10 Compelling Questions Writers Ask Me About Writing and Publishing
I’m asked pertinent – compelling – questions about writing and publishing a book almost every day. People email me. Or DM me on LinkedIn. Or they fill out our contact form to set up a meeting to discuss their questions.
I remember 20 years ago when I had questions, too. When I wrote my first book and self-published it. The experience left me sad, worried, and wondering how to help other writers avoid what I’d gone through.
Today, with Indie Publishing working with folks like us, Small Press Publishing, and Traditional Publishing, the are so many options that writers are often lost in the weeds wondering how to get their book written and then published.
I’m going to answer some of the more compelling questions that come my way, today. These are the questions I hear over and over. These are the questions I had, too, back when I was just beginning as a writer. These are the questions that led me to start my own print-on-demand publishing company in 2005, where I worked with come superb authors making sure their books were the works of art they imagined them to be as they wrote them.
Today, I do not publish. During a hiatus from my POD company, working at the exciting and delightful BlogPaws, the publishing company was closed. We returned all content of the books we’d published to their owners, and we acknowledged Amazon as the dominant player in the Indie Publishing space.
This meant we could focus on the writing, the editing, the design, and the marketing. We don’t DO marketing, per se, but we do advise and guide. Marketing, no matter where you publish, is largely left up to the author.
Let’s get to those questions. Highlight ones that are pertinent to you. If you want more detailed answers to these questions, stay tuned. There is a secret masterclass being developed just for that purpose. Don’t tell anyone I spilled the beans! But stay tuned for all the deets on that!
(1) How Do I Protect My Work from Being Stolen?
I know this troubles you. It’s held many a writer back from actually talking about their work before it’s finished and copyrighted. Truth is, it’s copyrighted the moment you begin. Today, with computers, you can prove this so much more easily, than back in the day when there was no time stamp on your work as you typed away.
My advice is to stop worrying about this. Your work is protected from day one. Trust in the system.
(2) Can I really make money from writing a book?
Well, the qualified answer is yes. And no. Truth is, if you’re writing to get rich, that’s not likely to happen from book sales. Yes, yes, I know. I hear someone in the back of the room mumbling, “But Peter so and so sent me an email about making $50k on his book.”
I don’t know who Peter so and so is. It’s a good chance he’s a member of a group of promoters who make those promises willy nilly. What they don’t tell you is how hard it is. How much work is involved. Writing ad copy. Spending on ads here and there and everywhere.
Maybe those folks have the answer to making large sums in royalties on your book. I don’t know. What I do know is that you should plan on other ways to make money from your book. Your book is your introduction to a masterclass. Or a workshop. It’s your introduction to speaking engagements. We’ve written about this a lot.
The key is to understand that book sales rarely pad your bank account. (Until you get famous from all that other stuff and people flock to attend your $5000 retreats!)
(3) People won’t take me seriously if I Indie Publish. Will they?
Of course they will. Why wouldn’t they? Do they take you seriously now? If they know you, the fact that you’re Indie published may make them think more highly of you. After all, it’s a big project, writing a book. It takes courage. And vulnerability. And time. And people know that waiting 2-3 years to get a book published the ‘other’ way, isn’t going to work. People want and need your story now!
Indie Publishing is actually growing by leaps and bounds. Our friends at WordsRated tell us,
The market for self-published books
- 300 million self-published books are sold each year.
- The number of self-published books has increased by 264% in the last five years.
- $1.25 billion worth of self-published books is sold each year.
There is good reason for this. It’s because first, no one looks to see who published a book before they buy it. Second, professionals who want a book as a tool in their business don’t want to give away their copyright to one of the Big 5 Publishers.
Professionals who have something important to share, and want to make sure people see it now, as soon as possible, don’t want to wait more than two years to be published. They want immediate results. Our friend Porsché can help you write and publish in three months.
At Master Book Builders, we work on a longer schedule, but what I’m telling you now is that Indie Publishing is here to stay and it’s garnering more and more respect every year. Because folks like us know we’re competing with the Big 5 and we turn out books that are just as good as theirs!
