If you want to make a living as an author, you need to study and become an expert in 5 very important foundational areas. These five foundations are key to becoming a best seller. All of the authors I know, who are making a living with their fiction, have these 5 foundations well in hand. They may not have mastered every area, but they’ve got a good grasp on all five. And the things they aren’t good at, they hire out.
1 – Productivity
You can’t sell a book you didn’t write
Productivity is the first of the five foundations because everything else is built upon it. If you want a career as an author, you MUST write. And I don’t just mean when the mood strikes. You have to write every day. It’s the only path to a successful author career. You wouldn’t trust a mechanic who only worked when the muse moved him, right? Writing is a job like any other. You have to get up and go to work every day. Having a daily word goal is one of the fastest ways to ensure you are going to finish a book. I’ve also written a post on finishing a first draft which you can find here.
2 – Presentation:
Your book needs a professional cover, editing and formatting.
Self publishing has come a long way in just a few short years. Audiences expect just as much, I would argue more, from self-published books than they do from traditionally published books. If you think your nephew’s art is good enough for a cover, and you had your spouse read through for typos, you are going to be very disappointed. You’ll be disappointed not only in your sales, which will probably be non-existent, but also in the handful of reviews which do happen to come in. You’re going to get crucified. You book needs a professional cover that fits the genre, a good editor, and professional formatting. More on great cover design here.
3 – Sales Description:
You need a description that hooks shoppers and converts browsers into buyers.
Writing good sales copy is an art and science all its own. You need a book description that makes people want to click that buy now button but very few writers have a natural aptitude for this. The good thing is, it’s a skill you can improve. And if you don’t want to take the time, you can hire good people to do this for you. I wrote a post on how to come up with an engaging description that will convert browsers to buyers. You can check it out here.
4 – Marketing:
You need to get your book in front of readers. Don’t expect they will find you.
Marketing is the bane of most writer’s existance. We are, by nature, mostly solitary people and so many of us loath social media, but marketing is a non-negotiable. It’s not enough to write an amazing book. You have to get that book in front of readers. You might have written the next great American novel, but if nobody knows it exists, you’re going to die broke. People have to see something before they can want it and that’s where marketing comes into play. Marketing is all about getting your book in front of readers. The good news is, there are a lot different ways to do that now days; everything from Facebook and other free social media platforms to paid advertising. But you’ve got to play the game if you want to win, which means you are going to have to learn marketing. Check out my series of posts on amazon marketing.
5 – Consistency:
The best marketing is the next book!
If you haven’t heard this yet, then you haven’t been in the publishing business long. I didn’t start really making consistent money off my writing until book 2 in my Jake Noble series, but I’m an outlier. Most authors say it takes three or even four books before you can quit your day job. So develop that daily routine of writing like we talked about earlier and crank out the next novel. Keep in mind, I’m not a fan of the pump and dump, but writing great novels quickly is key.
I’d love to know your thoughts on what it takes to succeed in self-publishing down below.
