4 Lessons from 4 Years of Self-Publishing

Today’s guest post is by author Deanna Cabinian (@DeannaCabinian).


It’s been four years since my young adult novel One Night was released. Time has flown by, and during the past 1,460 days I’ve learned several things about myself, my writing, and indie publishing. But four lessons stand out.

1. There isn’t a magic bullet for selling books.

There isn’t any one thing that sells books; it’s a lot of things. I’ve tried every promotion avenue I can think of, including whatever’s hot at the moment: Amazon ads, free book promotions, BookBub (my book was featured in their international deals newsletter), NetGalley, Goodreads giveaways (before they started charging), local author fairs.

That’s in addition to my email newsletter, blogging, refining book descriptions and keywords every six months, and placing guest articles when I can. You name it, I’ve tried it in some form or another. Someone asked me recently, Have you tried Instagram? I just smiled and nodded.

2. For every ten doors that slam in your face, one or two crack open a tiny bit.

When I started promoting my book in 2016, I was frustrated by the number of nos I received. My hometown library, a modest operation, couldn’t be sold on letting me do an event. I offered to host a writing workshop, a Q&A, a reading. Nope, nope, and nope. The teen librarian offered to place some bookmarks at the circulation desk, however.

Despite the resistance, I’ve had a few surprising wins along the way. I’ve been fortunate enough to be featured on this site and several others. I got to speak to over 300 students at my high school’s writing festival (I don’t think many books were sold as a result, but it was nice to get paid a speaking fee). And there have been many kind bloggers willing to give my book a chance even though I don’t have a publisher.

3. I still love the writing part the most.

I’ve made a few good connections from pitching my work, and I enjoy having creative control, but it has been exhausting because my full-time job requires the bulk of my mental energy. I want to save what’s left of my head space for writing, not worrying about how to get my books into the hands of readers. I want a traditional publishing contract, which includes marketing and production support and wider distribution. I’ve discovered I would very much like to have a publisher sell books for me. Granted, a lot of marketing still falls to the author, but having publisher support is still an advantage. I am getting closer to that goal as I’m now represented by an agent, but our agreement is for other projects, not One Night.

4. I have no regrets.

Someone asked me recently if I thought self-publishing was a good idea. She said her neighbor’s daughter was interested in putting out a book and did I have any advice for them? I told her it is much harder than it appears. Does she want to hold her work in her hands? Or does she want to use this as a gateway to New York publishers? Does she consider herself a salesperson? It’s what I would ask anyone trying to embark on this path. I emailed her a dozen articles to review.

Despite the challenges, I feel proud to have my book out there. My audience is not huge, but it’s passionate. I’m grateful for every reader who contacts me and hope they’ll follow me throughout my career.

What have you learned from your publishing journey? I would love to hear about it in the comments.

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E. J. Wenstrom

Our publishing journeys started the same year, 2016! Much like you, I’ve found that there’s no one thing that will blow the doors down — it’s about the persistance, the willingness to keep trying different things, and building relationships along the way. And of course …. getting the next book out. That’s been where my greatest momentum points have been.

Deanna Cabinian

So true, E.J.! The best time to market is when you have something new to promote 🙂 Thanks for reading!

Garry Rodgers

My main takeaway from 8 years of self publishing is perseverance – bum in chair and fingers on keys – write more books. It’s a numbers game and the more products you have, the more exposure you’ll get. You also have to pay-to-play these days with a combination of the discount email list providers and the pay-per-click ads like BookBub, Facebook and Amazon. Once you find something that works to sell books, double down on it.

Jane – very thoughtful and generous of you to give Deanna this exposure. |Nice piece, Deanna!

Deanna Cabinian

Thanks for reading, Garry! And kudos to you for being in the game 8 years 🙂

Kay DiBianca

Thanks for this insightful article, Deanna. As I read through your 4 lessons, I realized I had learned the same things although I had a slightly different path to publication: My first novel was accepted by a small publisher and released in 2019. I was so new to the writing / publishing business that I needed all the help and guidance I could get. Still, most of the marketing and promotion fell to me.

However, for several reasons, my husband and I have decided to go Indie with the second book. It’s another steep learning curve, but I’m excited to be in the driver’s seat for this one.

Deanna Cabinian

Thanks for reading, Kay. Best of luck to you and your husband on launching your second book!!

Mary Jo Hazard

I published my first novel, a coming-of-age book, ”Stillwater, ” with Mascot Books. The book launched as a #1 new release on Amazon on July 7th. Mascot has a marketing department which has been very helpful getting my book into Barnes and Noble, on Ingram and into libraries. I have done a few Facebook campaigns, advertised on Amazon, and reached out locally to the newspapers and magazines. I have done a few zoom book discussions with the Village, and with Rainbow Services a domestic violence agency in our area. I think the pandemic has helped with unusual ways, like zoom, to market. I wasn’t accepted for Bookbub, but I’m going to try again, I’ve sold over 250 books so far, I want them to keep selling so I’m going to keep trying things. It is a lot of work!

