5 Huge Mistakes That Self-Publishers Make (Why Your Books Aren’t Selling)

 

Prevention, they say, is better than cure. How would it feel if you stumble on some costly mistakes after publishing a thousand copies of your book? That will undoubtedly take a massive toll on you. And you might have to spend extra to fix these mistakes, which, we’re sure, is not something any author would want.

We can remember this fateful afternoon when we spent a lot of time trying to fish out errors from a friend’s new book. We had thought we did a great job, only to finally publish it with a few mistakes making it out in print. Needless to say, the friend was beyond frustrated. 

Suppose you are planning on self-publishing any of your work. In that case, you should acquaint yourself with the common lapses that other people have encountered. Learning from their mistakes would set you on a journey towards a very successful self-publishing exercise. 

This article will enlighten you on the common mistakes that authors make when self-publishing their work.

Understanding the most common mistakes that authors make will help you steer clear of them, and that in turn means your work has a far greater chance of success. These mistakes may be common, but they can hamper your success more than you’ll believe.

 

1. Shallow Market Research and Analysis

Research has it that 600,000 to 1,000,000 books are self-published every year, which is a considerable number. Most people write books because they want to earn profit from the sales. If you worked hard on something, it only makes sense for you to reap your rewards. Sales are integral parts of the success of every book. The more copies you sell, the more people who get to read whatever you have written, and the happier and more fulfilling the whole thing gets. 

But what if you don’t have a book that many people are interested in? For you to generate massive sales, you need to know what people are reading, and what kinds of books they are looking for. This means carrying out proper market research. This way you are getting to know what readers are presently interested in—the rave of the moment, as well as emerging markets. 

Not only that but extensive research keeps you informed about the length, structure, and other features of a book that would suit the taste of present readers. 

Your ultimate goal is to write a book that will generate sales; something that readers would rush to purchase. To achieve maximum satisfaction from the sales of your book, you need to be able to invest your time and sometimes even a few dollars into conducting research.  Sufficient research would amount to some good results.

One of our favorite research tools is Publisher Rocket, we’ve raved about it already on our youtube channel: DestinyManifeste. It’s great for discovering both keywords and brand new niches, and using this software has allowed us to make thousands of dollars from a single book. For a flat rate of $99, you can buy PublisherRocket outright and keep it forever. For anyone who takes self-publishing seriously, this is an indispensable tool that can introduce you to niches, keywords, and trends worth thousands of dollars, money you would most definitely be leaving on the table if you go into self-publishing blindly.

Check out Publisher Rocket here: https://publisherrocket.com/?affiliate=destinymanifest

(This is an affiliate link which means that if you purchase this tool through our link, we will receive a small percentage of the profit at no additional cost to you)

2. Self-Editing 

Many people see editing as something anyone can do. Anyone with command of the language in which the book is written can edit, right? Naturally, this false notion makes a lot of authors jump at editing their own work. They feel it is going to save them some money. 

While self-editing may turn out fine for some authors, don’t be under the assumption that this applies to the majority. But self-editing can be a free flight to disaster for most authors. There is a reason why even the best most illustrious authors use professional editors. 

Most of these authors usually seek editors’ services to fix any issues their eyes fail to see. So don’t fall victim to the belief that self-editing is best especially if you’re writing a first novel.

Professional editors have some level of training that the average individual doesn’t. Because they are being paid, editors take their time to edit your work properly. They will spot typos and grammatical errors that you are less likely to encounter.

They can be ruthless in their appraisal of your work but take that in good light; it should be something that encourages you. Because ultimately their job is to make your book better. 

If you are serious about your sales and how people perceive your book, hire a professional editor. But suppose you don’t have the funds to hire a professional editor. In that case, the least you can do is download editing apps online. But mind you, these apps can never be as efficient as a professional editor, but they will help you to identify glaring mistakes, grammatical errors, and typos that are easy for you to miss when looking over your own work.

If you intend to send your work to an editor, you need to review it first thoroughly. There are several types of editing: content editing, line-editing, copyediting, proofreading, etc. You should familiarize yourself with the styles and see what truly suits your work. You can get more than enough information and even courses on these types of editing.

We cannot overstress how essential editing is to the success of a book. If you want people to read your work and take you seriously, editing is an absolute necessity.  You need to make sure that your work is free from costly errors that might annoy, even upset readers, and compel them to drop your book for another, or even leave your book with negative feedback.

