For self-published authors, there are a lot of steps in the process of creating a successful book.
If you want to do it all yourself, you have to learn the steps that are essential, and those that might not always be necessary. But the point is, there's a lot more than just writing the book and being done with that.
To do this properly, you need to know some of the most crucial steps, beyond, you know, writing the book.
As the head of Kindlepreneur, I'm hear to tell you some of those most important steps that you should never skip. Let's get into it.
#1 Formatting the Book
By far one of the most egregious errors I see authors make is when they try to get by with a poorly formatted book.
Do not do this.
There are a number of good software that will help you to format your book, like Atticus or Vellum, but you can also get this done by hiring it out to other people.
I recommending spending a little extra to get one of the good software packages out there. It will save you a lot of money in the long run, assuming you plan to write and format more than 1-2 books.
However, if you're only doing 1-2 books, then hiring out can be the right call. Don't penny pinch, however. Spend the money necessary to get it done well. Because nothing will turn a reader off more than a book that looks bad in eBook or in Print.
#2 Deliberate Practice
This is one that a lot of self-published writers don't talk enough about, but it's an essential step.
Practice.
You'll get some of this from just writing the book, but if you really want to step it up to the next level, you've got to engage in deliberate practice. This is when you spend the extra time to do specific exercises that are geared to help you level up a specific skill.
This could be exercises to improve character development, showing vs telling, worldbuilding prompts, etc. Whatever you need to improve in your writing skills, this is what you should focus on.
And spend the extra time to do it. I won't sugar coat it, this will be writing time that is spent not writing your actual book. But it will make you better as an author.
#3 Getting an Iron-Clad Copyright Page
Most authors will create a copyright page that looks something like this:
Copyright AWESOME AUTHOR NAME 2021. All Rights Reserved.
And while this is technically all you need, it's not going to be enough if you ever have to go to court over your book. This is the area where you'd want to include a number of disclaimers, the ISBN, permissions notices, credits like book cover artist, trademarks, publisher information, etc.
There's a lot to it. I recommend doing your research and coming up with some templates about book copyright pages that you can use.
The good news is, you can absolutely use the same copyright page over and over with very few changes.
#4 Learning to Understand Genre and Story
There are a lot of people that will tell you to follow your heart and just write whatever comes to mind.
This is horrible advice.
If you want to make money as an author, if you want to be noticed by anyone, you need to understand the genres that people like to read, and you need to understand story structure.
Story goes back ages, and has been going on since early mythology. There are lessons to be learned in all of those old stories, and they still apply to modern-day work. There's a reason why Star Wars resonated with so many people, it drew heavily from ancient mythological ideals.
To get to know genre, it's best to do a little research. Chances are, you already have an idea of what genre your book would fit into best. So start by researching the "best YOUR GENRE books" in Google. You'll come up with a lot of different options, like this one for science fiction, or this one for non-fiction.
#5 Getting the Cover Right
Going along with knowing the genre is having a good cover.
There are two keys to getting the cover right so it will sell books for you.
1) You need to know the genre of the book you're trying to sell. This means doing the research to see what covers other books in that market are selling, and try to design something similar.
2) Unless you are an accomplished designer yourself, you should be prepared to spend a lot of money on the cover. A cheap cover will look cheap, and readers will notice. You want something that's well designed, and you will have to pay a little to get it. But let me assure you, of all the things you want to cut corners on in self-publishing, the book cover is the one corner that you should not cut.
If your cover is spot on, and your book is at least reasonably competent and fitting of the genre, you shouldn't have a tough time figuring out how to sell more copies of your book.
On the flip side, if your book is not selling even after extreme effort, you might want to check the book cover first. It's most likely the culprit.
And that should do it for my five steps that authors often forget or overlook. These are all very important steps, and if you don't give them the time, attention, and in some cases money that they need, you're not likely to see a lot of growth.
So take whatever time you need, format your book correctly, get a good copyright page, spend time practicing, get to know your genre and storytelling in general, and make sure your book reflects this.
Cheers!
Dave
