G
Guest6814
Guest
I first tried my hand at the self-publishing enterprise in late 2010/ early 2011. At the time, I didn't know what I was doing. My novel's content was OK, but the description wasn't that good, and the cover was an awful, do-it-yourself wreck with a blurry photo taken using my crummy cell phone. Anyway, a writer friend gave me some helpful feedback on the my writing (although she basically liked the plot and humor) and encouraged me to revise it. I was too proud and under-confident to take her advice.
Anyway...after failing to sell many books, I tried something completely different as a side business. After failing for a couple of years at that, I shut it down and went back to writing. I did some revisions to my book, fleshing out characters, reworking scenes, adding material, etc. I redid the cover - still DIY but with a high-resolution photo. I did some studying, too, listening to successful self-published authors' podcasts, taking how-to courses, reading books by successful indie authors. I also redid my book's description. I've written two sequels, am still studying lessons from successful authors and reading their helpful books, getting more strategic. Slowly, more interest is building in my books, and I'm working on a fourth.
Reading UNSCRIPTED (now about 2/3 of the way through the book), I was heartened by the recommendation to execute the book production exceptionally - thereby standing out in a crowded market.
I've identified a need that affects many indie authors: writing descriptions. The majority of indie authors seem to hate the writing of descriptions, even characterizing the process as harder than writing a 40,000-80,000-word novel. I'm in some Facebook groups for authors. A woman in one group complained about her abysmal sales. I took a look at her books, thought my teenage son would enjoy them, pitied her a bit, and ordered them. My son did, in fact enjoy both books. However, it was clear to me that her books' descriptions were not very compelling, and that her poor descriptions likely contributed her poor sales.
Reading UNSCRIPTED , I thought of an idea for a business: helping self-published authors with their book descriptions, either writing them for the other authors or helping them to make those descriptions more compelling. I now don't find book descriptions very hard to write, and I think I can help others.
I'm not sure if I'll be stretching myself too thin; it's just another aspect of the self-publishing enterprise where I think I can provide actual value.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nathaniel Wyckoff
(Nate Wyckoff)
Anyway...after failing to sell many books, I tried something completely different as a side business. After failing for a couple of years at that, I shut it down and went back to writing. I did some revisions to my book, fleshing out characters, reworking scenes, adding material, etc. I redid the cover - still DIY but with a high-resolution photo. I did some studying, too, listening to successful self-published authors' podcasts, taking how-to courses, reading books by successful indie authors. I also redid my book's description. I've written two sequels, am still studying lessons from successful authors and reading their helpful books, getting more strategic. Slowly, more interest is building in my books, and I'm working on a fourth.
Reading UNSCRIPTED (now about 2/3 of the way through the book), I was heartened by the recommendation to execute the book production exceptionally - thereby standing out in a crowded market.
I've identified a need that affects many indie authors: writing descriptions. The majority of indie authors seem to hate the writing of descriptions, even characterizing the process as harder than writing a 40,000-80,000-word novel. I'm in some Facebook groups for authors. A woman in one group complained about her abysmal sales. I took a look at her books, thought my teenage son would enjoy them, pitied her a bit, and ordered them. My son did, in fact enjoy both books. However, it was clear to me that her books' descriptions were not very compelling, and that her poor descriptions likely contributed her poor sales.
Reading UNSCRIPTED , I thought of an idea for a business: helping self-published authors with their book descriptions, either writing them for the other authors or helping them to make those descriptions more compelling. I now don't find book descriptions very hard to write, and I think I can help others.
I'm not sure if I'll be stretching myself too thin; it's just another aspect of the self-publishing enterprise where I think I can provide actual value.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nathaniel Wyckoff
(Nate Wyckoff)
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