/r/selfpublish

Photograph via snooOG

A place to discuss just about everything in the world of indie books. Not a place for self-promotion.

A community for writers to discuss the process of self-publishing, share experiences in the "industry," and read up on self-publishing news.

Please check out the wiki before posting! Your question might already be answered!

Blogspam type posts are not permitted on this subreddit. You are certainly welcome to post articles from your blog (or others), but please do so in a manner which generates discussion. Please do not simply post your blog and leave it. Create discussion. There needs to be a reason we should want to read your blog. Blogspam which gets downvoted to oblivion is typically removed. Blogspam which gets reported by users typically earns a temporary ban.

Low effort posts will now be removed. See this thread for details. Low effort posts are not limited to "how do I sell my book?" but also include any and all other posts where it is apparent the poster has done nothing to attempt to find the answer to their easy question(s). Posts along the lines of "how do I self-publish?" and "does self-publishing make money?" are clear examples of violations of the rule.

Celebratory posts must be placed in the weekly self-promotion and achievement thread.

Be polite. No doxxing.

PAST AMAs:

Want to offer an AMA? Send mod mail. Include your name, list of published works, and what you can offer advice-wise to the sub.

Self Promotion Rules:

Due to popular demand, self promotion is now limited to specific threads, namely a weekly promotional thread. This includes posts attempting to promote your book-related service.

Self-promotion includes the obvious stuff like trying to get people here to buy any product you offer (book or otherwise), and also includes posts designed to drive traffic to your website / blog, posts to "let us know about your friend's new book," and posts advertising for your own publishing services or companies. If you don't know, just ask before you post. Linking to your own services and website in comments, in response to a question, is completely acceptable.

Linking to your book (or website, service, etc.) in posts is strictly forbidden. Mentioning your book by name in a post is also forbidden.

No [PROMO] posts are allowed

Networking posts are considered self-promotion. You may not make a post asking people to join your subreddit, Discord server, Facebook group, website, etc. regardless of intent.

The reasoning behind this is an attempt to clear up the perceived spam from the subreddit and allow our community a chance to catch up on news and help users out.

If you'd like to promote your work, we can recommend you check out:


Related Subreddits


Special thanks to /u/Dibuixar for putting together the subreddit's theme!

/r/selfpublish

122,683 Subscribers

0

Copyright question about children’s books and Midjourney

I have a children’s series gathering dust because I’m not sure how to illustrate the stories. Now with midjourney, I have the possibility. Have any of you used it? What are the copyright rules about this? Would I still retain rights? Could someone else come later and use my images? Can I patent my Midjourney images? How does it work?

6 Comments
2024/03/17
09:54 UTC

0

Does anyone Need a Free Manuscript Review?

Hey, I am training my team to review and rate manuscripts. Does anyone want a free review? The manuscript has to be at least 30k words.

0 Comments
2024/03/17
08:26 UTC

15

My Recent ARC/Early Review Experience

I created an account specifically for this post. I've lurked here for some time soaking in all the advice as I prepared for my book launch. Thank you all for the insights you've given! It's been very, very helpful. I especially appreciated posts reviewing ARC and marketing experiences. In the interest of giving back, here's my ARC data point. Hopefully it helps someone. Apologies for the length.

TL;DR version:

Booksprout = thumbs up

BookRoar = thumbs up

Voracious Readers = *shrug*

LibraryThing = thumbs down

Genre is fantasy/scifi with minimal (one scene) of romance. There are no romantic elements implied on the cover or in the blurb. I think it's important to highlight this as romance or romance-adjacent books seem to have a very different ARC experience. I did not "write to market", I wrote the book I wanted to write, and I'm fine with that. I'm not active on social media, nor do I have any followers, writer friends, or industry connections. I came into this process with nothing to generate easy reviews, basically. But I made sure to have a professional, on-genre illustrated cover, and my book is very well edited and beta-read. It's as high quality as I could make it within a reasonable budget.

