It’s been five years since I published my first book in 2019. I’ve been wanting to do a retrospect on what I’ve learned and how I would do things differently as a self-published indie author. Everyone has their own journey. This is only mine and my thoughts with hindsight being 20/20.
When I first decided to become a published author, my biggest concern was if I could finish a book from start to finish. With my writing style I love characters so much that most of my book ideas come to me first as a character and not a plot. Which means I have a portfolio of great first chapters sitting on my computer that went nowhere!
My second concern was dealing with reviews. I knew I would have negative ones and I wondered how I would feel about that and if I could emotionally endure it. I can be overly sensitive to criticism and it can impact my desire to write.
I wasn’t concerned much with “making money” because that wasn’t my goal. I had stories in my head and for decades I wanted to share them. The change in technology and how books are published would allow me to finally realize something I’ve wanted since I was in elementary school.
Learning to write for publication
My first book published in 2019 was a collection of short stories. I did this because I wanted to experiment with my writing style and felt a short story collection was a doable project. Nothing wrong with that! And looking back I think it was a right decision to do Wicked Wolves of Windsor and other fairytales.
It taught me a lot of the process for self-publishing and I made several mistakes that taught me valuable lessons. It gave me the self-confidence that I could finish a story from start to finish which was something I truly needed.
What I did right:
✅ Bought a professional cover. The first cover I threw out because it was trash. That was a smart move even though it set me back financially. It just wasn’t professional enough.
✅ Paid for professional editing. You can never go wrong with professional editing.
✅ Started a Street Team.
✅ Established myself on social media.
I’d still do the book, but this is what I’d do different:
❌ Forget advertising. It’s not worth advertising a first book, especially if it is not in a series.
Use your first book to understand how the self-publishing cycle works, but don’t get worked up that it didn’t cause a splash.
❌ Worked too hard to get reviews. While reviews are great, with your first self-published book it most likely won’t take off so don’t work so hard. Go and spend more of your time writing your next book.
I did a lot of great networking with other authors via Instagram but I didn’t pick authors who wrote the same sort of books that I did and that was my mistake.
What I’d do differently:
🌞 Pick someone who understands book cover design right from the beginning and pay for their expertise.
🌞 Relax! It’s a first book and there will be mistakes. That’s okay.
Not researching the book’s genre well enough
Too much emphasis is being put on “writing to market” and not writing what you enjoy. Obviously you do want to write something readers want to read, but you also want to express yourself. You will have to balance these two, often opposing ends of the see-saw.
My next books were the College Fae series which was based on an idea I had of a stolen bedroom. I had a friend working on a medieval Germany story and I had visited Germany when my brother lived there. It seemed a great place to put an imaginary country that fitted into our world, but at the same time was fantastical.
What I did right:
✅ The writing quality is good and with each book I improved. These three books taught me a lot about my craft.
✅ Writing these three books taught me a lot on what I enjoy writing about, and how to plot a book.
✅ Great worldbuilding. I love the country, the city, and the University especially. I love all the side characters and how they all fitted together. The series is really an ensemble cast and everyone was unique!
What I did wrong:
❌ Not fully researching the concept or the genre. It turned out when I wrote these books that “Academy” fantasy was a big hit and while it might sound on the surface like that fits these books it decidedly did not!
❌ Understanding what readers want to read is the marketing side of the author business and it really bit my butt on the College Fae series. There was no Mary Sue character who was invited to a mysterious school where she discovered she was really a *** (insert — witch, supernatural being, descendent of someone important etc…) and ended up with three boys who wanted her. That was what people expected with Academy stories and I didn’t write that.
This drastically effected the sales which really was a downer since I had spent so much time and energy on the series and loved what I created. But those are the facts and no matter how much you wished people would love your work as much as you do, they sometimes don’t.
What I would do different:
I’d change this series to a six book one.
I’d change the plots to better fit the Academy genre, which means there would be more romance and maybe even a love triangle.
I probably would not write it knowing what I know now. It also doesn’t fit with what I plan on writing in the future so it is an outlier although alternate histories using our own world does remain a cornerstone of my books.
