Self-publishing books is something that’s pretty common now. Because of it’s popularity, when you decide to self-publish your work, there’s a wealth of information out there which means with a good amount of research, nothing will surprise you right? Wrong.
Here are four things that will surprise you about self-publishing, even after you’ve done your research:
People Will Lie
This is perhaps the biggest surprise. People will lie about downloading your book. And not just strangers. Friends, acquaintances, fellow bloggers. Whether it’s because they don’t want to offend you by telling you that actually they don’t believe the months of hard work you put into your book is worth 99p of their money, or whether they had good intentions and just didn’t get around to downloading it remains a mystery. But it will happen.
But surely you have no way of knowing exactly who downloads your book you might be thinking. And you’d be correct. I learned this rather harsh truth through my own stupidity but honestly, the insight into the number of people who will claim they’ll buy the book vs the number of people who actually do was worth it.
I found this one out because I accidentally scheduled promo tweets the day before the book was released (I still haven’t managed to work out exactly what time Amazon make your book available on the release day, now I just work on the release being the day after I planned). I got a lot of messages from people saying they’d downloaded the book, loved it, couldn’t wait to read it etc. Then I discovered it wasn’t available yet.
The Writing is The Easy Part
Writing a book that is saleable (well written, grammatically correct, has a place in the market, is original etc.) is by no 
means easy. But when it comes to self-publishing, that really is the easy bit.
The marketing is the hard part. It is a constant slog and if you aren’t willing to market your book, you’re just not going to sell it. There is plenty of help available online if you’re not sure of the best way to market your book, for example, J. D. Barker, who has a great video about modernising the publishing model, has used this method to get himself a best seller.
Think about it – there are over two million books available on Amazon right now. If we ignore the ones by already well-known authors that are pretty much guaranteed to be best sellers, that still leaves a good 1.9 million books. If even ten percent of those books are in your niche, that’s some serious competition.
If you don’t market your book, it will become lost in a sea of noise. It doesn’t matter if the book is the best book ever written – if you can’t first let people know it’s there, and second, convince enough people to buy it to give it a bit of traction, it just won’t sell.
You Will Realise You Can Spot a Typo at Ten Paces – Except in Your Own Work
I’m far from a grammar Nazi. I don’t trawl blogs, books etc. and leave comments detailing the mistakes I’ve found. You know, because I have a life and all that. But I can’t help but spot the mistakes all the same. I can easily spot typos, spelling errors, wrong word usage, bad punctuation, cringey wording and (my pet hate) continuity errors in books.
But when it’s my own book, it seems that every single part of my brain which spots this stuff just switches off. It seems its a pretty common thing, hence why books etc. have mistakes in them. It’s not because the writer doesn’t care, it’s because they genuinely haven’t spotted them.
But make no mistake. That part of your brain will fire up again – usually during your launch, or after your book comes back from the printers. Yup, that’s the time you will spot that glaringly obvious error.
The Sense of Achievement You Get When You Sell Your First Copy Makes it All Worthwhile
Most of the posts you read online are from successful writers who are selling thousands of copies of their books. You 
will probably read about how good it feels to be earning a living from your books and being number one in your niche.
While it’s certainly true that it feels good, nothing beats that moment of elation you will feel when you see that you’ve sold your first copy. In that moment, the hours spent writing, re-writing, editing, formatting, designing your cover, fighting your way through the uploading process and doing pre-launch marketing feel worth it a thousand times over.
Someone has just bought something that you created. That’s pretty dam special.
Have you ever entered the world of self-publishing? What surprised you about it? Let me know in the comments 🙂
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I have no idea who in my family has bought my books. The first one a few got I know because they wanted the paperback, but after that I didn’t even bother telling them I had more books out. LOL I know my father-in-law buys them all because he lets me know he’s reading and I had to ask him not to leave reviews on Amazon since that’s against their terms.
I tend to give out copies to my family (I should really stop lol). Haha I love that you don’t even tell them anymore!
Great read!!! Thank you for sharing!
Not being able to spot or edit your own spelling and grammar mistakes isn’t just prevalent in book writing. I have this all the time when I’m working in my normal day-to-day marketing job. I’m good at editing others’ work but when it comes to my own I sometimes look like a right numpty when someone else reads it!
It’s really frustrating isn’t it! And as soon as someone points out the mistake, you wonder how on earth you missed it
Man I sure can sympathize with you on this. Publishing our first work took so much effort and devotion. You are right- the writing was the easiest part!
Talk about a labor of love.
#anythinggoes
Spot on! You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into until it’s happening do you?
I can’t imagine even doing the writing part, let alone all the work that comes with trying to get it out there. Anyone who manages it has my lifelong respect!
#AnythingGoes
I really enjoy the writing part so I don’t mind that bit at all but the marketing is a killer lol
I plan to self-publish my books – If I can ever stop revising them plus I need to do more research and what not. I love this post though because this is good info to have when I finally start this process of self-publishing. Thanks so much for hosting #anythinggoes Debbie Always a pleasure!
Self-publishing is hard – harder than I ever expected but the plus points make it worth it. When you get to the stage where you’re ready to publish, let me know if I can be of any help 🙂
It must be hard. Has it been worth it? #AnythingGoes
It is hard, but yes, it’s totally been worth it
I laughed when I read the paragraph about spotting mistakes. THIS IS ME! No matter how many times I read my own work before I publish a post, there is ALWAYS a mistake in it.
It’s so frustrating!
I really really want to publish my own book but I am terrified that first of all it will just put me out of picket because it might be rubbish and also I worry that everyone i know may not support me. I’m glad you are feeling proud of yourself though, and so you should! #anythinggoes
It is possible to self-publish with no outlay if you’re confident at doing everything yourself. I tend to spend money on marketing and design and format the book myself. I used to worry about the no support thing too, that people would laugh when I said I was writer, but I have to say that hasn’t been the case at all.