My goal was to amass Amazon reviews for the purpose of supporting marketing, both ads and newsletters. I didn't care about reviews anywhere else, or even if the reviewers really believed the things they said. It's sad and cynical, but we need those Amazon reviews in order to do anything marketing-wise. I know the advice is always "wait until you have a back catalog or a series to start spending on marketing", but eff that. I want people to read my book. I have a life outside of writing; it might be years before I have a series.

Booksprout (4 stars): I offered 15 copies in a review campaign. Three readers took it, all in the first day. I gave them four weeks to review, and they used every second - two of the three posted reviews after the deadline. Two of the reviewers were primarily romance reviewers, so I was a little worried. But all ratings were good (4s and 5s), though one of the reviews was really short and generic. I'm not sure that reviewer really read the book. One review was spectacularly good, and even earned me a follower. They all posted reviews to both Goodreads and Amazon, per my request. My only complaints were how few takers I had and how much time it took to get the reviews in. For three good Amazon reviews and a minimal cost, I'd definitely use them again.

BookRoar (4 stars): BookRoar works on a crediting system, where you purchase another author's book on Amazon and post a verified-purchaser review to earn a credit, which you then cash in to get a different author to review your book. I read four books. Some of the books were really rough - littered with grammatical errors, one didn't even end properly, it just kind of...stopped. One was really good. At first I documented all the errors I could find, but eventually I gave up providing free editing services.

The reviews I got back were a mixed bag. The first one was extremely generic, but five stars. I think it's 50-50 they didn't read the book, but since it was the first ever review I received, I was reluctant to push back. The second review was very good - they quoted from the middle section of the book, and understood the fundamental conflict. The next two were clearly AI-written. They misnamed the main characters and made weird claims about the story that wouldn't have made sense after even a cursory glance at the blurb. I contacted BookRoar support, and they were extremely helpful, getting the reviewers to read the book and clean up the reviews before they would get a credit. Even after that, one of the reviews claimed the story "seemed to have some XYZ elements", when XYZ was the central focus of the book. So yeah, still a bit off. But ultimately, I got four positive, verified purchaser reviews on Amazon that show up in every marketplace.

While Booksprout was low-maintenance, BookRoar takes some commitment. Definitely worth it in my opinion, and would be even better if more (and quality) authors used it. I've quickly burned through the books I care to read judging from Amazon samples, so I'll have to wait until the number of reviewable books increases.

Voracious Readers (2 stars?): They gave me 20 email addresses for matched readers. I sent them the book. That's all that happened. None of them posted any reviews anywhere. I suppose I have 20 email addresses now? If I wanted to do a newsletter or something maybe that would be useful. I might ask them if they want to be on my ARC team for the next book.

LibraryThing (1 star): The support folks for LibraryThing were really nice. I hate to say bad things, but this just didn't work out for me. I signed up to give away 25 copies; 11 people downloaded the book. I received two reviews on their internal site. The first gave two stars on LibraryThing, saying the magic system didn't make sense and plot was too complicated. Then they reposted the review to Amazon. I checked the reviewer's history - they hadn't written an Amazon review in nine years. I have a thick skin and don't mind a critical review, but they went out of their way to torpedo my little book specifically on Amazon. A book they received for free. With less than 10 total reviews, that two star review really hurts (and for some reason Amazon weighs it highly, despite not being a verified purchase). The other reviewer gave me three stars on LibraryThing. That review ends with, "It's a solid story from start to finish and kept me well entertained!" That's three stars apparently. They bring nuanced opinions, positive and negative. It's a well written review, but I hope they don't repost to Amazon. Clearly the readers here have very high expectations, grade accordingly, and don't mind making extra effort to punish authors. I've learned my lesson. It seems similar to the experience others have described with NetGalley - readers thinking that they are important critics, all authors are writing with a big publishing house, and they need to provide a "fair" counterpoint to all the positivity. Even free, it's a terrible deal for a self-pubbed author.

