In this chapter, I'll go through the prerequisites BEFORE you publish, regardless of format.
Along the way, I'll provide recommendations for various tools that I use, although of course, you will develop your own system over time.
(1) Write a great book!
This is not a 'how to write' book, but I'm assuming that you have written the best book possible and that you have used a professional editor and/or proofreader to make sure it is the best it can be.
If you need a professional editor, check out www.TheCreativePenn.com/editors
I also have courses on how to write fiction and how to write non-fiction at www.TheCreativePenn.com/learn
(2) Decide on your definition of success
Most authors write their first book because something is burning on their heart. They have a story to tell, a life experience to share, or they want to help people and change the world.
Essentially, that first book is all about you, the author.
And that's fine, all the way up to the point of publication.
But I get emails every day from authors who are disappointed with their sales, even though they haven't considered the reader up to that point. They wrote the book of their heart without considering the customer or the potential market. Sales hadn't been a factor until the book was out.
If you want to be 'successful,' then define what ‘success’ means for you. Don’t be disappointed later on. Here are some possibilities:
- You want to hold your book in your hand and say, ‘I made this!’
- You want to win a literary prize and receive critical acclaim
- You want your book on the shelves in your local bookstore so your family and friends can be proud
- You want to make a full-time living with your writing
These are all great definitions, but the truth is that some of these are mutually exclusive.
Would you rather win a literary prize or make a million dollars?
Over and above just finishing a book, there are two extreme ends of the author success scale.
At one end is E.L. James with Fifty Shades of Grey, who made $95 million in a single year with book deals, movies and all kinds of exciting things. Not many people would say that Fifty Shades is great literature — but readers love the books and it sure is making a living!
At the other end is wanting to win a literary prize where the aim is critical acclaim and awards rather than money. Most literary authors have other jobs and don’t earn as much as genre fiction authors.
You have to consider the two extremes for yourself: literary success, critical acclaim, and validation vs. commercial success, a healthy bank balance and millions of happy readers.
There is no value judgment either way. It's really about considering what's important to you and about how you're going to measure your own success.
If you don't decide in advance, how will you know when you have hit your goal? I’ve found that the most disappointed authors are the ones who thought they wanted one thing but actually craved something else. So, be honest. It’s your author journey.
(3) Get a great cover design
Book covers and visual images are increasingly important in a crowded market. A professional book cover is critical for the publishing process, but it's also a key part of your marketing.
Research the bestselling books in your genre and note the common elements of design and imagery. For example, George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones books have dragons, crowns, and swords, so anything with similar imagery is likely to be fantasy or historical fiction.
Non-fiction books often have a big focus on text and font, which makes them stand out at thumbnail size on the bookstore sites. There are conventions in every genre, so get to know yours.
Take screen-prints of book covers that you like and send them to your designer along with your book description.
[Note: This is about modeling, not plagiarism. Your designer should never copy a cover, but design something appropriate for your genre.]
You can have covers for each format designed separately, but you are likely to get a better deal if you get them all at the same time. The print cover needs a spine and back cover, whereas the ebook version only needs a front cover, and the audiobook cover is square, so needs to be reformatted into new dimensions.
The ebook and audiobook covers should be optimised for the thumbnail size image that is displayed on the retail stores and phone screens, but you can always add extra text on the print cover if that is important to you e.g. blurb from an author in your genre or a particularly good review quote.
One of the benefits of being an indie author is that you can always replace the cover, so it's not a disaster if you end up changing it later. If you want to revamp things or re-launch, then changing covers is one of the best ways you can do this. Traditional publishers do this all the time, and I've changed my own covers and even titles over time. Never be afraid to redo your covers if you think that it will help sell the book better.
Don't make your own book covers unless you are a book cover designer.
There are specific skills around image design, so check out this list: www.TheCreativePenn.com/bookcoverdesign to find someone suitable or ask other indie authors who they use.
If you really don't have the budget, then have a look at the free covers on Canva.com.
