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5 Self-Publishing Mistakes You're Making // When it comes to self-publishing a book, there's a lot you need to learn. At this point, I've published over fifteen books, and I'm still learning something new with every book I publish. With that said, what are some of the most common mistakes I see new authors making when they self-publish their books? That's what we'll be talking about today.
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2:18 – Mediocre book cover
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6:39 – Sloppy editing
8:21 – Market research
10:49 – Worrying too much about getting your book into store
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Mandi Lynn published her first novel when she was seventeen. The author of multiple books, Mandi spends her days continuing to write and creating YouTube videos to help other writers achieve their dreams of seeing their books published. Mandi is the owner of Stone Ridge Books, a company that works to help authors bring their books to life through cover design and digital book marketing. She is also the creator of The Book Launch Planner, a planner designed to help authors publish and market their books. When she’s not creating, you can find Mandi exploring her backyard or getting lost in the woods.
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I got a proof copy from kdp and a regular copy and the proof is a little darker. Has anyone had this issue ?
Thanks !
You’re absolutely right—there’s no such thing as a perfect book!
Great information!
This was super helpful. Thank you.
Thank you for encouragement to publish. I have young adult novel which I could sold to the biggest house in Lithuania if instead of negotiating best value deal I would sign their contract immediately. Since I personally don’t like that book (it’s not the case with everything what I wrote) plus it has mentioned imperfections, I decided not to publish it at all. But that is discouraging to wanting write anything new. So I will do it. What time gaps between books (same genre, audience) is reasonable to have?
Also I would love to know about rewriting cinema screenplays into novels. I have 4 which could be suitable as far as I understand.
And how important translations to all possible languages for epublishing are?
This is such a great video!! You should be a guest at many schools to inspire people. And offer to sell you books. You have learned a wealth of information! ❤❤❤
I feel so called out, but in a good way😁. Thank you so much. You have a new subscriber😀👍
This is the first video of yours that I’ve seen, and I’ve subbed. Thanks for the helpful advice!
My debut novel came out today and I have been very nervous about typos and small errors, but you have eased my mind. I appreciate your advice so much. Thank you.
Congratulations!
Congrats, new author!!
The book cover designer really should be paid in part for veto power. Like what you’re saying, about steering them in the right direction as far as their genre goes, where their original idea might not be a great fit for that, bc XYZ reasons? You should be allowed to be paid to tell them what direction they SHOULD want to go in, because of their idea not being right for that genre at that time, rather than letting them shoot themselves in the foot. A freedom-to-veto fee (but with maybe a better term lol).
Cover design for indie authors is a very collaborative process. It works best when the authors do lots of genre research for their cover so the designer doesn’t have to force them into a concept that might not “like” even though it may work better sales wise. At the end of the day, most people don’t like being told what to do (even if you hire someone to do it)
Mandi, this was incredibly helpful. Thank you!
Tip of the day. If you give your books away with fifty dollar bills in them, they will be very well received but they still won’t get reviewed. Hope this helps.
Mandy I want to thank you for a refreshing look at something I know
very little about and that is writing and publishing a book.
I’m an older person and it was a pleasure to follow and understand
what you said with out (I’m like, You Know, Oh Wow, Oh Well,
What Ever…). Very good explanation and advice, Thank You
I really appreciate this video. I’ve finally finished my 1st manuscript, and I’m working on the first round of self-editing before I shop around for a pro. This was encouraging. Thanks.
Hi there, thank you for the video. I have a quick question regarding ebooks. I assigned an ISBN for my ebook as an ePUB, but the KPF version of my manuscript looks better than the EPUB on the Kindle previewer…Can I use a KPF file even though my ISBN is registered as ePUB? Thanks, Joy
When creating a book would you click u used AI even though u used canvas AI to come up w an image as oppose to using something like chatgpt??
You should be reporting any use of AI
Ok im in the process of finishing three books. They are in different stages one children book illustrations, one keto book at final editing, and one draft manuscript. But, I want to use other platforms besides kdp. If I use kdp and provide my own isbn number, can I load kdp, and then also load to lulu or Ingram spark? So, can all print on demand publishers use an isbn that I get not from them. Or am I still stuck once I go kdp. I can go no where else?
Very encouraging. Thank you for this inspiring video. We all need encouragement from time to time.
thanks again for the info. I’m a total newb that just got the creative juices going 2 days ago. This stuff is very helpful.