r/selfpublish

There''s an old saying that "the people who made the most money during the California Gold Rush weren't the miners. It was the people who sold whiskey and shovels to the miners. The same is true in the world of self-publishing. There are a lot more bogus editors, hack graphic artists and rip-off book preparation and publishing services than there are independent authors making a good living from self-publishing. When you see people on here giving you stock advice and telling you that self-publishing is easy you just need to pay for an editor, buy your amazon ads and build your network, there's a 99% chance they're involved in those industries that prey on the aspirations of others and they are actively misrepresenting themselves on here.

Also remember that garbage sells. Harold Innis, who was a key theorist in the realm of communication theory and the inspiration for the work of Marshall McLuhan only sold a few thousand copies of his academic works in his lifetime. Max Brand was a millionaire in the 1930s.

A few years ago I used to write fan fiction for Warframe on AO3 and that eventually led to the creation of my own sci-fi/space opera trilogy which the first year seemed like it started to get some traction. Reviews, while not very many, were positive and eventually had one of the VA's from the game voice my audio books.

Fast forward to the present and it seems sales have just stopped for me as of a couple months ago, even the free downloads have been lackluster compared the thousands I'd see in the past. I have not been advertising anymore, which is probablyt he biggest culprit I guess, but I figured at some point I wouldn't need to anymore...I'm clearly wrong here.

I'm thinking I should restart my marketing efforts again and maybe also update my blurbs and/or covers.

Before I do all that though, I'd like to get thoughts from other writers as far as how often you have updated covers and/or blurbs for your books?

How does it work? I’d love to hear from someone’s experience. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I'm writing a novel and I'd love to write in a document that closely matches the layout of a typical Penguin Classics paperback (page size, margins, font, line spacing, etc.).

Does anyone have a Google Docs or Microsoft Word template that recreates the look and feel of a Penguin Classics page? Or does anyone know the exact formatting they use?

I'm not trying to copy the design for publishing. I just find it much more motivating to write in a layout that feels like a real book.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I’m finally getting ready to upload my book and I’m trying to figure out the difference between Amazon, Ingram, and apparently I have an account from a long time ago on something called Draft2Digital.

Someone else is telling me that I need to make sure that my book is available on bookshop.org.

I am most interested in people being able to easily buy the paperback, and ideally have it stocked in some stores and retail locations.

I’m also wondering about the procedure for making it available in both the UK and Australia? Would I need different ISBN numbers? Obviously the price would either be in pounds or Australian dollars, does Amazon handle that automatically or is there a different service I use for those countries?

Thanks in advance, this sub is great for helping me figure things out!

Hi everybody,

I have published a novel on Amazon KDP, but, despite some degree of promotion on different social platforms, after a couple of months I get absolutely zero reads.

To test whether it's a matter of interest or distribution, I was wondering about using alternative pathways, like IngramSpark or Draft2Digital, but I confess I am getting lost into it. Could someone with some experience about them please help me explaining how they work and what makes them fundamentally different? 😅

What’s the best way to get multiple copies of my book, ebook and hardcover for a solid price ? And how does the process work? Thanks

they would have had to start out with self-publishing. We're literally living in an age where even if a writer came along who was on par with the greats like John Steinbeck or Hemingway, they wouldn't be able to get a publishing deal unless they were already a social media influencer, a relative of a celebrity, or a professor at a name brand university. There is no such thing as meritocracy anymore. Publishers would rather publish mindless garbage that they see as a sure thing than anything work that has any kind of "message", especially since any opinion you express is now seen by publishers as a liability. They want the mindless, pointless crap. That's their preferred stock in trade nowadays.

either already in high-paying jobs, or were the spouse of a doctor or lawyer who had plenty of cash on hand and a large part of their success came from them spending tens of thousands of dollars on publicists, web-designers and expensive ad campaigns?

I'm still pretty new to all of this, so sorry if this is a silly question.

