The 5 Biggest Mistakes Self-Publishing Authors Make

The self-publishing road isn’t easy, but it gives you freedom and control over your creative work. To help you avoid frustration and unnecessary stress, I’ve collected some of the most common mistakes self-publishing authors make: 

1. Amateur book cover and formatting

Your cover is most probably the first thing your potential readers will see. It is what will make them purchase or ignore a book. Even the greatest of content won’t matter if it is never seen. Take a look at some of the best sellers in your genre - what do you find most attractive in their covers? Once you know the effect you want to achieve, reach out to a professional cover designer. It’s not that expensive, and it will be money well spent.

And while we are at it, make sure your book is formatted correctly. This will save you from unsatisfied readers and negative reviews.

2. Boring description

After the cover, your book blurb is the second (if not the main) factor in whether a reader will decide to buy your book. As a self-publisher, don’t make the mistake of neglecting this aspect.

Creating a book blurb may be extremely challenging as it requires you to extract the essence of two hundred pages in several sentences. You need to make sure you disclose just enough to sparkle the reader’s interest but not reveal any major plot.

3. Not using beta readers

Beta readers are a gift from heaven. They are the first people that will read your manuscript and give you honest, constructive feedback. Their opinion will help you improve your plot, character arcs, tone of voice, and overall writing quality. Think of beta readers as your first market test. You are still allowed to make mistakes, but you will have a general idea about how the market (your readers) will respond to your product (your book).

Beta readers could be paid or unpaid, and your chosen category depends entirely on you. You can also decide to have some of your friends and family beta read, but make sure you also have strangers in your beta readers group. This is essential because people you have a relationship with may find it hard to give you negative feedback. And negative feedback is what you want, trust me.

4. Not hiring professionals to edit and proofread your manuscript

I can not stress this enough: everyone needs an editor. Even editors! You might think your grammar and spelling knowledge is excellent, so why pay for something you can do yourself? The answer is simple: for the luxury of the novelty. Everyone who sees your manuscript for the first time will notice things your eyes missed a hundred times. In addition, editors are trained in editing, so they know things beyond grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I’ve had several clients insisting on old grammar rules that are long gone. Editors keep up with the changes in the language and the current publishing trends and standards. They update their training and knowledge regularly (at least the good ones do) to stay up-to-date and provide a quality service. You think you can’t start a sentence with “And” or “But”? Think again. :)

Editors have worked on dozens, if not hundreds, of books and therefore have the necessary experience to improve and perfect every little detail of your book. You don’t have to agree with every suggestion an editor might give you. But you will have a different perspective and be able to make an informed choice. From a misplaced comma to a major plot whole - your editor will have your back. 

When you decide to hire an editor, make sure you are aware of the four types of editing every book needs.

5. No marketing

Your book is uploaded on KDP (or other self-publishing platforms). Now what? Don’t expect people to miraculously find your book. This won’t happen. In fact, you need to start the promotion process long before you publish your book. Marketing is something you can decide to do yourself if you have the basic knowledge of how it works or if you are willing to spend days and weeks learning. It’s a great skill to have as a self-publishing author, and you can use it for each next book you publish. The internet is flooded with marketing and advertising materials and courses that will help you get started. Once you know the basics, the rest is trial and error. There’s no magic formula - make sure you experiment and test at least several different strategies. 

But if social media scares you or you prefer to use it for watching funny cat videos, don’t be afraid to rely on professionals. Many individuals and agencies offer marketing services for book authors, and—with the risk of being annoying—they know what they are doing because they have the necessary knowledge and experience. If you decide to go this way, make sure you research the provider, and they have a proven track of successful promotion campaigns for self-published authors. The metric you are looking for here is *number of sales*. Even millions of social media followers don’t mean a thing if the author hasn’t sold even one copy of their book.

Self-publishing is not something you should take lightly. It requires a lot of courage but also a lot of dedication and hard work. Be prepared, and don’t let any obstacles stop you. You have a great story - let the world read it!