How I Became a Best-Selling Self-published Author
When deciding to self-publish Hey, June back in August of last year, I knew that I could pull it off. The publishing part. And the best-selling part. But seeing it in action is a very different feeling indeed.
I don’t mean to sound cocky or overly confident. I am just confident… in myself and that anything I needed to learn to give Hey, June the best chance, I could easily learn online.
This confidence came from my career as a self-employed writer. I needed to learn everything from scratch: content writing, self-promotion, digital marketing, SEO, all of it. To have a successful career in the world of online, I needed to be resourceful.
As much as it was a very personal and vulnerable act to publish a book so close to my heart, I understood the need to be objective and approach self-publishing with a business mindset. The heart is what makes the product and process good; the mind is where you give it the best chance of success.
So, how did this translate into the release of Hey, June and how can you give your self-published book the best foundation for success?
Easy.
You download my comprehensive self-publishing guide and give it a read.
Create a good product (indistinguishable from traditionally published media). (Again, I show you how in my guide.)
Marketing, marketing, marketing.
Social Media has changed the industry forever. No longer is marketing solely ads and billboards, and no longer is the publishing industry controlled by the big publishing houses. With the emergence of the online third space, where we spend the majority of our time and attention, marketing has had to shift to organic content. People don’t enjoy blatant commercials anymore, but they will tolerate interesting or entertaining ads.
Having to use Social Media like TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest as the main funnel to promote your product has leveled the marketing playing field. Digital marketing is a skill that anyone can learn to be successful at. For book specifics, let’s take a look at #Booktok.
Booktok, a massive 2 billion+ viewed community on TikTok, has effectively become the driving force behind trending books and authors. While I concede that there are targeted ads pushed by big publishers, the major success stories you see on Booktok are from real people.
A video outlining the plots, tropes, or aesthetics of a book will go viral and effectively change the course of a book/author’s life. You don’t need to have the best equipment or even the knowledge to pull it off - you just need to catch the algorithm and attention of viewers. See - a level playing field that anyone can win on.
Marketing being in the hands of authors is both a blessing and a curse. You really are at the mercy of an algorithm. But crafting organic content as a human person and not an entity is incredibly natural - and people love candid humans.
When deciding to self-publish, I took a realistic look at what I brought to the table. It’s hard to sell a book when no one knows who you are and you don’t make an active effort to be known. However, I was known. I had a small platform on TikTok of about 50,000 followers. Sure, they didn’t follow me because I was an author - in fact, a large portion of them were there because I danced half-naked (Get Ready With Me’s backed by popular early 2000’s tracks).
So, how did I know they would continue to follow me after I pivoted my content towards writing and publishing? Because I fostered a community within my followers. Meaningfully engaging with your followers, no matter how many, is key to creating a community of people willing to support you. Remember that organic content I mentioned before? Well, it turns out that people also value connection over entertainment. People want to feel a part of something - so make a place for them to belong.
One more important point to make: don’t sell crap.
Marketing is like magic. You can sell crap for a million bucks. However, as an author and someone interested in publishing their own book, I can guarantee that you want to sell something worthwhile. So don’t.
Take the time to make sure your book is good. The content of it - the plotline, characters, and themes - and the physical product - the design, cover, and layout. People are ready to support new authors, but the actual book needs to look and be good.
Again, I go more into detail about how to craft a stellar book as a self-published author that is indistinguishable from traditionally published books backed by a large publishing house in my publishing guide.
But the gist? Make a book that you would pick out in a bookshop. An eye-catching cover, consumable font, interesting design choices (I put a little bug as the page break in Hey, June since the character was named after a June bug), and of course, impeccable spelling and grammar.
Utilizing the platform I already had, creating organic content around my book on Social Media, and crafting a good book were all imperative to the success of Hey, June - and yet that’s only scratching the surface.
I’ll definitely share more tips and tricks as I begin the process of publishing my next book, but for now, you can find all the details in my ultimate publishing guide. Complete with a printable publishing checklist and publishing timeline, you’ll know everything there is to know about self-publishing your own novel.
Cheers xx
