With thanks to Kate Pool for coordinating a meeting for the Society of Authors on self publishing.
Pitfall 11. The rule for pricing your book is: set the price at twice the cost price of printing the book. Otherwise advertising and marketing will swallow up any profit. Debut authors face a problem that this is likely to be more expensive than many established authors. Since 1m books are self published every year, it's essential to make your book stand out. But how?
Pitfall 12. Tie-ins and Follow-ons. Clearly timing a book release to a related news event is ideal but tricky in fiction. However there are journalistic angles, such as 'local author, local setting, graduate of a university, college or school. Wherever possible have a follow-on novel in process and collect subscribers using the back page of a novel and links to a website.
Pitfall 13. Marketing. Most authors can't compete with celebrity authors who incidentally pay agencies such as thinkjam to employ teams of people to ruthlessly push their books on all kinds of internet platforms. Ideas for marketing include: a life size poster wearing identical clothes and holding the book for local bookshop book launches, so people can say: "Oh is that you?" Library donations are sometimes accepted and they may request other volumes. Literary Festivals may agree to fringe events which can thrive beside official events and share venues.
Pitfall 14. Beware prizes and awards for self-published novels. The small print may transfer rights to the publishers.
Please let me know if you come across other pitfalls or if you can suggest other solutions. Happy Writing.
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