118 Lessons My First Book Taught Me
At an early age, I had ideas floating around my bonkers mind and recorded a few precious gems for school projects. It was typical of a young boy building a race car, going on epic adventures, saving the world, going into space, inventing something extraordinary, starting in a rock band, or meeting a beautiful woman.
Most plots faded into obscurity as I grew, but one refused to die. So, on January 09, 2011, I did something about it. I began a journal of my inventions, ideas, thoughts, and essential things that needed to be recorded. I dedicated one section to plots that could become books. Why? I classified a book as an invention. Yeah… Typical engineer.
At that time, I was unemployed, and a few months later, another company hired me. It has always been a dream to start a company, and at this new job, an opportunity presented itself. A coworker was starting an internet marketing company and asked for my help. I worked long hours and spent thousands bringing his vision to life. The company folded at the eleventh hour because he had a mental breakdown. Bummer.
The next time I was laid off, I did not want to start a company because of the bad experience. So, I turned to my journal of inventions for inspiration. I settled on the get-rich-quick concept of writing a book. I discussed this with my wife, and she replied, “Let’s see what you come up with.”
I had five stories that I thought were book-worthy and began with my second-best concept because I wanted to gain experience before tackling my favorite plot.
My first word was recorded on August 16, 2016, at 3:15 pm. The words came out easily because I mentally worked out the plot for ~15 years. About two months later, my first draft was done. Yay? I immediately concluded it was too short. So, I added scenes, pumped up action, and jammed in a side plot. Did I enhance the character/scene descriptions? Err, moving on. I learned the following from this first draft:
1) A normal person can write a book. Translation: A person does not need an expert author.
2) If you know the subject, writing a book is easy.
3) Follow your dreams because writing is fun and rewarding.
So, I had a book in hand. Now what? Obviously, I read it. Eww… needs some work. My second lesson should have been: “Writing a lousy book is easy.” So, I spent the next six months self-editing. During this time, I learned:
4) All that junk I added to puff out the pages was useless. Always stick to the central plot.
5) Self-editing is essential; it eats up lots of time, but correcting mistakes is also crucial.
6) I did not think through the story, meaning there were logic holes. They were tough to uncover and fix.
7) I had many writing ticks, like misspelling the same word (homophones).
8) I learned five years later to write down a list of “things to check for.” I wish I had that back then.
Approximately three months into self-editing, I realized my book needed outside help and asked my mother. She became my beta reader, coach, idea springboard, and helper. Together, we worked for four months, and I learned:
9) It is essential to have another opinion. This is in addition to a grammar/writing opinion. I needed a story/plot/character opinion.
10) LISTEN when somebody takes the time to explain your flaws.
11) It is ultra important to think about the reader’s perspective while writing.
12) Treat negative comments like gold. It is so much better to fix big problems before readers see them. I had to create second editions for my first and second books to correct apparent flaws. I can track these flaws back to my mother’s comments.
13) My story development process was fundamentally unsound. (This was later fixed by beginning every book project with an outline.)
14) I did not know what to ask my beta reader to look for. Now, I know my writing/story issues and ask her specifically to inspect these areas.
Yay, I had a book! But I knew my grammar was subpar. So, I sought out an editor. It was simple. I did an internet search and picked one. And quick as a fiddle, the editor returned my work with many suggestions. During this time, I learned:
15) Indeed, my grammar was shockingly poor.
16) Editors are not magic ferries; they can only do so much with flawed work.
17) Because I had only worked with one editor, I felt the edited book was the best possible result.
18) While I was not satisfied, I felt ready to proceed. This was a mistake. I should have self-edited for another two months. Why? Because I was still finding big errors.
19) Overall, I learned I should have done much more work before handing my book to an editor.
I declared my book ready for publishing. Yay! And there was more good news. I had an easy plan for success. I would email copies of my book to hundreds of publishers, and one would buy them. Easy money! A fast two hours revealed:
20) Publishers do not call books “books,” they are manuscripts. What?
21) Publishers do not accept “unrepresented” manuscripts. Meaning they do not have a place on their website to submit books. In fact, they warn you that they will destroy all books sent in the mail. Harsh!
22) Publishers only accept books from book representatives.
A book representative is a person with inside publishing contacts. The idea is you pay them, and they read your book. If they like it, they will take your book to a publisher. I quickly learned:
23) Book representatives charge $2,000++ (non-refundable) to look at your book.
24) They want 10%+ of the profit.
25) They rarely take on new authors.
26) From their websites, they were an arrogant bunch.
I was not about to give some random jerk a dump truck full of money without any guarantee. So, my effort came to a halt. In desperation, I asked my editor if she knew any representatives. She did not but knew somebody who did. This is how I met Bethany, a “self-publishing helper.” Her business takes care of the process between a first draft and getting it self-published.