Deanna Cabinian

That’s great that you’ve found a way to connect with readers especially during the pandemic. Zoom is a great tool. Congrats on the #1 new release ranking! Thanks for reading.

Una Tiers

Thank you, your analysis is spot on. I started my first book with a poor publisher. When I got my rights back, I went indie and have five more books. It is a lot of work, but when you hear from a reader, it’s bliss.

Deanna Cabinian

Hi Una, I agree hearing from a reader is the best thing! Those little nuggets are great motivation to keep going. Congrats on having multiple books out!

Harald Johnson

Great post! (and thanks to Jane for hosting it)
I’m also 4 years into Indie and agree with all your points except #3. I find the marketing/publishing side just as creative as the writing. And I left trad pub behind years ago with no plans to return. I love controlling the entire process. Good luck!

Deanna Cabinian

Thanks, Harald! Glad you enjoy the business side, too. It’s not that I hate it; I just prefer writing a lot more. Happy writing!

Renee Aebli

Surprising wins and no regrets – what I know best about you!

PJ Reece

With three traditionally published books and four self-pub … let me say that the solo route has proven more satisfying. Also, I target the local community only. If the book gets noticed farther afield, great. Meantime, I’m meeting my readers and feeling more like a writer than I would by letting the publisher botch the sales job. Incidentally, I’ve made more money with a 40 page eBook than with all the other print books combined. Go figure.

Deanna Cabinian

Hi PJ, thanks for reading! Going local is always the best place to start. It’s the best way to make genuine connections I think. Happy writing!

Ernie Zelinski

In the field of self-publishing, which many enter and which very few survive, I have done quite well for myself. Oh sure, I don’t claim to stand on the shoulders of giants such as Robert J. Ringer and David Chilton whose books have made them millions. Nevertheless, in September 2018 my books (mainly self-published) reached the milestone of having sold over 1,000,000 copies. What I am finding is that selling the second million copies is harder than selling the first million copies. Part of the reason is that it is 10 times as hard to make it in this business as it was in 1989 when I first started. Even then it was extremely hard. As the saying goes, “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”
 
Fact is, there are no short cuts to being successful at the game of writing and self-publishing. Near as I can tell, most book writing/publishing/marketing “experts” have never had a true bestselling book (one that has sold at least 100,000 copies in print). For the record, I have three true bestselling books (out of 17 that I have written).
 
I offer these words of wisdom from other knowledgeable people who have inspired me to attain the personal freedom and financial independence that I enjoy today:
 
“Good isn’t good enough.”
— Mark Coker (owner of Smashwords)
 
“Very Good Is Bad — It’s Not Good Enough!”
— Seth Godin (My favorite Marketing Guru)
 
“Even the most careful and expensive marketing plans cannot sell people a book they don’t want to read.”
— Michael Korda, former Editor-in-Chief at Simon & Schuster
 
“The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests to promote yours.”
— Jean de La Bruyére
 
“The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.”
— Aristotle Onassis
 
“You are only as rich as the enrichment you bring to the world around you.”
— Rajesh Setty
 
“In the arena of human life the honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.”
— Aristotle
 
“Books work as an art form (and an economic one) because they are primarily the work of an individual.”
— Seth Godin
 
“Writing is the hardest way to earn a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators.”
— Olin Miller
 
“Your success and prosperity are too valuable to depend on crowd funding or lottery tickets.”
— Seth Godin
 
“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.”
— Christopher Morley
 
“The amount of money you make will always be in direct proportion to the demand for what you do, your ability to do it, and the difficulty of replacing you.”
— Earl Nightingale
 
 

Deanna Cabinian

Congrats on your success, Ernie! Seth Godin is also one of my favorite marketing experts.

Brad Graber

Ernie – I loved your shared quotes. And the fact that you’ve been so successful. It gives me hope as an Indie author working on book #4 and building my mailing list. I’d love the opportunity to connect with you so that I could learn more about how you’ve approached self-publishing, if you’d be open to connecting.

Carole Avila

I enjoyed reading these comments and got a little bit from everyone. I haven’t promoted my work because my two books were put online by my small publisher with errors. (I only discovered this after receiving comments from other authors.) I’d submit minor changes, and they’d only address part of them. I finally wrote full revisions, and then the publisher went out of business. A new group took over the the company, said they’d post the revisions, and it never happened. Now they’re not communicating with any of the authors. I’m thinking of adopting a new pen name just to get my new stuff out. (Any opinions on that?) In any case, I’m so grateful to have experienced so much support in the writing community. What an amazing tribe to belong to!

As as soon as my latest books get out this year, I will go all out in promotion and marketing.

Deanna Cabinian

Best of luck with your writing, Carole! Thanks for reading.

John Misak

If they are not communicating, they are in breach of contract. Publish under your own name. Look at your contract first, of course. Make sure doing so is legal. Send them correspondence requesting the rights to your books back.