There’s a lot to know when starting in the self-publishing business. In this post, we’ll explore a few errors to avoid when publishing your first book to help you avoid some of the most common self-publishing mistakes. 

Palmetto Publishing does everything we can to help our authors produce their best work with guidance and assistance from us just to make things easier. 

Some of the most common mistakes when self-publishing 

There are plenty of readers who would be interested in reading your work, yet many authors miss out on these opportunities because they make basic self-publishing mistakes that sabotage their sales. In a crowded online book marketplace, authors need to make their work as perfect as possible.

1. Not spending enough time or money on editing

Publishing poorly edited work is bad business. Your publishers and readers aren’t afraid to share their thoughts on poor writing. Without good professional editing, your book is will die before it ever lived. Splurge for this critical step in your book production as your readers will thank you, and the marketplace will reward you.

2. Not hiring someone to design your cover 

Considering people do judge a book by its cover, you can give your book the best chance of being noticed by potential readers with thoughtful, professional cover design. It doesn’t matter how well-written your book is, having a cheap, unprofessional book cover, it won’t sell. As with the editing, you’re probably best leaving the design of your book cover to the professionals.

3.Not optimizing your book description

If you’re an author, you may not like to realize it, but the description section on your book’s product page is the most important selling tool you have.

Once a potential customer lands on an author’s product page, that description has to be written in a way that entices. The one with the best description which aligns with what they’re looking for is the one they’ll buy. 

4. Selling your book through only a single online outlet 

A lot of self-published authors are making a very costly mistake when it comes to eBook and printed book distribution: They ONLY sell their books through Amazon. There are many other stores where millions of eBooks and printed books are sold in the US each year, including iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, and dozens more. 

5. Hurrying the process

It can take up to a year to get a book into print when working with one of the big publishers and taking advantage of the extra marketing and promotion. However, books rushed launch with incorrect data on Amazon, missing information and photos, have no reviews, and lack an enticing, optimized book description. Realize that you can do a lot of platform-building leading up to publication, and set things up properly with a few extra months to plan things. 

We offer assistance with every step of the book lifecycle, and with your creative direction, our comprehensive publishing services will help you develop a finished product that you can be proud of. And we do so without taking any cut of your royalties. 

Contact us today to make this process easy-peasy and without making any of the self-publishing mistakes we discussed here.