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An author’s guide to the editing process

An author’s guide to the editing process

In the lifespan of a novel, it’s easy to think that editing comes at the end. 

In its most simplified form, you might map the process of writing a book like this: 

First, a writer has an idea. 

Then a writer writes several drafts. 

Then an editor revises the book. 

Then a publisher gets the book on shelves. 

An image shows a four-step process under the words The Writing Process with idea, represented by a light bult, draft by a pen and paper, a check mark for edit, and then a book store icon for publish.

In reality, it’s a lot more complicated than that, because “editing” isn’t just one thing—there are many different kinds of editing, and they happen at different stages of the ideation, drafting, and revision process. The pathway to publication also plays a big role in how and when editing comes into play. 

The process looks more like this: 

In other words, it’s complicated! But the revision and editing process is vital, and there is no pathway to successful publication without editing. 

With the right editor (or editors) in your corner, the whole process is easier to manage, and will help you grow and evolve as a writer. 

Invisible Ink has been collaborating with authors since 2012. We’ve broken down the entire editing process and answered the most-common questions we receive from authors entering the editing process for the first time. 

Revising vs. editing vs. drafting: What do these terms mean?

Before we get too far down the editing rabbit hole, let’s define a few key terms. These three words are often conflated, but in the editing and publishing world, they have distinct meanings: 

Revising and editing both refer to the process of going back over a piece of writing to refine and improve it. But these two words refer to slightly different approaches to this process: 

Revising is about big picture changes: plot adjustments, adding or changing characters, reworking the structure of your book, and so on. 

Editing has more to do with adjusting the text itself. Refining language, rewriting sections for more clarity, tightening the syntax, double-checking grammar. 

There is a lot of overlap between revising and editing, and even professional editors will sometimes use these two terms interchangeably. However, for authors, revising and editing require different mindsets and different relationships with professional editors—more on that later in this article.

Drafting is another related term that refers to the entire process of turning an idea into a manuscript. The drafts you create are a result of revision, and once you are done drafting, you’ll be ready to move into the editing stage. 

The art of self-revision and editing

Drafting, revising, and editing all fall under the umbrella of “writing.” Too often, people think of writing as purely the generation of new text, but in reality, the vast majority of the work of writing happens after the first draft is done.

Revising and editing your own work can be challenging, but it is an essential skill that all serious writers must develop with practice. A professional editor can help you develop this skill by working alongside you, but even with a book coach, you’ll still be revising your early drafts yourself. 

We have a guide on self-editing your manuscript right here.

Getting feedback: Book coaching, writing groups, beta readers

The self-editing process shouldn’t happen in isolation. Writers should get feedback as they are drafting, though they must walk a delicate balance: being open-minded to critiques while also trusting their own writerly instincts. 

You have a number of options for gathering feedback.

Hiring a book coach

Our book coaching service is designed for authors at any stage of the drafting process.During book coaching, an Invisible Ink editor works with you as you generate and revise drafts. Our job is to provide feedback and encouragement along the way, to act as a sounding board, and to help you stay accountable and productive.

Typically with book coaching, we’ll schedule regular face-to-face meetings with authors so we can have an active dialogue about the book as it develops. We’ll continue this relationship for as long as you find it useful. Often we’re by the author’s side all the way through publication.

Manuscript evaluation

For folks who have a partial or complete draft of a manuscript, another option is to undergo manuscript evaluation. A professional editor will read what you have, even if it’s mostly an outline or a few chapters or unfinished stories, and provide feedback and guidance on how to develop what you have into a more complete draft. This is a great, more affordable option for people who want professional feedback but aren’t ready for full professional editing yet.

Writing groups

Writing groups are one of the best ways to get feedback on your work as you’re drafting and revising. The connections and creative inspiration are icing on the cake. 

Where can you find writing groups? The best place to start is  your own community—local writing centers, libraries, book stores, and community centers often have writing meetups. You can also use Reddit forums and Substack to find digital writing groups. Normally, you won’t need to pay anything to be part of a writing group—just be willing to share your own feedback on others’ writing as part of the exchange. 

Beta readers

Beta readers are people who read unpublished manuscripts and provide their feedback. They are an important part of the revision and editing process, and it’s best to seek out beta readers before you start the latter stages of editing. 

Check out our full guide to finding beta readers, or watch this short reel from our Instagram for more guidance: 

How do you know when it’s time for a professional editor?

There is no easy answer to this question, because it will depend on how you like to work, what your budget is, and what pathway you plan to take to publication. 

How you publish changes how you edit

Authors today have more options than ever when it comes to publishing their work. For help designing your own pathway to publication, check out this article: Self-publishing vs. traditional publishing: Which one is right for you? 

Traditional publishing: If you plan to publish your book with a publishing house, you will very likely be assigned an editor by your agent or publishing house. However, folks who plan to publish through the traditional route still often go through manuscript evaluation or developmental editing with an independent editor to increase their chances of landing a publishing deal. A well-edited manuscript has a far better chance of landing you a deal than one that hasn’t been through the editing process. 

Hybrid and indie press: If you are working with a smaller publishing house, it’s very possible they will assign you an editor. Invisible Ink Editing has partnered with several small presses, so don’t be surprised if your indie publisher pairs you with an independent editing group like ours. 

Self-publish: The most successful self-published authors build their own publishing house, which includes hiring an editor. Typically, self-published authors may also hire a book coach as their editor early in the process, or undergo all three stages of book editing, broken down below. 

When to reach out to a professional editor

If you are self-publishing but not working with a book coach, then it’s up to you to decide when it’s right to work with a professional editor. 

Here are a few signs that it may be time: 

  • You can’t go any further yourself. You’ve written several drafts and revisions, and now you are just pushing around commas and changing words. You may still feel like there is some editing to do, but if all the big stuff is done, it may be time to call in a professional editor.
  • You’ve incorporated beta reader feedback. Some writers may choose to go through developmental editing before they send their manuscript out to beta readers, but others will wait until they’ve gotten beta-reader feedback to incorporate. Both approaches work.

Note: Most independent editors are booked out weeks or months in advance. Keep that in mind as you are planning your editing. It’s not a bad idea to reach out to a professional editor several weeks before you finish self-revision, or while your manuscript is out with your beta readers so you won’t have to wait several weeks before an editor can pick things up. 

Ready to submit your work?

If you think your work is ready for an editor, we want to see it! Use the form below to send us an excerpt, and one of the editors on our team will give you a free sample edit, plus advice on the best next step.

The different types of professional editing

Professional editing typically falls into three different stages. Most manuscripts will go through all three stages before they are published, though some authors may use different editors for different stages, or may forgo developmental editing if they’ve gone through a rigorous critiquing and self-revision process. 

The best thing to do is submit a sample of your manuscript and let an editor give you guidance on which level of editing is best for you. When you submit your manuscript, you’ll be matched up with the editor on the team who is the most experienced with your genre and whose schedule best aligns with your launch strategy. 

They will provide you a free sample edit of a portion of your manuscript and provide guidance on where to begin. They will recommend one of the following services: 

Developmental editing

This is the earliest stage of professional editing, when your editor will be focused on the big-picture elements of your manuscript. They will read through the whole thing and take detailed notes on structure, plot, characters, style, setting—-all of the foundational elements of your book. They will compile a critique—at Invisible Ink, these are usually around 5–10 single-spaced pages for a full-length novel—with their feedback and guidance on how to address it. 

Developmental editing is the first stage of the editing process because it’s usually followed by significant revisions that add or remove content from the manuscript. There’s no point in moving on to the next stage until the heavy lifting of developmental editing is complete.

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Line editing

During the line editing phase, your editor will go much deeper into the actual text. They will provide in-line edits to improve syntax, smooth out clunky sentences, fix glaring errors such as incomplete sentences or repeated phrasing, and in some cases rewrite sentences or provide guidance for you to do more intensive rewriting on your own. The goal of line editing is to turn your developed manuscript into something that’s nearly ready for publication.

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Proofreading

The final stage of book editing is proofreading, which is when your editor will go through the manuscript to tidy up any remaining typos, formatting issues, or other minor mistakes that slipped through the previous rounds of editing. Because line editing often requires so much revision, it inevitably introduces errors into the manuscript. Proofreading is the final polish that eliminates those errors before it goes to print. 

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How long does the editing process take?

The entire editing process can vary from a few weeks to a few months, depending on a few variables. 

The length of the manuscript. Longer books obviously take more time to edit! This is why our editing prices are based on word count, not per project. 

The type of editing. Some rounds of editing take longer than others. Typically, line editing is the most time-consuming, usually 4–8 weeks for a full-length manuscript (80,000–100,000 words). Developmental editing and proofreading usually happen within 3–6 weeks for a full-length book, because editors are making fewer in-line changes as they are reading. 

Your own revision timelines. In between each step of the editing process, you’ll need to revise and edit. How quickly you do impacts the overall timeline. Your editor will discuss this timeline with you during the onboarding process. 

What to expect when working with an editor

Working with a professional editor may feel intimidating if you’ve never done it before, but take it from us: The author-editor relationship is a very powerful, special thing that can transform your writing and the trajectory of your work. 

When you work with an Invisible Ink editor, here’s what you can expect: 

A committed partnership. We see authors as partners. When you hire us, we become a member of your publishing team, and we are committed to seeing your work through until it’s ready for publication—and beyond! Even after our authors are published, we are there to champion and help promote their books on our socials, and we are always ready to work on their next books and series. A partnership with an Invisible Ink Editor often lasts for a writer’s entire career. 

Clear communication. You are trusting us with your work, so it’s our duty to make sure you know exactly what we are doing. Your editor will give you a clear estimated timeline at the start of the project and provide updates as they are moving through the manuscript so you can manage your own timeline. They will also be available for questions and discussions with you during and after the editing process. 

Fair prices based on industry standards. Pricing can vary wildly in the editing industry, but most experienced and legitimate editors will be within the rates tracked by the Editorial Freelancers Association. 

100% human feedback. Invisible Ink Editors don’t use AI to edit our clients’ work, ever. You can read all about it on our AI policy page. We guarantee that a human being (one with years of editorial experience) will read every word of your manuscript and write every piece of communication and feedback without the help of AI. That’s how we’ve been doing it for two decades, and we don’t see any reason to change that now. 

Want to find out what it’s like working with a professional editor firsthand? Submit a sample of your manuscript to Invisible Ink Editing, and we’ll be happy to show you. 

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How to Get Book Reviews (and Why You Need Them)

A blue-tinted backdrop shows gold stars on a white background. A block of text in the center reads "How to Get Book Reviews (and Why You Need Them). There is a picture of a man with gray hair, smiling in an oval frame. Next to him, it reads, "Q&A with Joe Walters of Independent Book Review"

How to Get Book Reviews (and Why You Need Them)

Q&A with Joe Walters of Independent Book Review

There’s a catch-22 that many indie authors face when promoting their recently published books. 

To attract new readers to your audience, you need some solid reviews. Not just reviews from friends and family on Amazon, but reviews from genuine reviewers, in genuine publications: magazines, blogs, podcasts, bookstagram—the more people talking about your book (and ideally giving it 5 stars) the better. 

But how are self-published authors supposed to get reviews, without the help of a big publisher or publicist? 

That’s a question that was on my mind a few weeks ago, when I attended the American Writers and Writing Programs conference in Baltimore. And as fate would have it, I ended up just a few booths away from someone who was extremely qualified to answer my questions: Joe Walters, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Independent Book Review. 

