How to navigate self-publishing: an authors toolkit for success
Troubador Publishing
Helping serious authors get their books published, distributed and sold to the market
Alex Thompson is the Business Development Manager at Troubador Publishing . His focus is on how Troubador can work with as many authors as possible to help them achieve their publishing goals and to ensure that the experience they have published their work is always the best it can be.
Alex will be hosting the final session of the day at the 2023 Self-Publishing Conference, which is geared towards helping authors assimilate what they have heard throughout the day, and combining it all into a concise set of actions to set them up for #selfpublishing success.
Q: What are the biggest challenges facing self-published authors today?
A: Unfortunately, there are a lot of challenges for authors looking to publish their work, especially for those that aren’t sure where to start. The first challenge I often see is how an author can get their work noticed by publishers in the first place. It is becoming increasingly hard for all authors to get their books noticed by the large, mainstream #bookpublishing companies, and those that don’t already have an existing large, social media-oriented audience then they will almost certainly be overlooked.
However, there is hope. Authors that choose to explore partnership or self-publishing now have plenty of options at their disposal to give their books the best chance of getting exposure in the market, using not only their own resources but also working directly with their publisher to market their work. It is this joined-up approach that gives an author the best chance of getting results instead of the endless cycle of trying to get noticed by agents and mainstream publishers.
The second challenge I see is for authors to know where to get the right help. There are so many directions that authors can go in that it can make the initial stages of self-publishing simply overwhelming. My advice to any writer is that any good self-publisher should spend time with an author, to begin to understand what their objectives in self-publishing are, well ahead of any obligation or money exchanging hands. The moment you feel you’re being pressured into making decisions is the moment that you should explore other options. There are several organisations out there that seem to do a great job at working with authors, but there are also those that clearly do not have author care at the centre of what they do. Do your research before starting to work with anyone!
Q: What are the most common mistakes you think authors make?
A: I don’t especially like the word ‘mistake’ in the context of authors looking to publish. #publishing a book is a lot more complicated than authors might expect, and there are so many things to think about - especially if you are not working with an experienced publishing company and have to find your own way through the process.
While there is no right way to publish a book, authors should seek advice from experts at each stage, or at least do a significant amount of research, to avoid running into trouble along the way. I have seen plenty of authors succeed without using the services of a publishing company, but the reality is that the process of taking a manuscript all the way through the publishing process, ending up with a quality printed book at the end and promoting and distributing it to the market is a complex one, and most people understandably don’t possess all the skills that this requires. Concentrate on doing what you can, but you should also be realistic and outsource things that you are not an expert in.
The other most common ‘mistake’ I see is those authors who want to sell loads of copies of their book but are not prepared to give their work the coverage it deserves. For any author, their personal brand is more powerful than anything else. The most successful authors we have seen have been those who utilise both the exposure that a good publisher can offer and who build, maintain and proactively grow their audience. While some will have an existing brand before publishing their book, we have seen plenty of examples where an author makes a concerted effort to promote their book and create a brand from scratch and be successful as a result. #authors should think about any ties they have to their local area, niche groups that they can promote their book to or networks of people that are interested in the topic they have written about.?Authors that put time and effort into promoting their book and see success as a result are one of my favourite things to see!?
Q: What is the most important thing for an author to think about throughout their publishing journey?
A: I think that the most important thing for an author to know and embrace before they start their publishing journey is that publishing a book is an emotional undertaking that may test you at times. Having spent so long #writing your manuscript and getting to the point where you are ready to start the publishing process could take months, years or often tens of years. That makes the transfer of that work into print a big deal.
That is why authors need to surround themselves with experts and people that have their interests at heart at every step of the journey. That might be other authors who have had similar experiences, following those that give great advice online or working with a publisher that has the author’s needs at the forefront of everything they do. It is really important to me and the wider Troubador Publishing team that authors feel as though they are being supported through their publishing journey from initial contact through to the publication and promotion of their book and not abandoned part way through the journey.
Q: For anyone who can’t attend your session at the conference, what would the one piece of advice be that you want to give?
A: Set clear objectives early on. Depending on the #objectives you set, there are numerous different directions an author can go in, and without a clear idea of what your goals are, it is easy to lose sight of what you are trying to achieve. For example, for those looking to get their work printed and have some physical copies to give to family and friends, the quality product at the end of the journey will likely be the most important thing. However, for those looking to sell as many copies to retailers as possible, the #marketing, #publicity and #bookpromotion that their book gets will typically be most important. As such, an author taking the time to set a clear objective at the very start of the publishing journey has to be the place to start to give the author the best chance of success, whatever success means to them.
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Most importantly, authors shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help in defining those objectives either. In fact, third-party opinions from family, friends and industry experts will actively help to define the right objectives for an author. Each author is unique, and any good self-publishing company should be happy to spend time with them to help work out exactly what it is they want to achieve and how best to achieve it.
Q: What is the future of self-publishing?
A: Printed books still dominate the market and I think that they will do for years to come. I know from my own reading habits that I still prefer physical copies, and the numbers that I am seeing throughout our market suggest that I am not alone. Of course, ebooks are expected by both retailers and readers with every new release, and audiobooks – to a lesser extent perhaps – are becoming increasingly popular too. With major retailers like Waterstones reporting printed book sales that exceed those of pre-Covid sales in 2022, even after a hard couple of years for the industry, that tells me that readers still want printed books alongside their ebooks –?and often instead.
While printed books aren’t going anywhere, the competition for shelf space in bookshops is getting ever more competitive. This means that quality production and a market-leading end product are essential if authors are to get their books noticed by book buyers. Due to the competition, authors who aren’t using the knowledge of publishing experts to market their books for maximum exposure will, unfortunately, struggle to get their work noticed. The magic combination we see with authors we work with is the combined approach between a publisher that is actively marketing a new title and an author that is working hard to promote their work alongside.
And finally, the big elephant in the room at the moment: how will artificial intelligence (#ai) affect what is a relatively traditional market? Depending on where you get your information on a daily basis you will likely have your own ideas about what AI means for the publishing industry. It will have an effect, and to ignore it would be foolish. However, using AI for things like reducing administrative tasks, working smarter and developing new ideas appeal to me as they would all allow us to spend more time on what we are good at - giving authors the best publishing journey possible - I am also nervous about some trends I am starting to see. At the Independent Publishers Guild conference in February, David Rowan showed us a sample of the hundreds of Youtubers that now say you can write a book using #chatgpt in about 20 minutes and do an audiobook version in another 10 minutes. This concerns me, as it could undermine the excellent, original work that real authors and publishing industry experts do, and therefore is something the whole industry needs to be diligent in keeping at arm's length.
Catch Alex Thompson at the Self-Publishing Conference 2023 where he will be talking authors through how they can succeed with their self-publishing journey
Self-publishing a book can seem like a complex and daunting prospect for an author, especially one that has not been published before. In this session, Alex breaks down the process that an author needs to go through to give their self-publishing project the best chance of success, and helps to define a structured set of next steps to take away following their day of knowledge gathering at the conference.
There will also be an opportunity towards the end for delegates to ask questions of Alex, as well as Hannah Dakin , Customer Services Manager at Troubador Publishing , and Chloe May , Publishing Manager for The Book Guild .
The Self-Publishing Conference
The Self-Publishing Conference is the UK’s longest-established self-publishing event, offering authors a chance to find out about a wide range of publishing options, to hear from and question those who work within the thriving self-publishing world, and to network with fellow authors, many of whom will already be experienced self-publishers.
In 2023, the event will take place at the College Court Conference Centre, Leicester, UK on April 22nd.