So you wanna self-publish?

Self-publishing, eh? My books have always been published by mainstream publishers so I've had people making all the major marketing and sales decisions for me. I wrote the books and that was it. But so many people are now launching into self-publishing and I'm now republishing my old non-fiction books as e-books. So I asked Jake Barton if he’d write a guest post. Jake was another writer I met on Authonomy who has become a good friend. He has also achieved prodigious success with his self-published books.  So, without further ado, over to the maestro...

Jake Barton writes... 'Self-publishing has moved on from the days of being sniffily regarded as ‘vanity publishing.’ What other motive for publication is there? Kindle, eBooks, changed all the rules. All the mainstream publishing houses are dashing to get involved or risk being left behind. In a digital age, the pace is relentless. Remember the fuss when the CD appeared? It became the norm, in no time. Now, it’s all downloads. Massive change, in next to no time.

Jake Barton - the bestselling author prepares for a back flip

With the onset of eBooks, a rash of companies have sprung up, offering to handle all the fiddly bits of self publishing. For a price (typically £99 and they retain 60 percent of your royalties). It’s an option.

Certainly, the conventional publishers have only themselves to blame for all this competition. Many still insist on hard copy: actual typed sheets of paper, to be sent out, only for the author to wait for months and then receive a rejection slip. I know this, only too well. I suspected I had a viable novel, but failed to convince a publisher. I looked at the dawn of the new Kindle phenomenon and thought, ‘Why not?’ I’m the ultimate Luddite. Really. Yet even I, with help from cleverer friends, managed to self publish. I have four books out now and that first book has sold 60,000 copies this year.

So, what to look out for? This isn’t about ‘rules.’ I don’t ‘do’ rules and was told by a noted critic that my writing ‘breaks all the rules.’ It’s intended as thoughts about what works and what doesn’t, when offering a book to a potential reader.

Editing. The book should be edited to within an inch of its life by this stage. Every error removed, every typo spotted and rectified. Even books where an army of proofreaders check every word, every line, aren’t immune to mistakes creeping in – I spotted five errors in a John Grisham novel, elementary mistakes, recently – but the smaller publisher or Indie writer has to be certain the book is as good as it can be when it reaches publication stage.

Formatting.  You will need to format your book but it's not as hard as it might seem. Look at Amazon’s guide to preparing a book for Kindle  

One of my favourite writers has the best guide to Kindle submission I’ve come across so far in her blog. Read this, and read her book, Daisychains of Silence, too!  [I concur, heartily… J]

I’d also recommend a talented man I met on Authonomy who writes ‘how to’ books on this and other subjects and has a blog where he talks about the subject. Check out Jason Matthews here 

Yes, fine, but all this effort counts for nothing if nobody ever gets to read the book. Three elements are crucial. Title, cover and pitch. All vital but the latter is crucial.

The title. Titles – the hardest part of a book for me. Relevance is essential, eye-catching too. Don’t worry too much if you pick a title and then find it elsewhere - as with song titles, there are very few unique titles about. Short and snappy is best.

Sold 60,000 copies this year alone.

The cover. The cover picture doesn’t have to cost the Earth. Although you’ll have no problem finding someone to make a cover for you, expect to pay a considerable sum for this. You may already have an appropriate photograph you could use or look up royalty free images online, see what’s out there. Be careful of copyright on images; if in doubt, ask the ‘owner’ of the image. My latest ‘paper’ book, I did the cover myself, just using Word. No fancy design packages necessary. Bottom line, your cover should be eye-catching and effective even at the size of a postage stamp which is all the Amazon site permits. It should also reflect the title. Common sense.  

The pitch, the blurb, call it what you will; it’s the key to getting your book noticed. It’s what everyone looks at in a book shop when looking to buy a book. The back cover, inside the front page, the position may vary, but the tiny piece of information telling us what the book’s about, what to expect, is often all we have, all we need, to make a decision: buy the book or move on, look elsewhere. A browser on Amazon has seemingly endless choice, but the same principle applies. It’s the author’s opportunity to sell themselves to a prospective reader. To say, ‘Buy me. Not the others. Buy me,’ to a browsing potential purchaser.