Untitled design (25)
Joe Walters (left) of IBR, and Liam Carnahan (right) of IIE, at the AWP conference in baltimore.

After we packed up and left Baltimore, I reached out to Joe to keep our conversation going. We decided to exchange interviews, since his readers have lots of questions about book coaching and novel editing. (Here’s my interview with Joe, all about working with an editor.) 

If you’re wondering how you can get solid reviews for your upcoming book, take a look at these insights from Joe.

Tell me about yourself and how you started Independent Book Review.

I’m Joe! I’m the guy who’s promoting indie books, running beta reading services, and eating entirely too much candy in his garage in Pennsylvania.

 I got my start in publishing as a volunteer reader for a now-defunct literary magazine before I became a full-time marketer for a small press in Oregon. It was the start of the coolest career I could have asked for, but I also couldn’t stay in Oregon any longer. (Too far from home!) So when I packed my bags back for PA, I brought the job with me—sort of. After realizing how hard it was to get coverage for indie authors as a marketer, I decided to start my own platform dedicated solely to reviewing indie authors. They wouldn’t be battling giants at my company. 

Eight years later and now Independent Book Review has reviewed over 2,000 indie books, releasing about two per weekday. I’ve got 34 reviewers reading for me, and we feature starred reviews, book lists, and tons of reader- and writer-focused content. Come hang out.

What should new authors know about book reviews?

Everybody’s going to tell you that you need them: That if you want to sell books, they’re an essential ingredient; that bookstores and libraries want to see them before they stock your book; that you won’t grow your audience unless you show up in front of someone else’s. 

And those people are right.

But it’s also about you and your publishing journey. I hope that the people who read your book in the real world talk to you about their reading experience seriously, but it’s also pretty darn possible that you get overt kindness and vagueness from most of them. The best way to get real reader feedback is to get real reader reviews.

How do book reviews “work”? What is the process like for authors?

Well, they’re not just going to show up automatically. You might publish with a press that does serious behind-the-scenes work to increase your reviews, resulting in a natural avalanche of more of them because word of mouth has already started, but that’s not the case for most authors. 

You have to find the people, send the emails, catalog it all, buy the services, lay the groundwork. And then you have to keep doing it. 

Then after you get the reviews, you have to actually use them. If a review comes with some publicity, cool, but the best way to capitalize on reviews is to implement them in your own marketing efforts. You get a cool media review? Post about it! You get a blurb from a high-profile person or company? Put that thing in graphics and on websites. There are a ton of ways you can use reviews. If you want a list of places you can put them, I’ve got a freebie ebook when you sign up for Write Indie.

How is it different for indie authors vs. small press?

I define small press authors as indie too! Why?

Because life is so very similar!

When you publish with a small press, you’re getting help. They have the guidance, some resources, and their own audience they’re building. Some of them have had years under their belt to cultivate relationships and increase book sales. These are all pluses.

But they also want you to be doing the behind-the-scenes work. They’ll teach you how to do it, but they won’t take all the work hours away from you. They couldn’t. They have more things to do as a press than target reviews only for you.

Most of the time, you have the upper hand if you publish a small press. That’s true. You can get reviews from people who recognize your press’s name and you can pitch with more outside validation than if you were a self-published author pitching on trust alone.

What kind of people provide book reviews at IBR?

Cool ones!

I’ve got 34 reviewers on staff right now. They represent a spectrum of genre interests, experience levels, and writing styles. Many of them have experience as book reviewers for other platforms, while others are librarians, booksellers, authors, bloggers, and editors. 

But experience isn’t what I look for most in a reviewer. I hire 95% based on the writing sample. I want to see that a reader is engaging honestly and thoughtfully with a book beyond the surface. I want them to tell good stories in the summary and genuine opinion on the author’s  execution. If a strong reader hasn’t written formally before, I’ll be glad to be their first one.

You’ve received a book review. Now what? How does it fit into a bigger marketing picture?

Put it to use!

Different kinds of reviews can be used in different ways. For example, I don’t recommend you take a great quote from a review on Goodreads and put it on your book cover, but if you get a great review from a high-profile person or company, I would. 

First step: Look for quotes you can use in your marketing material. Anywhere from eight words to twenty-five. For longer ones, I usually aim for a nice mix of praise, summary, or what makes your book unique. 

Second step: Put it somewhere. Amazon reviews, you usually don’t want to post about, but you could put a few together in a graphic and post it on social media. If you get a single review from a platform like IBR or a notable author, you can use that on its own. Maybe you make a social media post about it or share it in your newsletter, or maybe you just put it in the editorial reviews section on Amazon.

Don’t depend on a review’s publicity to do something for it. Go out and use it.

When should authors start looking for book reviews?

If you want to put yourself in the position to get the most reviews possible, I’d say about eight months before confirmed publication. Some platforms (though not all) require as far out as a six-months in advance for submission. So if you don’t start looking until three months before, you won’t even have the option to pitch them.

But if you don’t hit that marker, that’s still okay. Even if you didn’t start looking for reviews until after publication, you can still get them. It’s just that you missed some opportunities—like building a launch team—that have real gravitas and can produce good results. 

I’d say you usually have a couple years after publication to get media reviews, but you can really keep chasing smaller ones—social media, bloggers, customer reviews—for as long as your book is relevant.

What are the most common mistakes authors make when seeking reviews?

Thinking that they’re going to just come to them is #1, and it’s not particularly close. Another is that they’re not that important. But if you’re trying to sell books on Amazon and you only have one review on there, you’re not going to make new readers want to buy your book. It’s a trust thing. Gain their trust.

Actually pitching reviewers is a whole different story. Some authors pitch us with the subject line reading, “Will you review my book?” and just a link of their book on Amazon. That’s… not going to do it. Follow submission guidelines and send enticing, professional pitches. 

What happens if you get a bad review?

You’re going to be okay. Remember that this reviewer is not every reviewer. These people are readers talking to other readers. They’re free to say these things, and you’re free to listen to them or ignore them. 

 

The best thing to do when you get a bad review is to get more of them. Seek more outside opinions not only because they could be totally wrong and off-base, but they could also be partially right. You don’t want to harp on a bad review; make sure those positive ones are speaking as loudly as that one negative one. But hey, if they make a good point, they make a good point.

Want to learn more about how to get book reviews? Subscribe to Joe’s awesome newsletter, spend some time on the Independent Book Review blog, and submit here when you’re pitch. 

Don't let errors sink your reviews

Plain and simple: If you want good book reviews, you need to work with a book editor. It’s not uncommon for perfectly well-written books to receive negative reviews because of issues an editor could have helped them fix: underdeveloped characters, plot holes, grammatical errors, typos. 

If you’re planning your path to publication, get a trusty editor on your side. 

Submit a sample of your manuscript, and you’ll be paired with the best editor for your specific audience and genre who will provide a free sample edit (even if you’re not done working on the script). 

We hope to see your work soon! 

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Platform, Publicity, and Marketing: What Authors Need to Know 

A blurry image of a bookstore is the backdrop of this blog image, with a dark blue square that reads 'Platform, Publicity, and Marketing: What Authors need to Know" and a picture of a Ashley Steinberg, a woman with long brown hair, and a blue rectangle that reads "An Interview with book publicist Ashley Steinberg" and a logo for Pulse 10.

Platform, Publicity, and Marketing: What Authors Need to Know

An interview with book publicist Ashley Steinberg

Here’s something a lot of authors don’t realize: Marketing your book is your job. 

It doesn’t matter whether your publishing journey is traditional, indie, or hybrid; the success of your book largely depends on your ability to build an author brand and platform, and to market the heck out of your book before and after it’s published. 

At Invisible Ink Editing, we can help you get your manuscript ready to be published, printed, and sold in stores. But we don’t help you with the promotion or marketing of your book. Instead, we’ll introduce you to people who are experts in that arena—people like Ashley Steinberg, of Pulse 10 Consulting.

I met Ashley at a writing conference earlier this year, and we immediately clicked, because we share the same passion: helping authors get their books out to the right audience. Ashley’s services as a book publicist and strategist are ideal for authors who have already been through the editing process and are gearing up to release their books. 

Ashley has been in this industry a long time, and agreed to sit down with me and share some of her expertise in an interview. You can watch the full interview right here, or read on for highlights from our conversation. 

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About Ashley Steinberg

Ashley Steinberg is the founder of Pulse 10 Consulting, a brand strategy and marketing firm specializing in author publicity and brand management. With 25+ years of experience across publishing and corporate brand consulting, Ashley helps authors at every stage build their platform, reach the right audience, and get their books the attention they deserve. You can reach her directly at ashley@pulse10consulting.com.

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What does it mean to have an author brand?

An author brand refers to having a vision and a message for your author profile, and a community where you share it. That’s Ashley’s quick definition, but she goes into much more detail in this clip from our conversation: 

In the clip, Ashley makes an important point about timing. Building a platform isn’t something you do after the manuscript is finished; it’s something that has to happen alongside the writing itself.

"One of the mistakes I see a lot of people making is waiting until the manuscript is complete before they go, okay, what do I need to do now?"

The reality is that even authors published by major houses are rarely full-time writers. Most have jobs, families, and full lives running parallel to their writing, which makes audience-building easy to deprioritize, but no less necessary. Ashley’s advice is to be asking the right questions early and consistently:

"While you are writing your book and you're doing all these other things—having a life, having a family, having friends, having a job—the fact is that you also have to be out there understanding who your audience is. Where are you meeting them? How are you getting to know them? How are they getting to know you? Do you have a particular voice in the conversation?"

What's the difference between book marketing and book publicity?

Book publicity is earned media — reviews, interviews, and features where someone else is writing or talking about you and your book. Book marketing is content you create and push out yourself. They work together, but they are not the same thing, and Ashley says authors need both.

Here’s how she breaks it down:

The distinction matters because each serves a different purpose. Publicity builds credibility. Marketing amplifies it. As Ashley puts it:

"You posting this interview on your blog is publicity for me and marketing for you."

It’s a simple example, but it illustrates how the two can happen simultaneously and serve different people at the same time. The goal is to use them in tandem — let earned media establish your authority, then use your own content to push that further.

How much of the marketing work falls on the author?

The short answer is: most of it, regardless of how you publish. But the specifics vary depending on your publishing path, and it’s worth understanding the differences.

If you’re picked up by a traditional publisher, you’ll have access to both a publicity team and a marketing team… in theory. 

In practice, you’re one of roughly 20 to 30 titles per line being released that month, and the support you receive will reflect that. Your editor will advocate for you, but they’re also managing 15 other authors. You’ll get some marketing materials if you ask for them, and your book will likely be sent to trade publications for review. But you’ll have a strict timeline—approximately six to eight weeks after launch to make your sales push count—and a lot of the legwork will still fall on you.

Here’s Ashley on what that actually looks like in practice:

For indie and self-published authors, the calculus is different. You don’t have a publishing house’s infrastructure behind you, but you do have something traditional authors don’t: control over your own timeline. 

You can build your platform methodically, test your messaging, release excerpts, and develop your audience before the book ever drops. The tradeoff is that you’re doing all of this without any institutional support, which makes having a clear strategy—and ideally someone who has been through the process before by your side—that much more valuable.

Do all authors need a book marketer or publicist?

Truthfully, no—many authors don’t hire professional book marketers or publicists, and some are still successful when it comes to selling copies. But there are some compelling reasons to consider getting a professional in your corner.

