Self-publishing is a learning curve

By Yuli Atta

J. F. Johns self-published her first novel in 2016 when she was twenty-two years old and is currently working on her sixth novel. Self-publishing has become a big and more certain way for authors to publish their work if they don’t want to go through the tedious and nerve-wracking process of traditional publishing. 

  

Johns' author photo on Amazon | Credit: J. F. Johns  

 At twenty-two, Johns didn’t know what she was doing or how to do it when she was first publishing her book. She followed through with the most important steps she knew of and made a lot of mistakes on the way. 

“In self-publishing, you don’t really have anyone to back you up and tell you how to do things,” she told me. “You research, but there are so many options and thousands of ways of doing exactly the same thing. You end up winging it and hoping for the best. Even now, I’m still making tons of mistakes.” 

In traditional publishing, the author usually has a much smaller role in deciding about the formatting and layout of the book and has little to no say in what the cover would look like while it is up to Johns to decide most of these things. She used to have a whole team of people to help her out when she first started but now she’s learned to do some of the things herself. “I still have editors and people to do my covers, but all the formatting and the interiors of the books are done by me,” she told me. She does all the marketing herself by using Twitter and Instagram as main platforms to let people know about her books. Months before a new release she would do blog tours with different companies to help spread the word. “One of the best websites to use is NetGalley because so many people use it.” 

With five books behind her back and roughly a few thousand copies sold, she’s learned a lot. “I thought that a pretty cover would be enough to sell books.” While she hardly researched the marketing process at the time, she said she would do more research now about the entire process and would do the interior design herself.  

“I do find it difficult to market my book because I live in Spain and my book is in English,” she said. “Many other self-published authors go to events and tours where they can meet future readers in person. I’m kind of stuck trying to do it all online, and that doesn’t always work as great.” 

The most difficult part of the process for her is to be patient, she wants everything done as quickly as possible. “It’s a slow process, and you need to be patient or you make mistakes.”  

New authors tend to not do enough research when they first start working towards their goal of publishing a book and oftentimes make a lot of mistakes in the process. It is all a learning process that depends on trial and error.  

“Try your best,” Johns said. “Research as much as possible, work your butt off and never give up. There are going to be people that love what you write, and there will be people that hate it. Keep going for those that love it.”