Since I was a teenager, I knew I wanted to be published. Writing was one of the few things in my life that gave me joy. A part of me saw the appeal in making money off of it, even before I knew I wanted to be a writer. And another part of me felt thrilled at the idea of watching people enjoy something I created. In 2015, I started working on Mabutay’s Lyric, the first book in a series. Two years later, I decided I was ready and began the process of self-publishing. And on the night of October 31st, 2018, I published my first book on Amazon.
But as I would find out, life rarely plays out the way you want it to.
I’m not going into too much detail about what happened, at least not in this post. That said, I would like to share a few things I learned about publishing after putting the book up. And hopefully, future writers can learn from my mistakes and have successful careers.
#1: Do the Research Ahead of Time
In the writing community, we have two terms for how people write their stories: plotters and pantsers. Plotters plan the details before they begin telling the story. Pantsers write by the seat of their pants. Both methods are valid, but if you want to get published you should know what you’re getting into. As it turns out, writing and publishing a book isn’t as simple as writing a book and posting it on the internet. You need to consider editing, how you’re going to get your book onto different platforms, and how to sell it to as many people as possible.
I approached my book as a pantser, but not just in the writing process. I was still figuring out my writing style, my strengths and weaknesses. My first mistake was that I didn’t do a ton of research on aspects of the writing process I needed to know, mainly worldbuilding and representation. Additionally, finding an editor I trusted was a nightmare and so I didn’t hire an editor until weeks before I was originally scheduled to publish. By the time I got through her suggestions, I’d become so impatient that the only thing I cared about was getting published. So I didn’t think much about the marketing or whether I was satisfied with the finished product until after I put my book up.
#2: Don’t Expect Immediate Success
While writing the book, I (regrettably) idolized JK Rowling. Before 2018, every writer on the internet knew they were expected to write the next Harry Potter. When she got published, all she had to do was submit to thirteen publishers and get rejected twelve times. That was all it took for her to become a success. I had high, naive hopes that my rise to success would play out the same way.
But as it turns out, publishing and selling a book isn’t as easy today as it used to be. For those looking towards the traditional route, the average writer has to expect at least fifty rejections before a publisher will take a chance on them. Even if you do get accepted–or if you decide to self-publish–every writer is expected to do their own marketing. And it doesn’t really matter what all the books and websites and gurus say about it: selling your work is a constant uphill battle. You could mention your book on your Twitter page twenty times, and you’d only sell one copy. You could gush about your book to everyone you talk to, and they might never buy the book even if they say they will. The only writers who experience massive success from the get go are public figures.
This brings me to my third and final lesson:
#3: Make Sure You’re Ready Before Publishing
In every phase of the writing project, you have to ask yourself one crucial question: “Why does this matter to me?” It doesn’t have to be the same answer every time, only one that motivates you to keep going. Because if you don’t know why you’re writing the story, how can you keep writing it?
By the time my book was close to finished, my impatience was at an all-time high. I wanted to be published, and I wanted it now. I didn’t give myself time to consider if the book was cohesive, or if I’d gone through every spelling and grammatical error, or how I would begin the process of selling. But crucially, I didn’t give myself time to consider why the book mattered to me. So I rushed into it.
The morning after my book went up, I felt good at first. I’d done just what I set out to do. Mere minutes later, I started to panic. Were there any misspellings? Did every aspect of the book make enough sense? Was the blurb interesting enough to get people’s attention?
Ever since then, I’ve been plagued by doubt. The thought of getting slammed by negative reviews scared me from marketing online. I couldn’t even bring myself to celebrate being published at all. Even though I’d finally accomplished my dream, it didn’t feel like I’d done it. Not the way I wanted to, anyway. I thought I’d done so terribly for my first go-round that I’d never get to publish another book again.
In the years following publication, I asked myself a lot of questions about the story. Did it matter enough for me to finish? Did I truly care about the story, or did I only write it in the hopes it would fulfill visions of grandeur? Would it be better to scrap the series altogether and start over?
It took a reread, encouragement from friends, and confidence building for me to find the silver linings. Looking back, I would definitely do a lot of things differently. I’d rewrite the beginning to even out the pacing, I’d publish on more platforms immediately, and I’d talk to my therapist about my impatience before jumping the gun. All that said, there are good things about my book that I’m proud of. I like the ideas and characters I introduced. I like the focus on a female character and her relationships with other women and girls. And at the end of the day, this series really does matter to me. I can only hope I get the chance to finish the story.
Publishing too soon wasn’t wise. But given how much I hesitate, it’s possible I may have never tried at all. And now that I’ve tried, I know what I did wrong and I’d like to try again.