Some authors can manage the marketing side themselves. Maybe they have a background in marketing, or enough time to invest consistently in social media and brand building. Most authors, however, will end up putting the marketing working on the backburner, because it’s so intimidating and time-consuming. 

When it comes to book publicity, it’s much harder to do it yourself. So much of the publicity side comes down to the connections you have in the industry—most authors don’t come into the scene having these relationships, whereas book publicists like Ashley have spent years building them.

Here’s Ashley on how that network develops:

Why should your editor and your publicist know each other?

One of the more unexpected takeaways from our conversation was how much overlap there is between what a book editor does and what a book publicist does. Both are asking the same core questions: Who is this book for, and what is it trying to say?

Here’s my favorite clip from our conversation, where Ashley and I dive into the connection point between editor and publicist:

When Ashley or other publicists and I work with a shared client, we meet separately to talk through the book and the author—what the manuscript is doing well, who the audience is, what the core message is. 

That context makes Ashley’s job easier from the start. On the flip side, Ashley will often send clients back to the Invisible Ink team for additional editing before a launch, because getting the book into its best possible shape before it hits the market matters as much as the publicity strategy around it.

If you’re ready to get started with editing, you can learn more about our book editing services, or submit your project below.

Submit for a Free Sample Edit

Practical tips for building your author platform

Ashley left us with some very practical starting points for authors who are ready to start building their platform and getting their book in front of readers.

Join a genre-specific author organization. There are established organizations for almost every genre that can help you start making the right connections. A few worth looking into:

Get on NetGalley. NetGalley is a platform with around 400,000 readers, reviewers, librarians, and booksellers. Authors and publishers can post their books there to generate reviews and buzz ahead of launch, within specific genres.

Try Book Sirens. Book Sirens is specifically designed for independent authors. Reviews are filtered through Amazon, Goodreads, and Kindle, so you’re building your public profile at minimal cost.

And of course, if you want help building an author brand and book launch strategy, you should get in touch with Ashley specifically at ashley@pulse10consulting.com. 

Ready to get your book out into the world?

Whether you’re still in the drafting stage or gearing up for launch, the earlier you start thinking about your author platform, the better. 

If you need help getting your manuscript ready, we’re here to help. Our manuscript consulting service can help you start thinking about audience and messaging, even if you only have a partial draft. 

And if you’re ready to start thinking seriously about publicity and marketing, the Pulse 10 Consulting website is a great place to start. 

For more advice on book marketing, editing, and the writing life, sign up for the Invisible Ink Editing newsletter below. We send practical, no-fluff advice to your inbox every week.

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Beta readers: Why you need them and how to find them

When you finish the first draft of your novel, it’s easy to start daydreaming about book covers and release parties.

But, before you can cross the finish line, you’ve got to go through the editing process. You may think the next step is to hire a book editor, but before you spend money on a professional, there’s another step you must take: beta reading.

Beta readers are volunteers who will review your manuscript and offer high-level feedback to help shape your next draft and get it ready for a professional editor. After spending months, if not years, working on your novel, you’ve become intimately familiar with your characters, plot, and other story elements.

But when you’re that familiar with your work, it can be much more difficult to pick up on things like plot holes, repetitive phrasing, shallow characters, and other potential issues. A fresh set (or several sets) eyes can provide you with a different perspective, bring to attention obvious or subtle things you’d maybe want to change, and generally just give you an idea of how others will perceive your book.

In this blog, we’ll explain how beta reading works and show you exactly where you can find your ideal reader.

What is a beta reader?

Beta readers are people who read your novel (or parts of it) and give you their feedback and opinions. 

 

Beta readers are usually avid readers, but they are not professional book editors. They act similarly to a focus group: a sample of your ideal reading demographic, giving you an idea of any issues you may want to address before publishing your book. 

 

Sometimes beta readers are people you find through writing communities, other times you’ll connect with them through paid services. We get into all of that later in this article, but for now, let’s talk about where beta readers fit into the overall editing process. 

When do you need a beta reader?

Beta readers are most useful once you have a complete manuscript—or at least a complete draft—that you’ve already revised on your own at least once.  If you’re still writing, that’s a job for an alpha reader—someone who reads your work in progress and gives you early feedback as you go. Beta readers come later, once there’s a moderately polished full draft to evaluate from start to finish.

But you can’t just type ‘the end’ and hand it over. Giving a rough first draft to a beta reader is a bit like asking someone to critique a half-built house. The structural problems you already know about will distract from the feedback you actually need. So it’s important to revise your manuscript and address any known issues first. 

Related: How to edit your own novel

If you’re not sure your manuscript is ready for beta readers, a manuscript evaluation might be a better first step. A professional editor will read your work and give you a high-level assessment of what’s working, what needs attention, and what to tackle in your next revision. Once you’ve addressed those bigger issues, you’ll get much more useful feedback from your beta readers.

If you’re earlier in the process—still drafting, or having issues with structure—book coaching might be the right fit. A book coach works with you throughout the writing process, helping you avoid major problems before they take root, and can help you figure out when it’s time to bring in outside readers.

Why do you need beta readers?

As we mentioned earlier, beta readers provide new perspectives to consider as you head into your second draft. You give the manuscript to a handful of people who enjoy or are familiar with the genre. They tell you what they liked and didn’t like, whether the ending left them satisfied, whether the characters were believable, what they wish would have happened, what they were confused about… the list goes on and on.

 

Beta readers can give you a glimpse into how the average reader will receive your book, highlighting any issues you may want to address with the plot or the characters or the narrative voice (or anything else, for that matter). They see things you cannot because they are not inside your head and don’t read the intentions of what you wrote but simply ingest the words you put on the page. 

 

Just because you are trying to convey a certain feeling or idea does not mean the route you took was the most effective or successful. Beta readers can help you pinpoint those problematic areas and see them from a new angle, so you can then adjust and enhance them. 

 

It won’t all be negative feedback, of course. Beta readers can also tell you what parts of your novel they liked the most, and what they want to see more of. They’ll give you feedback on your tone and style, and whether or not it’s working for them. All of this information is incredibly valuable for the next draft of your manuscript.

What do look for in a good beta reader

Before we get into the places you can begin looking for your beta readers, let’s talk about what makes a good beta reader. 

 

First of all, a beta reader cannot be a friend, partner, family member, colleague, or anyone else you have a preexisting relationship with. The purpose of a beta reader is to get honest, direct feedback. Though your friends and family may say they are going to give you their honest opinion, it’s highly unlikely that their feedback will go as deep or be as rounded and honest as someone who doesn’t know you already. 

 

In an ideal world, a beta reader has most, if not all, of the following qualities:

 

They represent your target audience

Above all else, the beta readers you choose should be representative of your audience as a whole. You’ll see we recommend narrowing your search for beta readers to your specific genre. This will make sure that any feedback you get from them reflects what your larger, future audience will want. 

Experience providing writer feedback

When you’re dealing with an experienced beta reader, it will be much easier to get comprehensive, coherent, and honest feedback out of them. If they haven’t acted as a beta reader before, they should at least be an avid reader of your genre.

Interest in your story, specifically

Before you start searching for beta readers, it’s a good idea to have a good synopsis of your story written up already. You want to make sure your beta readers will make it to the last page of your manuscript, and they’re much more likely to do this if they know the basics of your plot ahead of time. 

A strong opinion

It will be incredibly frustrating if you spend your time finding a beta reader and trusting them with your manuscript, just to have them come back with vague or wishy-washy feedback. You want to find readers who will share their thoughts clearly, without sugarcoating them or holding back. 

A critical eye

Of course, your beta reader needs to be able to read manuscripts critically. You want detailed, thorough feedback—not someone who simply says, “I loved it!” or “It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.” Look for people who know how to get into the nitty-gritty of your work. 

How do you find a good beta reader for your novel?

Now that you understand the value of beta readers and what to look for, the next logical question is: 

 

Where the heck do you find them? 

 

Beta readers typically are not paid for this work (though some are, and we’ll get to that), and you can’t just pick any random person off the street. So how do you tap into this wealth of feedback and early insights to help you edit your novel and get it ready for a professional book editor?

 

There are lots of avenues you can pursue. Here are some of the best methods for finding beta readers.

Invisible Ink Editing's book coaching or manuscript evaluation

Before you start hunting for beta readers, it’s worth considering whether your manuscript is ready for them. Beta readers are most valuable when your draft is in solid enough shape to be read from start to finish—which isn’t always the case after a first draft.

 

If you’re not sure where your manuscript stands, a manuscript evaluation from Invisible Ink Editing might be a better first step. One of our professional editors will read your work and deliver a detailed report covering what’s working, what needs attention, and what to tackle next. You’ll go into your beta reading process with a clearer sense of what feedback you’re seeking, making your beta readers’ input all the more helpful.

Learn more about manuscript evaluation

If you’re still working on the first or second draft, or if you want ongoing support as you write and revise, book coaching might be the right fit. Your coach works with you from wherever you are in the manuscript — helping you strengthen the structure, develop your voice, and figure out when you’re ready to bring in outside readers. When that time comes, your coach can also help you make sense of the beta feedback you receive and decide what to do with it.

Learn more about book coaching

Not sure what your book needs right now? We’re here to help you. Use our submission form to send a sample of your manuscript—even if it’s not complete—and give us some more information about the project. We’ll get back with guidance on the best next step.

Independent Book Review's Group Beta Reading

We know the team at Independent Book Review personally, and we highly recommend their group beta reading service. IBR will pair your manuscript with 3 or 5 professional readers—reviewers, librarians, booksellers, book bloggers, editors, and authors—who deliver 650+ words of feedback per reader within 3 to 6 weeks. Fees range from $429 to $929 depending on the package you choose.

 

As an added bonus, Invisible Ink clients who sign up for book coaching or manuscript evaluation will receive a $20 discount code from their editor to use toward an IBR beta read.

Learn more about IBR's group beta reading service

Substack

Substack has quickly become one of the most active and engaged communities of writers on the internet, making it a very effective place to find beta readers. If you’re already publishing on Substack—or even if you’re just getting started—your subscribers are readers who have actively chosen to follow your work. That’s a built-in pool of people who may be genuinely interested in reading an early draft.

Beyond your own audience, Substack’s Notes feature and its network of writing-focused publications make it easy to connect with other writers and readers in your genre.

Often, subscribing to certain Substacks will put you in a chat room with other readers, and depending on the rules of the Substack, you may be able to ask for beta readers there. 

Building a presence on Substack takes time, but the relationships you develop tend to be more invested than what you’d find in a generic forum or Facebook group. If you’re not on Substack yet, it’s worth considering—not just as a tool for finding beta readers, but as a long-term strategy for growing your audience as an author.

Local writing groups and exchanges

The easiest and most affordable way to find beta readers is to explore your own community. There are many online and community groups that help writers build writing groups, and often those writing groups can introduce you to people who are willing to look at your manuscript from start to finish. 

The simplest place to start looking for local writing groups is with a Google search, or by visiting your local libraries or community centers. Most big cities have writing centers that offer events, classes, and community groups where you can meet other local writers.

The easiest way to find these groups is to do a simple Google search for writing communities in your area. We are big fans of Grub Street in Boston, the Writer’s Center in DC, Gotham Writer’s Center in New York, the Lighthouse Writing Center, and the 826 Network. 

You can also use sites like Meetup, Craigslist or local subreddits to find out if there are any local groups that get together to discuss and share writing. If there isn’t one nearby, maybe you can start your own! 

Once you get into these groups, you’ll start sharing your writing and gathering feedback. If you are in a group with people who are at the same stage of writing as you, you can suggest exchanging manuscripts with each other. 

