How many readers of this nonsense, I wonder, have written and published a book or are even contemplating doing so?
Yeah? That many? I have a question for you … how do you cope with the daily barrage of ‘helpful’ tips, promises to publish your books and turn your manuscript into a bestseller?

I’ve written and self-published three books, and have two undergoing structural editing with the publisher right now. The first three were really just experiments – to get a feel for what was required to write to this level, and as such I wasn’t too bothered about sales figures. I certainly wasn’t looking to generate a meaningful income.

That said, my first sold over five hundred copies, mainly in UK and USA, and with a minimal outlay on marketing. I read somewhere that if a first-time, self-publishing author sells more that two hundred and fifty books, they should consider it a win. (The other two were ‘short reads’ written on a whim and as much for something to occupy my time as anything.)

So, with that little bit of experience now in my locker, it’s time to embark on my ‘proper’ projects.

However, it appears should I now wish to give my prospective new efforts the best chance of making a similar, or greater number of sales, then I must:

1. Write excellent content (obvs!) 😉
2. Enlist support from beta readers.
3. Download some amazing editing tool – free for the first month, then a squillion dollars a month thereafter.
4. Join a writers’ group to obtain meaningful feedback.
5. Write submission letters to publishers.
6. Don’t take publishers’ rejection letters personally.
7. Hire a marketer.
8. Start up a blog to help promote my book.
9. Undertake a blog tour.
10. Comment daily on on other writer’s blogs. (I never really ‘get’ this one – surely it’s not other writers, but the general reading public I should be establishing a relationship with?)
11. Hire a marketing expert – using any I’ve spoken to would mean selling about five hundred books just to pay them.
12. Hire an advertising expert – using any I’ve spoken to would mean selling about another five books just to pay them.
13. Learn how to use Keywords.
14. Learn how to use Facebook ads.
15. Learn how to use Amazon ads.
16. Set up a mailing list.
17. Prepare and send out a Newsletter to all my ‘followers’ in the (minimum) three months prior to book launch. (Mind that shouldn’t take long for the paltry number of followers I have. ) 😀
    
    
    
    

And that’s not all … if my book has any of the following, there are courses, which coincidentally also cost about a squillion dollars, to help me: characters; geography; a new world; humor; horror; romance; conflict; a car chase; zombies … the list goes on.

I’m sure all the above are perfectly valid pointers. But every day, my inbox is filled with ‘stuff to do’ if I want to become a successful author. And of course, I’d quite like that.

However, I suspect like many others, I write for enjoyment. If I sell one book and my Amazon ranking jumps a few hundred places on that basis, then I’m dancing!

Let’s be honest – how many of us are going to hit the New York / Sunday Times Best Sellers List? I know, in all aspects of life, we should aim high, but we have to maintain an air of realism.

I now spend so much of my day trying to do even just some of what’s recommended, that I have no time to concentrate on what matters most, and appears at the top of the list above.

Which is why, from today, I’m by-passing a lot of that stuff, at least for the time being, and give priority to what’s most important – writing.

My tip for any other wannabee writers?

Just do it!