Top 5 Publishing Mistakes Authors Make

Top 5 Publishing Mistakes Authors Make

Self-publishing is experiencing a revolution! But even when something is easy and affordable, it is still
possible to make mistakes. The good news is, most mistakes are simple to avoid if you can see them
coming. Here are five common mistakes authors make when publishing their books. Avoid these
mistakes at all costs.

MISTAKE #1 - Sacrificing quality for speed

It's easy to understand why this is such a common mistake. Most people enjoy instant
gratification. And what is more gratifying than getting your book published immediately? Now
that some "publishers" can push your book onto the public in a matter of hours, many writers are
sacrificing quality book publication for instant gratification.

That is a huge mistake! Your book took months or years (or even decades) to write. Don't sell
yourself short by publishing it within a matter of hours just because you can. Just like quality
writing, quality publishing takes time. Make your book something your readers will respect,
something that could potentially reap some rewards (either of the financial or trophy variety)
and, most importantly, something that you can be proud of.

MISTAKE #2 - Thinking you must do everything yourself

Blame the term "self-publishing" for this common mistake. Before the Internet was around, if
writers wanted to "self-publish" their books, it required wearing many different "hats" and doing
everything themselves, from formatting, to cover design, to (ugh) taxes! The learning curve was
huge!

That was then, this is now. Nowadays, self-publishing companies like Outskirts Press are the ones
handling the heavy lifting. Let them. You've done the hard part -- you've written the book. Now
let the professionals handle the logistics, like:

• ISBNs
• barcodes
• cover design
• spine width calculation
• interior book formatting
• editing
• BISAC codes
• distribution
• printing
• EDI feeds
• inventory management
• warehousing
• fulfillment
• returns
• royalties
• sales tax
• etc.

Nowadays, some writers are doing themselves and their readers a huge disservice by publishing
"things" that don't even officially qualify as books (hint, real books require an ISBN). Their
readers may not know the difference (then again, they might), but book contests certainly will.
And, most importantly, you will know. Don't you want your book to be as professional as possible
and available in as many places as possible?

MISTAKE #3 - Letting someone else set your retail price

Before the Internet allowed anyone to publish a book easily, one of the benefits of "self-
publishing" a book yourself was the level of control you had over important details like the retail
price and profit margin of your book. Then a funny thing happened. Online publishing came along
and companies started dictating those terms to writers. And all of a sudden, you had a 90 page
volume of poetry selling for $19.95. Ouch.

Don't make the mistake of choosing a publisher who dictates your retail price. It's your book. You
should keep 100% of the rights. You should keep 100% of the net profits. And you should keep
100% of the control over important pricing decisions. Only one full-service self-publishing
company offers that level of flexibility while still handling all the heavy lifting for you.

MISTAKE #4 - Not thinking about distribution until it is too late

Imagine spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to self-publish your book only to discover
that Ingram won't distribute it because you missed an important step.

Or imagine believing you are publishing a book for "free" only to discover that your book is only
available from one retailer, or that you receive 50% less of the profits every time it sells. That
sounds like a very expensive "free" publication.

Believe it or not, these are mistakes authors now make all the time. They publish books where
their author copies differ in both size and quality from the distributed copies. Or they publish
books where they are financially penalized every time it sells from Barnes & Noble, for instance.
Shouldn't your book look the same and earn the same amount, no matter where someone buys it?

MISTAKE #5 - Not thinking about marketing until it is too late

Many writers are so excited about publishing the book and getting it "out there" that they forget
a fundamental step -- promotion. Over a million new "books" are published every year
(that word is in quotes, because we already discussed the trend of some online companies
publishing material that doesn't really qualify as books); so there is a lot of competition for
readers. One of the easiest things you can do is not publish your book with a company who
puts out thousands and thousands of new books every single day. How could they possibly
promote any of them? How could they possibly help their authors market any of them?
Competition is fierce enough already, the last thing you need to worry about is competing with
your own publishing company!

Telling all their family and friends about their book is something every author can and should
do. But the challenge is learning how to successfully tell strangers about their book. Most
writers have no idea how to do that, and most publishing companies nowadays don't bother to
tell them. But Outskirts Press does. So choose the #1-ranked publishing company that is just as
interested in showing you how to market your books as they are in helping you publish them.