Facebook groups

If you’re a Facebook user, then finding beta readers is as easy as logging into the social media platform and running a few searches for writers’ and readers’ groups. 

These forums are filled with people who are just as passionate as you about writing, your genre, the subject matter you’re writing about, etc. To help you choose the right group, think about who your ideal readers are, and then search for groups related to that topic. 

Let’s say, for instance, you’ve just finished your first draft of your zombie apocalypse thriller. Your first move will probably be to search for fans of zombie books, but you could also look to doomsday prepper groups or just groups for people who love dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories.

When you join these groups, be sure to follow the rules as they are clearly stated. Most groups will have rules about who can post, how often, and in what format (some may allow solicitation of services like beta reading while others may not). So take time to read all of the information on the page, and watch how other people are interacting before you dive in.

Writers forums (including Subreddits)

You can find loads of forums, message boards, and Subreddits dedicated to writing in general as well as by genre. These can be great places to ask for beta readers, but you can’t just create an account, spam the group with requests to read your book, and expect volunteers to come flooding in. 

 

To use these groups properly, you have to participate and have a more established presence. It shows you’re not just there to reap the benefits without offering anything in return, and it is just a good look, professionally speaking. The result is that people will be more willing to help you out.

 

The fastest way to offer something of value is to offer to read others’ manuscripts and provide your own honest feedback. There is a lot of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” going on in these groups. Just be sure that if you promise to read something, you follow through—otherwise, you’ll end up developing a bad reputation.  

If you’re ready to start looking for beta readers, here are a few places worth exploring:

Goodreads Beta Reader Group

Beta Readers & Critiques (Facebook)

Critters Speculative Writers Workshop

Indie Author Group (Facebook)

r/betareaders (Reddit)

r/keepwriting (Reddit)

r/writing (Reddit)

Betareader.io

Betareader.io is worth a special mention, because it’s an easy way to find and manage your beta readers for relatively no cost—or a very low cost. The service allows you to sign up as a writer, a reader, or both, and once you do, you’ll have access to a database of beta readers who are willing to look over your manuscript. 

With the free version, you can submit one manuscript and get up to three readers. You’ll be able to track your beta readers as they go, and they can even leave highlights and emojis to let you know their reactions to certain passages.

The upgraded version is still affordable at only $10 per month, and allows you unlimited manuscripts and readers. If you have the budget, and plan to write more than one novel, this may be a good option for you.

The Spun Yarn

The Spun Yarn takes a data-driven approach to beta reading that sets it apart from most services. Their complete manuscript report matches your book with three carefully selected readers and delivers a 30+ page report within 30 days, covering flash feedback, qualitative feedback, and quantitative scores across eight key categories. Manuscripts must be under 90,000 words for the standard package, which starts at $699. Options are available for longer manuscripts as well.

Should you pay for beta readers? And how much do beta readers cost?

This depends on who you find and what you’re looking for. 

If you just want someone to give you their thoughts after reading your book, you can probably find a beta reader to do it at no cost using the methods we mentioned above.

If you have a list of questions you want them to think about as they read, or if they go above and beyond with their feedback, you might want to offer some sort of compensation, even if it’s just a gift card and a hard copy of your book when you publish (sign it for them too, if you can). 

Reading a book is no small task, and providing feedback, whether written notes or a conversation afterward, is even more of a commitment. If you want a professional beta reader or professional book editor to work with you, then it makes sense to compensate them for their work.

What should you ask your beta readers?

As we mentioned above, giving a beta reader some direction when you hand over your novel is a good idea. However, you don’t want to get too specific, as this can paint them into a corner and narrow their perspective. An expansive, outside perspective is what we’re looking for, so do your best not to limit them.

Instead, give them broader, guiding questions to get the wheels turning.

Here are a few questions you can consider asking:

  • Did you like the main character? Why or why not?
  • Did you find the world believable?
  • Did you find the other characters believable?
  • Was there anything you wanted to see happen that didn’t?
  • Did the ending leave you satisfied?
  • Were there any scenes you found boring?
  • Were any scenes unnecessary?
  • Do you have any lingering questions now that you’re done? 

You have two options when it comes to your list of questions: 

  1. Give them to the beta reader along with the manuscript
  2. Wait until they’ve read the book and then hand them over. 

The former option allows them to focus more closely on these details as they read. The latter gives them a chance to read without anything in particular in mind. They can then look back and assess how they felt about each topic in the moment. This might also reveal that something you saw as important or problematic went unnoticed, or vice versa.

There’s no right or wrong way to go about this, so try each method with different beta readers and/or different manuscripts. You can also leave the choice up to the beta reader. Ask them if they’d like some questions before they read, or if they’d prefer to go in blind. 

How many beta readers do you need?

You don’t want too many cooks in the kitchen, but having a few different perspectives creates a more well-rounded look at how your book is being received. 

Aim to find at least three beta readers, but no more than five or six. This allows you to see if there are any overlaps in feedback, which is a clear sign you should reevaluate the area of concern. Anything beyond that and you’ll have too much feedback on your hands, which can easily cross the line from helpful to overwhelming.

What to do with beta reader feedback

Once you’ve gotten your beta readers’ feedback, the next step is to read it carefully and determine what you want to change about your manuscript. 

As you go through, look for common pieces of feedback—were there any scenes, plotlines, or characters that several people called out, for the same or similar reasons? If so, you’ll definitely want to work this into your manuscript. 

Reading feedback is rarely easy, so do your best not to take anything personally. The important thing is to consider the commentary, be it a concern about a particular character or plot point or a suggestion for a different direction. Think about why this may have been the reader’s reaction and how making that change could impact the story, good or bad. 

If you’re on the fence about whether you want to take a suggestion, give it a try. Make some changes, and see how you feel about the outcome. You may even want to reach back out to your beta reader and ask them to read a revised scene. If you aren’t satisfied with it, you can always go back to the original, or take the scene in a whole new direction.

You can also ask the beta readers to weigh in on each other’s feedback, anonymously. Let’s say that Beta Reader A tells you that a certain character should come into the story earlier. You aren’t sure, so you ask Beta Readers B and C whether they think that change would be good or not. Their opinion can help you decide what to do. 

After you’re happy with the draft, it’s time to find a professional editor. Curious to learn more about that process? We’ve got you covered. You can read more about what goes into hiring the right editor here.

Finished with the beta reading process?

The next step in the editing process is to hire a book editor, and we want to hear from you. Send us a sample of your manuscript below, and if it’s a good fit for our services, you’ll be matched with an editor who will provide a free edit of the first few pages of your work.

Categories
Self Publishing Advice

7 Lessons to Make Your First Self-Published Book a Success

Self-publishing is the ideal choice for any author looking to have total control over their novel and its publication. When you walk the path of self-publishing, you can cut months, even years, off the time required to share your book with the world.

But while self-publishing is the fastest route to market, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done before and after you launch your work. Without a traditional publisher, you’re pretty much on your own when it comes to finding an audience and marketing your book. 

Self-published author Evan J. Corbin knows this firsthand. He recently self-published his debut novel, Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes, and worked diligently to promote his own book… with plenty of trial and error. 

As his professional editing team, Evan kept us informed of what was and wasn’t working. He had so many valuable insights to share, we decided to interview him to share his wisdom with our audience.

About Evan J. Corbin

The author photo for writer Evan J. Corbin, he smiles at the camera in front of a vista of misty mountains. Evan currently practices law in Philadelphia, but he had always wanted to write a book. So when his first great idea came along, he leaned into it: 

What would happen if a secret third testament of the Bible was discovered, one that exonerated LGBTQIA+ people of any religious guilt for their sexual orientation or gender identity?

Writing from the perspective of a closeted fire-and-brimstone preacher, Evan explores the social changes that would come about from this revelation—namely, the titular “atonement camps” for the reeducation of Christian ministers and priests. One reader described these camps as “Alcoholics Anonymous meets sensitivity training meets RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

We were so impressed by the book and the hard work Evan put into marketing it that we knew we had to get him to talk about the whole experience. You can watch our whole interview below, or keep scrolling to read seven key takeaways from his journey.

Lesson 1: Focus on finding readers, not revenue. 

“Some authors assume finding readership and finding revenue are the same thing—they assume that each sale earned is a reader earned, and think no further about it. 

“But if you’re a first-time author, you have to make peace with the idea that this is not going to make you rich.

“In fact, it’s probably not even going to pay for what you’ve invested.

“That’s why instead of chasing sales to earn readers, chase readers to earn sales. It’s a subtle change, but it makes a world of difference.”

Self-publishing is a highly competitive industry—something Evan learned quickly in his initial research: there are over a million new books published each year (though there are other claims that put this number much lower.) 

It’s not easy out there for first-time authors. When you’re just starting out, you have no fan base, no credibility, and no experience in the field. Too many self-published authors fall into the trap of thinking that all they need to do is pay for advertising and the rest will somehow take care of itself.

Evan was one of those authors. But after conducting some market research, he discovered the reason ads and marketing and discounted prices yield so little fruit for self-published authors: readers just don’t want to spend time or money on an author they know nothing about, no matter how interesting the book seems. 

Most people have been burned too many times before by the many unedited novels that find their way onto the major self-publishing platforms. 

Rather than focusing on sales, self-published authors should instead prioritize building an audience of readers. There are a few ways to do this, but Evan’s found that the most daunting method of all to be most effective: he gave his book away for free.

For Evan, it seemed no matter how much he reduced the price of his novel, nobody was interested in buying it. It was only when he made it free that he found the audience he was searching for. 

Writing a novel to get rich quick is the wrong motivation for entering this field—though, over time, as you build a body of work, you can expect to see some income. But when you start out, you should be writing because you’re passionate about your stories and want to share them with others. When this is the case, building a readership can be a very satisfying part of an author’s work. 

What Evan learned through the publication of Atonement Camp is that building a fanbase is much more important than making a few isolated sales. Those who read and enjoyed his free book will be much more likely to pay money for his work in the future, and to recommend the book to their friends, family, or book club. 

But how do you get those crucial first customers? Can you really spread word of your novel without blowing tons of money on advertising?

Of course you can. 

Lesson 2: Don’t be afraid to take the road less traveled when it comes to marketing your work. 

There’s more to building an audience than just handing out free samples. Before you can do that, you need to identify who you’re handing those samples to. One of the ways Evan did this was through social media marketing.

“Liam and I were talking about how I was going to market this book, and he suggested I should become active on a social media platform. He suggested Instagram, and I’m like, ‘Liam, ugh. I don’t even like using Instagram myself. Like, I don’t want to have to figure out how this works, and it’s a lot of time…’ but I decided to do it.”

And that decision paid off. 

The best thing about using social media to promote your first novel is that it can be done absolutely free. There are many ways authors can use the platform to catch the attention of potential readers.

With Instagram, it’s easy to use a product like Canva to design some interesting visual posts that will attract the types of readers you want.

But you won’t be the only author using this method. To be successful on social media, you’ve got to stand out from the crowd.  

“People on Instagram want to see content that makes them feel something. Whether it’s provocative, or thought-provoking, or shocking, or even just makes them smile for a bit… it’s got to be evocative. 

“But sadly there’s a lot of uniformity in the way people promote their books on Instagram.

“Most book marketing is pretty… lazy. It’s always, ‘Here’s a photo of the book with some flowers behind it,’ or whatever. And that’s fine sometimes, but if you really want to stand out, you need something different. I wanted to stand out. So I spent a while figuring out how before I started advertising.

