don’t know what it conveyed, but I knew it was part of the reason that no one was reading my book. I played around with various book covers, but I still didn’t feel I had the right image before removing the books entirely.
It wasn’t until I rebranded with new images that people started paying attention. If you are writing a series, keep the cover art consistent throughout. People want to quickly identify that those books belong together. It’s not just about the image itself, but what font is the title and author name? Where is the placement of each? Do you make your author’s name or the title stand out? Starting off, I suggest the title be more captivating than the name.
When you become the Stephen King of your genre, then you can get lazier with the book cover because people will know who you are and are likely to read your book regardless. When you’re Stephen King, and they know your work, and your fans buy and read your books for that simple reason. For us newbies, we need our cover to draw them in.
4. Make the blurb intriguing, but don’t put too many details
Just like the back cover, you need to write a description for your book that will make readers drool for more. You want to give enough information for them to get the gist of what to expect while creating suspense that will leave them wanting to read the book to find the answer to the questions the blurb should be asking. You describe your main character, then the overall plot, but leave a question that only reading the book can answer.
If you give away too much, people won’t have a reason to read the book and will likely be bored before they even start. The blurb is most important with ebooks because there isn’t a back cover. Suppose you are doing paperback or hardcover exclusively and find yourself lucky to have it placed in a store. In that case, the back cover will be your selling point.
5. Decide on your audience before writing
I knew from the beginning that my first book was from the viewpoint of a teenage girl, but I couldn’t say that my audience was supposed to be teenagers. In fact, KDP, which is where I publish, wouldn’t allow me to say that my genre was ‘Young Adult’ because it had sexual content in it. I went with a ‘Coming of Age’ genre so that I wouldn’t get in trouble if my book wasn’t placed correctly. There is the genre ‘New Adult,’ but it isn’t utilized on every platform. I believe that is how I put my books in Draft to Digital because they also have guidelines on what constitutes as Young Adult.
The content of your manuscript, the audience it is intended for, and the genre that you are allowed to categorize it as have to be considered before you begin writing, or else you might find your book not placed correctly by your publishing company and leading to the wrong audience that might not read it.
6. Stay consistent and create a schedule
This is one I am still struggling with. I’ve tried this writing business before and failed miserably because I couldn’t stay consistent. It isn’t just about writing your books but engaging with the audience that you hope to become your fan base one day. This requires a social media presence that I am not good at. I tried doing YouTube before, and I made a few instructional videos, but I took them down when I decided I wasn’t any good at being a content creator.
Well, I’m back again, and I intend to keep going even when I fall off. I am making a writing schedule and a content schedule so that my videos are uploaded in a coordinated and timely manner so that my followers (whenever I get any) will know what to expect from me. People will like you enough to read your books. Still, if you don’t offer them more than just a random book once or twice a year, they may forget about you and stop looking for you to drop any more material. Start a schedule and stick to it until it becomes a habit.
7. Utilize editing software
I beat myself up a lot when I first started because I didn’t think I was any good. I didn’t feel that my books were good even though I got good feedback, or at least no negative feedback. I would have done better if I had someone else edit my books, but as a self-publisher, I didn’t want to use anyone for anything. I take pride in doing it myself, even if I made some major grammatical mistakes or didn’t convey the message with the best word choices. I scrutinized my books constantly while editing. I even used grammar editing software, but I will say they are not equally consistent.
Now, I am using Grammarly, and after so many years, I feel it has improved my writing. I actually used Grammarly the first time and was shocked when I re-edited my books and found so many mistakes that I hadn’t caught before. On top of that, Grammarly now offers various ways for you to write your content based on the writing style that you set.
You don’t have to take the suggestions, but sometimes, it is nice to compare what Grammarly says versus the way you say things. Their suggestions didn’t always fit the tone or context of my writing, but that is okay. Ignore it and keep going.
8. Invest in yourself
I talk a lot about not wanting to spend money on things like editing or book cover design, but in order to do those things myself, I have to pay for the software. There are always free alternatives, but the premium selections that most companies offer require a payment of some sort, whether it is a monthly subscription or yearly.
I pay yearly for my website domain and monthly for features in Squarespace. I have the pro version of Grammarly for editing and Canva so that I can utilize the best features for my graphics when it comes to making things like thumbnails for my YouTube videos. For editing my videos, I pay for Wondershare Filmora, which I absolutely love because of its ease of use. They offer extra features that you can pay for as well for certain graphics that aren’t necessary to have a great interactive experience. You have to consider the cost and what is your budget when it comes to adding these features. It isn’t necessary, but considering what type of content you want to put out there will determine what software and features you will need.
9. Give yourself grace
You are going to make mistakes. You are going to reread your work months or years later and hate what you did sometimes, or at least wish you had done it differently. That is okay! You will grow and mature, and your mindset and how you process things will change the more you write. That is a good thing!
When I was re-editing my books this summer, I was cringing at how I conveyed my characters and even the plot in book two. But I loved to see the contrast between those early works from 2019 and the present. I’ve changed then, and in 2024, I felt like my third book was the best and my favorite thus far. I’ve reread book three several times and I can’t think of many things I would have said differently.
Granted, my characters are grown now, and it is easier to write from the experience of an adult as an adult versus trying to dig deep into my teenage brain and figure out how they think and speak. I was embarrassed, but only because I wrote some scenes that were meant to be embarrassing for a teenager.
I am and will always be my worst critic, but I am learning to just go with it. I made mistakes, and I missed significant grammatical errors, but that is okay! I learned from them and still learning.
10. If all else fails, start over
It isn’t easy to admit that something you enjoyed doing didn’t work out as planned. I gave up on writing for years. It’s not that I didn’t attempt to do it; I just got stuck and had years of writer’s block. I’ve started multiple projects, and I have numerous half-finished books, but no one will ever read them.
One thing I ventured off doing after writing my second book for Nic and Myron was writing a book about a scientist who travels to China to investigate an outbreak that spread through the earth and ended up in the States, thanks to someone in the military traveling home. Unbelievably, this was in September of 2019, and midway through it, Covid broke out… I was not about to release that book after that! I mean, my disease led to people becoming these creatures that couldn’t survive in daylight, but still. It was in bad taste and bad timing. Despite that, I felt the need to start over and rebrand myself, thanks to all of the lessons learned that I am sharing with you. I didn’t do any of those things!
Now, here I am, with no fan base and no name for myself, and I am trying to rebuild the small audience I once had. I could go through my channels from my old pen name accounts, but I wanted to see if I could do things differently and end up with a better result. My future fans out there will find me, and the previous ones will find me again. Either way, being an author is a journey that has no end destination.
If you have to rebrand yourself, do that. I changed my pen name, my book titles and cover art, and my blurbs. Slowly, people are noticing. It may work this time, it may not. You don’t become Terry McMillan or George Orwell overnight.
Sell yourself, give yourself the credit, and remember that you aren’t aspiring… You ARE a writer!
And if you have published that book already, congratulations! Wear that author crown proudly, and remember that if you don’t think your work is the best thing you have ever done for yourself, then there isn’t any point in doing it all.