Guides to becoming a self-published writer – how many of them are worth the money?

Like many authors new to publishing on Amazon Kindle and other self-publishing platforms, I was keen to learn more about the subject. I wanted to make sure I was editing, formatting and publishing correctly, and making the right decisions regarding cover design, pricing and marketing. At times, I have a tendency to rush headlong into new projects, without doing the necessary groundwork first; so this time I wanted to make sure I was well prepared. I wanted to give my work the best possible chance of being found, bought and read!

Reading some of the e-books available on this subject has been enlightening to say the least - but, unfortunately, it’s not all good…

Like any area that people decide has 'get rich quick' potential, Kindle has been touted as a gold-mine. You just have to look at the titles of many of the e-books aimed at self-published authors. Titles along the lines of 'make a million on kindle', 'Kindle cash', 'how I made a million/thousands with Kindle' abound. We live in a quick fix, ‘I should be rich/happy/successful for no effort’ society, and making your fortune on Kindle holds a certain appeal. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many books on self-publishing available, and most of what’s out there is definitely riding the ‘be another (insert name of famous indie author here!) wave.

That said, there are many self-published authors – myself included – who have been writing for years and are delighted to have a means through which others can read our work – finally! I got my first check from Amazon last week - and did a dance around the house to celebrate. It may not be a fortune but its payment for doing something I love. That’s what most self-published authors are looking for – the chance to make a living at writing. I believe that the mirage of fame, fortune and mega-success is a trap for the unwary – one that many books on the subject perpetuate.

So for self-published (or planning to be self-published authors) out there – which guides to self-publishing are actually worth the money? Below I have listed the six most popular guides available on Kindle, and my opinion of their strengths and weaknesses. In alphabetical order by author they are:

Michael Alvear – Make a Killing on Kindle (Without Blogging, Facebook Or Twitter). The Guerilla Marketer’s Guide to Selling Ebooks
This writer takes a different approach from some of his competitors (as shown in the title); one that will appeal to those who have blogged, tweeted and Facebooked in a frenzy – with few or no resulting sales. The main premise of this book is as that you should market within Amazon (thus capturing those who are already looking for books like yours), rather than trying to market to the whole world when you are an unknown author. Some of his advice is good: creating a good title, masterful book description and dazzling cover art make sense, as does using Adwords and the Amazon search engine to make sure the keywords you use when uploading your work onto KDP get your book found. However, some advice, such as putting a billboard up on your competitors’ Amazon pages, is likely to get you in trouble with Amazon and is a bit irresponsible on his part. In all, Alvear has some good advice – but his ‘hard sell’ techniques will put off some authors.

John Locke – How I sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!
John Locke is the guru of self-publishing success. His sales background is evident throughout his book. He’s pretty smooth and goes to great effort to make you feel as if he’s your friend, as if you’re sitting down for a chat over a beer together. He would even have you believe that this is not ‘an ego book’ and that he’s ‘giving’ you his secrets because he wants you to have his success. If you can bear to wade through all the waffle and self-promotion, Locke does have some valid advice; like writing for and marketing to a specific niche, and keeping within it. Find out who loves your books and tailor your marketing to find them. Recently, Locke took a bit of a hammering when people discovered that he had actually bought many of his reviews. Ethical matters aside (if someone wants to fork out money for fake reviews that’s their business I suppose), the main issue most people have, is that Locke doesn’t mention buying fake reviews in his book. When asked about why he did it, Locke became defensive and added that he wasn’t ashamed of what he’d done – but if that’s the case why did he not mention it in his book? You decide.

Michael Masters – Kindle Cash - The Beginner's Guide to Creating, Marketing, And Publishing On The Amazon Kindle
This book was a bit distracting to read at times, as it isn’t formatted very well – not a great start for a book teaching you how to self-publish! There’s also, like Locke’s book above, quite a bit of extraneous ‘padding’. Masters also takes the ‘we’re in this to make cash’ approach to extremes at times. He suggests that new non-fiction writers should write about the top three ‘bleeding neck’ subjects if they want people to buy their books. These are: relationships, money and health. However, if you’re a fiction author, this doesn’t really help you. Michael goes into a lot of detail on choosing and refining your niche – which is probably useful for self-help authors. Like Alvear, he details using Google Adwords to search for useful keywords and to isolate hot topics. This book rambles a bit, but there is some good advice scattered throughout – you just have dig a bit to find it!