“In my book, at these atonement camps, they have pool boys. Beautiful, scantily-clad men going around like bellhops, performing tasks like mail delivery for the campers. I decided I wanted to bring these pool boys to life for my marketing. I found some friends who were willing to pose in that get-up and got some shots of them in front of my blown-up book cover and some other fun props. 

“Even though those posts were clearly promoting the book, they were unique, and they were still relevant to the product. That meant Instagram users would be interested in it. Those who liked it would even follow me, and maybe go on to buy my book. I think that pool-boy campaign was a way for me to break through the noise a little bit and express myself through its promotion.” 

This doesn’t just apply to self-publishing either: Most people advertise in ways that are so safe, they fall on the wrong side of boring and end up attracting no one’s attention. 

People have gotten very good at tuning out ads that scream “NOTICE ME!” over the years. But leveraging organic, relevant, and unique content to market your product or art works incredibly well when building an audience.

Lesson 3: Leveraging existing audiences is the quickest way to grow.

When it comes to advertising your work, be careful what you pay for. For first-time authors, there are so many different ways to spend any budget you have to promote your book, and it can be virtually impossible to know which ones are legit and which ones are a waste of money—or worse, a downright scam. 

“I’ve probably spent a couple of thousand dollars on every possible way that I could market the book and get it in front of people. Pay-per-click advertising on Amazon. BookBubs is a good one too.

I could name a dozen or more that I’ve invested in, and absolutely none of them materialized in any discernible sales.”

Without an audience to build on, these big and indiscriminate pay-to-play options often aren’t worth it for your first novel. But Evan did find that there were some advertising options out there that were more personalized, and therefore more successful at helping him find and build his audience.

“I found out there are companies that’ll organize Bookstagram (the book-focused side of Instagram) tours for your book. My book caters to an LGBTQ audience, so I found a Bookstagram advertising company that works in that niche and reached out to them.

I don’t remember exactly how much it was, but it wasn’t any more than $50, and relative to a lot of advertising options out there, that’s pretty affordable. 

What this company does is reach out to their network of Instagram accounts—popular users who’d already reached out to them—and find individuals willing to adopt, promote, and share your book for a given period of time.”

An Instagram tour is one of the more novel ways to market a book. Using a service like Bookstagram, an author finds readers willing to read and review their book, or at the very least post about it on their public accounts. Over the period of a few weeks, their book will feature prominently on these readers’ accounts, showcasing their work to the accounts’ audiences. However, as with most methods of book marketing, this won’t be effective by itself. 

“And that got me no sales. I thought it would (it didn’t), but this is a two-step process.

“Once someone would like a post, what I would do is I would go and I would follow that individual. And then a pretty substantial number of the people I would follow, who already engaged with my work by clicking the like button, would follow me back.

“And that’s the start of a relationship. They’ve already been introduced to my work. They’ve already manifested their interest in it by clicking the like button. And then when I reach out to them with a solicitation, a fair number of them would either buy a book or we would engage in dialogue.

“It’s one thing to see a book on the shelf. It’s another to have a direct phone line through Instagram and direct messaging to the person who wrote it. “That makes it more personal. And I think that personal connection is what you need to build that authenticity.”

 Of course, Evan didn’t do all this himself.

“My time is valuable. No one wants to be hunched over their phone following Instagram users all day… so I used a program called Inflact instead. It’s a cheap subscription-based service that does quite a lot of stuff, but I only use it for one purpose: every time someone followed my account, I had Inflact send them an automated welcome message on my behalf.”

Over time, Evan saw results from this form of (paid) Instagram marketing on top of what he was doing organically. As people replied to his welcome message, and he developed a relationship with them, they’d sometimes go on to become readers. 

Lesson 4: The quality of your manuscript matters… a lot.

There’s a persistent stigma that self-published books are of a lower standard than traditionally published books. And honestly, there is some truth to that. Many self-published works don’t go through the rigorous “quality assurance” books taken by full-scale publishing houses do. As a result, there are plenty of error-ridden, poorly developed novels out there that make it harder to overcome the trust barriers between you and your audience. 

That’s why the only way to succeed as a self-published author is to apply the same strict standards of quality to your own work that traditionally published novels are subject to. 

And that means editing. 

When you type The End on your novel, don’t let your first instinct be to research publishing platforms. Finishing your first draft should be seen as just that—finishing a first draft. There’s more involved in the process of finishing your book.

“There are certain things that I did that I’m absolutely going to do again. Developmental editing, line editing, proofreading (essential), good cover design. The benefit is I don’t have to search the world now for these professionals to assist me with those things, because I’ve used them before. I’ve worked with them.

“I trust them. So it’s going to be easier and faster for me to go through that process.”

Evan worked with the team of book editors at Invisible Ink Editing to polish his novel draft and help him successfully launch his first self-published book. 

Lesson 5: Find real beta readers to give you feedback.

Beta readers are market testers for your novel. Typically, beta readers aren’t professional editors or marketers themselves. They’re laypeople, average members of your desired audience who can offer feedback and critique from the consumer’s perspective.

Making good use of beta readers is an essential part of the editing process. The order of operations we recommend is to finish a first draft, self-edit that draft at least once (if not more!) and then do a manuscript evaluation, which is sort of like a review of your outline. Only after all this is done should you think about beta reading. 

Evan has some insight on how he went about it himself.

“One of the first platforms I discovered in my research is BetaReader.io. It costs a couple of dollars a month, but it’s well worth the money.

“BetaReader.io is populated by individuals who’ve volunteered to beta read for writers. Once you sign up as an author, you can reach out to them and let them know a little bit about your work to see if they’re interested in reading it. 

“If they are, they read it through Betareader.io’s own platform, which lets them react in real time to your story. If they like a line, they can highlight it, respond with an emoji—thumbs up, heart, cry, laughter—or they can leave a comment. And at the bottom of every chapter, Betareader.io leaves a space for readers to give a mini review of each segment, telling the author what they liked or didn’t like about it, what they’re hoping to see next, etc.

“So once you’ve got a few beta readers, you can look at the document and see their collective comments and all the things they like, even the patterns of what works and what doesn’t. You can tell right away that, “Wow. You know, once people get to chapter seven, that’s when they’re all going to freak out, because there’s this big plot twist.” And sure enough, you see the evidence of that.

“And then after a while (and I noticed this later again when a lot more people read the book), the things that work and don’t work become much more obvious. You know instinctively what readers are probably going to like, because you’ve had seventy other people telling you the parts they enjoyed, many of which are the same parts!

It was so good because it gave me the confidence to know, ‘Hey, this isn’t a dumpster fire. People actually like this, even in its raw, unedited format’.

“So that gave me the confidence to reach out to an editor after that and say, ‘This is worth my investment for us to collaborate and turn my manuscript into a polished diamond rather than just an unpolished stone.’”

Lesson 6: Embrace the process.

 Writing is a skill like any other—it takes time to develop your style, and it may be a while before you’re recognized for your skill.  

For every breakout success you have—think Joseph Heller and his bestselling debut, Catch 22—you’ve got a Brandon Sanderson, whose eleventh book is the one that eventually got him an agent. We’ve all got different journeys as creatives, and for some of us, our roads will be riddled with potholes and roadblocks. There’s nothing you can do to get past them besides what you should be doing anyway: writing, working, and growing as a creative.

That said, you shouldn’t view your “roadblocks” as obstacles so much as steps on a ladder. Every mistake you make is another important lesson. Assuming you’ve got the courage to take ownership of them, there’s something to be learned from every one of your beautiful screw-ups. Evan has firsthand knowledge of this fact.

 “I think I had to make a lot of mistakes and go down a lot of dead-end roads just to prove to myself that, yeah, these are actually dead-end roads. Because you don’t know! Like, what’s going to happen if this ad gets 10,000 impressions on a website, surely that will work!

“Oh no, it didn’t.

“Maybe someone else would have had a different experience. For me, it didn’t work. But I needed to make those mistakes in order to know for sure that they were wrong for me. Even though there were wise voices at the time telling me that’s exactly what was going to happen.”

Mistakes are an opportunity for growth if you allow them to be. They’re a product of your actions, not a consequence of a universe that’s out to get you. Channelling their power will take your writing, your work, and your life to the next level.

Every mistake you make brings with it the opportunity to avoid making it again in the future. In Evan’s words:

 “I think the benefit is… I’m not going to make the same mistakes. I’m going to make different ones!”

Lesson 7: Stay positive.

In this article, we’ve talked a lot about the difficulties of self-publishing. First novels don’t typically see massive sales, advertising takes a ton of personal effort, most paid advertising doesn’t produce results, brutally honest feedback is the only way to get your book up to snuff… it’s a lot. Especially if you’ve waltzed into this expecting an easier ride than traditional publishing. 

But that’s no reason to get disheartened. Just as writing, editing, and even beta reading are iterative processes—with multiple drafts, multiple readings, multiple chances to better yourself and your work—your journey as a creative is iterative too. 

In the end, the writers who quit before success are the only ones guaranteed not to make it. 

If F. Scott Fitzgerald had packed it in when his agent hated the first draft of his novel, we’d have never gotten The Great Gatsby.

For most of us, it takes time and effort to succeed—so don’t beat yourself up just because your journey’s taking longer than you’d like. Appreciate it for what it gives you. Learn to love the potholes; they’re the only way to find out how good your tires are.

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Resources for Authors Self Publishing Advice

Why a Mailing List is an Author’s Most Powerful Marketing Tool

Many authors have found success using email marketing to sell their books. But for new authors, growing an email list can seem quite difficult.

However, once you get things going, a healthy email list makes marketing and selling your book easier and easier.

Before we get into the ways an email list can help you make more sales, let’s start by talking about something called “email stacking” and how this affects your marketability.  From there, you’ll see how starting your email list now could pay off big time when it comes to your writing career.

Stacked Marketing Efforts

Let’s imagine in your first book launch, you have 100 email subscribers.  However, over the course of that launch, you end up gaining another 200 email subscribers.  Now, when the time comes, you will have 300 email subscribers for book two.

But the gains don’t stop there. With each consecutive book launch, you’ll gain more and more subscribers to help with your marketing efforts.

Chart showing email subscription growth

This is one of the driving factors that helps series writers gain so much marketability. They have a steadily growing fanbase—with a large portion being perpetuated through email.  So, now that we see this in motion, let’s discuss the many ways you can use this ever-increasing list to help with your book sales.

Increased Sales with Each Book

The most obvious effect you’ll see from growing your email list is increased sales for each progressive book launch. By proactively reaching out to your subscribers, you can reach more dedicated fans than ever before—fans who are more much likely than others to buy your new book.

However, it’s not just your latest book that can get more sales. A larger email list can also boost the sales of your older books. That’s because not everyone who subscribes between your later book launches has been around from the beginning. And if they become staunch fans, there’s a good chance they’re going to check out your previous writings.

So, by aggressively building your email list, it’s possible to see an increase in book sales across your entire body of work.

Improve Your Book’s Bestseller Status

Increasing book sales can have a cascading effect. Aside from just generating more income, higher book sales will greatly improve your book’s visibility in the marketplace.

For instance, if you’re an Amazon self-publisher, you’ll see your book’s Amazon ranking increase with the greater amount of sales. This can ultimately lead to your book obtaining the coveted status of Bestseller in your category.

