I nearly died of excitement. Not only did it mean 60,000 people were willing to take a chance on my book, but it meant exposure, sales and several other big wins for a tiny little author like me.

How’d I do it? It took blood, sweat, tears and a little luck.

A look into my book marketing strategy

To understand my marketing strategy, we have to rewind about a year.

Around March 2022, I decided to make the first book in my series, Fire in Frost, permafree.

Permafree is a term that simply means the book is always free or “permanently free.”

Though I don’t make any money on downloads of this book, the idea is to capture readers’ attention so they’ll hopefully buy the next books in my series. When I made this decision, I had already self-published the first and second books, and the third was almost ready.

Fast-forward to December 2022. I submitted my free book to BookBub for consideration — for the tenth time. You can only apply once per month, and I was determined to keep trying.

I couldn’t believe it when I got the email saying they’d accepted my book for a feature and were planning to run my ad on January 4, 2023.

What is BookBub? And how does BookBub work?

If you’re not familiar with BookBub, it’s the holy grail of book marketing for fiction authors.

BookBub is what made all the difference in this promotion. If you hang out with other writers long enough, you’ll discover that BookBub is THE place to advertise your books if you can.

But you can read tons of BookBub reviews on the web, and I’d rather go a step further and help you use the tool.

So here’s how BookBub works. The company sends out newsletters to thousands of readers each day. You pay to get your book featured in their newsletters. The price varies depending on the price point of your book and which newsletter you want to be featured in.

They’re willing to consider permanently free books, but in general, they’re looking for book deals that are deeply discounted.

BookBub for authors: How to get a BookBub feature

While BookBub is incredibly effective for authors, it is extremely hard to get your book accepted.

I tried 10 times with my free book before finally getting accepted. I recently had another author friend say she tried 18 times before getting accepted.

With that in mind, there are a couple of things you can do to increase your odds that BookBub will feature your book.

Here are my suggestions for getting your book featured in BookBub:

1. Make it the best deal you can.

BookBub wants to give their readers the best deals, so try to offer your book free (if it’s the first in the series) or for $0.99. They usually won’t feature anything above $2.99, and they’re unlikely to feature your book at that price point if it’s always priced there.

2. Try with the first book in a series.

BookBub seems to like first in the series because (as I understand it) they will make money off affiliate sales of your other books if their readers buy the rest of the series.

3. Make your book available on all platforms and in all territories.

BookBub wants deals that appeal to all their readers. Although they sometimes feature books that are exclusive to Amazon, you typically have a better chance if your book is available on all platforms (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Play) and if the deal is available in all territories (US, UK, Australia, India, and Canada).

4. Have an amazing cover.

Believe it or not, readers really do judge books by their covers, and so do the people over at BookBub. If you have a cover that’s not eye-catching, it’s worth considering a redesign, not just for BookBub but because it will help in all your book promotions.

5. Finish your series.

BookBub finally accepted my deal once the entire series was available for sale on all platforms. This isn’t a guarantee that they’ll accept your book, but it helps because readers don’t want to wait around for the next one. Offering a complete series makes your deal more appealing.

6. Gather reviews.

BookBub doesn’t require a minimum amount of reviews, but more reviews give the impression that your book is more popular. It also gives BookBub’s editors an idea of how readers will respond to your book. You can gather reviews by including a call to action at the end of your book, giving away free copies, or encouraging reviews from people who’ve already read the book.

7. Talk up your book.

BookBub features a comment section when you submit your deal. Use it to talk up your book. Mention if it’s won any awards or what editorial reviewers or big-name authors have said about it. I mentioned that my series had over 200 5-star reviews on Goodreads (at the time), and I think that helped me land a feature on BookBub.

8. Be flexible.

BookBub is in such high demand that if you need a certain date, it might already be full.

Instead, consider planning your promotion around them. They’ll ask you if your date is flexible or not. Be open to anything, and it will increase your chances of getting a feature.

9. Keep submitting.

Submit as often as you can (once a month), and don’t give up!

How to leverage a BookBub ad

After paying for the ad (see cost details below), I knew I needed to devise a game plan.

I wanted to make the most out of this feature. I applied to multiple other ad sites and newsletter services and got accepted to most of them. I planned to run ads that whole week to boost my Amazon rankings.

