✍️ Diary of an Author: 6 Secrets of Self-Publishing and Marketing Your Book
6 secrets of self-publishing and book marketing for the Modern Author, and some stories about the magic of sharing your work
Hey Modern Authors! Welcome to the first Wednesday Edition of my publication, Diary of an Author, where I’ll be sharing the 6 Secrets of Self-Publishing and Marketing Your Book.
I’ve written on my blog about the immense value I’ve gotten from publishing my own books, and in this subscribers-only Wednesday Edition, I’ll share with you…
How to market your self-published book
Why publishing your book is a glowing “business card” for your service and/or business
How to land interviews on popular podcasts
But before we dive in, a quick story.
“You have no idea what this piece means to me.”
It was just a short story I published on the website Medium almost a decade ago about the malaise of working as a minimum-wage assistant in Hollywood.
I wrote it out of something I felt in a moment back in my small studio apartment I had in Hollywood where my window faced the wall of another apartment, expecting it to just be a piece that sits online that no one reads. I expected it to exist in the digital drawer, never sparking anything.
Instead, people started finding it. I started getting hired for writing jobs off of it.
“You have no idea what this piece means to me.” Were some of the sentiments that came from many different people over the years.
It surprised me, to be honest. Something I had written in that short piece struck a chord? Others could feel the same emotions I had sketched out on the page? It was a high that made me feel more alive than anything else: a shared experience I was able to conjure out of some words on the page. Magic.
But not just that: magic that was created out of an emotion I felt compelled to share.
The same thing happened when I decided to come out as bisexual in the LA Times. I felt something deeply, felt as if I needed to share it, submitted it to the LA Times on a whim — and the piece created a waterfall effect of strangers and friends coming to me to confess something they had long held inside.
After publishing my new book, Six-Figure Freelance Writer — part how-to, part travel memoir — the kind words came rolling in once more:
“I have been devouring your book!”
“This book, however, made me sit up and take notice. The voice is just superb. Readable yet interesting to read… This is a lesson book well worth the investment. It's intelligent, it's common sense, and it's insanely usable.”
I had been working on the book for an entire year, and to hear that people liked it? So, deeply lovely.
But this time around, I realized the importance of the publishing process. Why stories are a communal experience, and the tragedy of how so many authors let their work wither in a drawer.
As I write this, I’m sitting on a patio with my espresso as a woman speaks French and chain smokes on the patio next door, listening to her share stories on the phone to someone far away (I assume, as I don’t speak French.) As people, we’re built to share what we’re feeling, not hide it away.
I’m adding this section to my newsletter because each time I published something, I was surprised that people liked it.
I hoped they would, of course, but the gratification of creating a shared human experience over a feeling we had in common is the highest goal of every writer — and I want you to have this reaction to your work, too.
I want you to strive to publish your creative work, whether that’s just putting something up on Medium or Substack, or in the case of what I’m about to share with you — publishing a whole damn book.
6 Self-Publishing Secrets: Marketing Your Book
Secret #1: You Can Earn Just as Much as a Traditionally Published Author — Sometimes More (+ Your Audience Can’t Tell the Difference)
Earlier this week, I wrote an entire blog post about self-publishing vs. traditional publishing — and why I chose to self-publish all my books.
Self-publishing is just better — not to mention as an author your earnings are competitive (and even higher in some cases!) than traditional authors because you keep more of your royalty pie.
Here’s some data:
The global publishing market is expected to grow at 1% CAGR per year, whereas the self-publishing market is expected to grow at 17%.
30-34% of all ebooks sold are self-published.
300 million self-published books are sold each year.
$1.25 billion worth of self-published books are sold each year.
Amazon pays $520 million in royalties to self-published authors each year.
More than 1,000 self-published authors made $100,000 last year from Amazon.
Of authors who have published their first book in the last 10 years:
1,200 traditionally published authors have earned $25,000+ a year
1,600 self-published authors have earned $25,000+ a year
(Source.)
When a customer is buying your self-published book on Amazon, it’ll feel just like any other traditionally published book. This means hiring the right people to ensure your book and its cover feel professional and high-end.
As the lines get blurred between what is traditionally published vs. self-published, this gives independent authors more power and control over their work — and a bigger share of the royalties.
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