The business of self-publishing

This post is sponsored by User IQ Customer Success Software.

I have a funny story to share, just promise not to laugh too much. The first time I self- published a book, I thought I would hit submit and then sit back and watch the royalties roll in. After all, I spent the last three years toiling over every sentence so logically I had reached the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

 Ha. Ha. Ha.

The crux of the self-publishing industry is that writers like to write, but they also like what they write to be read. That involves having a business plan to help you achieve your goals. While I’m still learning by trial & error and/or fire, I’ll share some tips that can help shape your personal plan.

First, understand your customer. Knowing who will buy your work is crucial!  With Re:Birth, knowing that bit of information felt easy at first. My target audience was pregnant moms.  Considering the numbers of women expecting babies worldwide, that’s a huge marketplace. But, Re:Birth has content that is geared towards faith and spirituality. That narrows my market while providing direction on where to find your target customer.

Next, you need to know how to find your customer. Once you know who your customer is, it’s important to develop a strategy to acquire them. Social Media gives authors a huge hand as you can promote posts, messages, and ads to target audiences. Likewise, Amazon and Google offer pay per click programs to help you increase your visibility. Maybe your reader would read a specific magazine or shop through a certain website? Consider strategic paid advertising to help get your product and message to customers who will enjoy it!

While understanding your customer, and finding them are huge victories. You’ll also want to put together a long-term plan with weekly or monthly goals. It’s common to become frustrated and burned out in this industry, but setting goals like writing a guest blog post, having an article published, and reaching a certain number on social media can help you stay motivated and on track. It also helps you to celebrate small victories. It’s easy to harp on failures, but far more valuable to celebrate even the smallest successes.

Composing a written plan is always the hardest part for me. I find it particularly challenging because the ‘big picture’ is not my thing, my mind is in the details. I managed to swing that into an excuse for quite some time until I realized I was truly holding myself back and becoming the root of my discouragement. I had become so focused on what I hadn't achieved that I missed all that I had accomplished. 

While your working on your business plan, make sure you glance up from your book and peer around at other authors to see what they’re doing successful (or not successfully). There is plenty to be learned just through observing!

My final tip is, don’t be shy! You may find yourself having to ask for reviews and calling in favors from friends near and far. It never hurts to knock on doors. The worst that can happen is the door doesn’t open and then you head to the next one! But, you’ll never know if you don’t try!

Do you have any self-publishing tips to share? What's worked for you or hasn't worked?

​Again, we'd like to thank User IQ Customer Success Software, sponsored posts keep us up and running!

Have a great week!