I called Bethany, and she explained that it was possible to create your own eBook and print-on-demand books, which could be uploaded to Amazon. They would put the files on their site, and their customers would purchase them. She explained this path was more straightforward than traditional publishing. The author had more control, and the chance of success was higher. Before meeting Bethany, I incorrectly thought:
27) Only publishers create eBooks.
28) There was no such thing as print-on-demand.
29) Self-publishing means paying a printer, and you sell the copies.
30) Amazon only deals with big-time authors.
Most plots faded into obscurity as I grew, but one refused to die. So, on January 09, 2011, I did something about it. I began a journal of my inventions, ideas, thoughts, and essential things that needed to be recorded. I dedicated one section to plots that could become books. Why? I classified a book as an invention. Yeah… Typical engineer.
At that time, I was unemployed, and a few months later, another company hired me. It has always been a dream to start a company, and at this new job, an opportunity presented itself. A coworker was starting an internet marketing company and asked for my help. I worked long hours and spent thousands bringing his vision to life. The company folded at the eleventh hour because he had a mental breakdown. Bummer.
The next time I was laid off, I did not want to start a company because of the bad experience. So, I turned to my journal of inventions for inspiration. I settled on the get-rich-quick concept of writing a book. I discussed this with my wife, and she replied, “Let’s see what you come up with.”
I had five stories that I thought were book-worthy and began with my second-best concept because I wanted to gain experience before tackling my favorite plot.
My first word was recorded on August 16, 2016, at 3:15 pm. The words came out easily because I mentally worked out the plot for ~15 years. About two months later, my first draft was done. Yay? I immediately concluded it was too short. So, I added scenes, pumped up action, and jammed in a side plot. Did I enhance the character/scene descriptions? Err, moving on. I learned the following from this first draft:
1) A normal person can write a book. Translation: A person does not need an expert author.
2) If you know the subject, writing a book is easy.
3) Follow your dreams because writing is fun and rewarding.
So, I had a book in hand. Now what? Obviously, I read it. Eww… needs some work. My second lesson should have been: “Writing a lousy book is easy.” So, I spent the next six months self-editing. During this time, I learned:
4) All that junk I added to puff out the pages was useless. Always stick to the central plot.
5) Self-editing is essential; it eats up lots of time, but correcting mistakes is also crucial.
6) I did not think through the story, meaning there were logic holes. They were tough to uncover and fix.
7) I had many writing ticks, like misspelling the same word (homophones).
8) I learned five years later to write down a list of “things to check for.” I wish I had that back then.
Approximately three months into self-editing, I realized my book needed outside help and asked my mother. She became my beta reader, coach, idea springboard, and helper. Together, we worked for four months, and I learned:
9) It is essential to have another opinion. This is in addition to a grammar/writing opinion. I needed a story/plot/character opinion.
10) LISTEN when somebody takes the time to explain your flaws.
11) It is ultra important to think about the reader’s perspective while writing.
12) Treat negative comments like gold. It is so much better to fix big problems before readers see them. I had to create second editions for my first and second books to correct apparent flaws. I can track these flaws back to my mother’s comments.
13) My story development process was fundamentally unsound. (This was later fixed by beginning every book project with an outline.)
14) I did not know what to ask my beta reader to look for. Now, I know my writing/story issues and ask her specifically to inspect these areas.
Yay, I had a book! But I knew my grammar was subpar. So, I sought out an editor. It was simple. I did an internet search and picked one. And quick as a fiddle, the editor returned my work with many suggestions. During this time, I learned:
15) Indeed, my grammar was shockingly poor.
16) Editors are not magic ferries; they can only do so much with flawed work.
17) Because I had only worked with one editor, I felt the edited book was the best possible result.
18) While I was not satisfied, I felt ready to proceed. This was a mistake. I should have self-edited for another two months. Why? Because I was still finding big errors.
19) Overall, I learned I should have done much more work before handing my book to an editor.
I declared my book ready for publishing. Yay! And there was more good news. I had an easy plan for success. I would email copies of my book to hundreds of publishers, and one would buy them. Easy money! A fast two hours revealed:
20) Publishers do not call books “books,” they are manuscripts. What?
21) Publishers do not accept “unrepresented” manuscripts. Meaning they do not have a place on their website to submit books. In fact, they warn you that they will destroy all books sent in the mail. Harsh!
22) Publishers only accept books from book representatives.
A book representative is a person with inside publishing contacts. The idea is you pay them, and they read your book. If they like it, they will take your book to a publisher. I quickly learned:
23) Book representatives charge $2,000++ (non-refundable) to look at your book.
24) They want 10%+ of the profit.
25) They rarely take on new authors.
26) From their websites, they were an arrogant bunch.
