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My Publishing Tips

Writer's picture: Emma Emma

Something always falls through the cracks, no matter how many articles on publishing we read or how many videos we watch. I’m told it gets easier with time, but that the mistakes may always be there (albeit not the same mistake). Today I am sharing what went wrong/what I wish I’d done differently when publishing my first book, Silent Night.


Promo


I worked so hard on the promo for my book, organizing Instagram posts and newsletter topics months in advance so nothing would be rushed. Still, there are a few things I wish I hadn’t neglected.

The first thing is ARCs. For those of you who don’t know, ARC stands for Advanced Reader Copy and it simply means a copy of your book that you give to certain readers before publication, but after the book is finalized. People use ARCs to give to readers (usually influential ones) for free in exchange for an honest review when the book comes out. ARC readers are not there to catch plot holes or edit your book. Their sole purpose is to tell other people whether or not the story is enjoyable. I skipped this step out of lack of knowledge and fear. I didn’t understand how to create or send an ARC and I was afraid to reach out to people. Looking back, I wish I took the leap because if I’d had even 15 ARC reviewers, that would’ve translated to at least 15 guaranteed reviews and reviews mean everything to authors. So I want to do my research and send out ARCs for book 2.

The second promo thing I missed out on was a Street Team. A Street Team is a group of individuals who help promote your book in exchange for first looks at covers and other news as well as prizes. I had every intention of implementing this but then I backed out last second. Again, fear was present. I was afraid I didn’t have anything to offer my Street Team in exchange for their efforts. I didn’t want to spend even more money on prizes and the like (which of course, is understandable, but there were free goodies I could offer them).

My goal this time is to combine these two opportunities and offer ARCs to members of my Street Team and see how that goes. Publishing, marketing, and writing is all about trial and error and fine tuning your process until it starts to click.


PS: It is okay to not do everything. Not using ARCs and a Street Team didn’t keep me from publishing my book, isn’t going to keep me from being sucessful. I know I would’ve been way too stressful if I implemented these during my first release, but I recognize what they bring to the table and highly recommend them if you have the time and mental energy.


Formatting


This step in the publishing process is harder and easier than you think. Don’t let it fool you lol. My number one tip when it comes to formatting is to give yourself extra time to complete it because technology isn’t always your friend. I had a couple setbacks that had me pulling my hair out, but with some research and forums I managed to figure it out. I was grateful for the extra time I gave myself.

Of course, you can pay someone to do the formatting for you, which gets rid of most of the anxiety, but it’s cheaper to do it yourself and not that difficult for the most part. I recommend watching the how-to videos on diybookformats.com.


Money


The last big thing I wish I’d paid more attention to was the royalty settings on KDP. Amazon automatically shows you how much money you will make on Amazon.com at your sale price. But you have to click a drop down menu to see royalties for the other marketplaces. Pay attention to these other marketplaces. I was making almost zero dollars a book on my amazon.ca list price for a month before I realized my mistake. Your 1.32 royalty on one marketplace doesn’t automatically match the others.



I'm sure there are other mistakes I'm missing right now, but these are the most important issues I can give advice on at this time. I hope you guys can learn from this post and if nothing else, it can teach you that perfection is unattainable.

Thank you guys for reading! My next post will be on my writing history.

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