Six Self Publishing Tips That CHANGED My Life (Warning: Emotional)

Updated: May 22, 2023

Guys…. We made it! [Insert Noisemaker sounds]

After a year and a half of working and slaving away, my novel "Since When Did Single Mean Sad" is now live, and you can support me and my vision by purchasing it here. Special thanks to

Chariz at 100 covers: For answering my emails last moment and helping me calm down through my self-publishing struggles.

My Beta Reading Team: I talked about you all in my book, but you all truly were the heart behind my book. I was one of those anti-beta readers throughout the whole process. But now I know that Beta readers are one of the most important things to invest in. I don't have enough Thank yous even to cover all you did for me. I wish each of you Blessings!

Stefanie Newell: You can read more about my writing coach's impact on my book on the acknowledgments page.

My Fiverr Formatter: You also helped me to stay sane through my over 45 edits and re-formatting issues that we had to work through. I will most definitely be coming back again!

If you want to receive free cool Author swag with any book purchase, you can join my email list, and I will send it over. You have until April 07th to join!

Now.. Enough sappy stuff!

Here are some of the biggest self-publishing tips and tricks that I learned from crafting my first novel.

#1- You can plan your best plan, but God's Plan prevails: Many of you who follow me may know that I was supposed to launch the book on March 29th, 2022. It was to the point where I even went through and wrote out this super huge plan on how I was going to launch the book. And then, on the morning of launch day, I go to submit the book, and I am hit with an error message saying it would take between

24 to 72 hours to launch!!!!

I wanted to cry. I felt like I was letting you all who entered the giveaway down. I felt embarrassed and down. But during the 76 hours that followed, I saw God's Glory and would not change my launch day for the world.

Self-publishing tips from this

Don't stress if things don't go your way: To mitigate this, make sure you read everything! There is a ton of fine print during self-publishing that is so easy to miss. But the things you read actually do matter. Please do not make the same mistake that I did.

#2- Reviews are hard to get: Guyssssss, I underestimated the number of people that I would have to ask for reviews. Thankfully, I had a lot of willing people who would assist me with the creation of these reviews. However, I wish I had put myself into the fishing pond and gotten more reviews. As a tip, try and ask for way more reviews than you think. People are busy and have the absolute best intentions, but sometimes they fall through no matter how good they are.

#3- People will surprise you with their support: When I thought of writing a book years ago, I had a select group of people in my mind who would be there to hold my hand and help me. But the people who supported me the most were those I did not expect. What was great about that was that I gained a lot of insight into who my real friends were and who weren't. I recommend all writers branch out and ask people to do things. Sometimes, it can be easy to underestimate who is on your side. But the truth is that more people want to support you, and you must let them in.

#4- People won't support you: I know, I know; in #3, I stated that people would surprise you with their support. But you might find that people you thought would be excited to see you succeed are very indifferent about your success. So, there are a few reasons why people do not support your vision

The product you are selling doesn't appeal to them: My book is a nonfiction book that appeals to single and unmarried people. I had a colleague at the time who was very excited about reading my book. However, when it came time for them to read the book, they admitted that they felt that they were not the target audience. I was so hurt because I wanted my book to appeal to everyone. But when I looked deeper, I realized that this person was correct and that if they were not willing to step out of their comfort zone to support me, then who was I to force them to do so?

They are jealous: I HATEEEE talking about this one because I feel like the word jealous is wildly overused . I get all of these notifications about people being jealous of you on my Youtube. If you get caught up in thinking about all the people who might be jealous of you, you are in danger of becoming cynical. Jealously around self-publishing is usually caused by many people who wish they had a chance to write a book. But they often do not have the time, money, or resources to do so. As a result, they tend to put down or distance themselves from people who did what they wanted to do. Do not be alarmed, my dear friend, if you lose friends along the way of self-publishing.

They are afraid your product might not be the best, and it will change their view of you: This one is my thing. These people mean well, but they know that if they don't like something that you create it might affect your friendship. These are the type of people you have to keep in mind before you take things personally.

#5- The most successful self-published authors aren't afraid to get gritty: I have to admit. I had to do some pretty gritty things in marketing my book. I could not just sit behind my computer in my comfortable bed and post on social media about my book. I had to go out in public and talk to strangers. I had to print flyers and walk (A LOT) in 85-degree weather while getting flagged down by bus drivers (that is a story for another day). I had to give my book out for FREE even if I wasn't sure I would get a return on my investment. And I had to do things that scared me, like sending emails to hundreds of people and watching the low open and click rates. I got denied, ignored, and even poorly talked about throughout my marketing process. But at the end, I gained so much more spunk, grit, and determination.

Tip: Don't be afraid to get dirty when self-publishing your book. If you are sitting behind your computer sipping tea on the days leading up to your book launch, you are doing something wrong. As self-publishers, we are the bread in butter of the industry. And our job is to be everything for our business: the marketers, the writers, the publishers, the editors, and the promoters. You can do everything to write the best book possible, but if you set it on the shelf and leave it there, it will collect dust. 😊 Don't make that mistake.

#6- This will be my last tip because my brain is swimming with a long list of book launch tasks that need to be completed. But, my last tip is to enjoy the process of launching a book and self-publishing.

Man, I have been through the fire to get this book out on the shelves. You all would not believe the long nights, the number of times I wanted to poop my pants , the number of times I cried, and how much of this week I spent in my pajamas scrolling through my social media. But the day is finally here, and I get to share it with my favorite people in the world, you all, my readers.

If you take one tip from all of these self-publishing tips, take this one. Don't wait to accomplish your dreams. Today is the 4th month of the year, and we have made it through such an incredible time. We are already almost a quarter of the way through 2022. What is it that you want to accomplish?

Like this post? Check out this one: How to market a self published book

Your Pen Pal friend, Gabrielle Denise

Best-selling Author

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