The Biggest Mistakes Most First Time Authors Make-Part 1
Welcome to another edition of the Publishing Watchdog. If you are unfamiliar with who we are and what we do, please take a look through this blog. Today we will be discussing the biggest mistakes most self-published authors make.
1) Publishing books with unprofessional covers-If you use a self-publishing company and decide to pay for them to publish your books, you will get a book cover template. Read our blog on the author who almost spent 7800 with a self-publisher and nearly got a book cover template with a picture found on the clipart section inside of Microsoft Word.
2) Printing books in large quantities without proof they could sell them-Just because you’ve written the book doesn’t mean everybody is automatically going to buy it. This is why marketing while you’re writing is important.
3) Working without an action plan, book coach or project mentor-Go get help from people that have already done it and have done it successfully. Utilize the internet, go to the library or the bookstore. Just make sure you get the tools and the help necessary to make sure your book is known.
4) Not testing your book cover or title, before it is published-This is one of my personal pet peeves. Just because you like the book cover or title and because you will pick it up doesn’t mean the majority will. Of course, you’ll pick it up because you wrote it, but book sales isn’t about you, it’s about your fans. Ask a group of people from your job, your club, your neighbors, even your enemies if they would pick up the book cover and if the majority say no, then change the book cover. Better yet, ask a bunch of children. Children are brutally honest, even when adults aren’t. If neither the title or the book cover don’t work for people, get over yourself and change it.
5) Waiting until the book is printed before marketing it-(Another pet peeve of mine! I think this is the top of the list of my pet peeves. Nobody cares that you have written a book. They don’t care because chances are they are writing one too. If you want people to care about your characters, your story, you have to make them care from the beginning. I have done so many surveys and focus groups on this, and everyone says the same thing-they don’t care that you’ve written the book after it’s out, they want to know about the book while you’re writing it. Take an example from the big publishing houses, they take 18 months to publish a book because they spend 18 months promoting it. They spend 18 months promoting it while it is going through the editing and rewrite process. Introduce people to your characters while you’re writing, get them excited. Let me say this again-NOBODY CARES THAT YOU’VE WRITTEN A BOOK! NOT EVEN YOUR MOTHER. YOU WANT PEOPLE TO CARE, YOU MAKE THEM CARE AND YOU DO THAT FROM THE BEGINNING, NOT THE END!
6) Pricing the book too high or too low based on what you think it should sell for-Do not be afraid to price the book correctly. Look at what the standard market rate for a book is in your genre and price it accordingly. Too many writers under price because they think that people won’t buy their book and they believe that the industry standard is too high. Other writers, price too high because they think they’ve written something as expensive as a pot of gold. There is a reason why books are priced the way they are: most people will buy at that price. Put your fear or your cockiness aside and be smart with the pricing of your book. If you don’t you’ll only end up hurting yourself, because the publisher or the bookseller is going to make their profit, the problem is you making yours.
7) Self-publishing and naming their publishing company after themselves-(John Doe Publishing Company) To name a company after yourself is a dumb idea. I didn’t say using initials like JD Publishing Company, but actually using a name. Names are as common as body parts and using your name does not make you stand out or make anyone remember you. How many brands do you know, can you name, that are famous with a name of an actual person? My point exactly.
Assuming you know where your book sales will come from-Just because your mother, father or aunt claim they will buy your book doesn’t guarantee that they will. Assume they won’t and get a marketing and sales plan together, ensuring that you will actually get some sales from people other than your family members.
9) Not thinking of a product line to sell in addition to your books- Most writers don’t get rich off their books. The authors who do best have product lines in addition to their books. This means workbooks, dvd’s, coloring books, etc. to sell in addition to their books. Adding product lines to your books, makes your books more valuable or at least seem that way. Also, sometimes people don’t want ot buy the book but want to buy the book products. This is still revenue for you and still helps get your name out there.
10) Solely relying on one marketing model to sell your books-Sadly, most authors aren’t versatile and don’t know how to hit the market from every angle. They either rely on just word of mouth marketing, or just online marketing. They don’t utilize different marketing sources to help market their books, which only hinders getting their name out instead of helping to market it out. Every writer needs to be marketing their books at least 5 times a day, and you can’t do that utilizing just one marketing model, several different kinds are needed.
This is it for Part 1, stay tuned for Part 2.
Until the next time!
The Publishing Watchdog
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39 Responses
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Hey very nice blog!! Man .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…
Hey I stumbled upon your webpage by chance on bing while trying to find something really unrelated but I am really pleased that I did, You have just got yourself another subscriber.
After reading this, I know I will have to get a thick skin for this stuff because it was hard to read. Thank you for your honesty!
Great job on this article. Great job on defending yourself against those who are attacking you for your business model. Great job on taking the high road and still deciding to be an assistance to authors. Keep up the great work!
