- When you self-publish, you retain control over your book.
You don't get shoved into a cover you don't like,
and you keep all rights and royalties.
It's a pretty sweet situation to be in,
but there are some pretty major things
that most self-publishing authors don't know
before they get into this.
And I think they should.
So if you're thinking of self-publishing a book,
especially a nonfiction one, then this video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hey, there I'm Julie, the book broad,
founder of Book Launchers, which is a fabulous
professional self-publishing services company.
Just look at some of these awesome books
we've worked on recently.
So many awesome authors self-publishing
and some incredible books for you to check out.
And throughout the process,
I'm sure they have all learned the seven,
the seven (laughs)
the seven things I'm about to share with you
that I wish every author knew
before venturing into self-publishing.
Number one: you won't be able to DIY the whole process
if you want a good to great book.
And conversely, you also won't be able to hand off
the entire thing to someone else and get it done well.
There are at least one dozen, yep, that's 12,
different professionals who work on a book
that comes to Book Launchers.
The reason it's not one person
is that there are so many skill sets required
to create a great book.
Writing the book is such a small portion of the process
when you really get into the whole thing.
But a book also can't exist without the author.
Even if you have a writer helping you write,
the book still needs you.
Book publishing and book launching is a team sport.
You won't be able to do it all yourself
if you care about creating something great,
but someone else doing the project
can't do it successful without you either.
It's a team project, and we're more likely to win
if we play our best position, trust each other,
and support each other to get the best result.
Two: your reader is not a demographic.
If you think your book is for men
between the ages of 40 to 55, who've gone to university
and are married with kids who want to make more money,
I'll introduce you to my husband, Dave,
who meets those demographic criteria.
♪ Halleluja ♪
But I still don't have a clue
if your book is actually for him,
because a demographic doesn't define your audience
well enough for you to write and market a book to them.
What problem does your book solve?
What experience will it offer the reader?
How will their life be different after they read the book?
Now, if you tell me your book
is about the mountain biking trails of North America
that the masses don't know about,
or your book solves the problem
of how to get a recurring role in a network TV show
as an actor, starting their career in their 40's,
okay, now I can say that that book is for my husband, Dave.
- [Children] Yeah.
- If your book is about how to advance your career
to the C-suite level, or how to succeed as a man
in a female-dominated industry, Dave doesn't care.
He hasn't had a real job since I dragged him
out of his commercial mortgage broker job in 2008
to help me build our real estate training
and education company.
He got a taste of freedom and I don't think he's going back.
We humans have so much in common,
but we all look to solve our problems
and achieve our goals in different ways.
So please don't define your reader by their demographic.
Define them by the problem they're trying to solve
and how you solve it differently than other books.
Three: you're not going to be a bestseller
based on a great book alone.
I read so many incredible stories every day.
You probably have had quite the life as well
and have a great story to tell,
but that is not enough for a bestseller.
In fact, a great book is barely part of the equation
for making a book a bestseller.
Some books get lucky, but most bestsellers are created
by a lot of marketing work.
Before the book comes out and after it's been out,
networking, platform building, consistency,
plus a great book can get you there, but it's not overnight.
And no book gets published
and just start selling without any work at all.
If a book launches and nobody talks about it,
does anyone buy it?
Four: your friends and family are not the best people
to ask for advice on your book.
I realize they know you well,
but that is the same reason they aren't the ones
that will give you the best advice.
Sometimes they're too harsh,
trying to protect you from embarrassment
or whatever they fear in their own life.
And all too often, they're just too soft,
not wanting to hurt your feelings
or just wanting to be supportive and encouraging.
The end result is bad advice.
But even more than that,
they aren't experts in your subject matter.
They aren't your ideal reader usually.
And they aren't professionals in the publishing industry.
So their advice doesn't have the value that you need.
I can't tell you, and really, I can't tell you
because of our confidentiality agreements with our clients,
but it's broken our hearts more than once
to see our clients kill great books
because of a sentimental reason that drives the cover,
or the opinion of friends that kills the title.
Remember your book might be about you, but it's not for you,
(dramatic music)
or for your friends or family.
It's for your ideal reader.
Your cover, your title, and your content
needs to appeal to your ideal reader.
That's the question you need answered.
Not whether your wife or your best friend
thinks you're cover and title are good.
(speaking in foreign language)
That's five.
All right, number five:
publishing the book is not the destination.
It's a stop on the way to the destination.
Your book is a tool and should be used that way.
My book, "Self-Publish and Succeed"
is something I'm using right now to grow Book Launchers.
We're co-sponsoring the 2022 North Street Book Prize,
for example.
That opportunity is a direct result of me having a book.
And now every single person who enters a book
into their award for 2022 gets a digital copy of my book.
If you've written a poetry book,
a creative nonfiction, or memoir,
you absolutely should look at entering their award.
I don't generally recommend awards
but they give a huge cash prize,
and they're in this business to support authors.
Check out the winning writers.
We're also leveraging the book launch
to get podcast interviews, speaking opportunities,
and other partnership opportunities,
like the one with the North Street Book Prize.
When your book is published,
it's the beginning, it's not the end.
Be open to the possibilities that will come your way.
Ultimately, I'm running Book Launchers
because I published a real estate investing book in 2013.
My life didn't change in an instant when the book came out,
but it shifted little by little.
And here I am connecting with
and building the most amazing community of people
supporting authors to write the highest quality of books
and market them to achieve their goals.
Number six: there are different kinds of editors
and you need more than one kind,
and you need them in a specific order.
Probably this is the thing that makes me the saddest
because well-meaning authors hire editors,
and great editors are expensive,
knowing their book needs help,
but they hire copy editors
when they need developmental editors;
and wonder why their book is grammatically correct,
but not actually better.
If you haven't read my book, "Self-Publish and Succeed,"
grab your copy now,
So you don't make these kind of expensive,
heartbreaking mistakes.
Number seven: writing the book is hard,
but marketing is harder,
and no one method will work for every author.
Marketing is about testing, and there are no guarantees.
Book marketing is not about launch or even something you do
only when your book is done.
It's something that you should pay attention to
the minute you think you're going to write a book.
If you want to succeed,
you're going to write a book with marketing in mind.
And once your book is done, you're going to do one thing,
at least one thing every day to market your book,
even if some days, that small thing
is sending an email to a potential reviewer
or posting a picture on Instagram.
There are a lot of things
I want all self-publishing authors to know.
And really that is why I wrote "Self-Publish and Succeed."
So go ahead and grab your copy.
And after you read it, please post a review.
And after you write a review, shoot us an email
at team@booklaunchers.com and let us know.
We have parties for reviewers
when we hit milestone review numbers
and we'd like to invite you.
You're pretty fun.
Have you hit Subscribe so we can hang out more often?
Please do that now and hit the like button
because it feels so good.
Go ahead and try it.
Now you need to watch this video right here
on when to stop editing,
or this one on book writing surprises
because they're both guaranteed good times.
Come on, I'm waiting.
(upbeat music)