That’s amazing! You’ve achieved such an amazing feat. I’m pinning this for when I’m in a position to do such a thing. Good on you girl!
#Globalblogging
Thank you 🙂
Sorry! Meant to say#AnythingGoes !
I 100% can relate to not being able to spot my own mistakes when writing a blog post! I now get my teenager to read my posts before I actually post them, and she always finds something that needs to be fixed! #anythinggoes
Great idea!
Very interesting read. I’ve thought of giving self-publishing a go but it seems so hard to be seen. It must be a lovely feeling when someone buys your book! That’s so awkward about friends saying they have bought it and you know they haven’t! Great post x #bloggerclubuk
It is hard, but most things are! It’s possible though with a good book and the right strategy x
I am soaking up all this knowledge since I plan on self publishing within the next few months. #BloggerClubUK
Ooh, good luck! Give me a shout if I can help in anyway
I’ve found this post really interesting. I suppose it’s another extension of blogging and shares similar highs and lows. Food for though… thanks x #BloggerClubUK
Thank you 🙂 Yes, I think any creative industry has things behind the scenes that you don’t know about until you’re a part of it.
How bizarre that people lie about buy your books! Surely they must realise they’ll get found out the second you ask them a question about the plot!!! #bloggerclubuk
I know – it’s such a stupid lie! I would much rather they just say they’re not their thing
Great post, I would love to publish my own book. I am dyslexic and my spelling and grammar are terrible, I have had a few people complain about it to me but that’s me. Its my writing and its my thoughts I’m not going to change it I cant. I think we need to change peoples attitude towards bad grammar etc. I use grammarly but you still need to roughly know what should be where. So what do I do? not blog because people are annoyed at bad spelling etc? Its hard sometimes.
#bloggerclubuk
I think on your blog your readers come to know you and accept that it’s who you are. With a book, it needs to be polished, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write one. It just means you need a great proof reader
Gosh yes, the amount of marketing that goes into getting ebooks out and about must be never ending. I don’t tend to read ebooks if I’m honest. I used to, but because of always being at the screen for work, I now much prefer having a paperback in hand. I am the same with spotting my own mistakes with spells and what-not. LOL! It’s strange isn’t it. I think we sort of read what we think we have written. #Bloggerclubuk
Honestly – I’m the same. For all I write eBooks, I rarely read them for the same reason as you – screen time is work time.
All these things are very true. I feel your pain.
Every part of self-publishing is damned hard
#bloggerclubuk
For sure!
I have to write many reports and I always miss my own errors! It’s very frustrating isn’t it? It’s as if my brain flips things for me….great post. I would love to write a book. #bloggerclubuk
It really is!
I wouldn’t even know where to start! But this is all really informative – thanks Debbie! #anythinggoes
Quite the eye-opener and I would like to self-publish at some point for useful information. The top one did not surprise me – I think there are less genuine behaviours these days and more lies or half-truths are told sadly. I do love how it is so much more possible thought than it was back in the day when only the rich could do it
I think I was quite naïve up until that point lol but it sure opened my eyes! Yes, I love that it’s something anyone can do if they are willing to out the time into learning the industry.
I would love to write my own picture book! But self-publishing will be out of the question for me as I can’t draw and would need an illustrator! Oh well! #BloggerClubUK
It might be possible to collab with an illustrator and profit share, but I’ve never actually looked into that. You can definitely hire freelance illustrators though if you wanted to self-publish
I would love to write a book but I don’t have the time or commitment 🙁 #anythinggoes
I’m so impressed you have self published book on Amazon – that’s such an achievement as it sounds a lot of hard work. How do you go about marketing it as that sounds one of the hardest parts? #BloggerClubUK
It really is hard but it’s worth it! The marketing is a combination of SM, reviews on blogs and sheer dumb luck lol. A few people have asked me about the marketing side so there’ll be a post coming soon about it.
Aww the lying would be hard to take. Maybe people don’t realize you can see how many downloads there are & can do math as well? lol I really did download your blogging book so you know! 😉 And typos – it’s the same on my blog, I read what I intended to say rather than what is actually written there!! x
I just don’t know what they get out of such a pointless lie! Lol I know you wouldn’t lie about it.
Yes, that’s my problem too! x
It would seem that in most aspects of making something to sell, whether it be books, products or even getting your blog noticed, marketing is the most difficult part!
That’s for sure!
I’d love to write as a job but for now I’ll work on my blog and see where that leads me. Maybe I’ll be using your tips one day #bloggerclubuk
Hi, I don’t write books I admire anyone like yourself who does. I do know one thing for sure if it’s your own work no matter how hard or many times you look at something it’s easy to miss those typos #bloggerclubuk
So true – I miss the most obvious errors in my own stuff!
The marketing is the bit I would feel really overwhelmed by – I’m not good at that sort of stuff! And I hate that blind spot you get for being able to see errors in your own writing. I’m a real grammar perfectionist, and I’m a good proofreader, but I often miss the most ridiculous stuff in my own writing because I correct it in my head without noticing. #AnythingGoes
The marketing is a killer, but I guess it’s just a learning curve (I keep telling myself this anyway lol).
I can’t spot a typo in my own work now let alone if I published a book. Which is one of the things I do want to do. Although it won’t be a fiction one, I will leave that tot he experts like you xx #BloggerClubUK
Oh we’ll have to switch manuscripts and proof read each other’s!
How to Market Your Self-Published Book: Tried and Tested Strategies to Increase Sales Part One - My Random Musings
[…] books, and I love being in control of my own release dates, promotions etc. I also think self-publishing is a great way for any writer who is new to it to get a good insight into the publishing and […]