I was not about to give some random jerk a dump truck full of money without any guarantee. So, my effort came to a halt. In desperation, I asked my editor if she knew any representatives. She did not but knew somebody who did. This is how I met Bethany, a “self-publishing helper.” Her business takes care of the process between a first draft and getting it self-published.
I called Bethany, and she explained that it was possible to create your own eBook and print-on-demand books, which could be uploaded to Amazon. They would put the files on their site, and their customers would purchase them. She explained this path was more straightforward than traditional publishing. The author had more control, and the chance of success was higher. Before meeting Bethany, I incorrectly thought:
27) Only publishers create eBooks.
28) There was no such thing as print-on-demand.
29) Self-publishing means paying a printer, and you sell the copies.
30) Amazon only deals with big-time authors.
So, I paid Bethany to take me under her wing. The process began with her quickly reading my book to assess what I had produced. She pointed out several flaws, and I worked with an editor she recommended. This editor taught me:
31) There are major differences between editors, including style, attitude, approach, interaction skill, and talent.
32) One editor will catch one thing, and the other will not.
33) There is no universal standard for editors to follow, which means that editors will disagree on what to change and how to change it.
This last lesson was a tough pill to swallow. To this day, I have difficulty knowing what to do when an editor, beta reader, copy editor, myself, Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and books like The Chicago Manual of Style disagree. I later learned that editors range from exceptionally talented to deplorable. I am still looking for one. (The second editor I used was exceptional, but she passed away. Bethany recommended two other editors for my following two books, but I was unsatisfied.)
Then Bethany hit me with a whammy. A book description sometimes called the blurb, is what you see next to the book you are about to buy. I incorrectly thought:
34) The book description is a simple summary and easy to write.
35) Amazon takes care of the book description.
I honestly thought Amazon was 100% responsible for this task. I could not have been more wrong. My mother, Bethany, and I spent three agonizing weeks creating something usable. This included printing it on 11x17 and redlining. During this time, I learned:
36) A book description must be an advertisement, a hook, and easy to read.
37) It must not contain the slightest error. Meaning it is a flawless gem!
38) It must have less than 30% of the plot yet describe the overall concept.
39) The hook better be fantastic.
40) This is the hardest part of writing a book.
41) When I read flawed book descriptions, they stand out like searchlights on a moonless night.
42) After publishing, I changed a sentence about every six months.
43) Four years later, I paid a writer specializing in book descriptions to re-write it.
44) I was never satisfied with the result.
Bethany did not like my original title, A Graceful Interview. The logic behind that title was simple: the lead character’s name was Grace, and I love puns. We brainstormed twenty titles and whittled it down to Interviewing Immortality. In that process, I learned:
45) Titles are ultra important.
46) Do use the title of an existing book, movie, song, or other popular thing.
47) Be edgy, but not cute.
48) Be powerful, but not overwhelming.
49) It’s got to make sense.
50) Do not be insulting, but push the boundaries.
51) It is a title. Translation: It better explain the book.
The next part would be easy because I had an ace up my sleeve. I have been doing technical graphic design for years and had a book cover. Bethany laughed at my childish attempt. She knew a professional book cover graphics designer and insisted I do some background research.
The process is all visual learning. Bethany instructed me to study hundreds of random book covers for common elements. Next, I studied hundreds of books in my literature category, books in other categories (to identify the difference), award-winning covers, advice from professional cover designers, and visual sites for inspiration. Then, I studied bad book covers and looked at books with low reviews.
Eventually, I saw the pattern. This includes the type of font, the colors, the image, the intent, the message, the overall goal, the overall look, and how the cover ties into the story.
When Bethany and I were satisfied with the pre-concept work, she sent it to her professional cover designer. He took the basic concept and presented four rough drafts. I liked one and have since received many compliments. Here is what I learned:
52) There is so much more to a book cover than meets the eye.
53) Unless you are a graphic book cover designer, always hire a professional.
54) This is a game of 1%. Meaning that a tiny improvement is a big deal.
55) A book cover is the primary advertisement tool. Meaning, it better be fantastic.
56) Now, I see tasteless book covers everywhere, and I know readers can (subconsciously) spot a lousy cover.
Bethany told me I needed an endorsement. This is when somebody like Oprah Winfrey says, “I read Bill’s recent book and it was excellent!” I am a nobody, and I do not know anybody famous. Paying somebody famous was out of the question, and this became a dead end. The next best thing was to pay for a professional review. There were hundreds of people waiting to accept my money, but I found huge issues:
57) The professional reviewers were nobodies.
58) Their websites looked tacky, and it was clear that the only people who visited these sites were authors looking to have their books reviewed.
59) Readers never go to these sites because each book only gets one review. This is in contrast to a site like Goodreads, where each book gets many reviews.
60) The reviews were poorly written.
61) The authors using these sites were nobodies. You will never see an author like Tom Clancy paying them for reviews. This fact should have told me something.