(4) What’s a developmental editor? Can’t I just get a ‘real’ editor and be fine?
Trust me, you need a developmental editor. Why? Because they will make your book better. More polished.
I turned to writer and business strategist Jane Friedman to see if I could get a good definition of developmental editor and here’s what I discovered:
…when it came to “developmental editing,” it was nearly impossible to come to a consensus. Some saw developmental editing as a partnership between a writer and editor to “develop” a manuscript; others suggested that such an exchange of ideas would be considered “coaching” or “consulting.” Some insisted that “line editing” is a part of developmental editing; others were adamant that line editing is an entirely separate service. Most people in our volunteer group were not fans of the term “substantive editing” since all editing is, arguably, substantive.
There you have it. Your developmental editor does many or all of those things. I do them all. I participate in the writing to make sure you’re serving your audience, using the right language and the right words, and I work with you to choose the best title and subtitle of your book.
Developmental editors are here to make sure your book lives up to expectations. Yours and your readers.
(5) What kind of marketing works best for a novel…a business book…a memoir…a self-help book?
All kinds. But yes, you need to do social media. That’s the one that makes people’s eyes roll. As writers, they just want to write. They don’t want to ‘waste time’ on social media.
What if that is where your peeps hang out? What if that is where your audience is? On social media. Yes, I see some of you shaking your heads because you saw an ad on Facebook about selling lots of books without using social media.
I don’t click on those ads because I suspect there is a lot of promotion in the background wanting me to sign up for something that will cost me thousands of dollars. Something that will cost in time and effort, too. With no guarantee.
Social media help isn’t free. Don’t get me wrong. You need to budget for it. But when you do, you will have a dedicated team with your interests at heart, working on your platforms, growing your audience faster than you can do so on your own. That is how you create book sales and fan clubs.
Think of Taylor Swift. She’s active everywhere. She’s actively involved in her fan clubs. Why? Because she sees them as people first. People who are interested in her, her work, her next album, her next show.
We created the “Taylor Swift Model of Book Marketing” designed after the superstar’s own work. You can be like Taylor and grow your fan club – using social media.
There are other marketing avenues, also. There are dedicated PR professionals who do nothing but work with authors. There are professional marketers who have been in media for years and know how to promote an author better than you can do so, yourself.
Oh, and the advice above goes for all kinds of books. Yes, you can find folks dedicated to just your kind of book, if you prefer.
(6) I already have a book cover in mind. Can I have my cousin’s best friend do it for me?
No. Short and simple. Unless your cousin’s best friend is a BOOK COVER DESIGNER do not let them design your book cover.
Yes, let them share the idea. In other words, if they can create a design that can be converted to a cover, that’s fine. You still need a dedicated book cover designer. Cover designs are not just crayon drawings, after all. There is a lot of technology involved. And wrapping the front around to the back, including the spine, understanding bleeds, and colors.
Cover design is an art in and of itself. Your graphic designer friend might create a pretty picture, but let the cover designer turn it into a book design. Please.
(7) How do I get my book into bookstores and libraries?
That is a very good question. But it’s complicated. I’ve had authors come to me wanting to get their book into the airport bookstores, Hudson Books, and others wanting to get into libraries.
Sadly, at this time, it’s nigh impossible to get in Hudson books. I hope that will change in the future.
Libraries are a good bet but you have to do the leg work. Go to several local libraries and ask if they will put your book on the shelf. This does not get you into their database, but it gets you seen. A good place to get started is on Overdrive.
As for Barnes & Noble, visit their website for more information on how to be listed in their database. But, before you do that, consider visiting the local stores and asking them to add your book to their shelves. Since each store manager is able to make decisions on what books to display, if they accept yours and it gathers attention, they may be your in to having it presented to top management and then included in the B&N database.
Once again, you have to be your own advocate. The manager will want a compelling reason to add your book to his bookshelves. He’ll want to know how you’re marketing the book, and what promotions you can do for him.
