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Can anyone get published?

Technically, yes. But you need more than just the ability to write and the money or time to do all the other stuff that comes alongside it.

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Can Anyone Self-Publish a Book?

There are lots of courses out there that claim that anyone can write a book if they do this or that.

I’ve never agreed with those kinds of courses.

They take pretty much all of the fun and creativity out of the writing process. Not to mention they oversimplify it and are completely useless if you’re on a budget. Those kinds of systems only work if you’ve got a ton of money stashed away to spend on editing, proofreading, cover design, etc. When you’re just starting out, there’s no way you can write, edit, proofread, typeset, publish, and advertise your book in three months all by yourself.

There’s too much to learn and too much to do.

Which leads me nicely onto the main point of this post: can anyone self-publish a book?

Can anyone self-publish a book?

Technically, yes.

But you need more than just the ability to write and the money or time to do all the other stuff that comes alongside it. Books, blog posts, or courses that try to tell you that you can do the whole thing in a month and make a sustainable income from it are selling you a pipe dream. There’s far too much to learn in a short space of time for you to be able to pull it off in such a short space of time. The best sales copy is based on selling you an idealised version of yourself. It’s designed to empower you. But the truth is, some people just don’t have the heart or the head for it.

Self-publishing is WORK

It is a business first, and a way to share your writing second. That isn’t to say it’s not creative — if anything, you need to be MORE creative because you need to find a way to stand out from your competition.

But it’s TOUGH.

It’s competitive.

And it’s fucking hard work.

Most people, when they see that they didn’t get any sales or their launch didn’t go to plan, will give up. Even people who’ve been covered in big publications disappear after a few years because they either get bored or fed up.

They have unrealistic dreams and the wrong attitude, and that’s the problem.

Even your average traditionally published book will only sell a few HUNDRED copies in its first year.

In its lifetime, it will reach about 3,000 copies.

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That’s it.

And the worse it performs, the shorter that lifetime will be.

The books that make the headlines are the anomalies.

They’re the ones that are written by well-known people, or that jump on the bandwagon of a previous book’s success (I’m looking at you, The Girl on The Train). For your average author, their book will be lucky to still be in print in a few years’ time if published traditionally. Traditional publishers have yet to embrace print-on-demand, meaning that unsold books end up being pulped and your years of blood, sweat, and tears, get wasted. And yet going through a gatekeeper is STILL seen as the way to go about sharing your words with your readers.

I don’t get it.

Now that What Happens in New York is out in the world, it will be out there FOREVER, even if something happens to me. It may not earn me enough to live on, but if I publish enough books, maybe one day there’ll be enough to keep my partner going should he outlive me (which he probably will).

It’s a constant journey

If you think there’s nothing left to learn, you’re old even if you don’t have wrinkles. No matter how long you’ve been writing, there is ALWAYS something left to learn. Especially now, when the publishing industry is changing faster than ever and there are more ways than ever to find and interact with your audience.

The most important thing you need to write anything is creativity.

Why limit that creativity to just your writing?

Algorithms — such as the ones on Amazon — are constantly changing.

That means you need to always be listening to trends within the industry.

If you don’t, you risk harming your book sales.

Listening to them, on the other hand, could have the opposite effect and increase your book sales!

Over to You

How do you feel about self-publishing? Do you find the thought of it disheartening, or are you all for it?

One more thing…

Want to receive weekly tips on writing, productivity, publishing, and marketing? Join other writers just like you on The Writer’s Cookbook’s mailing list!

writingcooperative.com - Can Anyone Self-Publish a Book? - The Writing Cooperative

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