The Self-Published American

Welcome to my Blog. I’m late on this trend so forgive me while I get my legs and master all things Blog. I work in the POD industry, and I’m a POD Author, so I have an interest on both sides of the fence to make this crazy industry work for me, and everyone I work with.I call myself a Self-Published American because there is a culture in the self-published world much like there is a culture among religious sects, races, and regions all across this bumpy globe. We are looked down upon by the “Published.” We are feared by the “Buyers.” We are fed upon by “Marketers” who claim to know the secrets to becoming an Amazon.com bestseller. In short, a Self-Publishing culture exists because we are spat upon by virtually everyone in the “Book” industry, and it is the oppressed that always rise up and form a bound, a heritage if you will, that carries them through the dark days of rejection and hatred. It takes incredible strength, resilience, and passion to survive the pitfalls of self-publishing. But your reward is a tremendous sense of pride for who you are and what you’ve done.

I will post on a regular basis tips, tricks, & truths about the self-publishing world. Here’s my first tip.

Tip One

What is the shelf life of your self-published book?

We live in a virtual world so the days of books dying a quick death because of limited shelf space are over. When you are putting together a marketing plan make it a three year marketing plan. You’re competing with about 180,000 other books that are published every year in the U.S. Not to mention people are spending their entertainment and education dollars on CDs, DVDs, iPODs, cable, satellite, movies, etc. You’re best strategy is to stick around and make a lot of noise until you get noticed. Don’t develop a quick in and out strategy for your book and move on to the next project. This is a slow burn that needs a lot of attention and energy from you. It’s not easy, but if you stick to your guns you have a good chance of making this thing work for you.

Bonus Tip

How should self-published authors end any written communication?

With information on where to buy your book. For instance, for more information on my IPPY award winning novel, The Takers; Book One of the Oz Chronicles please visit my website at http://www.rwridley.com/ (You see what I did there?)