Why My Self-Published Book Failed [Miserably]
And what I would do differently
Publisher’s note: One of our most impactful guest writers is back — telling it like it REALLY is in the world of self-publishing. Smillew learned it’s no cakewalk, but success is not impossible either. Very worthwhile read.
I mentioned the failure of my self-published book in a recent article, and a reader gave me a reality check.
Instead of saying, don’t give up and that you took a class to become a better writer, tell us WHY your book failed and what you would do differently. […] Give us something except self-pity.
I’m not going to lie. The words hurt at first. But, after taking a step back, I realized I could take it as a nudge to share my experience.
I hope it will give you some ideas on how to get better results than me. (It won’t be difficult since nobody read mine!!)
A disclaimer. I intend this article for beginners in the online publishing game. If you have already self-published, I believe you won’t get much from it, except for a healthy reminder, maybe!
#1 — Too much hubris
A common mistake of newbie online writers is to publish their articles the day they wrote them. They’re too impatient.
The problem is that when writing articles, writers are often on a high or in a state of flow, which strongly influences their judging capabilities. They overestimate the quality of their article. It’s logical because if it wasn’t interesting to them, they wouldn’t have written it!
For online articles, waiting one day is usually enough to get a clear head and review your draft with a critical eye.
For a book, I would recommend a few months.
I barely waited a few days for my first book because, convinced it was great, I wanted to publish it as fast as possible.
I was completely delusional.
#2 — Find writers/readers willing to give you feedback
The best would be to pay a professional editor, but I’m going to assume you don’t have the money to do this.
Joining a writing group is a great way to get feedback on your book. And what’s more, you don’t have to wait for your masterpiece to be ready. You could share an outline or a first chapter and get feedback early on.
It’s priceless.
Waiting for the book to be complete means you will be (much) more emotionally invested in your creation. Listening to feedback will be comparably more difficult and frustrating.
If you don’t have a writing group near you or prefer the anonymity of the Internet, I can recommend Scribophile. It’s “an online writing group for writers serious about improving their craft.”
It works as a marketplace where writers exchange critiques.
You earn karma points by writing critiques for the writing of others, and by having other members react positively to your critiques by marking them as constructive, thorough, and so on. You spend karma points on posting your writing for critique.
Depending on your writing level, you might be impressed by the quality of the critiques you receive there. I know I was.
#3 — Anticipate
The number one mistake aspiring authors make is to wait for the book to be ready to start looking for readers.
You should look for readers first and start writing your book second.
Writers are usually readers. And they’re more supportive than the average readers because they know the job is hard. In other words, writers are more likely to leave you the positive reviews you need to kickstart your book launch later.
“Writing in public” is a way to attract writers and make them read your book.
Sharing your writing journey on social media is a great way to make it easier for you, find future (beta-)readers, build a social media presence, get feedback on your ideas, and even get paid for it if you publish on a platform like Medium!
You could, for example, alternate between articles about the writing process and articles about your characters or storyline.
Read this for more details:
How to Promote Your [Future] Book on Medium
#4 — Pre-launch: getting reviews
It’s part of the general anticipation plan, but it’s important enough to deserve a specific mention.
On the day of the launch, your book should already have reviews to increase its attractiveness through the magic of social proof. “Since some people read it and left a review, it must be good!” Readers are like tourists looking for a restaurant. They’re more likely to come in if they see other people inside.
You can be critical of this sheep mentality, but I wouldn’t be so disapproving as to dismiss it.
Depending on your ethics and search for efficiency, I recommend writing the reviews yourself and asking your friends and family to post them. They can always leave another one if they end up reading the book (doubtful).
#5 — Next levels
I won’t go into details here but will mention a few ideas so that you can search for more information once you have mastered the first four steps.
Test Amazon/Facebook ads in your niche.
Join Facebook, Reddit, or other platform groups to engage with potential readers in your niche.
Do a pre-order campaign.
Epilogue
It’s your book, and you love it because you spent so much time together. You’re deeply emotional about your words and story. It’s a normal feeling. But children eventually leave the nest, and you want them as prepared as possible.
Find people willing to help you, accept their feedback gracefully, and act on it.
You also want your children to succeed in life, which means finding readers, in the case of your book.
Anticipate and start looking for readers from the beginning of your writing journey. And even sooner than that, if possible.
It will help your children if people can vouch for their character and abilities because you might not be objective.
Get some reviews.
Finally, be lucky!
It will help your book and your children a lot.
Smillew is a Medium artiste; as such, he has a Substack newsletter for the connoisseurs and a ko-fi jar for the generous. He’s a true original thinker and usually brings a chuckle to the mix. If you subscribe to his work, you will never find anything ho-hum.
If you decide to subscribe to Pen2Profit because you love Smillew’s articles, he gets paid for this story. You get half off an annual subscription.
 | A guest post by
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I'm sure that happens, especially with vanity publishers. My self-published books cost me nothing to publish and they generate consistent revenue--but I do a lot of marketing and promotion. I've had to do the same on my traditionally published books. What you say may be true as an average--and should be noted. There is no easy get-rich quick way to make a living writing. It takes effort--which is the message I try to get across. Thanks for your helpful input!
Excellent advice! And I would add that you need to try to find beta readers who will give you helpful feedback (i.e., constructive criticism) and brace yourself for a surprising number of family and friends to whom you give the book who will just never get back to you. Sometimes much later they might say, “Oh, yeah, I really enjoyed it,” but too often, it’s crickets. Don’t waste time on judgment…just appreciate the ones who DO read it and write a review. Thanks for this excellent article. It’s important.