Is it just me, or does the whole self-publishing process feel really... fragmented?

From what I've seen, people write in one place, organize their notes somewhere else, look for beta readers on Reddit or Discord, publish on Amazon or another platform, then promote on TikTok, Instagram, Reddit... It feels like you're constantly jumping from one tool to another.

Do you eventually get used to it, or is it actually as inconvenient as it looks?

I have a novel sitting half-finished, and one of the things that's been killing my motivation is feeling overwhelmed by everything that comes after writing.

I'd also love to hear, from people with experience, what you think are the biggest frustrations of self-publishing and what parts are actually better than newcomers tend to expect. I'd really like a realistic picture before deciding whether to keep going.

Hi, I’ve tried uploading an EPUB created in Pages that meets Apple’s requirements, but it keeps getting rejected.

This is my first ebook, and I’m having trouble uploading the EPUB—it keeps getting rejected. Does anyone know of an up-to-date tutorial that can help me do this better? Maybe I’m missing something that Apple isn’t explaining clearly.

Thank you very much.

What do you consider success as an author, sales wise?

I am js a teenager n don't think I'll be having too much of time but I've always wanted to write

Is there a place where I can casually write web novels with semi success potential?

Edit:I am looking for a place where I can casually publish chapters periodically serialised manner

Genre will prolly be adventure,fantasy,a bit of action

Hello there!

I'm an indie romance author. I've done smaller book events before, mostly outdoor and store events. But I'm getting ready for my first big, out-of-state convention, and I had a quick question on pricing.

I've been selling my paperbacks at in-person events for $15 a piece since I started doing events last year. My paperbacks are typically around 65k-75k words and between 220-320 pages long. I don't usually have any issue selling my books at that price point. If someone is interested in my genre and tropes, and they pick up a book to look at it, they usually purchase it.

Due to economic factors (print and travel costs going up), I'm thinking of increasing my prices to $18 or even $20 per book. Is that reasonable for a large book event?

I typically get lots of compliments on my illustrated covers, and I could bundle books at 2 for $30. I just don't have a lot of data from other indie authors who write romance and work big book events.

If it's not asking too much, could some other authors who are used to running tables at conventions chime in?

Hi folks,

I'm taking perhaps an unconventional route to getting listed on Amazon, as we printed paperback copies of our book in bulk, with our ISBN on the backcover as a barcode.

We got approved as a seller on Amazon, and as we're trying to add a new product, we're running into roadblocks from Amazon since they require a Product ID which is our ISBN.

Anyway, long story short, Amazon support reached out and said in order to confirm the product listing they need the following, amongst other things:

> ISBN confirmation letter from Bowker - Official documentation from Bowker confirming your ISBN ownership

As far as I'm aware, Bowker does not offer official documentation. I have a receipt of the ISBN's we purchased but we bought ISBN's in bulk, so it doesn't show the individual ISBN on it.

Any ideas what I could provide to Amazon from Bowker that could confirm our ownership of the ISBN?

Appreciate any ideas.

Thank you

I'm planning to publish my novel soon and would really appreciate your honest feedback on both my extended website blurb and my back-cover blurb. Do they work? Do they capture your interest and make you want to read the book? If not, what would you change?

Thank you!

WEBSITE EXTENDED BLURB

This... is not a story.

It is a legacy.

They know this, those who speak the language of Hell, uttering words forbidden to mortal throats. Words not simply learned, but summoned. Some say it begins with the severed tongue of a virgin. When you cut it... slowly... the screams begin to twist into darker syllables that fall just short of fluency... yet they are enough for the Devil to hear. And if you listen long enough... perhaps, in time... you may learn to speak to him.

Would you like me to show you?

I could use your tongue.

No?

Then allow me to translate what was spoken. Within these pages lies but a fragment of that legacy.

I woke without memory. Only grief. For my sister, Li. Or so I believed.

