Success leaves clues and by learning from others as well as looking at patterns we can help see what will make us successful and thereby shorten our path to success drastically. That doesn’t mean it won’t take hard work, anything good takes hard work, just that it shortens the journey. Like I’ve said in other places you can’t just work hard you have to work smart as well. But that works the other way around as well, you can’t just work smart, you have to work too. That is, if you want to succeed.
I’ve made a fairly decent living as a self-published author though I did it in I think one of the worst ways possible. For non-fiction authors I’d actually recommend a different path, though ironically the path I took might work great for fiction writers. I’ll explain more below. For non-fiction writers I recommend using the book as a “front” to get people into the real business. Make money on the back end and use the book to build authority and as a lead magnet. But that’s a whole other topic.
Also for fiction writers this isn’t going to be an exhaustive treatment of the subject. If you want a more in depth explanation by someone who knows way more about the subject than I ever will (and have time to read 5,000 words) then check out Sean Platt’s “10 Steps To Make A Living As A Self-Published Author” but if you want to bare basics then stick here. I’ll be focusing on fiction and I’m going to assume you understand things like “write a good book”, “always learn more about your craft”, “hire a good editor”, and “get a good cover design and a good blurb”, that’s basic 101 stuff that everyone already knows. I want to dive deeper.
So let’s get started.
Stick To One Genre
And while we’re at it write genre fiction over “literary fiction”. Genre fiction is fiction that is written to tell a good story and literary fiction is written for people trying to impress others. Okay, that isn’t entirely true but it’s closer than many think. Genre fiction is like Robert E. Howard, James Patterson, Stephen King, Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer, and the like. You know people who actually make money from their work. Literary fiction are those people who are given awards no-one cares about and only people trying to look smart slog through their books. Again hyperbole but closer to the truth then most would like to admit.
My point is start by picking a genre whether it’s horror, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, or whatever and delve deep into it. Get as specific as you can. For example High Fantasy is different than Low Fantasy which is different than Sword & Sorcery which is different than Sword & Planet and so on and so forth. Get down deep and really find your genre. It’s not fantasy it’s Grimdark Fantasy. It’s not Romance it’s paranormal billionair shapeshifter Navy S.E.A.L. romance. And so on and so forth.
Make sure you like your genre because you’re going to be there for awhile, remember you’re doing this as a business not as a hobby. As a self-published author you already know you have to produce a large volume of work, but what’s more is that 90% should be in the same genre, the more specific the better. You can jump from say Gothic Fantasy to Grimdark Fantasy or something like that. But don’t jump from writing Westerns to writing Billionaire Romance or whatever. Stick to your genre and you’ll be rewarded to it, monetarily.
Write A Trilogy At The Minimum
Single books aren’t going to cut, you need to create funnels. You want long series that you can keep adding on to, in order to keep making more and more money from them. A trilogy is the minimum that you should consider for any book. Meaning don’t write stand alone books or even two volume books. A trilogy is the minimum. That means you really have to think about every idea you start writing about. Can it support three full length novels? That’s about 180,000 words minimum, give or take 10-20k. That changes things.
You needs trilogies because you need funnels. The first book sell for free or .99 there are pros and cons to either but the overarching strategy is to get the first book to as many people as possible. Then at the back of the first book in the Call To Action (CTA) section, which you must have, you’ll say sign up for my email list and I’ll give you the second book free. And then the third book you can sell for 4.99. Put a couple more in and you can offer a box set for 9.99 eventually. Don’t write one book put it up for 4.99 and expect much of anything to come from it.
Series is the name of the game. Yeah, this takes a lot more work but if you thought self-publishing didn’t take a lot of work then you should stick to your day job. So plan each book idea as a trilogy, again at minimum. Meaning that for the majority of your books you should be looking at making them 5-7 books long. That way you can keep making money off them as well as offer that box set which is going to be more profitable. Of course the real profit comes from gaining readers who love your work and staying in touch with them. Which brings us to the next rule.
You Must Have An Email List
You must have an email list where you’re collecting the emails of those who like your books so you can stay in touch with them in order to sell them more things down the line. Just like any other website or venture, you have to keep in contact with people and stay connected. “Bond” with them and give them the information that they want. What books are coming out, where they can be purchased at, deals that you’re running, you’re writing process, events you’ll be at, and so on and so forth.
This is also valuable because you need feedback. Not feedback from those miserable assholes in Amazon who leave one star reviews for literally every product they buy (though one star reviews can be sources of insight) but from people who actually are your readers, who are your customers. Ask them what they want, what they liked and didn’t like, what they’d like to see, and so on and so forth. Get as much information as you can about them so you can serve them. And while we’re at it, always remember that the reader is your boss. The reader is who you serve as a writer. Not yourself, not false ideals of literary merit, and not award committees few care about. The reader comes first (if I’m being honest another distinction between genre and literary fiction in many cases).
Also by finding out what your readers demographics are, their likes and dislikes, and all of that you can then have an easier understanding of where to pick up more readers thereby figuring out where to advertise and who to advertise to. You’ll have a ideal prospect in mind based on data which is extremely helpful. It this sounds like sales and marketing that’s because it is. As a self-published author sales and marketing is something you’ll have to have a decent grasp of to succeed. Advertising and target markets are part of this.
The Road To Self-Published Success
And then you have to do all of these things over and over and over again until you have success. It might be on your 5th trilogy it might be on your 3rd, it almost never will be on your 1st. Keep at it. You finished a book? Great, here’s a cookie, now get to work on the next one. And do it again and again and again. You’re in it for the long haul, there’s no quick retirement. You’ll be putting the work in, brick by brick, for a what to most would seem like an eternity. But if this is truly what you want to do then you’ll do it anyways.
These steps will help give you a leg up, I’d also recommend reading Sean Platt’s article above as well as their book Write, Publish, Repeat if you want the whole course on all of this but otherwise this should serve you well. Now get writing.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.
-Charles Sledge
