Self-publishing: One book is not enough
There’s a lot to learn with self-publishing but, if you listen to indie experts like Joanna Penn, you’ll know already that one book is not enough for any writer.
One book is not enough
That’s not
because we can’t stop writing. It’s not because we are addicted to the process of sha
ring our thoughts with an unsuspecting world.
No, it’s because our carefully crafted book is like a balloon. We inflate it. Tie a piece of string to it. Launch it and enjoy its beauty.
But, in time, the air escapes. Our self-publishing efforts for that book fizzle away. We are left with a product that may have little or no future.
And, if our eager audience has to wait for us to write the next best-seller, they might forget we exist altogether. With book two, we’ll have to start establishing ourselves as authors all over again.
What’s the solution?
In The Successful Author Mindset: A Handbook for Surviving the Writer’s Journey, Joanna advocates thinking long term and creating a body of work.
Fiction writers especially need to have three or four books written, ready for publication – or within sight of it – before they launch number one.
With books in the bank, so to speak, you can launch new books at regular intervals.
You can schedule free offers on the early books as a way to encourage readers to buy the new one, once they realise how much they liked the free one.
If you have several in your backlist, you can bundle them too, as part of your self-publishing marketing strategy.
When will I be self-publishing my book number two?
Book one, EDITING The RedPen Way: 10 steps to successful self-editing was published on 6 September 2106. Since my birthday also falls on the 6th, by way of celebration, my book is free-to-download on the 6th of every month.
Click here for a reminder, or click here go straight to the UK Amazon page, or here for the US Amazon page.
Book two (and three and four) will expand on the material in book one. Each of them will go into more detail, with lots more examples of RedPen tasks you can use to turn that first draft into a masterpiece.
Starting today (yes, TODAY!) I’m outlining the first of these three new books. It’s called EDITING The RedPen Way: The BIG Picture.
In step with the lessons I learned from Self-Publishing School, I’ve got a schedule which will (should!) result in the publication of EDITING The RedPen Way: The BIG Picture towards the end of June.
Like to be one of the first to see EDITING The RedPen Way: The BIG Picture? Yes? Click here to join my Beta Readers group on Facebook.
The ScrivenerVirgin blog is a journey of discovery:
a step-by-step exploration of how Scrivener can change how a writer writes.
To subscribe to this blog, click here.
Also … checkout the Scrivener Tips
on my ScrivenerVirgin Facebook page.
No Comments