Comments on: 9 Things I Learnt Self-Publishing my First Novel https://www.writerscookbook.com/things-i-learnt-self-publishing-first-novel/ Serving writers with all the ingredients they need to succeed Mon, 19 Feb 2018 22:01:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: Terry Tyler https://www.writerscookbook.com/things-i-learnt-self-publishing-first-novel/#comment-3823 Sun, 19 Jun 2016 08:54:54 +0000 http://www.writerscookbook.com/?p=2872#comment-3823 I’ve published 12 books and written a lot more…. something I’d recommend is to work out the plot before you start, and have charts on your wall of the all the dates, timelines, etc. It really, really helps, especially if you are working from lots of POVs. And yes, don’t forget plot – however wonderful the characters are, most readers still want to have lots of stuff HAPPENING, preferably not all predictable (I read a lot and review books, too, by the way!).

One of the beauties of self-publishing is that you DON’T have to work to a deadline. I find it helpful to have a private one (as I like to publish two books a year), but it can’t be set in stone – it’s more important to give the book that final, necessary redraft than to adhere to some personal time goal; no one else cares, but they will mind if the book is disappointing.

When it comes to actually publishing, get genuine reviews from book bloggers, not 10 x 5* one liners from your mates who have never reviewed anything else but say it’s the best book they’ve ever read – so many debut novelists do this! You could submit to Rosie Amber’s book review team, for a start; @rosieamber1 on Twitter (I review for this team!). Also Whispering Stories @storywhispers.

Hope that helps, and good luck with the book!

]]>