(4) Write your sales description
It's hard to write a book, but sometimes it's harder to distill that book into a couple of paragraphs for the sales description and back cover. However, you do need to do it or hire someone who can help you.
Think about your own behavior as a reader. You check out the cover and then you read the description. You make a purchasing decision based on those few short lines.
So, your description is crucial, as it can make the difference between someone downloading a sample, buying your book, or just ignoring it.
Again, you don't need to panic, as one of the great things about being an indie author is the ability to change things, so you can update your sales description over time.
A great way to start is to model successful books in your genre.
Go to the bestseller lists in your category and copy out the top ten blurbs from those books. By copying them out you will quickly grasp the 'formula' of the genre, whether it is crime fiction, entrepreneurship or children's books. Once again, I'm talking about modeling here, not plagiarism!
For fiction, this includes hyperbole about the plot, aspects of the key character and often their name, a hook to the plot and a call to action.
For non-fiction, focus on solving the problem that the reader has and hook them in to wanting more. You can also list your table of contents if that will help, plus information about your expertise and your own story, so it's clear that you're an authority in this area.
You could also include review quotes from other authors or media and an interview with the author.
If you need help with sales descriptions, check out the following books:
- Gotta Read It! 5 Simple Steps to a Fiction Pitch that Sells by Libbie Hawker
- How to Write a Sizzling Synopsis: A Step-by-Step System for Enticing New Readers, Selling More Fiction, and Making Your Books Sound Good by Bryan Cohen
You can also pay a service to create your book description. I recommend Bryan Cohen’s Best Page Forward at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/bestpageforward
You will need to copy and paste your book description into the self-publishing platforms later on using plain text or formatted HTML.
I use a formatting tool from Kindlepreneur which enables me to display the headline at a different font size and use italics, spacing and bullet points.
You can find it at TheCreativePenn.com/rocketdescription
(5) Decide on your categories and keywords
Metadata is the information that the book sales sites use to categorize your book, and they use it in the algorithms that help with book recommendation.
Metadata is super-important for ensuring that readers can find your book and includes:
- Title and sub-title
- Series title
- Sales description
- Categories
- Keywords
- Author bio
As 'big data' becomes more prevalent, it's likely that even the text of your book will eventually be used as metadata. Again, being indie is an advantage, as we can change these fields over time and react to shifts in the market.
Categories and keywords, in particular, are important in terms of book discovery
Categories are used on all ebook platforms and you can usually choose between two and five. On print and audiobook platforms, this is usually the BISAC code. The aim is to be granular enough that your book can stand out but not so deep down the hierarchy that no one shops there.
For example, there's absolutely no point in putting your novel in Fiction/General, as people just won't be able to find it. Readers tend to shop in sub-categories, so this is where you need to put your book.
Research which categories other authors/books similar to yours are using. For Stone of Fire, I chose the two categories Action Adventure and Supernatural Thrillers.
You can also get into more categories by using 'browse categories' through keywords on Amazon. For example, I use Conspiracy Thriller as a keyword, which gets my book into the Conspiracy Thriller category on Amazon.
If you need help deciding on sub-categories to target on Amazon, check out the reports on K-lytics: www.TheCreativePenn.com/genre
You can also find a free tutorial on choosing sub-categories at TheCreativePenn.com/rocketcategories
Keywords, or keyword phrases, are a separate metadata field on the publishing platforms, and you can usually select up to seven.
How do you decide on keywords?
You can use the Amazon search bar to discover the words and phrases that people are searching for. Just start typing in the box and you will get a dropdown that auto-populates based on the most popular searches. Spend some time trying different combinations and you'll be amazed at what you find.
You can also use popular keyword research tool, Publisher Rocket to automate this: www.TheCreativePenn.com/rocket
The principle is the same for fiction and non-fiction, but for non-fiction it's even better because you can title your book to match the keywords that people search for.
My first book was originally called How To Love Your Job or Find a New One. After discovering keywords, I changed my title to Career Change and the book began to sell more since people were actually searching for 'career change' on Amazon, whereas they weren't searching for the original title.