Having a book as a Bestseller is a definite advantage. Bestselling books are always shown before competitors, giving even more visibility to the title. It’s proven that 80% of all Amazon clicks happen on the first page alone, with the top three receiving at least 60% of them. So it would behoove you to strive for Bestseller status, and taking advantage of an extensive email list can greatly improve your chances of getting there.

Improve Your Grade and Number of Reviews

One of the singular most important steps to having a good book launch is getting early reviews. The more book reviews you get when you launch, the better your chance of success will be. And your established email list is an excellent place to start.

Those on your email list are much more likely to not only buy and review your book but give it a positive rating as well. They’ve already subscribed to your style of writing and are part of your fan base. So don’t be afraid to use your email list to reach out and ask for honest reviews.

The best time to do so is right after your launch. You can either send out an email blast to all your subscribers, or simply write out an email in your autoresponder. Be sure to promote your book—in case they haven’t gotten it already—and ask them to drop a review on Amazon after buying it.

Finding the right spot to leave a customer review on Amazon can be a pain. It’s often buried underneath listing information, images, blurbs, and other data. This process alone can discourage your readers from leaving a great review. However, there is a smart way around this.

You can create your own link that will direct your readers straight to your review page. To find out how, check out this great video from Dave Chesson, author of this blog and the man behind Kindlepreneur. He takes you through the step-by-step process of creating your book’s special review link. This will further your chance of one of your readers dropping a juicy review.

Tactics for Growing Your Email List

Hopefully by now you understand that an email list can be a very useful tool for authors. But what are you supposed to write in these emails? And how do you get people to sign up in the first place?

For starters, make it easy for people to sign up by featuring your email list on your website with popups and sign-up forms. These can be built using tools⁠—Dave Chesson has broken down the four best email services for authors, complete with in-depth comparisons in order to help you select the ideal choice.

When building these sign-up forms, use enticing imagery and language to entice people to sign up.  You could also offer a discount code for your novels if someone signs up⁠—just send them the code in the confirmation email you send through an automated email platform.

You should also promote your mailing list on any social media sites you use, linking to it in your bios and reminding people when you post.

You also want to make sure your email list doesn’t go stale⁠—sending regular emails will keep people engaged and won’t cause them to unsubscribe when you reach out to them after a long period of silence.

You can use your emails to talk about any subject you like, but try to keep it relevant to your readers. Here are some ideas for emails:

  • Promote your books
  • Give sneak-previews of what you’re working on
  • Send out “deleted scenes” from your novels
  • Write unique short stories that feature your characters or style
  • Display your book covers and other promotional materials
  • Give insights on your personal life
  • Provide insights on your writing process

Many of the email platforms out there allow you to schedule emails automatically. You can try using templates like these from DripScripts to generate a few emails and set them up to go out one after another, so you don’t have to worry about writing emails every day. Keep an eye on which emails perform well, and tailor your email marketing strategy to feature more of that kind of content.

Leveraging Email Lists from Other Sites

It’s not just authors who use email lists for marketing.  Book promotion sites and book review sites use their email lists to reach readers who are interested in reading more books in a genre.  For example, TopSciFiBooks.com has generated over 1,200+ email subscribers who are fans of LitRPG thanks to their compilation of LitRPG books article.

Engaging with these websites and submitting your work to them could help you get featured on those email lists. This will in turn help you grow your profile, and you will find new audiences looking for your books (and signing up for your email list).

So, Does an Email List Matter?

Yes. Having an email list makes a huge difference and can definitely help pave your way towards success.

It can help you sell more books, give you a better chance at being a bestseller, and even provide an early advantage for getting early positive reviews. The power of your email list is real, folks. In fact, it provides one of the highest ROI channels when it comes to marketing.

But what if you don’t have an email list? Well, it’s not too late to get started. And if you’ve already got an established fanbase—say on social media—they’ll probably more than happy to sign up once given the chance. So, if you’ve thought that email just wasn’t the right choice for you, think again. It can prove to be an invaluable tool for success in a highly competitive world of book writing.

About the Author

Image of Dave Chesson, from Kindlepreneur.com

Dave Chesson is the creator of the wildly successful Kindlepreneur.com, a website devoted to teaching advanced book marketing. Having worked with such authors as Orson Scott Card, Ted Dekker, and more, his tactics help both fiction and nonfiction authors of all levels get their books discovered by the right readers.

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Resources for Authors Self Publishing Advice

What’s in a name? An author’s guide to pen names

Nom de plume, pseudonym, pen name… whatever your choice of synonym, at some point in our writing careers we all contemplate choosing a fictitious name to attach to our writing.

If you’re a new indie author getting ready to publish your manuscript, you may be wondering whether you want to plaster your own name across the title, or take the Mark Twain, S.E. Hinton, or George Orwell route. (Yes, all of those are pen names!)

In this article, we will answer these four questions about pen names:

  1. Why do writers choose pen names?
  2. What makes for a good pen name?
  3. How do you go about choosing your pen name?
  4. What are the potential legal issues you need to know about when it comes to pen names?

Why do some writers choose pen names?

“Whatever may be the success of my stories, I shall be resolute in preserving my incognito, having observed that a nom de plume secures all the advantages without the disagreeables of reputation.” ~ George Eliot

An author’s reason for choosing a pen name will vary, but they tend to fall under four categories:

Using a pen name to maintain anonymity

There’s something to be said for anonymity in writing and the security it can bring.

We live in a world where our lives are brandished across social media for anyone to see. For those authors who still toil away at a day job or are presently job hunting, (potential) employers may frown at your choice of genre or worry that you won’t devote the necessary time and energy to your job. It’s happened!

Or perhaps your significant other works in a conservative industry, and the fact that you spend your days writing about serial killers or intergalactic erotica could have a negative impact on their ability to keep and do their job.

Or you may simply be a very private person and prefer the ability to maintain your privacy through a certain level of anonymity.

Using a pen name as part of a brand strategy

To be a successful author, you need to have a strategy for book marketing⁠—and a big part of that strategy has to do with your brand. Your brand is everything that represents you as an author⁠—your writing style, your genre, your book covers, your website, your social media presence, and more.

For some authors, a good pen name is the crux of their book branding strategy.

In the author world, your brand is based on the stories you write, how you want your readers to perceive you, and how readers identify with you and your work.

Keep in mind that your brand comes with expectations for readers: the expectation that when they buy an Insert Name story, they will get what they’re expecting—whether it’s an edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller, a laugh-out-loud satire, or a swoon-worthy romance.

Creating a brand for your pen name will take work. You’ll need to carefully study your audience and other authors in your genre to see what works well for them. Then you’ll need to add your own unique spin on things to stand out⁠—and the right pen name could help you do just that.

Pen names for different genres

It’s not uncommon for authors to experiment with more than one genre. You might start out writing a horror novel, but later move on to mysteries or sci-fi.

If you’re worried that your genres are so different that you won’t be targeting the same readers, choosing to use a separate pen name for each genre will allow you to differentiate your brands and build a separate audience for each one. This is a strategy used by authors like Stephen King (who writes as Richard Bachman) and Agatha Christie (who wrote romance under the name Mary Westmacott).

Many writers, one pen name

In some cases (more often than you might think) multiple writers working together may choose a shared pen name to publish under. This may be the case for a group of friends or a writers’ group.

Often, this method is used by book publishers or book packagers. What are those?

A book packaging company works on books from start (concept development, story outlines, project assignments) to production (writing, editing, cover design) to publication (marketing and distribution) to create stories that readers simply can’t put down. In some cases, book packagers hire freelance writers who are established authors in a specific genre. These freelancers may be looking to expand their writing into other genres without having to create a new brand.

What makes for a good pen name?

Genre fit. Does the pen name resonate with readers of your genre? A name that fits perfectly for a slow-paced cozy mystery may not have the same effect for a hard-boiled thriller. If you’re gender crossing (a male writing in a female-dominated genre, for example), you might choose a female or non-gendered pen name to avoid unintentional bias.

Research. If you’re already a reader in your chosen genre (as you should be!), then you’ll have an advantage here. Think about the names of some of your favorite authors in the genre you’ll be publishing in.

What tone do they have?

What image do they conjure up in your mind?

Can you create a similar tone and image using your chosen pen name?

Think about the persona behind the name—the person you’re presenting to a reader. It’s okay to have a fictitious bio to add some color, but avoid adding in expertise or experiences you can’t back up. While readers are willing to accept pen names, they tend to draw the line at falsified resumes.

Questions writers should ask if they are considering a pen name

If one or more of the above options sounds like a good fit for your writing, it may be time to start coming up with a pen name.

Some authors choose a pen name similar to their own. Maybe they have a common first name (say, Jennifer, but they go by Jenny), so they might choose to make “Jennifer” their first name and a different last name to hide their identity.

Others may choose their initials. For example, S.E. Hinton, author of The Outsiders, is actually named Susan Eloise Hinton.

Choosing an author name similar to your own does have its advantages. For starters, you will find it easier to respond to email inquiries or questions during in-person events if you have a pen name that sounds similar to what you’re used to hearing.

You may instead choose a name that is very different from your own. A pen name is a good chance to go by that name you wish your parents had chosen, or to simply try out a new identity.

No matter what name you land on, it’s vital that you do your research before you make it official. Here are the questions you should ask:

Is the name already taken? Use Google to check out the name you’re considering to be sure it doesn’t already belong to someone famous. Then do the same on Amazon and Goodreads, checking that the name isn’t the same or too similar to others already out there. Not only are duplicate names difficult for readers, but it could end up making it harder for you to make a name for yourself and untangle your work from similarly named authors.

Are there multiple ways to spell the name? It could become annoying if you constantly must spell out the name to others.

Is the name easy to remember and catchy? You want to make it easy for your readers to recall your name when they’re at the book store.

Is the name associated with any cultural issues? You need to be careful to avoid any racial or cultural insensitivity when selecting your pen name. Avoid names associated with a particular ethnic background or culture, unless you yourself are a member of that group.

Are there legal issues associated with pen names?

Using a pen name is a legal and well-established practice in the publishing world, so generally, a nom de plum isn’t going to cause you any legal problems.

However, for tax purposes and when signing contracts, you will need to use your legal name.

There are also steps you will need to take in order to secure your use of your chosen pen name. If you intend to set up business accounts using that pen name (including banking and possibly even a business name), you will probably need to obtain a legal business name. Check with the appropriate local government agency to find out what you need to do.

Keep in mind that whatever pen name you choose, it will become a part of you and the persona you show to the world. So above all, make sure you like it, because you’re going to see it, a lot.

“Perhaps what’s most remarkable about the nom de plume, and rarely talked about, is its power to unlock creativity—and its capacity to withhold it. Even when its initial adoption is utilitarian, a pen name can assume a life of its own. Many writers have been surprised by the intimate and even disorienting relationships they have formed with their alter egos.” ~Carmela Ciuraru

So, go forth and create. Enjoy the anonymity a pen name affords and expand your creativity with the reassurance that your secret is safe.

This article was written with Harry Wallett, Managing Director of Relay Publishing. Founded in April of 2013, Relay has published a catalog of over 750 books, with a focus on YA fantasy, science fiction, and romance, among other genres. They also offer book publishing and packaging services, helping turn creative concepts into full-fledged novels. 

 

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Resources for Authors Self Publishing Advice

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: Which Is Right for You?

It’s done.

After dreaming about your book for years, you finally sat down and wrote it. 

Your plot is everything you wanted, and the story itself is a literary gold mine. But what’s next?

Thirty years ago, there was a simple answer to that question—you sent your manuscript to an agent or publishing company and crossed your fingers.