A great way to convince a B&N manager to add your book is to ask if you can arrange a book signing, with other authors, at their store. If you can bring in 30 or 50 people to do a book reading and signing, the manager will be impressed and happy. More sales for him.
BTW, you are automatically listed in the B&N online bookstore if you publish on Amazon and use the Expanded Distribution option.
(8) How long should my book be? My novel is 500 pages. My business book is 350 pages. My self-help book is only 100 pages. Which is best?
Your book should be as long as it needs to be.
Which is easy to say. The general rule I follow is to keep business books and other kinds of nonfiction books at 200 pages or less. Remember, you will want your book offered digitally also. And people just don’t want to stare at the screen for more than 200 pages.
If your book needs to be more than 200 pages, should you perhaps think of writing two books?
Novels are different. I love me a long novel. If it’s over 500 pages, I’m a happy camper. And I love a whole series where each book is over 500 pages!
The easy answer to this question is to understand your reader. You want them to finish the book. This means it has to be captivating from first word to last. If you can write 500 pages that keep me turning page after page and forgetting what time it is, go for it.
But don’t bore me. If you begin to bore me, I’m done. Fiction or nonfiction. I need to be educated, entertained, engaged.
Oh, and for a book to have a spine, which you want it to, it should be at least 80 pages.
(9) What is an author platform? How do I build one?
We just talked about this in #5 but let’s expand on it a bit because this is important. An author platform is something you build as you write. Much like the foundation of a house, your platform is a place for you to promote to the masses. It’s your author brand. I talked about your author brand in January. Just click the link in the previous sentence.
The goal of a platform/a brand is to turn the masses into rabid fans! Well, maybe not rabid. That makes me shudder a bit! Let’s go with dedicated fans. Devoted fans. People who have been listening to you talk about your book (it’s message, the stories, the experience, not so much the actual book) for months, as you write it.
As you tell them why you’re writing the book and how the experience is going, and you ask them for advice on your cover or your title, you hook them in. You engage them and slowly lure them in until you have thousands of people surrounding your platform and now you can take the next step to get closer to them.
You begin to know some of them by name. You send kudos to them. You follow them on social and comment on their content. You show appreciation by offering them more of you. Because that’s what they want.
They want your advice and training. Be prepared to follow up your book with more intimate work. By intimate I mean work that gets you closer to your fans. And gets them closer to you. Until you become… Tony Robbins. Well, you know what I mean.
You cannot create a successful platform/brand without true, authentic engagement with your audience.
(10) What are the biggest mistakes to avoid when writing and publishing my book?
This one I saved for last on purpose.
I wrote about this some time ago in a series called 12 Ways To Fail As An Author. Here are my thoughts on the biggest mistakes writers make when writing and publishing their books.
- They think their book is the best thing since sliced pizza. It’s not. It can be the best thing on the shelf about your topic, but that takes a lot of work and no one will know it’s the best thing if you don’t tell them.
- They don’t hire professional editors. No one wants to read sloppy work. If your book turns out sloppy, it’s your own fault.
- They forget that narration, the act of sculpting an engaging story is just as important in nonfiction as it is in fiction. People want to read about what really happened and how you felt when it was happening. They don’t want a sterilized version of the story. Be ready to bleed on the page.
- They think Amazon is a book promoter. Amazon is a book store. Amazon is there to house your book as you promote it. Authors promote books. Amazon does not.
- They’re too shy to announce and shout and tell the world about their book. Too many authors are reluctant to be their own cheerleaders. But it’s exactly what they have to be. Even if you hire a book marketer or promoter, you have to help by engaging with your audience and showing your excitement about your book. If you’re not excited about it, why should I be?
- They pay too much attention to nonprofessionals telling them how to write and publish. Don’t let anyone dictate how you write and publish your book. Talk to professionals and write the masterpiece you’ve always planned to write. Then publish it. Your way.
No doubt I left out questions. If you have more questions, or want a deeper dive into any of these questions, you know where to find me. On LinkedIn.
Leave a comment telling me the biggest mistake you made when writing and publishing your book.
Leave a Reply