DEBBIE YOUNG TAKEOVER: THE RECIPE FOR SELF-PUBLISHING SUCCESS
From today’s newsletter we have some great advice from the tutor of our Simply Self-Publish course, Debbie Young, which we thought we’d share with you today:
–
The starting point for successful self-publishing is not unlike the opening line of 18th century cookery writer Hannah Glasse’s recipe for a good hare soup:
“First, catch your hare.”
Before you do anything else, you need a great manuscript – so make sure yours is the best it can be. Assuming you’ve written the best book you can and self-edited it until you can do no more, these are the other essential ingredients for a self-published book you can be proud of:
- An Open Mind
You’ve put your heart and soul and endless hours into perfecting your manuscript, and you may feel very protective. But the best piece of self-publishing advice I’ve ever had is “you are not your reader”. Try to think like your target readers and deliver what they want. - A Willingness to Learn
Publishing as a whole and self-publishing in particular are changing at a rapid pace. You need to evolve at the same rate, so commit not only to learning how to self-publish and market your books, but also to continuing your education long term to keep up with developments. - A Great Team of Freelances
You will need to recruit and manage freelance specialists in the subjects required to fill the gaps in your self-publishing skill set – cover design, formatting, editing, proofreading. Use your own time to play to your strengths – the writing – and delegate the rest. - Human Resources Skills
You’ll be HR director for your chosen team of freelances, and you’ll need to manage and motivate them to ensure the best results. If planning to self-publish more than one book, build a long-term team rather than hire fresh talent for every project. - Project Management Skills
Every self-publishing project breaks down into component parts – editing, proofreading, formatting, cover design, uploading to distribution sites, launching, marketing, promoting. You need to be able to create and manage a master plan that factors in the availability of your chosen team. - Focus
Ask yourself what self-publishing success would look like to you and what’s realistic for a book like yours, then focus on achieving that success. Don’t fall down the rabbit-hole of comparisons, but concentrate on your own priorities and values. - IT Competence
The services you’ll need to tap into to self-publish your book offer relatively user-friend dashboards and copious tutorials and resources. I reckon if you are comfortable using email, internet searches, and word processing software, you’re capable of using the specialist services you need to self-publish, provided you put in the requisite hours to learn how they work. - And Finally… Patience!
It may surprise you to learn that I consider self-publishing to be a long, slow game. But whereas a traditional publisher is likely to delist a book that doesn’t perform well within its first year or so, when you are an indie author, no-one will take down your book unless you do. So relax – you have the rest of your life to market your book and build your author career. The only way to fail is to stop trying.
In Jericho Writers’ intensive, fast-track course, “Simply Self-Publish”, I address all of these essential components, including:
- how to turn your manuscript into self-published eBooks and print books
- how to create effective marketing collateral such as websites and a social media presence
- how to choose the best options for advertising and promoting your books
- how to license rights for other formats such as audiobooks and translations
This spring, I’ll be teaching the Simply Self-Publish course for the third time. So far there’s been a very high degree of student satisfaction:
“I found it challenging, enlightening and most of all, practical. Debbie introduced me to stuff I knew about in theory, but her course pushed me, and the others I am sure, to take action. Debbie prodded us up to the starter’s gates. Now it’s time to open the gates and go for it.” Robert S, SSP Alumni
“What I’ve found most useful about the course has been the fact that Debbie has been able to identify all the things I didn’t know I didn’t know. And that has allowed me to ask a lot of very important questions, to which her replies have been invaluable.” Max H, SSP Alumni
“Debbie has been such a lovely, patient and sweet teacher and has crammed us full of very useful info and advice for our writing lives. I must say I have learnt such a lot and had my pilot light relit for writing!” Cathy S, SSP Alumna
To learn more about the course and to apply for a place, please visit the main Jericho Writers website.
A little about Debbie Young
Debbie Young is the author of eleven novels, two of which have been shortlisted for the prestigious BookBrunch Selfies Award for best independently-published adult fiction in the UK. In 2022, Debbie signed a 13-book contract with the multiple-award-winning publishing house Boldwood Books. She also has a 7-book contract with audiobook specialist Saga Egmont and a five-book German translation contract with DP Verlag. She is also a frequent speaker at literature festivals and writing events, and judges many writing competitions. A champion of indies everywhere, Debbie is the UK Ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors’ and in 2015 founded the ground-breaking Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival which showcases dozens of self-published authors every year.
Responses