3. Lack of Marketing  

Marketing is one thing that you cannot skip. If you want to generate sales, then people need to know about what you are selling. It is like producing locally-made drinks at home and sitting there, hoping to see a throng of curious and eager customers coming to buy from you. It’s just not realistic. 

If no one can see your book, no one will buy it. That is just a simple fact. And if only a few people know about your book, only a few will purchase it. The fact is, the more people you can expose to your book, the more likely you will be able to see sales.

But what if a million people get to know your book? It might be unrealistic to believe all one million of them will buy it. Still, a considerable number would like it, or something about it will endear itself to them. These people will probably make a purchase too. So the more people get to know about your book, the better chances for you in sales. 

You can start by telling as many people as possible about your book. You don’t have to wait till it is published; begin beforehand.

Create social media pages for your book and engage your audience with the writing process. It is best to let them anticipate the release of the book long before it is sent for publishing. 

Also, it would be best if you did not forget to include your immediate circle in the whole process. You can ask your friends and family to mention you on their social media pages, and so on.

But more importantly, if you publish on a platform such as Amazon KDP, you need to run ads. As you probably know already, Amazon is a marketplace, but it’s also a search engine. When an author publishes their book to the platform, it won’t be visible on the first or even second page of the Amazon search engine. It may end up on the eleventh or fourteenth page. And if you are familiar with statistics, the majority of buyers searching for products will not look past the first few pages to find what they need. 

Give your book a chance by running some ads on your books. Sponsored products can appear on the first pages of Amazon, exposing you to your target market so you can make start making sales and increasing your ranking on the platform. And an increase in sales leads to more purchases, and more reviews, increasing your rank even further. For the serious self-publisher, marketing is integral to success.

Check out our Publish Pages Course to learn how to properly run ads on Amazon.

 

4. Not Letting Anyone Read Your Book Before Self-Publishing 

Some writers often say that they write for themselves; that may be true, but at the same time, they still want to gain readership, they still want readers to buy and like their books. Many authors write for their readers-present and prospective. And if you writing for your readers, logic says let a few people in your target demographic read it before the book goes public. 

The fulfillment of most works of art is appreciation. If you write, and no one gets their hands on your book, then honestly speaking, most writers would feel disappointed that no one appreciates what you have written. 

It would be best if you talked to beta readers before publishing your work. Good beta readers will read your book and return some honest feedback. What they tell you can help you even before an editor gets to work on it. They can tell you if your book was a worthy read or not. 

Your friends and family have a close connection with you and will likely love anything that comes from you. But, unfortunately, they might not give the honest feedback that you seek.

You can definitely join a writers’ group or a self-publishers forum, where “beta readers” are in abundance. Most times, what they may require from you is returning the favor.

But you can also consider professional beta reading services to have a reader take a look at your work. In this case the payment would be monetary, so you won’t need to do any beta reading yourself. Use the criticisms you get to better your work before publishing. 

5. Not Split-Testing (Your description, book covers, etc)

Sometimes it’s tempting for Self-publishers to try to save money by only commissioning one book cover design or only one description. Even if they are designing their own covers and descriptions, they only want to create one, to save time and effort. But what they might not realize is that what might be standing between your book and a sale...or a few sales, or a lot of sales, could be the wrong book hook, or full book description, or the wrong book cover.

It’s important to split-test different aspects of the books that you sell. Your cover might be unappealing to your audience, and because it is the first impression that somebody will have of your book, it is often the determining factor of whether someone will give it a chance or not. So if you see that you are experiencing slow or no sales, try re-publishing your book with a different book cover.

It is important to test book covers, descriptions, even your book’s interior design from time to time to find the combination that optimizes book sales. If you find that your book isn’t selling much, the fix might be as simple as changing the book description’s hook.

We hope this article can help you avoid making mistakes in publishing your book. As additional resources, we also have excellent professional services that will breathe life into whatever writing projects you are working on.

Publish Pages Services has all that you need to achieve your goals. We are a team of professionals writers and editors with the knowledge, skills, talent, and expertise to help you actualize your dream. We’re always here, so you can easily reach us at every hour of the day and every day of the week.

We can transform the ideas contained in the pages of your book into some massive sales, but only if you let us. Your hard work is necessary, but we’ll help you turn all that dedication into an excellent book that will launch your bight career as a self-published author!

We offer professional ghostwriting services, proofreading and editing services, book description, beta reading services, detailed book outlines, and more. So, click here to begin your journey with us, and let’s all walk towards your future as a best-selling author!