11 Self-Publishing Lessons in 2021 (#123)
Interested in writing a book? Here are 11 self-publishing lessons I learned the hard way in 2021.
In 2018 there were 4 million books published in the United States. Approximately 43 percent were self-published and 57 percent traditionally published. The book market has been relatively flat over the past decade with approximately 675 million books sold each year in the United States. The average U.S. book sells less than 200 copies per year and less than 1,000 copies over its lifetime.
Last fall, I embarked on the journey to write a book. Now, months later, Grow Your Grit: Overcome Obstacles, Thrive, and Accomplish Your Goals is starting to take shape. Throughout the process of writing, editing, and creating a cover, I made many mistakes and learned many lessons on how to not self-publish a book. Here are the eleven most important lessons I learned while writing a book:
Write the Table of Contents first. Then use it as a "to-do" list to guide your work.
Do something every day on the book. Build the streak and use your perseverance (see post #94 for more on Perseverance) to overcome the challenge of doing all the things it takes to write the book. Write 500 words. Edit a chapter. Find pictures or build slides, etc. Do citations. It is a war of attrition.
You don't have to write the chapters in order.
Whenever I had writer’s block, I would try to write any good idea I had on the chapter down on the page. It was typically bullet points, sentence fragments, and random ideas. That's one day of writing. Then, the next day go back and start shaping the paragraphs. Spend another day shaping the paragraphs. Then edit it for a fourth day.
Figure out your writing system. What worked I eventually had all 20 chapters printed out and each one stapled and laying on my kitchen table. I would tackle a chapter a day, edit it by hand, then type the edits into the computer, print the new version out, and then move on to the next chapter. (Picture below). It made the process feel manageable. I also like to edit with a pen and then type the changes which gave me a break from staring at the computer.
Once I finished the rough draft, I sent it to 5 readers who read it and provided feedback. It took another month to get the book to incorporate their feedback.
Once you are "finished" it is at least another 4 months to get it published. First, the cover has to be designed. Then, the editor has it for 8 weeks, then it goes to interior design, then indexing, then finally publishing. I'm on a tight timeline to make it to July 12.
I currently have the Kindle version of the book available for pre-sales on Amazon here. Amazon will not let you do a pre-sale of a hard cover or paper back version until the author uploads the file. As soon as the book is ready (I estimate mid-June) I will upload the file. Then it will be available for pre-sale on Amazon in all three versions.
I used Jera Publishing in Atlanta (here) to help me self-publish the book. Kimberly Martin was amazing to work with. She, and the Jera Team, coordinated to do the cover design, provided a list of editors to select from, did the interior design formatting, and helped to prepare the book to be put on Amazon and other outlets.
The average author spends between $2,000-$5,000 to self-publish. It is running me about $5,000 to get Grow Your Grit "self-published" in ebook, paperback, and hard cover. That breaks down to approximately $1,500 to Jera Publishing for cover design, interior formatting, and formatting; $3,000 to the editor; and another $500 for the ISBN, accounts, indexing, etc.
As a self-published author, I am doing all of the book promotions. I am using the blog and podcasts as ways to get the word out. So far, I have been on Smart Athlete (here) and Vertical Momentum (here) podcasts to talk about the book. I’ll be on more in the coming weeks. I’ll also do a blog post in the coming months on my experiences doing the podcasts.
If you decide to write a book, your experience will, of course, be different. But it has never been easier to publish a book. Go on the offense, Grow Your Grit, and tell your story in 2021.
Grow Your Grit in progress.