Great work ZLS! I saw you on NING and Gather. Great stuff! I’m definitely bookmarketing you. Are you going to write a blog for this month? I don’t see anything for the month of February!
Yes, I agree with Dartray, I would like to see some blog post on helping the author out in navigating Twitter, Facebook, NIng, etc. So far, so good though, thanks for this!
How many marketing models are there? Can you please elaborate!
To your tip #2, I know an author who spent $5000 to get their books printed and published. They have most of those books sitting in their living room right now. I’m going to send him your way, hopefully he won’t make the same mistake again.
I agree with your comment on professional book covers. Ooh, I wish more authors would really sit back and think of how influential those book covers are.
Maybe hearing it or reading it from a publisher might help!
Excellent work!
Yes, ZLS Publishing, your company definitely is becoming popular on sites like LinkedIn, NING and even writers beware. I don’t see anything I need to bewary of and instead see the opposite. Thank you for all that you do!
Saw you on writers beware and decided I needed to give your blog a look through. You definitely do things different and I definitely agree with your 10. I would add an 11, not having a tough skin for this type of stuff. As a writer or a publisher, you will truly have haters. How you handle them, is what makes the difference. Thanks for trying!
Saw you on writers beware and decided I needed to give your blog a look through. You definitely do things different and I definitely agree with your 10. I would add an 11, not having a tough skin for this type of stuff. As a writer or a publisher, you will truly have haters. How you handle them, is what makes the difference.
Thanks for trying!
OH, please elaborate more on products like you talked about in this article. I am definitely interested in learning more about this.
I too saw your website and an article written about you. I saw you on Ning! Thank you for this. Any publisher that decides to give assistance to writers must not be that bad in my book! Keep it up, don’t let the haters stop you!
Saw your website while reading http://www.writerbeware.com but I like your website and I like this blog. Like the other people have said, it’s hard if not impossible to find a publisher who will help writers out. You seem to be true to your word in working with authors whether they publish with you or not.
Why doesn’t my publisher write like you??
Thank you all for your comments. We pride ourselves in being the publisher that does things better and at the least a bit different. Your comments are a bright and shining star. Yes, despite all the hate mail and blogs that we may get, the fact that there are people who appreciate what we do is a definite plus.
Thank you all!
I agree with Victoria. We don’t see book publishers giving away tips to authors. We don’t even see it from the self-publishing companies or the vanity presses either. You are definitely a rare jewel.
What makes this post so interesting is that it is from a publisher. Most publisher’s aren’t bothering to give authors advice-Thanks!
Oh and by the way, I love your Twitter post!
Saw you on Twitter and found your twitter post interesting and started reading through your stuff. Thanks for sharing this. What makes this post so interesting is that it is coming from a publisher! Thanks for doing what other publishers won’t.
Great 10 tips. Please provide us with 10 more!
Thanks!
Thanks for this ZLS. I’m writing my book now and came across your website from another website and now I am addicted to your website. Thanks for giving us direction as we definitely need it!
How can I hire you for some sort of consulting! I need people like you for advice!
We need more people like you out here. Forget the haters, I see them all the time on the web. Do your thing out there. Keep up blogs like this for people like us.
We need you!
Excellent website! Excellent article! I wish there were more book publishers like you out there. Keep up the great stuff! Love this stuff man! Love it!
As a first time author, I found this very helpful. Thank you very much. I see that you’ve been getting a bad wrap somewhat for the way you do business, but I like the way you do business.
Thank you for being so helpful!
Hey I came across your page by mistake on msn while searching for something really obscure but I am truly happy that I did, You have just snagged yourself another subscriber.
Hey I came across your website by fluke on feedburner while searching for something completely different but I am really happy that I did, You have just captured yourself another subscriber.
Happy to see that there are blog owners that worry about their blogs and not write all kind of unusable stuff but rather try to maintain it clean and notable for the interest of their visitors. You’ve done a good job and i thank you for that and also for not shocking me with useless garbage and spam.Thank You
Hello. I don’t read many blogs, but yours is of thelittle I read.Have a great day!
Nice blog, keep up the good work and thank you for sharing.
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You post definitely was one of the best parts of my Saturday. I was on Google searching for something totally unrelated when the post caught my attention. I’m glad I took the time to read your post! Feel free to check out my blog at The Tweet Tank Review!
fascinating blog, i wonder if this will stay the way it is currently.
True!
Great stuff… I stumbled upon your blog while I was looking for pet stores in maryland.
hi
I am glad that I came across your site on Bing. I really enjoyed your article. If you are interested in exchanging links with each other’s sites, let me know. I’d be happy to get on each other’s blogrolls. Here is my site: Lose The Back Pain Scam.
I look forward to reading the next set of tips.
Thanks for these!