Self-published authors???

Trisha_H

How did you find the experience? Did you ever get to do signings in book shops? I'm getting ready to self-publish in the next few months, all going well, and would love to know how people found the experience. Advice would be appreciated also.

wonderboy76

Shops *may* let you have signings but you'll likely have to take your own stock or agree to buy back what they don't sell on the day if they place an order. Bear in mind, shops have limited space and they have to make the most of that so if they think they'll sell lots you may be in luck.

To be honest though, I think for now, if you don't have a 'name' I'd not even think about it, unless you want it to be a pretty miserable experience with you sat at a table with a pile of unsold books and no one but your family stopping by to buy one. Think if you've ever bought a book in a bookshop from an author you'd never heard of who was sat there in person hand-selling them? Sometimes, it's hard enough to get people out to a signing of an author with an established following.

Concentrate on maximising sales and publicity before you attempt a book signing - unless your book is niche or specialist and would fit neatly at certain events then I think you'll find it a soul-crushing experience.

wonderboy76

ps. I was a PR and Marketing bod for two of the largest publishers in the world over the course of about 13 years and handled the promotion and publicity for dozens of bestselling (and not so bestselling) writers, just so you know I am speaking from some sort of experience :-)

Trisha_H

Oh, lol. I wasn't talking about straight away... I was thinking more for the future. After a few books and having my name out there. Thank you so much for answering!

EileenG

Generally self-publishing means e-books, perhaps with an option to do print on demand. It does not mean your books in all the book shops. Without distribution, it's virtually impossible to get your print book into bookshops, and as Wonderboy said, it's really hard to organise any sort of book signing on your own.

Trisha_H

Thanks for the answer EileenG. I've been looking into different POD sites. A few look good. I will definitely keep all this in mind.

Kidsstories

Trisha_H wrote: »

Thanks for the answer EileenG. I've been looking into different POD sites. A few look good. I will definitely keep all this in mind.

Hi ,

The best pod site so far I find is create space and amazon kindle. Very user friendly and free for paperback and kindle. Good thing about create space is that you don't have to buy books in bulk and they are always on print on amazon.

Marketing your book is a different story altogether though 😄

wonderboy76

Be wary too of vanity publishers - those who say they do everything real publishers do but get you to pay for it or make you commit to buying x number of your own book. A publisher pays you, not the other way around. If you're sending more money to a publisher than they are sending to you, then it's vanity.

Kidsstories

wonderboy76 wrote: »

Be wary too of vanity publishers - those who say they do everything real publishers do but get you to pay for it or make you commit to buying x number of your own book. A publisher pays you, not the other way around. If you're sending more money to a publisher than they are sending to you, then it's vanity.

Ah yeah , vanity publishers are a waste of time and money and they don't sell your book for you and your left with loads of books but amazons create isn't as it's free. The only money I paid to them was a proof copy of my paperback. Even with a traditional publisher you still have to do your own marketing.

wonderboy76

Kidsstories wrote: »

Ah yeah , vanity publishers are a waste of time and money and they don't sell your book for you and your left with loads of books but amazons create isn't as it's free. The only money I paid to them was a proof copy of my paperback. Even with a traditional publisher you still have to do your own marketing.

Create-space is a self-publisher so you're right, it isn't a vanity publisher.

But traditional publishers don't require authors to do their own marketing, that's a really common misconception thrown around by vanity pubishers when they try and blur the lines between them and a genuine trade publisher like Penguin or Harper Collins. I used to work in the marketing and PR for big trade publishers and though we did ask the author to put a bit of effort into supporting the dept in terms of doing interviews, writing pieces for newspapers, answering Q&As on social media or just plugging their signing on Twitter, they didn't have to book their own events, write their own press releases, pitch to the press, set up their own interviews, send out their own review copies, buy advertising, write their own catalogue copy or any of the other multitude of jobs that came under the marketing and PR departments.

Smaller pubishers obviously don't necessarily have the same resources as multi-nationals but all will still do as much as they can for authors within their means. They will sell books to the general public, not back to the author themselves like a vanity does.

Kidsstories

wonderboy76 wrote: »

Create-space is a self-publisher so you're right, it isn't a vanity publisher.