62) The sites did not guarantee a positive review.
63) Their prices were outrageous.
64) Yeah, I still needed one.
I found a site that only wanted $99. The result was a so-so review. Clearly, the reviewer skimmed the book and altered a canned review because it read like other reviews on their site. I put the best excerpts on the back cover. Later, Bethany transferred the review from their site to Amazon. I learned:
65) Endorsements or professional reviews are not necessary. Save your money for more important things.
66) Other authors disagree with my opinion. They think that having a professional endorsement is the best marketing tool ever.
67) On the second edition, I deleted the endorsement from the back cover.
Now, I only had two steps left. Formatting the book and putting it on Amazon. I learned:
68) It is essential to use a professional eBook/ print-on-demand formatter. There are so many little tricks to getting an eBook to look good on the multiple eBook readers. A professional format is even more critical for print-on-demand. It takes an experienced eye to set it up properly.
69) The first draft of the formatted work had many little issues that needed correcting.
70) It is essential to have somebody with experience in uploading an eBook and print-on-demand book to Amazon. Many little options that must be selected appropriately. They have since made the process easier.
71) When I read the print-on-demand book, I found many apparent errors. Correcting them was expensive. I should have spent two additional months self-editing.
And then it was done! I released my first book. What was that like?
72) I felt fantastic. I was a published author!
73) My friends congratulated me.
74) My parents were overjoyed.
How were sales? Except for my mother, ZERO!!!! This taught me:
75) A big letdown followed my quick high.
76) I thought Amazon would have done much better promoting my work. In fact, I learned that Amazon puts ZERO effort into attracting readers of new books.
77) I incorrectly thought that a large class of readers would seek out new creations.
78) My biggest mistake was that a good book would market itself. Yes, I was a bonehead.
To increase my sales, I signed up for Amazon’s KDP Select. From the information on the Amazon website, there were three huge benefits. The first is better ranking, meaning that they promote your book. Second, Amazon Prime members can download your book for free, meaning you get a lot more sales. Third, you can offer promotions like giving your book away for free (to all readers) to generate buzz. This will lead to many positive reviews! I leaned:
79) Better ranking? Yeah, right.
80) Only eight people downloaded my book, and I did not get a single review.
81) Authors cannot put their books on other platforms as part of the KDP Select agreement.
82) Amazon often checks other sites for your eBook. They will permanently kick you off their platform. To continue selling on Amazon, you must start with a new identity, book title, and pen name.
83) KDP Select has nothing to do with print-on-demand.
84) You must sign up for six months.
But there’s more! When you opt out of KDP Select, you are out. Right? When the six-month period was over, I opted out, but I was secretly still in. I found this by going on to my wife’s Amazon Prime account and saw my book available for free. I emailed Amazon, and they told me about an obscure second website’s location to commit to being unsubscribed from KDP Select. I did this, waited a week, and my book was still free on Amazon Prime. I then went on the Amazon help site, and after an hour, they did internal stuff and confirmed I was off. I checked the next day and was off. To be sure, I waited a week, and, of course, it was back on. It took over a month to be 100% certain I was off. To be sure, I asked them to email me a letter stating I was indeed off and that there would be no penalty if I popped back on. Jerks!
When I published my second book, KDP select was default selected. When I uploaded my third book, it was selected, but in a hidden area. This shady practice should tell you something: Avoid KDP Select!
Because of the dismal sales, I entered a new phase: self-promotion. It began with begging my friends to post reviews. I do not like pestering people, and this task was difficult. Here is what I learned:
85) I had only three friends willing to write reviews.
86) Positive Amazon reviews are critical.
87) Do your absolute best to avoid negative Amazon reviews.
I then began contacting authors and asked them to exchange reviews. I learned a lot:
88) Not all authors consider review exchanges ethical. Yet, I find these upstanding authors are blind to the reality of modern publishing. The world is not ideal, and you must hustle to get ahead. That’s life!
89) During my exchanges, I met several great authors and became pen pals with two.
90) Several authors gave me writing tips and pointed out critical flaws. I learned many valuable lessons.
91) Most authors willing to participate in this effort are new to publishing. Their books range from dreadful to fantastic.
92) All big-time authors have no interest in review exchanges.
93) It is essential to go into a review with the attitude of looking for the best parts of their book and pumping them up. You cannot have the attitude of “If it is a bad book, I will write a bad review.” Why? Bad reviews only lead to problems.
94) There are professional sites that offer review exchanges. I have strong words of advice:
a. Some exchange authors have unrealistic expectations and demand lengthy reviews of their worthless books.
b. Not all authors are aware of what they have created. I encountered one that had a ghostwriter do the entire thing, and the “author” was stunned by my basic review. I do not think he read the first chapter.
c. Most new authors do not have good techniques.
d. EXPECT a lot of AI-written junk. This is the new reality of books. Learn to love it:(
e. Only agree to an exchange for a book with at least 20 reviews. By then, an author should know their book is a stinker.
f. The administrators of these sites are idiots.
g. The “help desk” employees think “customer service” is a four-letter word.
h. Amazon will eventually find these professional exchange sites and shut them down. I have no idea what punishment they will inflict on authors.
