Self Publishing Pitfalls

[Avelino de Castro]

My first novel was called The Wizard Who Stole Manhattan. It got a good review from Kirkus, and I was thrilled. Of course, greedy little pig that I was, I thought I could sell it and get rich. I was swindled by a disreputable marketing company and now instead of earning from this book I owe five thousand dollars in credit card debt. I learned many lessons and pretty much trust no one, when it comes to marketing or publishing my work.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I've only recently come to realize how many people think publishing a book is the same as having a winning lottery ticket. Sad to say I used to think that, too.

My background in marketing says never to build a campaign on a single book, and to wait until there are a minimum of three books to buy, because cost-per-click will be a loss leader you can only hope to overcome through cross sell.

Or, in ordinary speech, you effectively have to pay people to read your book, and hope to make any profit on them actually buying other books by you. However, you'll have editing and cover art costs to pay off first...

 

[Avelino de Castro]

I've only recently come to realize how many people think publishing a book is the same as having a winning lottery ticket. Sad to say I used to think that, too.

My background in marketing says never to build a campaign on a single book, and to wait until there are a minimum of three books to buy, because cost-per-click will be a loss leader you can only hope to overcome through cross sell.

Or, in ordinary speech, you effectively have to pay people to read your book, and hope to make any profit on them actually buying other books by you. However, you'll have editing and cover art costs to pay off first...

I've got three books now. Not trying to sell them, instead I'm publishing short stories and a serialized novel on a blog instead. I don't mind paying the hosting company. It's relatively cheap, and at least they aren't lying to me, and stealing from me like the publisher/marketer I dealt with before.

 

[-K2-]

Well, report it to your credit card company as the scam it may be, and you might possibly see some of that back...maybe.

K2

 

[Avelino de Castro]

Well, report it to your credit card company as the scam it may be, and you might possibly see some of that back...maybe.

K2

The company is already defunct. But thanks for the suggestion.

 

[ginny]

Most marketing companies for works like books, will tell you up-front that there are no guarantees. And you are lucky it didn't cost you closer to 10K.
The problem with books is that for them to sell well you have to get the attention of the right readers, who will tell other people what a great book it is and that they should read it. That in turn depends on you having written it well enough for that type of accolade.This gives the advertiser or marketer an out; being that maybe it just wasn't written well enough.

This is why traditional publishing can be appealing--in that it used to be someone else money being spent on the marketing. I'm not entirely sure how well that works today.

I admit to having spent 1k on marketing; however after that I told them what I thought of the whole thing and have since saved that money for editing services.

 

[Anthony Tompkins]

Dang threads like this show writing for the Hollywood-esque structure that it really is today. It's dominated by the elite few. Sure, some get in on the ground level on occasion and have mild success. But the overwhelming majority of authors struggle uphill until someone takes advantage of them in their desperation or they give up. But no one can really stop you but you. And pursuing your passion against all odds is something deserving of respect that no one can take away. I hope things have gotten better for you since you posted this. Congrats on your short stories and stay strong!

 

[ginny]

Just remember to write for yourself first.
Then keep in mind that presently you can publish nicely without all that expense from the POD publishers.
Self publishing can be painless with Amazon kindle and Paper editions.
You should probably save the money for editing services.

 

[Don]

Many moons ago I was desperate and wrote professionally for a couple of technical journals. My articles dealt with advanced technologies that took a lot time to research. It probably paid close to minimum wage when my time was divided by my pay.

 

[jbmwriting]

I've been hearing several veteran self-publishers echo Brian's comment, that you need a backlog of books to make the advertising worth it. I'm wondering how much time and money I should put into the marketing side before I publish my debut novel, or if I should focus more of my energies on writing the rest of the series first (and advertising it later).

 

[Brian G Turner]

I should focus more of my energies on writing the rest of the series first (and advertising it later).

That's what I'd personally recommend to anyone.