But traditional publishers don't require authors to do their own marketing, that's a really common misconception thrown around by vanity pubishers when they try and blur the lines between them and a genuine trade publisher like Penguin or Harper Collins. I used to work in the marketing and PR for big trade publishers and though we did ask the author to put a bit of effort into supporting the dept in terms of doing interviews, writing pieces for newspapers, answering Q&As on social media or just plugging their signing on Twitter, they didn't have to book their own events, write their own press releases, pitch to the press, set up their own interviews, send out their own review copies, buy advertising, write their own catalogue copy or any of the other multitude of jobs that came under the marketing and PR departments.

Smaller pubishers obviously don't necessarily have the same resources as multi-nationals but all will still do as much as they can for authors within their means. They will sell books to the general public, not back to the author themselves like a vanity does.

Ah of course there's nothing like the backing of a traditional publisher for those who are lucky to get one 😄. But saying that , there are a lot of successful self publishers. Just about putting the time in and knowing how to market. Obviously it's a lot harder by yourself but it can work. ( maybe one of these days I might get the hang of it :-) )

wonderboy76

Kidsstories wrote: »

Ah of course there's nothing like the backing of a traditional publisher for those who are lucky to get one 😄. But saying that , there are a lot of successful self publishers. Just about putting the time in and knowing how to market. Obviously it's a lot harder by yourself but it can work. ( maybe one of these days I might get the hang of it :-) )

Luck rarely has anything to do with it - you have to write something they think they can sell. But one or two do get lucky in a right time, right place kind of way.

There's lots of good guides to promoting your work yourself and it's obviously a lot more effort, but it can pay off. There's just SO much SP stuff out there, much of it not remotely worth your time, so my advice before you even put something out there is to ensure it's as perfect as you can make it. Make sure you have all your grammar, spelling etc checked and double-checked. Put out the best work you possibly can. So many simply think a text riddled with errors (if they know they are errors or not) is fine and that people should pay money for it anyway.

Good luck! I'm happy to offer any advice or answer any questions: I've not promoted my own stuff, but I have promoted Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers so I may be able to be of some help!

Kidsstories

Nice one thanks. Would you know anywhere where I can arrange a free book giveaway promotion. I've searched google and can't find anything. Probably not looking in the right place. I've done it for the kindle on amazon but finding it hard for the paperback. Basically I want to run a competition for copies of my book. I'm trying to sell it locally.

echo beach

Have you tried your local paper? They might say newsprint is dead but the people who buy books also buy newspapers. Ask in your newsagent what local papers sell (or have at look at the size of the pile being delivered).
The freesheets in particular often often run those sort of competitions.

Kidsstories

that's a good idea alright, never even thought of that. I did get my book featured in the local paper so maybe I can ask them about how i can run a competition.

wonderboy76

Kidsstories wrote: »

Nice one thanks. Would you know anywhere where I can arrange a free book giveaway promotion. I've searched google and can't find anything. Probably not looking in the right place. I've done it for the kindle on amazon but finding it hard for the paperback. Basically I want to run a competition for copies of my book. I'm trying to sell it locally.

Local nespapers would be a good start - give them a good hook or angle and they will hopefully run a story on you and the book.

Also, are you using social media? Twitter, Facebook?

Kidsstories

Thanks, i did that with my local paper last week and was delighted they featured my book :-)....

i did set up a separate face book accout and all of a sudeen have 200+ friends I never heard of but I don't know what to be saying :-)

echo beach

Kidsstories wrote: »

i did set up a separate face book accout and all of a sudeen have 200+ friends I never heard of but I don't know what to be saying :-)

You're a writer. You must have something to say. Write something on it. You have to make them feel special, that they have the inside track, so let them know that you are working on another project and they will be the first to know about it.

Kidsstories

Thanks. Yeah I suppose I could upload some new illustrations I got for the book and do a little teaser with it? I just feel strange talking about myself to a load of Facebook people Ive never met 😄. But I suppose I have to get over that if I want to advertise it somehow. Marketing is just a daunting experience. It's not just matter walking into a shop and asking can they sell it for you 😄

Trisha_H

Thanks for answering everyone!

Kidsstories

Trisha_H wrote: »

Thanks for answering everyone!

Hope you got some good advice. I know I certainly did :-). Have you decided what to do ?

I sold 3 books this week cos of my local paper and that's such a buzz , that alone made it worthwhile for me :-).

Trisha_H

Kidsstories wrote: »

Hope you got some good advice. I know I certainly did :-). Have you decided what to do ?

I sold 3 books this week cos of my local paper and that's such a buzz , that alone made it worthwhile for me :-).

I'm still looking into everything, but the advice definitely helped a lot!