The next phase of my self-promotion process was to create a website. Many great website hosting companies have online free website building programs—for example, GoDaddy. Of course, I chose not to use a free online website builder. Why? I am old school and wanted to make a site on my computer that I could endlessly edit offline. My other motivation was that if the hosting company did not work out (like upping their cost), I could move my website, which I worked on for thousands of hours, to any web hosting company. Yes, I am a control freak.
So, my quest began. My first stop was buying the latest gold standard for website development, Microsoft Front Page. To my utter shock, it is no longer supported. What the heck? Well, there is still the silver standard Corel website creator. Wow, it has become awful. So, I went through every program, including Adobe, Google… Pure junk. (How do big companies make their sites? All these years later, I still do not know.)
Fortuitously, I found a free program called Rocketcake (and then paid for the professional version). It was easy to use, fast, and produced excellent results. The downside is the lack of power. (It did not support splashy features. Only basic website stuff.) But there was an exciting upside. It generates efficient webpages that display lightning fast.
There was another benefit to Rocketcake that no other online website builder had. It (accurately) showed how my website looked on mobile devices. I then tweaked my pages to display on all platforms correctly. GoDaddy and other online-generated web pages look awful on small devices. (I have not checked recently, but I see many pages that do not work well on my phone.) Do people browse on their phones? Hmm. Perhaps there was some logic to my decision.
Then, I needed a hosting company and found WHP. Incidentally, WHP is the least expensive, and their service is decent. Coincidence? I might have been onto something.
31) There are major differences between editors, including style, attitude, approach, interaction skill, and talent.
32) One editor will catch one thing, and the other will not.
33) There is no universal standard for editors to follow, which means that editors will disagree on what to change and how to change it.
This last lesson was a tough pill to swallow. To this day, I have difficulty knowing what to do when an editor, beta reader, copy editor, myself, Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and books like The Chicago Manual of Style disagree. I later learned that editors range from exceptionally talented to deplorable. I am still looking for one. (The second editor I used was exceptional, but she passed away. Bethany recommended two other editors for my following two books, but I was unsatisfied.)
Then Bethany hit me with a whammy. A book description sometimes called the blurb, is what you see next to the book you are about to buy. I incorrectly thought:
34) The book description is a simple summary and easy to write.
35) Amazon takes care of the book description.
I honestly thought Amazon was 100% responsible for this task. I could not have been more wrong. My mother, Bethany, and I spent three agonizing weeks creating something usable. This included printing it on 11x17 and redlining. During this time, I learned:
36) A book description must be an advertisement, a hook, and easy to read.
37) It must not contain the slightest error. Meaning it is a flawless gem!
38) It must have less than 30% of the plot yet describe the overall concept.
39) The hook better be fantastic.
40) This is the hardest part of writing a book.
41) When I read flawed book descriptions, they stand out like searchlights on a moonless night.
42) After publishing, I changed a sentence about every six months.
43) Four years later, I paid a writer specializing in book descriptions to re-write it.
44) I was never satisfied with the result.
Bethany did not like my original title, A Graceful Interview. The logic behind that title was simple: the lead character’s name was Grace, and I love puns. We brainstormed twenty titles and whittled it down to Interviewing Immortality. In that process, I learned:
45) Titles are ultra important.
46) Do use the title of an existing book, movie, song, or other popular thing.
47) Be edgy, but not cute.
48) Be powerful, but not overwhelming.
49) It’s got to make sense.
50) Do not be insulting, but push the boundaries.
51) It is a title. Translation: It better explain the book.
The next part would be easy because I had an ace up my sleeve. I have been doing technical graphic design for years and had a book cover. Bethany laughed at my childish attempt. She knew a professional book cover graphics designer and insisted I do some background research.
The process is all visual learning. Bethany instructed me to study hundreds of random book covers for common elements. Next, I studied hundreds of books in my literature category, books in other categories (to identify the difference), award-winning covers, advice from professional cover designers, and visual sites for inspiration. Then, I studied bad book covers and looked at books with low reviews.
Eventually, I saw the pattern. This includes the type of font, the colors, the image, the intent, the message, the overall goal, the overall look, and how the cover ties into the story.
When Bethany and I were satisfied with the pre-concept work, she sent it to her professional cover designer. He took the basic concept and presented four rough drafts. I liked one and have since received many compliments. Here is what I learned:
52) There is so much more to a book cover than meets the eye.
53) Unless you are a graphic book cover designer, always hire a professional.
