Book writing is a dream come true for all of us, where we want to share our experiences, learnings, stories etc. with the world.
I don’t want you to commit these mistakes and so I am providing you with a checklist so that you are not only aware of them but can very wisely avoid them.
- A Bad Editing Job
Many of us ignore this critical facet of finishing a book. Newbie authors avoid hiring a professional editor for their book.
A book with lots of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes will kill the essence of your book and will definitely affect your book ranking, your sales figures and most importantly the credibility with your readers.
And once the reviews are out, there is no way to remove them even if you rectify and improvise your book later on.
You will require the services of a qualified and experienced Editor if you want to achieve success after publishing your book. An editor will provide a fresh and objective perspective to your work, making sure that your manuscript is at its best possible existence before going for printing.
There are many tools on the internet that can help you edit your manuscript yourself; like GRAMMARLY for proofreading and detecting grammar mistakes.
But a qualified and professional editor helps in content revision and organization along with rectifying the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.
- Bad Cover Design
They say “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, while we all know that an impressive cover catches your eyes and grabs your attention.
A cover reflects the idea of your content, and if the book cover is designed poorly and unprofessionally, the reader will never pick your book.
Your effort and pain to put up great content in the book would go waste if the cover does not aptly justify your content.
Also for online visibility , the book cover is more important than ever.
One needs to understand the concepts like typography and color palettes, as our reader will see us in the thumbnail view.
Also remember to check whether the Title and the Author name is visible or not.
You can design your book cover yourself through designing tools like Canva or you can hire professionals for the same, who can bring your ideas to life.
- Ineffective Title
Just as the cover is important, so is the Title of your book. It has to be eye-catching and most importantly it should convey the idea of your content.
If you use certain keywords in your title, your sales chart can see a jump start.
Here at Wings Publication, we have a tool specially designed for our authors where you can search for your title.
You just have to enter a word related to your content and you will get a list of probable titles for your book.
Isn’t it magical!! So go ahead and write your book with an impressive title !!
- Wrong Promotional Strategy
So now your book is finally ready and you are ready to promote it.
In the whole realm of excitement we spend all our time posting about the launch of our book on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds.
Well now I am not saying this is wrong but what we tend to forget is that people hate spammy posts and they don’t care what you just randomly post.
So we need to plan the launch very strategically and wisely.
For starters, you need to connect with your target audience, you build a following on various social media platforms.
Instead of spamming, you can share value related posts to your book.
Either you can put short videos sharing the content or short excerpts from the book which can attract the readers.
While it is important and necessary to remain present and consistent on social media, be cautious not to overdo it, and not to become too edgy with your personal stuff.
5.Ignoring Author Bio and Photo
Your book builds your brand, so remember to put an impressive introduction of yourself.
This is a perfect platform to establish yourself as an authority, so just make the best use of this opportunity.
An author is known to his reader and audience by the ways he presents himself in his Author Bio.
You can check out other author’s bios in your field or in your competition for your ideas.
Equally important is the photograph that you choose to be on your book cover.
You can put your own picture with your title, or any image which is related to your topic.
6. Poor Book Description
This is another important aspect which the authors overlook.
The way you describe your book, can pitch the sale for you. Most readers scan the book descriptions, and if they find it interesting, then only they will hit the click button to buy your book.
So take out some time to pen down your description in an effective manner so that it is visually appealing and grabs your reader’s attention.
You must avoid pulling out the blocks of text from the back of your book without using any spacing, bullets or bolding to highlight the text.
7. Wrong Book Pricing
The price of the book is also decided by the author.
Quite often this is where they make errors and either they overprice the book or they underprice the book.
Many times, a high price on a new book acts as a repellent for the reader.
Research should be done on your competitors and also it should be checked that the pricing of your book is well aligned with others in the genre.
If you are a new author and you want to build your fan following then it is advisable that your pricing should be well in range of your audience.
You can have discount coupons for a few days to build your sales and also you can give your e-book for free to build a good following.
These were the few flaws that need to be there in your check list before you get your book published.
Keep these publishing tips in mind and see your sales sky-rocketing !!
Manika Singh is #1 Amazon Bestselling author and co-author of 4 books (Decoding Fitness, Decoding Intermittent Fasting, Chakra Entrepreneur and 7 Technology Tools for Growth Hacking). She has a Masters Degree in Business Management and have worked with multinational companies like Kingfisher Airlines, Mafoi management Services, iResearch International Services in the Human Resource department. Currently she is CEO of Wings Publication and Founder of Indian Authors Association https://www.facebook.com/groups/indianauthorsassociation. Being a visionary she has created a platform for all the Authors where necessary training can be provided to Write, Publish and Market their books http://www.wingspublication.com