My first book, Burn, Baby, Burn reached the Amazon Top Ten this year despite having no publicity department to support it and an author without a clue about marketing. When hundreds of people a day are buying a book by an unknown writer, there has to be a reason. In my case, it was the pitch. I’d already decided I would write a ‘commercial’ book, but I had to ensure those browsers didn’t just glance at it and move on to authors they already knew. Here’s the ‘attention-getting’ passage from the pitch for Burn, Baby, Burn.

‘Marcus was special. He’d always known it. Even at the age of six when he’d decided to kill his father. His privileged background should have produced a doctor, an academic, perhaps a diplomat. Instead, he killed people for fun’.

See, it works, doesn’t it? It focuses on the villain as he’s the one character readers will always remember in this genre. It says, ‘This is me. I’m interesting. Read about me.’ Or I hope it does as that was my intention. The sales figures of the book suggest I got it right.

The pitch is all the potential reader has before them when browsing the vast expanses of Amazon’s bookstore. In that blurb, just a few lines, lies the success or failure of your offering. Get the pitch right; make it enticing enough to compel the casual browser to click on your book, that’s the real secret.

Price. The price structure is almost infinitely variable. An author can change their price point in an instant. Nothing is set in stone. I looked at the books that were selling in vast quantities Many were household names, authors with a loyal following whose readers clamour for the next book, but there was the odd ‘Indie’ writer without any track record as a published writer there too. A few of the established names set a premium price point. Fair enough. But what I found most interesting were the established authors at the top of the charts who offered their work at the lowest possible price point. If that worked for them, why not for me?

Offering a book at the lowest price point brings casual readers, impulse buyers, into the equation. It will always be a balancing act – more sales at a lower return against fewer sales at a higher return.

Gay vampires eh?

I decided on the lowest point for a specific reason – chart positions. Charts are vital to success on Amazon and readers are undoubtedly swayed by charts. If we see a book that’s successful it sparks our interest.

Getting into the All Books Top 100 was never even on my mind in those early days. Since then I’ve had two books in the Top Ten. There are an almost infinite number of sub-charts, all of which have an effect on the buying public. A reader can search for his/her area of interest, find books that reflect that interest, with a couple of mouse clicks. Whether it be Thrillers, Short Stories, Japanese Poetry or Gay Vampires there’s a chart for it.

Categories. When you finally enter your book to the Kindle site, you’ll be prompted to choose its ‘category.’ This is an important stage as it helps you to find one of those elusive charts. My third book was languishing as a ‘Thriller’ but because I’d made a careful selection of categories, it charted very well under ‘Female Sleuths,’ thereby gaining attention.

Marketing. There’s a dedicated forum on the Kindle site where you’ll find answers to just about any question and can also give your book a mention. As for ‘marketing,’ at which I’m utterly useless, use your blog. If you haven’t got one yet, think about getting one. Use Facebook, Twitter and other means to engage an online audience. If you can cope with it, try your local paper, radio, TV station – tell them what you’re doing; that there’s a new author in their area. Nothing to lose.

The Kindle experience has been wonderful. Complete strangers read my books; plucking them from the vast range on offer. That was nice.  If you’re thinking about ‘Kindling’ – what’s stopping you? Worried a traditional publisher won’t want to see your work? Don’t be. In my experience, the reverse is the case. Since I posted my book on Kindle I’ve been contacted by three agents and three publishers, all very keen to discuss a future partnership. Evidence of a saleable product will have that effect. I’m not rushing into anything. Why should I? Do I need them? Not really.'

Thanks, Jake...  I would just add that you can buy Burn Baby Burn by clicking on this link...

And check out all his other books on his Amazon page. 

He also has, though it pains me to say it, a very good blog... Ramblings of a Deluded Soul.  Check it out.

And don't forget to click the links on the right-hand side of my blog for more fabulous self-published books. ;)