54) This is a game of 1%. Meaning that a tiny improvement is a big deal.
55) A book cover is the primary advertisement tool. Meaning, it better be fantastic.
56) Now, I see tasteless book covers everywhere, and I know readers can (subconsciously) spot a lousy cover.
Bethany told me I needed an endorsement. This is when somebody like Oprah Winfrey says, “I read Bill’s recent book and it was excellent!” I am a nobody, and I do not know anybody famous. Paying somebody famous was out of the question, and this became a dead end. The next best thing was to pay for a professional review. There were hundreds of people waiting to accept my money, but I found huge issues:
57) The professional reviewers were nobodies.
58) Their websites looked tacky, and it was clear that the only people who visited these sites were authors looking to have their books reviewed.
59) Readers never go to these sites because each book only gets one review. This is in contrast to a site like Goodreads, where each book gets many reviews.
60) The reviews were poorly written.
61) The authors using these sites were nobodies. You will never see an author like Tom Clancy paying them for reviews. This fact should have told me something.
62) The sites did not guarantee a positive review.
63) Their prices were outrageous.
64) Yeah, I still needed one.
I found a site that only wanted $99. The result was a so-so review. Clearly, the reviewer skimmed the book and altered a canned review because it read like other reviews on their site. I put the best excerpts on the back cover. Later, Bethany transferred the review from their site to Amazon. I learned:
65) Endorsements or professional reviews are not necessary. Save your money for more important things.
66) Other authors disagree with my opinion. They think that having a professional endorsement is the best marketing tool ever.
67) On the second edition, I deleted the endorsement from the back cover.
Now, I only had two steps left. Formatting the book and putting it on Amazon. I learned:
68) It is essential to use a professional eBook/ print-on-demand formatter. There are so many little tricks to getting an eBook to look good on the multiple eBook readers. A professional format is even more critical for print-on-demand. It takes an experienced eye to set it up properly.
69) The first draft of the formatted work had many little issues that needed correcting.
70) It is essential to have somebody with experience in uploading an eBook and print-on-demand book to Amazon. Many little options that must be selected appropriately. They have since made the process easier.
71) When I read the print-on-demand book, I found many apparent errors. Correcting them was expensive. I should have spent two additional months self-editing.
And then it was done! I released my first book. What was that like?
72) I felt fantastic. I was a published author!
73) My friends congratulated me.
74) My parents were overjoyed.
How were sales? Except for my mother, ZERO!!!! This taught me:
75) A big letdown followed my quick high.
76) I thought Amazon would have done much better promoting my work. In fact, I learned that Amazon puts ZERO effort into attracting readers of new books.
77) I incorrectly thought that a large class of readers would seek out new creations.
78) My biggest mistake was that a good book would market itself. Yes, I was a bonehead.
To increase my sales, I signed up for Amazon’s KDP Select. From the information on the Amazon website, there were three huge benefits. The first is better ranking, meaning that they promote your book. Second, Amazon Prime members can download your book for free, meaning you get a lot more sales. Third, you can offer promotions like giving your book away for free (to all readers) to generate buzz. This will lead to many positive reviews! I leaned:
79) Better ranking? Yeah, right.
80) Only eight people downloaded my book, and I did not get a single review.
81) Authors cannot put their books on other platforms as part of the KDP Select agreement.
82) Amazon often checks other sites for your eBook. They will permanently kick you off their platform. To continue selling on Amazon, you must start with a new identity, book title, and pen name.
83) KDP Select has nothing to do with print-on-demand.
84) You must sign up for six months.
But there’s more! When you opt out of KDP Select, you are out. Right? When the six-month period was over, I opted out, but I was secretly still in. I found this by going on to my wife’s Amazon Prime account and saw my book available for free. I emailed Amazon, and they told me about an obscure second website’s location to commit to being unsubscribed from KDP Select. I did this, waited a week, and my book was still free on Amazon Prime. I then went on the Amazon help site, and after an hour, they did internal stuff and confirmed I was off. I checked the next day and was off. To be sure, I waited a week, and, of course, it was back on. It took over a month to be 100% certain I was off. To be sure, I asked them to email me a letter stating I was indeed off and that there would be no penalty if I popped back on. Jerks!
When I published my second book, KDP select was default selected. When I uploaded my third book, it was selected, but in a hidden area. This shady practice should tell you something: Avoid KDP Select!
Because of the dismal sales, I entered a new phase: self-promotion. It began with begging my friends to post reviews. I do not like pestering people, and this task was difficult. Here is what I learned:
85) I had only three friends willing to write reviews.
86) Positive Amazon reviews are critical.
87) Do your absolute best to avoid negative Amazon reviews.
I then began contacting authors and asked them to exchange reviews. I learned a lot:
88) Not all authors consider review exchanges ethical. Yet, I find these upstanding authors are blind to the reality of modern publishing. The world is not ideal, and you must hustle to get ahead. That’s life!