Toby Neal – Building an Author Platform that can launch anything: A Social Media Mini-book
Neal comes from a sales background – and considering that half her very short book is actually the first two chapters of one of her novels – you can’t help but feel as if you’ve been had! She also mentions her novels continuously throughout the ‘mini-book’, which I found off-putting. She cites John Locke many times and most of her advice on writing to your target audience comes straight from him. Like Locke, she also enthuses about creating a blog and using twitter to promote your work. You will find some valid advice in this tiny book – however, it’s just too short and generalised to provide new authors with the assistance they need.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif – How I Made Over $42,000 in 1 Month Selling my Kindle ebooks
This book’s focus is on using Amazon KDP Select to promote your books and become a successful self-published author. She goes into detail about how she does this – and she has a lot of unique advice – rather than rehashed information from other authors – about blogging and using Twitter effectively. However, it is evident from the book that Tardif is a veteran self-published author and even runs her own publishing company. She has spent years becoming established, so her success on KDP Select shouldn’t come as such a great surprise! However, Tardif’s respect for writing and those who follow their passion is refreshing and inspirational. When marketing your book she suggests following the three E’s: Entertain, Educate and Escapism – so that you give your readers value – even if you're writing a marketing newsletter or blog post.

Zoe Winters - Smart Self-Publishing: Becoming an Indie Author
I’ve saved the best till last! Winters’ book is well written and researched, informative and doesn’t insult your intelligence (yes, some of the others do I’m afraid). Winters is not one of Amazon’s high rollers, but she makes a decent living out of her writing. She has taken a methodical, business-like approach to the entire process. She recommends creating your own business plan, having realistic expectations and accepting and moving on from ‘failure’ as part of what it means to be an indie author. Winters provides a wealth of information on the different avenues for indie publishing, as well as formatting your book for Kindle and Smashwords, editing, cover design, branding, marketing, ISBN numbers and registering for copyright – as well as a handy troubleshooting section. This book really is an indie author’s bible!

If my overview of the above six books teaches us nothing else, it's that if ‘so-called’ experts can’t agree on the recipe for success, there probably isn’t one! Of course, we all know this, deep-down, but the holy grail of the 'elusive easy answer' is a hard one to let go of. Researching this blog has taught me that you must write because you love it, because you want to share your writing with others, to entertain and provide escapism, or to teach. Frankly, if writing doesn’t light your fire then there are much easier ways to make money than becoming a self-published author!

To all of you who have actually finished this rather long blog – thank you for reading. I welcome your comments and thoughts on this subject and wish you all the best for your writing. Don’t ever give up! 

The Art of Storytelling

Are storytellers born or made? I'd like to think that it's a fifty fifty split between nature and nurture! I believe that you need to be born with some writing and storytelling ability - but that it's how you hone your craft that makes the difference. Writing is one of the few talents that many believe is god-given; you either have it or you don't. There's something unromantic about the idea of an author sweating over their writing for years before finally turning out a publishable story. Yet, other art forms - music, acting, singing and dance - require years of practice before someone can be called an expert. With this in mind, it follows that the more stories you write, the better they will be.

When deciding upon what genre to write, it might help to keep the following in mind:

1. Write in the genre you love
2. Write the sort of book you would love to read
3. Write your story for all those people who love the same books as you.

You'll notice that the keyword in all three of the above sentences is 'love'. Let's face it, writing a book and then doing numerous drafts and edits, is hard enough without writing in a genre you aren't passionate about.  That road only leads to disappointment and frustration. Write what you love!