I received one other rating from a connection to a friend that I don't know personally, but they didn't leave a review.

All in all, nine Amazon ratings, eight reviews, all 4s and 5s other than the rogue 2 star. Four reviewers actually read the book, two might have, two did not, at least not until they were called out on the bogus AI reviews. It's something, and I've learned a lot. Now I'm moving on to marketing and working on the next book. Cheers!

2 Comments
2024/03/17
05:50 UTC

0

Publishing?

Any advice on how to get published and services to start a book company?

3 Comments
2024/03/17
05:10 UTC

0

Editing and publishing a memoir

I've been lucky to be given my grandfather's memoirs which he wrote before he died, it details the beginning to the end of his life from the 1920s to today. He did a pretty good job all things considered but I'd love to edit it and self-publish, or at least have a few copies produced for family.

So my question, where on earth do you start with editing an 800 page memoir?

3 Comments
2024/03/17
04:18 UTC

0

I created a tool for affordable, high-quality book translations

Hey everyone,
I launched this AI Document Translator today.
It began as a way to translate my mom's book. It's only 120-pages long, yet human translators were charging $5,000. Online translators weren't much better... Either free and low quality or good and costly.
So, I created my own solution with the latest AI tools (good and cheap). It translated my mom's book for just $6.50 :)
I'd love for you to check the translator out and give your feedback. I believe you'll find it helpful.

24 Comments
2024/03/17
03:11 UTC

0

Going from first person pov to third person- how to inform readers?

First-person pov is what I've always done, but I feel like third-person suits me more after testing it out. How can I phrase my message to readers/followers on my social medias to let them know about the POV change in future books?

I think giving them a heads-up is a good idea and could gauge their opinions through their comments.

6 Comments
2024/03/17
00:40 UTC

4

Copyright/Information Page

Hey everyone! Quick question, what do you all put on your copyright page as a self published book? I imagine a lot of you are like me where it was mostly me who put together the book. So what info can we use to fill up that page? Thanks and have a great day!

2 Comments
2024/03/16
23:32 UTC

0

Hybrid/vanity publishers - good or bad

I read many opinion posts stating that hybrid/vanity publishers are scams etc. etc. But for many aspiring authors who are rejected by agents or traditional publishers, or who lose patience waiting forever, and those who don’t want to do it all by self publishing - a hybrid/vanity publisher might be a reasonable alternative imho.

So if you're a published author of a fiction novel thru a known hybrid/vanity publisher, I'd love to hear about your experience - how good or bad was the overall process and in particular the quality of edit, marketing, promotion, communication, overall cost - and which publisher did you use. Would you recommend them , or would you use them again?

Thanks in advance - your input can help me make a tough decision.

28 Comments
2024/03/16
22:50 UTC

0

What book titel can get me sales?

Hello everyone, I’m seeking some assistance with the title for my upcoming book. The book, which contains 48 laws, delves into the journey of addiction recovery and covers various aspects such as rebuilding relationships, financial advice, and self-discovery. Any suggestions or ideas for a catchy and relevant title would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help!

2 Comments
2024/03/16
20:32 UTC

23

Copyright infringement?

A book I wrote and self-published in 2011 has been infringed. Has anyone sought federal enforcement for infringements?

Amazon has sold the counterfeit books—and per Bowker.com, they oen the ISBNs used on the books.

Four separate infringing books were published—but Amazon refuses to provide or disclose any information on who produced them, how many were sold, and what happened, to any profits that may have been generated from these crimes.

I can’t afford most intellectual property attorneys.

Surely, I can’t be the only person to whom this has happened.

18 Comments
2024/03/16
18:54 UTC

33

Are professional edits worth it for a first time self-publisher?

This is probably a common question here— but is it worth it to shell out the cash for a professional developmental/line edit before self-publishing?

I wrote my novel under the expectation that I'd go through the rigors of the traditional process (and I did send out a some queries a few months back), but the more research I do into the space, the less I want to give that a full shot. The main appeal not offered by self-publishing, though, is the monetary one— publishers take care of marketing, design, editing, etc.

