The Many Hats of a Self-Published Author

Which hat are you wearing today?

A curious question to ask fellow authors, you may think, but there is a purpose to my madness. I invite you take a moment to reflect upon the immense talents we share as writers and appreciate how publishing a book is far more than simply coming up with a good idea.

The urge to tell our stories probably begins in the same way, with a nagging voice inside our heads. We each have our own unique methods of scribbling down plans and creating drafts, but it doesn’t end there. Once you remove your writing hat and hang it on the hook, how many more hats will you need before you can say your work is complete?

When the proof reading is done, it’s time to turn to formatting. There will be rules about margins, fonts and line spacing that you never knew were a thing, so it’s most likely you will have to learn some new software. Either that, or you’re clever enough to manipulate the document you’ve already created.

Next your book needs to be uploaded. Whether this be to Amazon KDP, Ingram Spark or any other print company, their individual specifications are ever so slightly different. You’re suddenly faced with decisions about ‘bleeds’ and ‘coatings’ and ‘gsm’ that have never figured in your vocabulary before.

It’s important to remember your lawyer hat here because you’ll need to understand

the Ts & Cs of your contracts with the print companies, how returns work and what disclaimers you need to keep you out of trouble. You’ll also be obliged to supply an ISBN and register your work with the British Library. Your accountancy hat will ensure that you set the right price for your book to give you some sort of income, whilst at the same time keeping it competitive enough for readers to be tempted to buy.

The thrill you get when you hold your first copy in your hand is a much talked of and celebrated topic within the author community. You deserve your big smile in that photo. But don’t be fooled. There’s still a long way to go.

Move forward a month or two, and after much frustration getting to grips with the various dashboards that report your sales, it’s likely you will be in for a disappointment. After all your dreams of success you may well find you aren’t selling as many copies as you had hoped.

You berate yourself for being rubbish and feel a failure. You feel embarrassed and ashamed and want to crawl inside a hole and never come out. Time to bring out your counselling hat - and make sure it’s comfortable because you’ll be wearing it a lot!

Of course, you’re not a failure – look how far you’ve come!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with what you’ve written and there are readers out there who will love it. You just need to learn how to navigate the world of marketing.

This is your cue to educate yourself on Facebook ads, Amazon ads, mailing lists, book signings, social media, author interviews and reviews.

Oh – and if you don’t already have one, you’re going to need an attractive website.

If you thought you were busy before, fitting your writing around your day job, then that was nothing compared to the resilience you will need to keep your marketing hat in place. But don’t despair, that warm and snuggly counselling hat will give you oodles of reassurance while you worry about the phenomenal amount of money you’re spending on advertising; have faith and it will soon reap its rewards.

There comes a point for all of us in the end when things fall into place and we feel a bit more relaxed. The definition of success is different for everyone and it’s important that we judge our own individual achievements on our own merits.

Regardless of what your, my, or the next person’s motivations are, the one thing we have in common is that we have all mastered a whole industry’s worth of skills to become self-published authors in the first place.

Take off today’s hat for a few minutes and congratulate yourself on being so resourceful!