So you've chosen your favourite genre - how should you approach the storytelling itself? There are various schools of thought on this, with entire books dedicated to the subject, but I can share what works for me. I start with a strong basic theme or idea. I often use the premise 'What if?' when coming up with ideas. For my first book, The Children of Isador, the starting point was around the main character: what if the only saviour of a war-torn land is an irresponsible, vain and shallow young wizard? My current book, The Citadel of Lies (Book One of the Palâdnith Trilogy, available on Amazon Kindle in early 2013), started with the premise: Three brothers. Three assassins. One destination. I imagined three estranged brothers who have not seen each other in a decade, three assassins who have been sent to hunt them, and the place where they will be reunited: The Citadel of Lies. From this, the first of three stories was born!

Some writers meticulously plan their stories before commencing writing, while others research their world and characters thoroughly and start the story with only a vague idea of where the story will go. I fall in to the latter category. I don't plot my stories out in detail before writing - not out of laziness - but because the storytelling must be an adventure for me. If I know exactly what will happen, the excitement dies. This might mean that I have to spend longer on the second, third and fourth drafts of the story, as I iron out a few plot creases, but it also means that the writing keeps fresh and alive throughout. This approach also leaves space for a bit of magic to happen along the way; characters can behave it ways you might never have thought of, and the plot might take a direction that will have you, and your readers, on the edge of your seats to the very last page!

Get writing!

Creating memorable characters

Let's face it - people are strange. Just when you think you understand someone they can always surprise you. A complex web of emotions, insecurities, beliefs and desires lie beneath the surface in all of us. In most cases we aren't even aware of what drives us. I'm sure you will have met plenty of people who say one thing and then do the complete opposite. Even if someone points out this contradiction out to them, they still won't see it! I think we're all a bit like this. There's a layer of 'stuff'' that we'd rather not face about ourselves and in many cases we can live out our entire lives without knowing.

I've written stories all my life. Although I write for the love of it, I started writing to help myself understand life better. Writing fiction allowed me to explore my own thoughts, worries, fears and hopes, without actually having to write about myself! Years on, I still like exploring the human condition and the conflict within us all through my characters.

Here are three top tips I'd like to share with you about creating memorable characters:

1. research your characters: they may not exist before you created them, but your readers will need to believe in them. Create character profiles for your protagonists and interview them. I know this might sound like a lot of work when you could be writing the novel itself, but believe me it will help you bring your characters to life. Designing a 'back story' for your main characters will help you create consistent, believable characters. Here's a link to a useful writing character profile writing resource to get you started: http://www.creative-writing-now.com/writing-character-profiles.html
2. make your characters 'larger than life'. This doesn't mean that you should create an outlandish, off-the-wall main character that none of your readers can connect with, but that should exaggerate their existing traits. It's a bit like how actors and TV presenters have to wear heavier make up when they're on camera - or their features won't stand out. A gentle, bookish main character with a love of animals and quiet nights in is fine - but you need to bring these traits to life! Show your character in activities that bring his/her defining characteristics to the fore (this will be a lot easier if you have completed a character profile and have a clear idea of who your character is).
3. create conflict. By this, I don't meant that you hurl obstacles into the path of your main character - although this might be part of the plot of an adventure story - but that you create conflict within your characters themselves. To take the example of the character I described in point 2. He may be gentle and bookish but what if he reads action novels about macho guys who take on the world and win. He might love animals but what if he doesn't have a pet because he doesn't want the responsibility of caring for one. He loves quiet nights in but what if he secretly worries life is passing him by while he sits on his sofa watching DVDs. Immediately, you have conflict on many different levels. Although he's a gentle, animal-loving homebody, he's also frustrated, lonely and afraid of taking risks of any kind. He can't even get himself a dog because he's terrified of the responsibility! Inner conflict makes your character active. He won't be a passive recipient of what life hands him because he's got his own issues. Inner turmoil will also drive him, adding depth to your plot. When you hear about writer saying a character 'took over' during the story-writing - this is what they mean.

I shall leave you with some advice on characterisation from Robert McKee, the author of "Story" (an essential book for writers, by the way). He insists that great stories have archetypal characters rather than stereotypical ones. An archetypal character is so unique that the reader's attention is instantly captured, but at the same time so true that the reader can identify, commiserate and understand with him or her on a deep level. When we find an archetypal character in a book we are hooked - for through them we discover our own humanity.