The problem is, if I shy away from the traditional route, I lose that comprehensive treatment and its polish. I don't care that much at this stage about how much I earn, or about seeing my book on a shelf; I just want it out there, and for people to read and enjoy it. But, as an aspiring author without any sort of reputation or following, is it really worth investing in a professional editor (in addition to marketing costs, design costs, and all the other things I can't avoid in the self-publishing process) for an e-book that might not even sell a copy?

After several self-edits and a beta reader, I've polished my story to the best of my ability at the moment, and I'm confidient in what I've written. At the same time, though, I'm aware that it isn't perfect— but I've long since gone past the stage where I'm comfortable 'tearing down the walls,' so to speak. I know that despite all of the editing I've done, the piece can still be improved, but I don’t even know if I want to make those improvements, if that makes any sense. Just going through more beta readers (or even paying for a something like a proofread) and dinging out whatever else I can, seems like an infinitely more appealing idea than gambling on something as expensive (and borderline unaffordable) as a professional edit that might not even effect sales or reviews to a significant degree.

The idea of publishers treating a book as a product instead of just a book is what drove me away from the traditional route in the first place, and this editing barrier seems like a return of the same issue. Of course I want sales, good reviews, whatever— but I also just want to put what I wrote out there, and for readers to see what I labored on for so long, even if it isn't polished to bestseller level.

I rambled a bit and might have answered my own question a few times, but I appreciate any input from those of you more knowledgeable/experienced than me.

30 Comments
2024/03/16
18:22 UTC

1

Hello! Does anyone know what size a poetry book should really be?

It'd be great if someone who has published poetry books tells me how many pages worked for them, but I'm also totally able to hear from someone else too !!

I have 37 pages currently and wanted to work up to maybe 150, not certain though.

2 Comments
2024/03/16
12:54 UTC

15

Working on my sequel to my (unpublished) first novel.

Whenever you read the next book in a series, usually the first chapter or so has to re-explain some of the characters, plots, other facets of the prior novel. How do you usually go about doing this? I know at least when you read a series, there can be a significant time apart between the two, depending on publication.

I'm trying to incorporate it, without making the first chapter so heavy with information overload. There are some people who don't give a book a chance if the first chapter or few bores them, but what do you think the retention rate is for a series? I expect that people might skim through the portions they remember just to get to new information.

15 Comments
2024/03/16
05:10 UTC

7

Should I take this series out of KDP Select?

I have two very different series in KDP Select: a historical romance about Irish immigrants to the US, and a five-book series of funny short plays. I make a decent amount on page reads of the romance series but the funny plays are a different matter. My sales are mostly paperback, with about 30 percent from ebooks, so the page read totals are small. People seem to prefer the paperback versions of those books. I'm thinking of taking the short plays out of KDP Select and publishing wide but I heard that Amazon's algorithm favors books that are in KDP Select. I don't want my Amazon sales of the paperbacks to suffer just because I made those titles non-exclusive to Amazon. Has anybody taken their books out of KDP Select and seen their Amazon sales go down?

2 Comments
2024/03/16
02:06 UTC

11

Is it a good strategy to do this?

What I plan to do is a trilogy, but I'm not so sure to invest.

Would it be a good strategy to publish the first book on a free platform, and the rest to be a paid eBook? Or would it be better to publish the entire trilogy for free and the rest of my books in paid eBooks?

13 Comments
2024/03/15
22:50 UTC

3

Children’s Book Reviews

I’ve been submitting my first children’s books to various blogs and websites in hopes to gain some reviews or spotlights. Does anyone have any recommendations on sites, podcasts, etc?

2 Comments
2024/03/15
22:27 UTC

7

Graphic designer?

I’m working with an artist for my book cover, but he’s just doing the art, not the title or blurb on the back. Do I need a graphic designer? Or is this something I can do myself? How much does a graphic designer cost generally?