89) During my exchanges, I met several great authors and became pen pals with two.
90) Several authors gave me writing tips and pointed out critical flaws. I learned many valuable lessons.
91) Most authors willing to participate in this effort are new to publishing. Their books range from dreadful to fantastic.
92) All big-time authors have no interest in review exchanges.
93) It is essential to go into a review with the attitude of looking for the best parts of their book and pumping them up. You cannot have the attitude of “If it is a bad book, I will write a bad review.” Why? Bad reviews only lead to problems.
94) There are professional sites that offer review exchanges. I have strong words of advice:
a. Some exchange authors have unrealistic expectations and demand lengthy reviews of their worthless books.
b. Not all authors are aware of what they have created. I encountered one that had a ghostwriter do the entire thing, and the “author” was stunned by my basic review. I do not think he read the first chapter.
c. Most new authors do not have good techniques.
d. EXPECT a lot of AI-written junk. This is the new reality of books. Learn to love it:(
e. Only agree to an exchange for a book with at least 20 reviews. By then, an author should know their book is a stinker.
f. The administrators of these sites are idiots.
g. The “help desk” employees think “customer service” is a four-letter word.
h. Amazon will eventually find these professional exchange sites and shut them down. I have no idea what punishment they will inflict on authors.
The next phase of my self-promotion process was to create a website. Many great website hosting companies have online free website building programs—for example, GoDaddy. Of course, I chose not to use a free online website builder. Why? I am old school and wanted to make a site on my computer that I could endlessly edit offline. My other motivation was that if the hosting company did not work out (like upping their cost), I could move my website, which I worked on for thousands of hours, to any web hosting company. Yes, I am a control freak.
So, my quest began. My first stop was buying the latest gold standard for website development, Microsoft Front Page. To my utter shock, it is no longer supported. What the heck? Well, there is still the silver standard Corel website creator. Wow, it has become awful. So, I went through every program, including Adobe, Google… Pure junk. (How do big companies make their sites? All these years later, I still do not know.)
Fortuitously, I found a free program called Rocketcake (and then paid for the professional version). It was easy to use, fast, and produced excellent results. The downside is the lack of power. (It did not support splashy features. Only basic website stuff.) But there was an exciting upside. It generates efficient webpages that display lightning fast.
There was another benefit to Rocketcake that no other online website builder had. It (accurately) showed how my website looked on mobile devices. I then tweaked my pages to display on all platforms correctly. GoDaddy and other online-generated web pages look awful on small devices. (I have not checked recently, but I see many pages that do not work well on my phone.) Do people browse on their phones? Hmm. Perhaps there was some logic to my decision.
Then, I needed a hosting company and found WHP. Incidentally, WHP is the least expensive, and their service is decent. Coincidence? I might have been onto something.
Rocketcake
Creating a website taught me:
95) An author needs to have a dedicated website. This is the central hub of your marketing empire.
96) Keep the site current, and post often.
97) Using a canned solution like GoDaddy locks your hard work into their platform for life.
My next marketing phase was writing articles (blogs) and posting them on multiple sites. Here is what I learned:
98) Writing articles sharpens writing and generates ideas.
99) It is a good creative outlet that brings back the joy of writing.
100) I explore various ideas and have learned a lot, especially about myself.
101) You must write articles with a long-haul mindset. The effort will be successful, but success is a long way off.
102) Articles generate contacts and expand marketing.
103) Find every possible site that will accept your post.
I tried to locate book promotion sites and learned:
104) There are several free book-promoting sites. Make sure you create a separate email account for this effort, like Yahoo mail, because this email address will get lots of spam. I have found the free sites to be marginally successful.
105) There are hundreds of paid book-promoting sites. Tread hyper carefully!
a. At their core, they are spam generators. I do not want people getting spammed by my books.
b. They never define Return On Investment. This means that if I spend $X, they promise $Y sales based on Z prior marketing campaigns.
c. They never show proof of what they claim to do. “I tweeted to 10,000 people!” Who? When? Do you have an electronic log of your posts? Are these people even people?
d. They often use big concept words like “branding” and get quiet when you ask about real marketing terms like Return On Investment.
e. In my discussions with other authors, they unsuccessfully tried a few of these sites.
f. They make shady claims. “We adjust the Amazon algorithm to make your book appear first.” So, they hacked Amazon? Umm…
g. They often want to be paid to redo what you already did. Like having their “professional editors” update your work. You know my book has issues without looking at it? Umm…
h. There is a business here, but I have yet to figure out an angle to start one. Perhaps it has something to do with YouTube influencers.
This is what I should have done:
106) My biggest lesson was to begin all book projects with a thoroughly vetted outline. Then show it to somebody. This is a six-month process for me.
