Welcome to the Pearls of Wisdom Author Tour!
Our guest today is NY Times and USA Today Best Selling author Emily
Snow. Emily is the author of All Over You, Devoured and the new Consumed; and Tidal. She is represented by Rebecca Friedman with Hill Nadell Literary Agency. She is a brilliant author, wonderful lady, and one that should most definitely write a book about Self Publishing Successfully! Read her guest post here to learn some very important tips.
Emily's Post:
Thanks so much, Marisa, for inviting me to guest post on
your blog! While I could probably write a book (I’m not even kidding!) about
what I’ve learned self-publishing, I’ve managed to shrink it down to five tips.
Here they are:
5. Be Prepared
Self-publishing a book is incredibly hard work, and
preparation is so. Freaking. Important. As soon as you write
“Once upon a time . . . ” you need to
start thinking about a cover that will fit the characters and mood of your
book, an attention-grabbing description, and even potential release dates. It’s
good to build up interest about your book well before uploading to retailers,
so you’ll probably want to begin making a list of bloggers to contact for cover
reveals, ARC reviews, and blog tours. If you don’t know whom to contact, start
by looking up books you enjoyed in the same genre online and getting in touch
with some of the bloggers who reviewed them. If you’re a big fan of Goodreads,
look up book reviewers whose reviews you enjoy and send them a message asking
if they’d like to read an ARC of your book for honest feedback. Chances are
they’ll say YES!
4. Be Innovative
One of the fun things about self-publishing is that you can
really experiment with different ways to find and connect with an audience for
your work. One of my biggest suggestions is to step outside of what’s expected
and try something different that will surprise your readers (in a good way, of
course)! Don’t be afraid to experiment with price, book cover, and even
contests to help promote your book.
3. Be Informed
As soon as you make up your mind to write a novel with the
plan to eventually self-publish, it’s the right time to begin researching. In
the words of one of my character’s, Lucas, Google is your friend, so read up on
indie publishing. Join online networks, such as the KDP (Kindle Direct
Publishing) community, Goodreads groups, Kindleboards, and the PubIt! (Barnes
& Noble’s self-publishing platform) Help Board, and become an active
member. Also, interact with other indie authors, bloggers and readers on
Facebook and Twitter to keep up with what’s currently happening in the
self-publishing world.
2. Be Kind
What I’m about to tell you kind of sucks, but it’s so
important when it comes to self-publishing, traditional publishing, and even
writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper:
Not Everyone Will Love Your Work. There’s a good chance you’ll
receive some bad reviews—in fact, some may be pretty damn scathing—but be kind
to all your readers. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and just because your
novel isn’t right for one person, doesn’t mean the next reader won’t fall
head-over-heels in love. One of my friends once gave me an excellent bit of
advice in regards to coping with the not-so-stellar reviews:
Go to Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, or
Goodreads and look up your favorite book. Look at all the bad reviews it has. Now,
visit the same sites and pull up a book you weren’t exactly fond of and look at
all the reviews from people who absolutely adored it.
1. Be Humble
I have been incredibly fortunate so far with my
self-publishing journey. I’ve been lucky enough to have my books read by really
awesome readers, and I’m so grateful for them. Therefore, my most important tip
for self-publishing a novel is to be humble,
grateful. Regardless of whether you sell five copies or five
million copies, remember that readers are helping make your dream come true.
They’re supporting that dream by buying a copy of your book, leaving reviews,
and/or finding you on Facebook and Twitter to let you know how your epilogue
made them ugly cry. A “thank you” goes such a long way.
About Emily
Emily Snow is
the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the DEVOURED series and
TIDAL. She loves books, sexy bad boys, and really loud rock music, so
naturally, she writes stories about all three. Visit her Blog for news, teasers, and contests.
Thank you so much Emily Snow for sharing your pearls of wisdom with us. We appreciate your time!
Happy writing my friends!
~Marisa
I have been incredibly fortunate so far with my
self-publishing journey. I’ve been lucky enough to have my books read by really
awesome readers, and I’m so grateful for them. Therefore, my most important tip
for self-publishing a novel is to be humble, grateful. Regardless of whether you sell five copies or five
million copies, remember that readers are helping make your dream come true.
They’re supporting that dream by buying a copy of your book, leaving reviews,
and/or finding you on Facebook and Twitter to let you know how your epilogue
made them ugly cry. A “thank you” goes such a long way.
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