Today, traditional publishing isn’t the only kid on the block.  

Make no mistake, traditional publishing still exists, but if you want to bypass all the waiting—and the lower profit margins if your book is accepted—you can self-publish. 

But is self-publishing really everything it’s cracked up to be? Which method of publishing is the best way to get your future best seller into the hands of dedicated readers? 

In this post, we’ll walk you through what self-publishing and traditional publishing are, the pros and cons of each, and, ultimately, what the best option is for you.

Traditional or self publishing
Both options have strengths and weaknesses. Which will prevail for your book?

What is self-publishing?

Self-publishing is when you (the author) bear the full responsibility and expense of editing, publishing, and marketing your book. Authors who self-publish use programs such as Kindle Direct Publishing or Smashwords to publish their manuscripts and get them out to the public.

Related: Publishing tips for indie authors

Self-publishers don’t have to deal with lengthy querying processes, painful rejection letters, or large commission fees. But they do need to handle all their own marketing, hire editors, book formatters, cover designers, and build their own audience. 

What are the pros of self-publishing?

Pro #1: You work according to your own timeline

Instead of waiting weeks, months, or even years for an agent or publishing company to accept your manuscript, self-publishing lets you immediately dive into the editing, publishing, and marketing process. 

If you’re very eager to get your story out there, you can design your own cover and get the novel live on the major platforms in a day or less.

Alternatively, you can take your time working with an editor, promoting your book before its release, and finding the perfect designer for your cover. With self-publishing, you get to set your own deadlines, and you can extend them as you see fit. 

Pro #2: You guarantee the publication of your book

When you go through traditional publishing, there are no guarantees. 

You could submit your manuscript to a hundred different literary agents or publishing houses and still get rejected every time. In the end, traditional publishing could sequester your book instead of putting it in the hands of thousands.

Or…

You can publish the damn thing yourself—and to hell with the naysayers and the gatekeepers. Self-publishing puts your book out there and lets it live or die by its own merit. You don’t need anyone else’s permission to share your story with the world, and if it is successful, you’ll have your pick from the flood of traditional publishers who, upon learning the error of their ways, will break down your door with pens and contracts wet with ink.

Sure, a traditional publisher will help you market your book to a wide audience in ways you couldn’t alone, but publishing directly to Amazon or Barnes and Noble’s e-book marketplaces will still get your novel in front of a lot of eyeballs.

Pro #3: Self-published books can be wildly successful

The Martian, written by Andy Weir, was originally a self-published e-book on Amazon. It went from being a $0.99 e-book to getting picked up by Crown Publishing, becoming a New York Times Best Seller, and earning the honor of being the highest-grossing blockbuster from Fox in 2015. 

E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Gray, a notorious and much-loved erotic romance novel, was originally a self-published piece of Twilight fanfiction. Eventually, the author eliminated the Twilight references and made it available on her website chapter by chapter for free. It, too, was found by a publishing company, turned into a New York Times Best Seller, and transformed into a hit movie. 

E.L. James and Andy Weir
Not sure if self publishing can lead to success? Just as E.L. James and Andy Weir how they’re doing.

And these two books aren’t the only examples: The Shack by William P. Young, Eragon by Christopher Paolini, and No Thanks by E. E. Cummings were all originally self-published before becoming massive successes. 

Of course, you might not achieve the same level of success as The Shack or 50 Shades of Gray (especially not on your first try!) but one thing’s for sure: All these authors proved that self-publishing can help you build a faithful audience. 

Pro #4: Higher profit margins

When you self-publish, the profits are split two ways—between you and the platform you’re selling on.

Many self-publishers go through Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing)—in fact, Amazon owns 72 percent of the online retail book market, which includes both digital and printed books. Amazon also generates 80 percent of all online book sales.

Amazon offers book royalties of 35 to 70 percent. For example, if you sold your novel for $10 on Amazon, you’d be earning $3.50 to $7.50 per sale. 

When an author goes through a traditional publisher, however, the profit for the book is split between the author, the publishing company, the literary agent, and the platform that sells the book.

Traditional publishing companies typically offer 6 to 25 percent of profit (with an average of 10 percent) earned on the book. You may sell more books, but you’ll likely receive lower revenue on each book sold. 

Pro #5: It’s easier than ever before 

Though self-publishing is as simple as uploading your book and clicking Publish, it does take more effort than that if you want to be successful.

This is a pro and a con—while it takes hard work to get your book ready for its self-publishing debut, it’s easier than ever to take on this challenge yourself, with help from platforms and agencies whose sole purpose is to ensure self-published books hit professional standards.

What do you need to do to self-publish?

If you’re ready to take publishing your book into your own hands, there are a few things you need to do before you can release your first novel on Amazon: 

Book editing

To get your book ready for its debut and ensure it is at professional standards (grammatically correct, free of typos, with a cohesive plot and correct syntax), you will need to hire a book editor. Fortunately, there are many professional editors available for hire online.

But how do you choose which one? We’ve put together a quick guide on how to find a book editor for your novel. (You can also submit your manuscript to us, and we’ll provide you with a free sample edit along with a price quote and estimated turnaround time.) 

Publishing

Kindle Direct Publishing, which now encompasses CreateSpace, allows you to create both print books and e-books through Amazon. You can also use the platform’s cover-design templates and book promotion services. The site even provides a step-by-step guide to publishing on Amazon. 

Kindle Direct Publishing also offers great programs for new authors, such as KDP Select. This service makes your book part of the Kindle Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited, services that help readers discover new authors more easily.

KDP Select even helps with marketing. They promote books through discounts and countdown deals. This service does require ninety days of exclusive rights to Amazon, but if you find success in KDP Select, you can re-enroll your book as many times as you want.

Amazon’s CreateSpace makes physical book publishing stress-free. It is print-on-demand, which means you can sell as many or as few copies as you want. 

Self publishing platform logos

If you choose to go with a service other than Amazon, there are multiple self-publishing companies available:

  • Lulu—One of the oldest online self-publishing companies around, Lulu retails books through their own bookstore and distributes them to other online stores (including Amazon) and book distributors (Barnes & Noble and Ingram). Lulu also offers both hardcover and paperback formats for print books. 
  • Smashwords—Similar to Amazon, you can upload your own novel, with your custom-made book cover, right to the Smashwords platform for direct sale. 
  • Barnes & Noble Press—Formerly known as NOOK Press, Barnes & Noble’s self-publishing platform offers print-on-demand publishing. But if you self-publish with them, your work will be restricted to their own e-book devices and physical bookstores. 

Book design

Don’t like the templates of covers made by your self-publishing company? Want to hire someone else to make the absolutely perfect cover for your book? There are plenty of online book cover designers to choose from. 

One of the top names in book cover designs right now is Damonza. They have been vetted by hundreds of authors, and their gorgeous covers speak for themselves. 

If, however, you want to hire a freelancer to design your book cover, here is a great article by TCK Publishing to help you figure out how much you should pay and how to find a freelance book cover designer. 

Book Marketing

Once your book is on the platforms of your choice, you’ll need to shift your focus to getting it sold. There are many independent book promoters out there who will help you get your book in front of the right people, but this is another cost you’ll have to cover out of pocket if you’re self-publishing. 

You can also do some marketing on your own—virtual book tours, social media, and reader exchange programs are all popular options, but they do take time and effort.

Pro #6: Creative Freedom

Perhaps the most enticing aspect of self-publishing is creative freedom.

You get to decide what is included in your book.

You get to decide what types of edits you make to your novel. 

You determine exactly what you want your book to look like.

This kind of creative freedom does not exist when going the traditional route. Your agent or publisher will have demands about how you edit your novel, what the cover looks like, and how you market it, and that can be very difficult for some authors. 

What are the cons of self-publishing?

Con #1: You are responsible for everything

Since you are the sole person in charge of producing your book, you will have to spend a lot of time and effort on things you may not find interesting.

To be truly successful, you’ll have to either learn a lot about marketing and design or hire someone else to help you. 

For some authors, this is an exciting opportunity to expand their skills while maintaining control over their work. For others, the long list of tasks required to self-publish saps the joy out of the writing experience, and may end up preventing them from ever publishing at all. 

Related: 5 useless fears all writers should dismiss

Con #2: High up-front costs

Even though your profit margin is higher as a self-publisher, getting your book to professional standards can become expensive quickly. 

You will need to make a budget for editing, cover design, and marketing. 

If your book is 55,000 words (the standard word count on a teen novel—an average word count for an adult novel is 90,000), you can end up with a budget that looks like this: 

Book Cover: $100 to $200

Developmental Editing: $800 – $1,200

Line Editing: $1,500 – $2,000

Proofreading: $600-$800

For marketing, Amazon has a minimum daily budget for Amazon Sponsored Ads of $5.00 per day ($155 a month) even if you do not make any sales. 

Of course, you can look for ways to skip or save on some of these services. For example, you may want to find alternative, more affordable ways to market your novel (a virtual book tour) or create a book cover (Canva or Photoshop). 

This can help you save on the investment needed to self-publish, but remember that readers want a professionally edited book with a well-designed cover. Cutting costs at the start could impact your sales later. 

Con #3: Your audience will be limited

With a traditional publisher, you’ll have immediate access to an audience. Publishers have relationships with book sellers who will stock your novel. With self-publishing, you’ll need to build your own audience.

Most sellers won’t stock physical copies of self-published books, and popular book publications are not likely to promote them, so you will need to create your audience using clever book marketing strategies.

Although this can be challenging, services like KDP Select and Goodreads are available to help you find and connect with readers.

What is traditional publishing?

Traditional publishing means submitting your book to a literary agent or publishing company, who will then bear most of the responsibility for editing, marketing, and distributing your book. 

Though traditional publishing comes with a wider audience for your book, you must share the control, rights, and financial profit of the book with the publisher.

It’s also important to note that traditional publishing is extremely competitive, and many authors never receive an acceptance for the manuscript, even after months of waiting. 

What are the pros of traditional publishing? 

Pro #1: Money up front

Unlike self-publishing, you do not bear the financial responsibility of getting your book to professional standards and producing/distributing your book. 

So if you’re tight on cash, getting a traditional publishing deal can be very helpful, as most publishing companies will pay authors an advanced royalty, and your up-front costs of producing the book (editing, marketing, design, and distribution) are all covered by the publishing company.

Note: There are some costs involved in the querying process, as many publishers charge a fee for submission (not to mention printing and mailing costs if they don’t accept electronic submissions). 

Pro #2: Production help

Instead of you captaining the production of your book alone, a publishing company will provide a team to assist you. This team helps eliminate some of the early stress of ensuring your book meets professional standards. 

They will edit your manuscript multiple times. They will design the best possible aesthetic for your book cover and layout. They will help you publish and market your book (often as an e-book and audiobook), then distribute it to various sellers, which lets you focus on the sole reason you became an author: writing.

Pro #3: Street cred

If the publishing company accepts your manuscript, it’ll put its fancy logo on the spine and title page of your book.

But why does that matter? 

The symbol is the golden ticket to being sold at major book sellers. In fact, most well-known book vendors won’t even sell a book unless it is backed by a publishing company.

It also creates brand reliability—it lets your future readers know that this book was good enough to be picked over thousands of others by industry experts.

This doesn’t mean that only the best books get picked up by publishers. Traditional publishing involves a lot of luck—there are plenty of famous authors who were rejected time and time again before finally landing on the right publisher’s desk. Many of the best books out there may still be sitting on their authors’ computers, untouched, because their writers grew tired of reaching out to agents and publishers. 