107) I would have put more effort into writing with the reader in mind. My original goal was to write a story “I wanted to read.” The result did not challenge the reader.
108) I should have done more research into publishing and marketing.
A common question is: “How did you find your voice?” From a young age, I knew how to write a story. My first and subsequent books only refined my story-telling ability. So, this does not get a number because there was no lesson.
This is what I did right:
109) I took the leap. Meaning that I set a goal and achieved it.
110) At every step, I applied maximum effort.
111) I did not compromise quality. Granted, my first edition had many glaring issues.
112) Besides adding extra junk to make my book longer, I stayed true to my original story. This choice validated my accomplishment.
113) Even after all these years, I still like my story. So, indeed, I created something special. Well, at least to me.
This is how my first book changed me:
114) My grammar, spelling, and writing have dramatically improved.
115) I now can spot flaws in other works from a mile away. This is not necessarily a good thing. I recently put down a book because the writing was terrible. The content was excellent.
116) Movies and books have become less enjoyable because I get too deep into analyzing the plot and characters.
117) I sometimes look at people as if they were characters. Yes, this is creepy. Don’t tell anybody!
Bonus:
118) Alright, I must admit this. When I spot a big mistake in other people’s work that I know how to fix, it gives me a rush.
It has been quite a journey, but should I have gone down this road? Some dreary days, like when I get a bad review, the answer is no, but the rest are a resounding yes.
You’re the best -Bill
December 04, 2024
95) An author needs to have a dedicated website. This is the central hub of your marketing empire.
96) Keep the site current, and post often.
97) Using a canned solution like GoDaddy locks your hard work into their platform for life.
My next marketing phase was writing articles (blogs) and posting them on multiple sites. Here is what I learned:
98) Writing articles sharpens writing and generates ideas.
99) It is a good creative outlet that brings back the joy of writing.
100) I explore various ideas and have learned a lot, especially about myself.
101) You must write articles with a long-haul mindset. The effort will be successful, but success is a long way off.
102) Articles generate contacts and expand marketing.
103) Find every possible site that will accept your post.
I tried to locate book promotion sites and learned:
104) There are several free book-promoting sites. Make sure you create a separate email account for this effort, like Yahoo mail, because this email address will get lots of spam. I have found the free sites to be marginally successful.
105) There are hundreds of paid book-promoting sites. Tread hyper carefully!
a. At their core, they are spam generators. I do not want people getting spammed by my books.
b. They never define Return On Investment. This means that if I spend $X, they promise $Y sales based on Z prior marketing campaigns.
c. They never show proof of what they claim to do. “I tweeted to 10,000 people!” Who? When? Do you have an electronic log of your posts? Are these people even people?
d. They often use big concept words like “branding” and get quiet when you ask about real marketing terms like Return On Investment.
e. In my discussions with other authors, they unsuccessfully tried a few of these sites.
f. They make shady claims. “We adjust the Amazon algorithm to make your book appear first.” So, they hacked Amazon? Umm…
g. They often want to be paid to redo what you already did. Like having their “professional editors” update your work. You know my book has issues without looking at it? Umm…
h. There is a business here, but I have yet to figure out an angle to start one. Perhaps it has something to do with YouTube influencers.
This is what I should have done:
106) My biggest lesson was to begin all book projects with a thoroughly vetted outline. Then show it to somebody. This is a six-month process for me.
107) I would have put more effort into writing with the reader in mind. My original goal was to write a story “I wanted to read.” The result did not challenge the reader.
108) I should have done more research into publishing and marketing.
A common question is: “How did you find your voice?” From a young age, I knew how to write a story. My first and subsequent books only refined my story-telling ability. So, this does not get a number because there was no lesson.
This is what I did right:
109) I took the leap. Meaning that I set a goal and achieved it.
110) At every step, I applied maximum effort.
111) I did not compromise quality. Granted, my first edition had many glaring issues.
112) Besides adding extra junk to make my book longer, I stayed true to my original story. This choice validated my accomplishment.
113) Even after all these years, I still like my story. So, indeed, I created something special. Well, at least to me.
This is how my first book changed me:
114) My grammar, spelling, and writing have dramatically improved.
115) I now can spot flaws in other works from a mile away. This is not necessarily a good thing. I recently put down a book because the writing was terrible. The content was excellent.
116) Movies and books have become less enjoyable because I get too deep into analyzing the plot and characters.
117) I sometimes look at people as if they were characters. Yes, this is creepy. Don’t tell anybody!
Bonus:
118) Alright, I must admit this. When I spot a big mistake in other people’s work that I know how to fix, it gives me a rush.
It has been quite a journey, but should I have gone down this road? Some dreary days, like when I get a bad review, the answer is no, but the rest are a resounding yes.
You’re the best -Bill
December 04, 2024
