The biggest self-publishing mistake, especially for new authors publishing their first book, is being impatient.
It takes a long time to write a book, but then being in a hurry to publish as soon as the first draft is complete is a recipe for disaster.
Rushing to publish can be the primary cause of a long list of errors, mistakes, and quality issues with a new print book or ebook.
Publishing a book is a very exciting time for new authors, but that excitement can be the undoing of a successful book launch.
Rushing the process is the biggest self-publishing mistake
Preparing a manuscript for publishing and creating all the other essential parts you need takes time.
In fact, it can often take as long as writing the book, if not longer.
When the process is rushed, the quality of all the elements is negatively affected by a lack of attention to detail.
You’ve probably read that one of the major issues with many new books is a lack of professional editing.
That’s partly true, but not every new author can afford to pay for a professional editor.
What is certainly true is that the editing process should never be rushed.
It’s a painstaking task and requires attention to so many errors, typos, or plot faults in a manuscript.
Another area where rushing can cause problems is the book cover. It might be true that you can’t tell a book by its cover.
But a quick and dirty, poorly designed, or low-resolution book cover won’t give a potential reader much confidence about what’s inside.
Rushing these two parts is always a bad move, but there are many more elements that require time and patience.
Every part of preparing a book for publishing takes time
You can take your Word document and quickly format it and use a Canva template for your book cover.
Then upload the two files to Amazon KDP to turn them into an ebook.
Yes, you’ve successfully self-published your ebook, and within 24 hours it’s available on Amazon. You’re a published author. But will anyone know about it or even buy it?
It’s extremely rare that a self-published book needs to work toward a deadline.
For a Christmas-themed book, it needs to be published well before Christmas, but does it matter if it’s August or October? It could even wait until next year if the book isn’t ready.
But the mistake of rushing to publish is not usually about deadlines. It’s about impatience.
Yes, you need to get your manuscript as perfect as possible, and buy or create an eye-catching book cover that aligns with your genre.
But so many other tasks can be overlooked or unnecessarily hurried in the quest to publish as quickly as possible.
Proofreading and using beta readers take a lot of time.
Formatting for an ebook is relatively easy, but testing ebook file conversions takes a little longer.
For a print book, it can take days or even weeks to get the best fonts, line spacing, pagination, and typography right.
Even when a print book file is perfect, you still have to wait for physical proofs to arrive.
Sure, you can approve a print book with an online preview, but it is never a guarantee that everything is perfect.
Skipping or rushing any of these parts of publishing can create problems that will probably require fixing after publishing, which is too late.
Important tasks that get rushed or overlooked
“This is a book about a woman who fell in love with a man, but she didn’t know he was hiding a dark secret.”
Yes, you could use it as your book description when you publish, but it isn’t a book description. It’s no more than a rough outline you might use before you write a book.
A book description is one of the most important selling points for a book because it needs to convince a potential reader why your book is not only worth reading but also worth buying.
Taking the time to research popular books in your genre can help you craft a much more compelling book description.
For some new authors rushing through Amazon KDP, it can be a surprise to discover halfway through the publishing process that they have to make decisions about categories and search keywords.
The temptation is to make a quick decision so that they can move on rapidly.
That can be a costly mistake. Without appropriate selections, it can be extremely difficult, or even impossible, for readers to discover a new book.
Getting this part of self-publishing wrong is almost always due to rushing and failing to check what’s needed before publishing.
Choosing the right categories and search keywords is crucial for a new book. And it can take time to get the selections right.
An associated factor is book pricing. Without doing research, guessing an appropriate selling price could under-value or over-value a book.
Launching a book for no one but the world
“My book is for everyone!”
This is never true. Even the most popular bestselling books only appeal to a small niche of readers.
It’s also a mindset that can make authors overlook the need for book marketing and promotion, which are essential to giving a new book some chance of success.
Selling books is tough, but it’s even tougher if no one knows about it.
For self-publishing authors, you’re not likely to get your book mentioned in the New York Times book reviews.
But you can spread the word through your personal and professional contacts, via social media, or in blog articles.
A new book’s launch period is often its best opportunity to generate early sales and attention.
Even for well-known authors and celebrity books, the first days and weeks can be particularly important for generating sales and attention.
Failing to invest time in preparing for a book launch and leaving it all to luck can result in very few, or even no, book sales in the first few weeks.
Then there is no foundation for ongoing sales, reviews, or word-of-mouth recommendations.
Summary
Impatience and being too eager to publish can be the biggest self-publishing mistake of them all.
It can create so many problems, while causing authors to overlook others that need to be fixed before publishing.
Yes, it takes a long time to write a book. But it also takes a long time to prepare a book for publishing.
While a book may only sell well for a relatively short period of time, it will be available to readers for a very long time.
Investing your time generously in your book is the best way to self-publish.
Related Reading: Should Your New Book Have A Subtitle?
English teacher, writer, and author. Passionate about grammar, creative writing, and self-publishing. Always exploring new tools and tech to help writers succeed.