17 Comments
2024/03/15
20:30 UTC

2

Marketing for Middle Grade?

My first book was a collection of non fiction short stories about the family pets. Good for all ages. Plus it was my first book & everyone was real proud of me. This meant I sold to family & friends and friends of family! And animal lovers. But now I have written a Middle Grade book and it’s just not selling. Idk where to promote it. Book Tok was a thought (I’m not on tiktok) but this seems to be YA centered? My readers are 8-12, they don’t buy their own books. I need to advertise to their parents! My first book was just really promoted on Facebook, where my family & all the people who went to high school with my parents saw it. Now I’m not going to sell to most of them, as they were turning out to support me and my first book. I have a professional FB & Twitter account but I just don’t know how to get people to buy a self pub middle grade book. The Kids & Moms who read it ahead of publishing for me were so excited for it, but how to get others to take the chance on it? Where should I advertise? Any marketing tricks for Middle Grade books? I wrote this book with my nephew (he invented the characters & world) and I see him for spring break in 2 weeks and it’s gonna break his heart we only sold 15 copies 😞. All my editors & readers were so jazzed, I think I overblew my expectations. Any brainstotmed thoughts are appreciated!

2 Comments
2024/03/15
19:32 UTC

4

Cancelling KDP Enrollment within three day period and book exclusivity

Hey guys! I'm a recently published author and my business partner enrolled my book in KDP Select without letting me know beforehand. I saw on Amazon's webpage that you have three days to cancel your enrollment.

My question is: If I unenroll my book from KDP Select during that period. Does Amazon still enforce the exclusivity? Does anyone have any experience with how that works?

There's no mention of the three day cancellation period in the KDP select terms and conditions. It rather says the opposite, that if you unenroll, you're still obligated to comply with exclusivity.

2 Comments
2024/03/15
17:09 UTC

1

BookSwot

Anybody have any experience with this company. Contacted me out of the blue about marketing my book on FB and other places. Supposedly, it has an audience of 45,000 viewers.

5 Comments
2024/03/15
15:47 UTC

29

Editing options

Hey, previously traditionally published author, first time self publishing. I just hired my first free lance editor, and at three cents per word, its costing me almost $2500 to get this book done.

I've got the whole series written already and I cant afford to drop 30k on just editing. Is there a cheaper way to get these other books edited?

61 Comments
2024/03/15
14:32 UTC

1

What is the Optimal font size for blurb on back of the paperback?

Like the title says, but want to optimize it for readability. I can play around with it on the computer but I know it can look completely different once I have a copy in my hands.

Some additional info:

Print size is 6x9

Blurb is 4 short paragraphs

font style will be a standard type serif

2 Comments
2024/03/15
14:16 UTC

5

Would you mind critiquing my blurb?

This is for a male/male (MM) romance novel. I'm just not sure about it.

Blurb
Brandon is deeply in love with his boyfriend, Ethan. But is love enough to save their relationship when Ethan seems determined to put work first?

Grumpy baker Brandon may look and act like he doesn’t care, but he has a huge heart. And that heart belongs entirely to his longtime boyfriend, Ethan. But lately all Ethan seems to care about is his job. Brandon just doesn’t know how much longer he can handle being second place.

Lawyer Ethan is on track for a stellar career. He knows he’s been neglecting his beloved boyfriend, but he’s so close to reaching that next level. He needs to prove that he’s more than where he came from.

With plenty of humor, angst and lots of love, Brandon and Ethan navigate the rough road of their relationship, with a little help along the way.

14 Comments
2024/03/15
14:09 UTC

1

Advice For Printing Using Templates for a Training Manual

So not sure this is the place for this, but I am creating training manuals based off a template I have created. However each manual contains customer specific data which changes the length of it as well as the print order of pages. Is there a software that can be used to automatically set printing preferences and guides based on certain pages or flags? I have access to the Adobe and Microsoft suites currently. Any other suggestions? Or if I can use Adobe or MS, can someone point to reference material that can show me how to do this?

