Three Tips for New Authors: Ebooks, A Series, and Write Write Write
Three lessons I’ve learned over the past year of indie publishing
As I head toward the final edit of my second book Fallen Spirits, I’ve been researching and taking some refresher courses on book marketing and publishing. My favorite tidbits of information have come from David Gaughran’s Starting from Zero class.
It’s free, and if you’re getting ready to publish, it’s totally worth checking out. He seems like a genuinely nice person, and really goes into detail about his experiences and opinions on publishing. So - please note - some of the information here is from him. Check him out for more!
Focus on eBooks
I’m not sure where I heard this, but I balked the first time I was told to focus on selling my ebooks. Ebooks, I thought? That’s for people who write a first draft and throw it up online, not for me who’s working toward being a reputable author (who makes a lot of money…).
I’ve since changed my opinion. As we all know, traditional publishers have physical bookstores locked up, even most indie bookstores. But what a lot of people might not realize is that the big publishers tend to have paperback categories in online stores pretty-well under their control also.
The Big 5 have huge marketing budgets they can spend on ads and promotions, and departments full of people who specialize in one piece of the marketing process. How can a beginning indie author compete with that?
And, to be honest, while researching this article, it seems that the large publishing houses are making some serious inroads into the ebook category also.
But, have hope, dear writer! I came across Sav R. Miller. She’s indie published from what I can tell, and has a seven-book series for sale. A couple of the books I saw made over $1,600 last month alone on Kindle only, and one of her books in the series made over $10,500 in a month.
So, there is money to be made, and millions of people read digital books. Authors can make six-figure incomes and never win an award or get on a bestseller list. The key? Perseverance.
The way I’m looking at it is to push ebooks first, get a bit of a readership going, then move over to pushing paperbacks. (I publish in three formats - ebook, paperback, and hardcover. Audio is still too expensive for me, though it’s growing extremely fast.)
And pushing people to your ebook on Amazon still gets them to your book page that will show all formats - so it could be the best way to get folks on your page. So - focus on ebooks and spread from there.
(Sidenote: I got the book sales figures from Dave Chesson’s Publisher Rocket. I highly recommend it - it’s invaluable for keyword research and seeing how books are selling, among other things. This is an affiliate link - I get a little; you aren’t charged a penny more.)
Write a Series
One of the keys to Ms. Miller’s success is that she’s writing a book series, not standalone novels. What do I mean by that?
A standalone is simply one book. There are no other books that follow that one, so the story begins and ends with that novel. Lessons in Chemistry, Where the Crawdads Sing, and many other books are standalone. But they’re from major publishers. You know, the ones with the huge marketing budgets. To make your life simpler, carry your story through several books.
A series is telling a story over multiple books. Think Harry Potter and the seven books in JK Rowling’s series.
Very early on in my indie author journey, I heard that you sell your first book when you publish your third. I balked! But now that my debut novel has been out just over a year, I have to admit, that’s solid advice.
Yes, there will be that person here and there that will make a killing off their first book, but it’s rare. If you’ve gotten into writing for the long haul, your main focus is writing books and getting them out.
And the best way to interest a fan base is to write a story that carries through more than one book. I originally considered my first book Rock Gods & Messy Monsters as a standalone, but after I started writing book two and learning all I’ve learned, it made sense to turn the story into a series. It also so happened that Fallen Spirits fit in perfectly as a sequel to Rock Gods, so I’m planning on three to five books in the series. If I get any traction, I also have the possibility of writing about the various characters and events that take place, so I could get upwards of ten books out of it.
In short, I’ve created a world, which is another piece of advice I’ve heard. Build a world that your story takes place in. Some readers will turn into avid fans because they will want to immerse themselves in that universe.
Again, take Harry Potter for example. Can I tell you how shocked I was the first time I saw a group of people in New York City playing quidditch on a local soccer pitch?... Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, The Chronicles of Narnia - they’re all rich worlds people escape to. Creating your own will help build a loyal readership.
Just Write
And, finally, Gaughran urges viewers to focus more on writing and less on marketing when first starting out. He believes that writers should publish multiple books, even a whole series, before publishing them. (No, I couldn’t wait that long….)
In his course, he outlines exactly what he feels an author should do when they publish their first, second, and third book.
I can attest to that. I had a budget I was willing to spend on marketing my book. I’m not upset I spent it because I looked at this past year like I was getting a college degree (except way cheaper!). Even though I didn’t get a livable return-on-investment monetarily, what I learned is priceless. Unless you’re willing to look at the money you spend on marketing as education, you might be disappointed.
So, keep writing! My goal for next year is to learn to write faster and to publish two books a year. My first book took five and a half years; Fallen Spirits will be about two and a half years of work, and I’m hoping book three will take a year (or less!) By book five, I think I’ll know enough to publish faster. At least I hope so!
If you’ve published a book, what are your thoughts about this? I know we all have different journeys, so I’d love to hear your experiences and what you’ve learned.
Happy Holidays
I’m grateful for so many things, among them are all you readers who support me by reading my words. Thank you so much. It means more than you’ll ever know.
I apologize for being so sporadic this year - I’m working to get to one article a month and one private newsletter a month - but if I disappear for a bit, it’s because I’m overworked and overwhelmed, and I will not give myself burnout again. So if I’m missing, I needed a break. I hope you’ll understand.
And speaking of the private newsletter, I just sent out one to my private email list. I also put a copy on my blog in case you’re interested. If you want to get on that list, sign up here.
Book Update: Fallen Spirits & Rock Gods & Messy Monsters
Fallen Spirits is off for a copy edit on Christmas Day, and the cover designer is booked for February 1st. I’m looking to have the novel out late March/early April, but it’s not set in stone just yet.
I’m going to take Gaughran’s advice and not do tons of promotion now - I’ll launch the book and give it a bit of a push, but I’m going to focus more on getting book 3 and any future books in the series done before I invest a lot of effort into the marketing. Obviously, that’s assuming I can sit on my hands that long…
Oh, and I’ve earned enough in royalties to qualify as a proper member of The Author’s Guild. I know! A big accomplishment for 2023. Rock Gods is still selling, but, as I mentioned above, I’m not going to be doing any big push until the series is finished. Okay, maybe a little one when Fallen Spirits comes out….
The Reading Nook
In case you’re looking for more to read, here are some more fellow writers and friends I recommend:
Crafting Your Pitch: A Storytelling Framework by Joanne Tombrakos. Need to give a presentation, pitch an idea or product to investors, or market something? Check out Joanne’s latest book for all that - and more!
- - Linnea Wren lives an alternative lifestyle for a woman in the 19th century. Join her as she navigates a relationship with a colleague that’s overshadowed by threats from a murderer.
- - And on Substack, check out Noemie’s newsletter. She’s an honest, beautiful writer who really needs to finish that novel of hers!
Happy Holidays to you and yours. I’m planning a quiet one this year. My annual tradition watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and It’s a Wonderful Life are on the schedule.
May your holiday and New Year be even more joyous than you imagined. Here’s to a wondrous and peaceful 2024.
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Thanks for this info. I'm still trying to figure out how best to tackle publishing my series (whenever I finally finish it!) and this makes a lot of sense to me. Best of luck with yours, and happy holidays!
I'm taking the same approach. I want to publish books 2 and 3 in my series close together. Until then I am not doing any marketing on book 1 which is already published. I will save that effort for when there are more books for my readers