SFA 093 – Mistakes That Newer Authors Make

On this week’s show, Andrea, Jo, and Lindsay went over some common mistakes that newer authors often make. And plenty of experienced authors get wrapped up in some of these too. If you’re struggling to gain traction, or getting discouraged, some of these may help. At the least, you’ll know you’re not alone!

Common mistakes that newer authors make:

• Worrying too much about marketing, launch plans, building a platform, or advanced release techniques (i.e. rapid release) before your first book is written.
• Not focusing on getting reviews and building a newsletter list while writing the next books in a series.
• Feeling compelled to respond to reviews.
• Starting your first book off (the entry point into your entire series) without a strong hook.
• Comparing yourself to authors who’ve been either writing that genre for a long time or have been publishing for a long time (here’s the link to Parnell Hall’s Signing in the Waldenbooks song that Lindsay mentioned).
• Producing a series with a non-obvious or non-linear reading order
• Committing to doing a long series before you know how well it’ll sell (or continuing to write in a series that nobody is buying).
• Not keeping track of results and throwing money at things that just don’t work.
• Associating your author brand too closely with a single book or series.

Thank you for listening, and thank you to Joshua Pearson for producing the show.