What are the cons of traditional publishing?

Con #1: Lots and lots and lots of waiting

Unlike self-publishing, where you work on your own schedule and at your own pace, traditional publishing leaves you at the mercy of others.

To begin, you will need to wait for a literary agent to agree to take you on as a client. They receive thousands of interested clients annually, so it can take months or even years to be accepted.

Louisa May Alcott
Even beloved authors like Louisa May Alcott have gotten rejected by traditional publishers.

You’ll also need to grow a thick skin, as you will almost certainly receive multiple rejections. Before she published Little Women, Louisa May Alcott received a rejection letter from a publisher who stated quite plainly, “You can’t write.” Fortunately, most rejections aren’t as personal as that, but you’ll still need to get used to hearing the words not interested. 

If and when your book is accepted by a literary agent, you are looking at about a two-year process before it will hit shelves. You have to wait to receive a contract, agree to it, sign it, deliver your manuscript, work on edits and revisions, and wait on the design team to create a proper cover and layout. 

In short, self-publishing is often faster than traditional publishing because the author is in control. But we still recommend taking advantage of having complete control and spending as much time as you need working with editors and book cover designers on making the best edition of your novel possible.

Con #2: Limited creative freedom

Just because you are the author doesn’t mean you get a complete say in what is or is not included in your book.

When you sign your contract with a publishing company, you give them the right to help adjust the contents of your novel. They may tell you to lose a certain subplot, change things about the characters, remove entire sections of the novel, or write in plot twists and turns you hadn’t planned on. 

Though you can negotiate with them on some of these changes, it’s not uncommon for publishers or agents to set ultimatums—if you refuse to make a change they request, you could lose your contract entirely. 

Con #3: Smaller profit margins

All the wonderful help you received getting your book to a professional standard doesn’t come for free.

Any profit you receive on your book will be split among you, your agent, your publishing company, and the bookseller. 

So instead of profit margins of 35 to 70 percent (the standard e-book profit margin through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon), you will receive a profit margin somewhere between 6 to 25 percent. 

If your book becomes a massive best seller, this may not be a big deal. However, if sales are on the conservative side, you may find yourself pining after that greater royalty share you could get from Amazon or other online platforms.  

Should I self-publishing or traditional publish?

So which is better, self-publishing or traditional publishing?

Ultimately, it all depends on what works best for you. 

If you enjoy setting your own schedule and having complete control, higher profit margins, and full creative freedom, then self-publishing is probably your best course of action. 

If, however, you became an author to write; if you have no interest in things like marketing, design, and publication; if you don’t mind sharing responsibility and creative control, then traditional publishing is the path for you.

You can also choose to do a combination of these two processes. You can start out reaching out to traditional publishers, and if you grow weary of waiting or can’t find the right fit, there’s nothing to stop you from taking the self-publishing route later on.

The book is yours, and so, too, is the decision of how you publish your book.

Which will you choose?

Categories
Resources for Authors Self Publishing Advice Writing Advice

How to find a book editor for your manuscript

For first-time authors, finding a book editor can be nerve-racking. It takes a lot of courage to show your work to someone else—especially someone you don’t know personally. However, finding the right editor can make the difference between a book that sells well and gains a wide audience and one that flops before it even makes it to market.

For full transparency, Invisible Ink Editing is a group of book editors, so of course we would recommend submitting your manuscript to us for review. We also know that a good editor-author relationship is vital to your success, and if we feel you may be better suited for a different type of editor, we will tell you right away.

We’ve outlined a few questions you can ask as you try to find an editor for your novel, whether you find the best book editor at Invisible Ink or elsewhere.

What type of book editor do you need?

The first question you want to ask is, “What type of book editor do I need?” Consider the type of manuscript you have written; many editors specialize in certain types of writing. For example, Invisible Ink Editing is primarily a fiction editing group. Other editors may focus on nonfiction, and as such, have a fact-checking process beyond that of a fiction editor. You’ll also find editors who work in specific genres—there are sci-fi editors, romance editors, young adult editors, and so on. (We take all genres at Invisible Ink, in case you’re wondering.)

You also need to consider what level of manuscript editing services you need. If your book has already been edited and just needs a sweep for typos and minor grammatical mistakes, then you will need to find a copy editor or proofreader. If you need help developing your novel’s plot, characters, and other big-picture details, you’d be better suited for a developmental edit. If you aren’t sure what you need yet, a good editor will be able to advise you after reviewing a sample of your work.

Key questions to ask your book editor

Once you know what type of editing you’re after, you can start to narrow down your search for the perfect book editor. There are several questions you should ask any potential editors you’re vetting. Most editors have a website or portfolio they’d be happy to share, which may contain much of this information. Here are a few questions you might want to ask at the start:

  • What sort of experience do you have? Some freelance book editors come with decades of experience, while others are just starting out. Although there’s no harm in going with a new-on-the-scene editor if you feel they’re a good fit, it’s probably best to make sure your book editor has edited at least two or three other novels, preferably ones similar to yours.
  • What certifications/training do you have? Not all editors are certified, but those who are will be happy to share the details. Many independent book editors in the US are part of the Editorial Freelance Association (EFA) or another professional organization. Others will have attended a university, college, or graduate school and received a relevant degree. Still other book editors may not have any formal certifications—this isn’t necessarily a red flag, as they may have work experience or informal training where they’ve developed their editing skills. If they seem like they’d be a good fit, you can always ask for a sample edit as well as a testimonial.
  • What editing standards do you follow? Your editor should be able to tell you the basic standards they use for editing. In the US, this is commonly the Chicago Manual of Style, a popular guide among fiction editors. Most book editors will also have a preferred dictionary as well. (For us, it’s Merriam-Webster).
  • Can you tell me more about your editing process? A good editor is an organized editor. Though your potential book editor may be working on several projects at once, they should still have a formal process they use to make sure their work is done clearly, consistently, and on time.
  • Have you ever edited a book in my genre? Similar to the first question about experience, it’s a good idea to gauge whether your editor has worked on books in your genre before. Many editors specialize in particular genres, and if you’re focused on marketing your book to a specific subset of readers, then an editor who knows your genre well is an asset.

The importance of a sample book edit

Many editors offer a free sample edit of your manuscript before they take you on as a client. Though the number of words they’ll edit varies (at Invisible Ink we do around 750 words), and some editors may charge a small fee, sample editing is commonly offered within the industry.

A sample edit allows you to see what kinds of changes the editor would make and how they tend to communicate feedback. It also gives your editor a chance to get to know your writing style and assess your manuscript, which helps them determine a quote and turnaround time if the project is accepted.

Go with your gut

At the end of the day, the only person who will know when you’ve found the right book editor is you. You know your own work better than anyone else ever could, so let your instincts guide you to the best book editor for you. You can learn a lot about your editor through the way they communicate and how they treat you as a potential client. It’s always a good idea to shop around and weigh your options, but once you think you’ve found the right book editor, then it’s time to make your move.

Still looking for the perfect book editor for your novel? Get in touch with Invisible Ink.

Categories
Self Publishing Advice Writing Advice

Joanna Homer, author of the Encounter series, gives inspiration and advice for writers

Joanna Homer, author of the sci-fi romance Encounter series, lives in London with her husband, her five-year-old son, and her basset hound. In addition to writing, she works in human resources for the NHS.

Since Joanna was young, she’s loved losing herself in the magic of stories, and any free time she has (which isn’t much!) is spent curled up with a book or at the movies.

We interviewed Joanna to learn more about her inspiration, her process, and what she has planned for the future of her series.

 

Tell us how you conceived of the Encounter series. Have you always been fascinated by the idea of extraterrestrials?

The idea of aliens has always interested me, and movies like Independence Day and shows like Roswell are among my past favourites.

The Encounter Series, however, was originally an idea about a guardian angel begrudgingly tasked with protecting a teenage girl. The bank raid scene with Dray came first, and once the time-freeze happened, the story moved to sci-fi and aliens pretty quickly.   

Do you think aliens have been to Earth?

My son has been learning about planets and the solar system at the moment and the sheer enormity and vastness of the universe really is mind-blowing. Whenever I find myself being cynical, I remind myself of how small we are. Why shouldn’t there be more intelligent beings out there who have visited us?  

You’ve done a lot of world-building in your books. How do you keep track of all of the different types of aliens, cultures, and histories in your novels?

I’ve created a series bible to keep track of all the history, alien races, locations, and characters. It has been really useful so far and saved me a lot of time. When I finish the series, I may add in some extra/deleted scenes, maybe some character artwork, maps, et cetera, and give all that to my readers.

I also created a glossary for my website, a quick and easy way to remember the names of Aethian words and what they mean.

Your books are a blend of romance and sci-fi. How do you think those two genres work together?

Personally, I enjoy a little bit of romance with all my genres. In my eyes you can’t beat two characters with amazing chemistry. Having relationships face challenges and obstacles makes it all the more exciting.

And if those obstacles happen to be of an otherworldly nature, then the possibilities are limitless.

Tell us about your book editing process.

Once I have completed my first draft I don’t look at it again for a while. My aim is to wait a couple of weeks, but I usually crack before that. I read though the draft and, aside from making some notes here and there, I just read to give myself an idea of how well it flows. Next, I go through and make my corrections and edits until I feel it is in good shape.

Sometimes my manuscript goes through a few beta readers, depending on timescales. Then I hand it over to my book editor at Invisible Ink for a developmental edit to look at the pace, tone, characters, and so on. I always book an editing bundle, which includes a developmental edit, a line edit, and a final novel proofread, as the improvement to the quality of my novels is invaluable. Plus, I learn a bit more from the feedback every time.  

Your latest novel in the Encounter series, Alliance, is vastly different from the first two novels in the series. Without giving anything away, it’s fair to say that you took the world you built and turned it upside down. What was that experience like? Was it difficult to do that to Eliza and her world?

I intended for things to go that way right from day one, and I was looking forward to doing it. Yet I was surprised to find that, when it came down to it, wreaking havoc in the world I had created was more difficult than I had imagined. Having your characters operate on such a high level of fear and anxiety without losing impact is hard to maintain, too. But as a reader I think I would enjoy going on the adventure with Eliza.

Any hints at what’s up next in the Encounter series?

Well, the title of the next book is Aether, and, considering how Alliance ended, I expect you can imagine where things are headed, but I probably shouldn’t give away anything else. One thing I can say, though, is that Eliza finally comes face to face with Queen Aylaiana, which will certainly be interesting!

Are you working on anything else at the moment, outside of the next installment in the Encounter series?

Yes. Alongside Aether, I have started writing Dark Fire, a new Urban Fantasy series. It begins when a girl teams up with a couple of demon-hunting brothers in search of the monster who murdered her family. Initially it will be a trilogy, but I have a whole range of books/spin-offs planned in the same world. So far it has been strange yet fun to write different characters and create a different world.

What advice would you have for other writers getting started? What do you wish you had known when you were in the early stages?

Thinking back, the main piece of advice I would give myself is something I still tell myself all the time:

Just write.

I am constantly looking into the latest software that helps writers, or reading up on social media fads, or things I can add to my website.

While this can be helpful, at the end of the day you need content. If a reader enjoys your book they will want to read more from you. You need words on the page, which means you need to set aside time to sit down and write.

It can feel overwhelming at the beginning of a novel, but even if you only do a little bit each day, it all adds up.

 

You can read Joanna Homer’s Encounter series and learn more about the author by visiting her homepage: www.joannahomer.com. Connect with Joanna on social media via Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.