10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Self-Publishing | Terrible Writing Advice

hello good evening and welcome I'm John Lazarus with stories matter and D publishing self-publishing for some this is a term as depressing as Jennifer one or mil Manor Marathon but just because you decided to self-publish that doesn't mean you're a failure or that you wrote the equivalent of a miscarriage while I didn't start out as a self-published author I have self-published over 150 novels in my long career for a variety of different reasons from frustration with traditional publishing to wanting more creative freedom to incorrectly assuming any income I made doing so wouldn't have to go to my first or second wives I'll take you through my journey as a self-published author and discuss some of the pitfalls I encountered so you can avoid them on this edition of stories [Music] matter today's video is brought to you by cyberdine systems cyberdine systems is a leader in Innovation providing software for Enterprise scale applications of AI systems in education manufacturing business management and nuclear missile silo maintenance cyberon has helped my team at d& publishing do everything from editing press releases to creating marketing plans to even helping one of our authors fact check a science fiction novel about how to survive the apocalypse visit author you can see more about publishing my first book in this video here but while self-publishing wasn't really an option when I started that didn't mean traditional publishing came without its share of headaches for starters my first actual publisher had some weird thoughts about human biology one of which was they believed it didn't actually exist and my second publisher the first one that actually had an office and who I assumed didn't think cells were an illusion meant to test Humanity's Faith made me sign a contract that basically got me nothing back in royalties it wasn't until I met Tabitha cartright my mentor and writing partner for over 5 years that I started seeing any success as an author under her tutelage I entered the most productive stage of my writing career though it wasn't until later that I realized that was because the diet pills she was giving me were actually speed anyway the next few years after that were kind of a blur where I produced some of my worst books that I don't even remember writing and after settling a lawsuit that gave tabi the rights to all the books I had written in our partnership while also getting me off the hook for some things I'd rather not mention I thought it was time to step away from traditional publishing and try the self-publishing route this was in 2011 the year Bin Laden was killed and America was warming up to the idea of authors releasing their own books online the following are some things I learned during this process number one get a good editor if there's one thing I want you to take away from this video besides the fact that our bodies are in fact composed of cells is that you cannot be your own editor because the editor I usually work with wasn't taking my calls I thought I could do it on my own while you do need to edit your own work you need to get at least one other set of eyes on it if not more so once I self-published my first novel the earliest reviews called me out for misspelling the word baggage on the first page number two a book without a marketing plan is just the diary entry of a very sick individual self-publishing is not an outlet for self-expression if it's self-expression you're after you can I don't know start a blog of your poetry or post erotic selfies on Tumblr or storm the capital you have to self-publish with the mindset of a business person and what are all the greatest business people like cold obsessive ruthless so focused on Prof that it borders on psychosis set goals for yourself figure out what kind of ads you want make schedules and stick to them you know do the kinds of things only successful people do and that unsuccessful people would never have possibly thought of number three your PR campaign is a story in itself start it before you finish your novel you can't wait until you push that publish button to start finding your audience even before you're done done writing you should give your existing audience some idea of what's coming let them know what it's about let them know the release date if you're a YouTuber like me flash subliminal messages urging them to buy it in your videos so long as your audience isn't populated by a high percentage of epileptics you'll be fine I ignored email lists and newsletters assuming I'd get by on name recognition alone but my earliest books were out of print by 2011 and tabi the car rate changed the name on all the books she owned to my legal name which fans of the channel will know is the same as one of the worst serial killers in American history this actually boosted sales but didn't do anything for John Lazarus in any case I should have made a better effort to reach out to longtime fans of course if you're a brand new writer and you don't have an existing audience everything I just said was a complete waste of time number four send out Advanced copies to get reviews before publishing this is another step you need to take before publishing and it doesn't matter if your name is Dan nobody or Tyra Banks you need reviews lots of them if you have the money and connections get reviews with places like circus and literary magazines you can go cheaper and use book bloggers you can go way cheaper and hire the homeless to write reviews and post them on your website when I self-published nap time I was so low on money none of these options were available and when I usually run into a problem like this I would just lie write the reviews myself and post them on my website but I thought I could get by without it I was wrong number five act like a bestseller but speaking of blatant fraud A wise man once said success only comes to those who believe in it projecting confidence self-promotion and the grind of the hustle that has rendered Modern Life and existential nightmare are essential to be successful writer do you know what Neil Gaiman and JK Rowling have in common besides being shitty human beings they're always working when you're at Social functions when you're at work in the online sphere act like you belong in their Club one day you just might here are five more bits of knowledge I find are essential to all authors considering self-publishing their first book number six climate change won't kill off enough of the population fast enough to Des atate the marketplace number seven publishing in comic Sands isn't a great idea for a holocaust drama number eight assume everyone is trying to scam you be cold and distant to everyone in your life number nine using child labor for your book launch Team might not be technically illegal but it's still frowned upon number 10 don't hold out hope on this book's success filling that crippling void in your life that's all for today please please don't forget to like And subscribe and I'll leave you with this week's author quote of the week see you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Stories' Matter

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Length: 7min 48sec (468 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 08 2024