In a post last year, I wrote about 8 things new authors should know. This year, I want to expand that list and talk about some more things that might be useful to a newbie author (or someone new to indie publishing), especially after some of the wild things I have witnessed this year.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel– plenty of people have come before you as an author. Whatever you want to do, there’s probably an author who has done it who can tell you whether it’s a good idea or not and what the best practices are. If the vast majority of indies don’t suggest you do something (like ordering books wholesale), there’s probably a reason for it, so don’t assume you are super special or that you found a weird loophole or something. More than likely, people don’t do it that way because it’s clunky, illegal, or causes problems with taxes. Best practices are best practices for a reason, and established authors know how to streamline to process of administrative work or back-end author stuff.
- Keep your pen name consistent across all sales platforms and on your covers– It sounds self-explanatory, but if you want to use a middle name or only initials, make sure you use it across all platforms and on the covers of your book. Because so many authors have very similar names, platforms like Kobo or Amazon treat each variation like a new author, so you will end up having issues linking your books to your page or you might have one book of a series not hook up with the other books in your series if the name varies from book to book. This is a pain in the butt for trans authors, but more than likely if you want to completely change your name on your books, you will have to either a) unpublish them and republish with the new name info/cover and then contact the distributors customer service and see if they will combine the old and new pages to move the reviews over b) contact customer service after you upload new covers to have them change the name on their end (they can’t always do this). This is why it’s best to have the name up front because fixing it after is a pain.
- Be wary of people trying to sell you something– There are plenty of unscrupulous authors who just want to send you products or courses to make a buck off you. They often aren’t giving you something that can’t be gleaned from the internet for free. If there is a course that you have your eye on, ask around to see what others say about it. Writers are very vocal about things being a scam. A good litmus test is if the author with the course has a backlist of books (with plenty of reviews) to back up their success. If they are cagey about their pen names or they don’t appear to actually sell books, RUN. They are a scam.
- In the same vein, if someone says this way is the only way, they are selling you something– There are a lot of author groups that will tell you their way to success is the only path to success or that you have to release 5 books a year or you’ll never make money. None of these things are true. Often, groups like this will end up being more focused on group-think or sucking up to a handful of “successful” people. There are infinite ways to make money in publishing, and the path to success depends on your definition of success and your values. If a group is very insistent their way is the only way or they boot anyone who doesn’t agree with them or questions them, leave. Writing success doesn’t look like a pyramid scheme.
- Be a person on social media– something I’m thinking about writing about soon is self-mythologizing. We see this a lot on social media where people lead with a story about themselves rather than focusing on their product when making marketing posts. Marketing your book or trying to sell yourself is great and all and it has it’s place, BUT no one wants to interact with someone who is only a brand. You don’t need to tell people all of your business, but it’s far less off-putting to post on social media like a person than like a corporate social media account. At the same time, post knowing that other people are watching, so don’t be an asshole. By and large, people would much prefer to follow an author who sometimes posts about their pets and hobbies than someone who hawks themselves and their books in every post.
- Learn online author etiquette– It might be tempting to reply to people with a link to your book at every opportunity, but unless they are asking for recommendations, don’t do it. It’s very rude, and people will block you for it. There’s a time and place for talking about your book, and if you treat social media like a place to talk to people, you tend to step on less toes. Treat others how you would like to be treated, and if you do misstep, apologize and don’t make the same mistake again. More than likely, the other person won’t remember your faux pas a week later.
I hope these little bits of advice help you out as you begin your author journey. If you have anything you would like me to cover in the future, leave it in my comments!
Kara Jorgensen 