1 Comment
2024/03/15
13:20 UTC

1

KDP plugin tools, which are the best FREE tools?

As I progress on my learning of amazon KDP I want to gather more data in my niches. I currently use DS Quickview which is good but obviously you only get the BSR. Is there a tool out there which can get BSR data, royalty data, help with identifying keywords and any other handy information...?

Thanks in advance for any help.

4 Comments
2024/03/15
11:26 UTC

35

Feeling stuck after receiving edits back/hiring an editor?

High guys,

I was wondering if anyone is or has been in a similar situation and could advise?

I wrote a book and hired an editor to do a copy edit and proof-read. It came back with a full line edit in addition to the copy edit, which I'm very grateful for as it's nice to have alternative phrasing and also it's clear that takes an editor a lot of time and effort.

What's happening now though is that I'm stuck on a final version to publish. I originally thought about just adapting all the suggestions the editor has made, but then it doesn't feel like I wrote it. Is this normal? And this book is kind of like a bucketlist thing for me, for my family and friends to remember me when I'm gone so I kind of wanted it to be as authentic as possible. I do love a lot of the editor's suggestions, and there's a few I love more than my own, but now I can't decide which edits to publish and which to leave as my own, and the problem is that if I adapt a few of their suggestions, the whole flow of the passage changes. So I've been stuck in the editing death-loop for about 5 months now.

I can make the obvious changes of grammar, punctuation, spelling (U.S vs UK etc.) that obviously need correcting but I'm stuck on the subjective line editing

Does anyone have any advice please? Has anyone been in or is in a similar situation and what did you do/how did you get out of it?

30 Comments
2024/03/15
09:09 UTC

1

New edition

I published and printed my children’s picture book this year, but since then I made a few changes for my next print run.

-added website to back page

-small illustration change to spine & cover

-an addition to an already existing illustration inside

I’m having a hard time assessing is this is a “substantial” change for me to have to use a new ISBN and make this a new edition.

Would love your feedback Thanks!

5 Comments
2024/03/15
06:53 UTC

0

Will my cover get me sales ?

Hi everyone, I’m currently writing a book about escaping addiction with 48 laws and wanted to ask if you have any tips for my cover or the title of the book.

13 Comments
2024/03/15
00:11 UTC

0

Favorite fonts for headings?

Hi all! So, I have developed some software, and currently I’m in the bells and whistles phase before release. Not here to plug it, however; rather I’m here to ask about favorite font options for things like chapter headings and sub headings.

The software manages book development from idea all the way through ebook (and eventually print*) compilation, and does a bunch of very useful stuff in between, like managing the story bible almost automatically and organizing your catalog to quickly export a book or a box set, and then updating styles as well as front and backmatter across multiple books (say a series, omnibus, etc).

When it comes to the ebook compile step, I can include any font covered under the Open Font License as an option for the chapter headings and subheadings, and maybe the text on the title page; although personally I always make that an image to fit with my book cover, and obviously I can’t account for every possible font on a cover. Having users embed their own fonts is dicey because of licensing issues, though it’s potentially an option with a comprehensive EULA.

Anyway, embedded fonts won’t touch the paragraph text or anything the reader would adjust in their device/platform settings. Style sets will be included, sort of how Vellum offers presets, but I want to include more customization. However, I also can’t include every possible font. This is desktop software, the user may not be online all the time, so I want to include a decent selection of locally available fonts. Choosing which ones is tricky business.

So, what are your favorite fonts for book design? Pitch however many you want, and I’ll go dig into them and see if they’re either OFL or if there’s an option for a license that will allow embedding/bundling.

For the tech savvy among us, yes, I’ve set up fallback fonts to those available on the device. But modern devices now support embedded fonts with Epub 3, so why not take advantage for a little extra prettifying of the ebook?

*Print is less of a hassle, you can customize print with your own system fonts, the licensing for that is a user issue.

2 Comments
2024/03/14
22:23 UTC

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