Reality had begun to haemorrhage. The deeper I searched for the reason behind her death, the less I recognised the world around me. Dreams bled into waking. The dead looked upon me through eyeless faces. My sister still spoke, though flesh insisted she could not. Her answers unearthed only more horrors buried beneath them, until the world I thought I knew surrendered to another that had always existed beneath it.

As I descended through the five stages of grief, I came to understand that it was more than mourning that afflicted me. I was inheriting something. Something older than loss. As old as the first blood spilled upon the earth, when mankind first tasted mortality. As old as the whisper that taught humanity to tear iron from the bowels of the world, to forge blades with which to open one another and spill that blood ever more freely.

It was a purpose. A lineage. For evil has waited centuries. But even evil grows impatient.

For in this world, people continue to profit from the floodplains of their own filthy habits, even as the storm gathers. And as oil pipelines carve through the earth like the final lines of a forgotten puzzle, when the last piece is laid... they shall know that their greed will not save their modern world. For he who is coming will shed blood in such a way that no release from the chains of flesh will follow, but condemn them to everlasting pain. Through acts that blister the soul, his name will be etched into the marrow of humanity's collective memory, as Christ's once was.

Not as Saviour. But as scald.

And he will be crowned king, with nine nails as a single shared crown, wrested from Golgotha, by his six devotees, upon his six horns, upon six heads.

And just as Christians came to know the Son of God...

They will come to know him. And they will call him...

Antichrist.

 

 BOOK BLURB

I woke without memory. Only grief. For my sister, Li. Or so I believed.

The deeper I searched for the reason behind her death, the less I recognised the world around me. Dreams bled into waking. The dead looked upon me through eyeless faces. My sister still spoke, though flesh insisted she could not. Every answer unearthed another horror until reality itself began to haemorrhage.

As I descended through the five stages of grief, I came to understand that mourning was never my true affliction. I was inheriting something. Something older than loss. As old as the first blood spilled upon the earth. As old as the whisper that taught humanity to tear iron from the bowels of the world and forge blades with which to open one another ever more freely.

A lineage carried not merely in flesh...

...but in sin.

For in this world, people continue to profit from the floodplains of their own filthy habits, even as the storm gathers...

And when the heavens finally break...

They will know evil. They will know him. And they will call him...

Antichrist.

Wanted to ask if you guys had the chance to redo your self publishing process what would you change?

Would you start a social media, seek a different editor, etc. Just looking for ideas to better my own process.

​

Here's the blurb! It's a sequel to my Romantasy series. I tried to implement what I could from previous feedback though I'm not sure it's punchy enough.

“What if… you don't like the man I'm supposed to be?”

With his memories back, Prince Amias escapes home to reunite with his beloved Ignatia in the desert city of Harena. Now haunted by shadows of his past, his spark has been completely smitted, but he's determined to prove to Ignatia he's still the same man she fell for.

Opportunity comes when Ignatia's people need her to take back the throne from her wicked mother — only they resent Amias for what his bloodline has done. If he is to stay with her, he must prove his kindness through three trials, while competing against Felix — a highly favored soldier who wants to steal Ignatia’s heart and Amias' place beside her. If Amias can't face his past, and earn the trust of her people, he will lose her. This time, forever.

Souls Undone is the second book in the Soulmateless Trilogy. This emotional journey is perfect for readers of forbidden romance, found family and journeys of self discovery.

I'm trying to run a free book promo for one of my ebooks. KDP requires a book be enrolled in KDP Select to run a free promo, which I am not. My book is in Ingram, which also doesn't allow me to set the price to free.

Is there a way to pause distribution in Ingram so I can enrol the book in KDP Select? Or is there some other way to run a free promo? Thank you for your advice!

I recently ran a KDP Free Book Promotion and got 32 downloads. I'm not complaining—I know readers don't owe reviews—but I was curious if this is typical for new authors. How many free downloads did it take before you received your first review?