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Audio recording is AI-generated using a clone of my voice.
In some regards, self-publishing your work has its merits. You get more control, for starters. You get to tell the story you want, the way you want it. You get to keep more of the proceeds from the sale of each book, which admittedly can be very few. You get complete autonomy to set your own deadlines, launch dates, sequels, etc. You get a lot of freedom.
But self-publishing has its downsides, too. There are many. And while I don’t want to come off as a complainer or ungrateful, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that people may not think about when it comes to self-publishing.
It may seem like someone just sits down at a computer or typewriter, or with a pad and pen, and jots down their thoughts, hoping they’ll come out as a cohesive, coherent story. And, sure, yes, that’s part of it. Getting the story down on paper or in digital form is step one for many of us. Some folks (known as plotters or planners) start even before that. They sit with postcards or pieces of paper or an app, and they plan out every character, every scene, every chapter, and the ending. They plan it all. For those of us known as “pantsers” (a.k.a fly by the seat of your pants), we just sit and write.
But what happens when you’re done writing? For me, I edit. I don’t edit a ton. My first draft and final draft aren’t too different from one another. But I edit for grammar, punctuation, and look for plot holes (which I will first-handedly admit that I’ve missed in the past). Then, when you’re done, you edit again. Make sure your characters have the right arcs. You make sure your scenes are described properly. You make sure the plot fleshes out correctly and the big reveal or climax makes sense.
For me, once editing is all done, I read the book aloud. Usually to my wife. I do this for two reasons:
- Reading aloud helps you catch mistakes you make when you read something in your head. The act of saying it aloud forces your brain to say all those things you skip when reading; he said, she said, for example.
- Having someone else experience the story and give their input is valuable.
Once that’s all done, the real work starts. I often joke that “writing the book is the easiest part” and, for me, it is. I can knock out a first draft in just a few weeks. And I’d like to think that first draft isn’t complete trash.
This is where the struggle starts for me, and perhaps a lot of other authors in the same boat as I am. The struggle happens with all of the things you may not see on your end, as a reader. To you, you see “oh there’s a new book, I want to buy it,” or “I’ll add it to my TBR on Goodreads and get to it eventually,” or what have you.
For the author, this is where we put on our numerous hats. You see, for most of us, we do things ourselves. We don’t—or, more accurately, can’t afford to—have the ability to hire someone to help us, as money is so tight with self-publishing.
Here’s a partial list (I’m sure I’ll forget some) of the additional jobs we, as self-published authors, do as part of our book releases:
- Website Administrator – for those of us who sell directly, we need to list our books for sale on our website
- Publicist – no one’s going to buy a book they don’t know about
- Art Director – many self-published authors make their own book covers, but some outsource this as it requires skills many of us don’t have. That said, the majority of reasonably priced book artists require you to tell them what you want. They usually don’t come up with ideas on your behalf.
- Logistics Manager – once you start selling books, someone needs to pack and ship them
- Marketing Manager – if you’re not screaming from the rooftops every moment of every day, your book gets lost in a sea of other books, and no one will know about it
- Inventory Control Specialist – how can you sell books if you aren’t tracking how many copies of each you have
- Customer Support Agent – God forbid there’s an issue with an order, you need to make it right
- Formatter – this is another one some folks outsource, but some of us format our own books. This means Amazon-specific versions, print versions, generic ePub versions, Apple versions, Google versions, etc.
- Data Entry – listing your book in all the places it can be sold online takes a lot of work; getting the ISBN configured, updating the information on all of the vendors’ sites (such as Amazon, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, etc). It’s a lot of entering the same information into different websites
For me, the hardest part is the marketing. As much as people will tell you otherwise, social media sells books. Not paid promotions. Usually not Amazon ads. But social media. But, like everything, there’s a trick to it. If you just post about your book online, your posts won’t be shown to anyone. You’ll get buried. Especially if you have a link. No, the trick is to just be social. Talk about other books. Pump other authors up—because authors are readers, too!—and overall just be part of a community of readers. Don’t try to shove your book down anyone’s throat, because no one likes that.
Is it rewarding? Absolutely. It’s one of the best feelings in the world when you get a message or are tagged in a post from a stranger, and they tell you how much they loved your book. It’s so encouraging to log in to look at your sales for yesterday and see a spike. It’s so wonderful when you feel seen (or read, I suppose).
But it’s also demoralizing knowing how much work goes into this whole process. Especially if you are screaming from the rooftops and your sales still aren’t what you wanted them to be.
Don’t give up, though. If you’re feeling down about your work, remember that—even if you don’t know this person—your book may be someone’s favorite book. There may be someone out there who reads your book once a year. There may be someone out there who’ll buy everything you release for the rest of time because they loved one of your books so much. There may be someone who adores your work, even if they don’t tell you.
So, while yes, this is a ton of work, it’s something I couldn’t imagine my life without. It takes so much to be vulnerable enough to put your creation out into the world. It takes a lot of thick skin to release a book and let people comment on it and review it. But I wouldn’t change it for anything.