Sometimes you have to experiment to discover where your writing vision needs to go
The Sweet Fairytales came about because I was asked to contribute to a collection of fairytale short stories. They were fun to write and I actually really enjoy them, even today. IMO, Price of the Rose has some of my best sibling-relationships, and there is a lot of Poppy in me.
Because I’ve literally read thousands of Regency romances back in the day (in high school and college) I’m very familiar with the genre and time period. I thought it would be fun to return to those days of nostalgia and write romantasy — but this was one of my mistakes.
I’m not keen on reading romance anymore as I find it boring to read. There simply isn’t enough plot and the dialogue isn’t clever or witty in 99 percent of what is being offered by authors. If you’ve read the ten-thousand books I’ve read, there are no surprises found in these romance stories.
I like my books to contain a plot AND romance on the side.
So while writing them was fun, it was nothing I could maintain because my interest wasn’t there. At this time I don’t plan on writing anything more in this series though I guess I could change my mind (and have in the past).
What I would do differently:
Readers didn’t seem to understand the subtle parts of these stories or that I was writing in a Jane Austen style. They were wanting something more modern in tone because Regency romances have changed a lot. Now they have a lot of sex in them and they also do not hold to the historical time period at all which IMO defeats the entire purpose of reading one!
❌ The series is not connected with one character but is in the same universe with the same rules. The same character would have been better for sales because people would buy through the series to see what happened. I’m not sure how I would have been able to do that but this is true when writing a series.
❌ The biggest problem with this series is it leads my readers to think I will always write “sweet” and that simply is not true. Most of my work will be a bit edgier then these sweet fairytales so some readers might have a false expectation of what I write. For other writers, I advise keeping your spice (level of romance) the same, and that includes the same level of violence and horrible things being described (murder, dead bodies, torture, etc…).
✅ However, I loved putting together the audio books for this series and was blown away by my own writing! Listening to the narrators and working through the book as a script, it confirmed to me that I have a real talent in writing dialogue, something others have commented before about my writing.
The power of the Madame Chalamet Ghost Mystery series
The smartest thing I’ve done so far is write the Madame Chalamet Ghost Mystery series.
I’ve read that often it is the fifth or sixth book that an author writes that suddenly takes off and it was certainly true with writing this series. It has set the path for how I plan on proceeding as an author.
Overall, the series has performed well for me financially and it has given me a blueprint on how to continue my writing career.
What I did right about this ghost mystery series
✅ It combines popular themes: ghosts, Sherlock Holmes, and a Victorian-like world. These themes will always be popular in our pop culture.
✅ Like many of the worlds I create the world is easy for a reader to immerse themselves into. I want my readers to get into my stories quickly. All of these stories are fast paced but the world is very straightforward and it mimics ours in many of the everyday things such as transportation, hotel life, food, and clothes.
✅ Elinor was a delightful character to write and people really keyed into her straightforward manner and how she means what she says, and does what she means. I didn’t do that on purpose but Elinor’s personality is often mentioned in reviews.
What I would do differently
❌ Probably the only thing I really regret is that I couldn’t keep to the publishing schedule I had planned BUT the world went a different direction and it just wasn’t meant to be. Unfortunately, I think this is why the last two books lost some momentum.
❌ I also would have the print books ready to go earlier. That got delayed as I wasn’t sure what I would do about the covers so in the future I want that planned out better.
❌ Because of this the book covers for the ebooks got changed to match the print books. Since some readers liked the old covers so I’ll put them together in a collection they can buy from my website.
Why some writers give up
In my writer’s groups I’ve run into writers who couldn’t finish their work-in-progress. Why does this happen and what can you do about it?
Another reason for writing slumps is sheer exhaustion. I’ve experienced this myself so be kind to yourself. Get some rest and do something fun for your brain before demanding that it work again.
Want more author help? You can see all my Writer’s Life blog posts about publishing, marketing, and writing at this page.
Need more advice for writing, publishing, or marketing your book? Check out my Writer’s Life blog posts. You can also subscribe to the blog to know when I publish another one in the Writer-help series.