Most of the ads ended up running on Monday or Tuesday, and the BookBub feature ran on Wednesday. Here’s how my investment broke down:

• BookBub: $115*
• EBook Soda: $15
• Book Goodies: $17.50
• The Fussy Librarian: $5
• Reading Deals: Free
• ReadFree.ly: Free
• EReader News Today: $35
• Many Books: $25

*BookBub ad prices vary depending on your category and price point. I ran my ad for a free book in the Teen & Young Adult category.

I also increased my Amazon ad spending to $10 per day and ended up spending $39.68 during the week of the promo. Plus, I ran Facebook ads for $10 per day and spent $43.69 during the week of the promo. For other free promos, some friends agreed to share the book in their newsletters, and I also shared the freebie with mine.

My goal was to reach as many people as possible with my book promotion. When all was said and done, I spent $295.87 to promote my freebie.

The result? These promos catapulted my free book from around #2,000 in the free Amazon Kindle store to #7 in the entire store. I hit #1 of all free teen books on Kindle.

Here’s what that looked like (see #7):

That high Amazon ranking further increased my exposure and kept the series selling well the entire month, and for months afterward.

Overall in January, I had 33,485 downloads on the Amazon U.S. site, 8,491 downloads on Amazon’s international sites, and 18,325 downloads between Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

What did I get out of my BookBub promotion?

Here’s how I benefited from this book promotion:

I made a profit off my books

You might be wondering why I would do all this just for a free book. After all, I’m not making any money off it, right?

Well, that’d be the case if I only had the one book. By reaching readers with the first book, sales of the second, third, and fourth books also spiked.

By the end of the promo week, I’d already made my money back and more from sales of my other books.

I got lots of positive reviews

After running the promo, my reviews spiked. I’ve received well over 50 more reviews on book one on Amazon, and I’ve now exceeded over 1,000 reviews of the series on Goodreads. All this translates into even more exposure.

I achieved bestseller status on Amazon

Toward the end of the month, I decided to run a quick $0.99 sale on books two, three, and four.

Since the sales boost from this promo had already increased my ranking, this extra sale helped push my books to #1 in their Amazon categories. I also made the top 100 author list for teens.

Granted, it’s no New York Times bestseller, and I won’t be bragging about being an Amazon bestseller on my book covers or anything, but it was a personal goal of mine that I was happy to hit.

It doesn’t matter which genre you specialize in, you’re surely wondered how to become a better writer. I’ll tell all of you the same thing: Writing short stories can improve your writing craft.

For those of you who are wary to spend your time writing short stories, let’s be clear: Writing short stories is not a waste of time.

It doesn’t matter if you publish your stories or not because either way, you’ll get something great out of it— becoming a better writer!

Here’s how short stories can help you become a better writer.

Table of Contents

1. Don’t Worry About Length
2. Focus on Scenes
3. Improve Your Word Choice
4. Tell Backstories
5. Work on Your Self-Editing

5 Ways Writing Short Stories Helps You Become a Better Writer

1. Don’t Worry About Length

Short stories get you writing.

Before I wrote my first novella in 2013, I was honestly scared of writing fiction because I didn’t think I had what it took to write a full-length novel. I’d started and stopped so many stories when I was a kid because I was always aiming for something huge. When I stopped worrying about the word count, my first finished novella came in at 30,000 words.

That’s still a little long for a short story, but the point is this: If you’re worried about length like I was, good stories are going to go left untold.

Take it one small step at a time. I wish I would have written more short stories years ago so I could have honed my craft early on. When you’re writing, your creative juices are flowing, and you need that to help you become a better writer.

Am I saying short stories are only for beginners or aspiring novelists? Of course not, but it definitely does help those who are crippled with fear over length.

2. Focus on Scenes

One thing I’ve noticed in my writing is that when I write long-form fiction, I get focused on reaching the destination and making sure each scene is going to take me there. But when doing that, it’s easy to forget about the scene itself.

Short story writing is a little different.

While you should care about the destination, there are fewer scenes to focus on, allowing you to treat each one with special care.

3. Improve Your Word Choice

The benefit to short stories is that they’re more focused. Sub-plots are minimal, and you typically don’t need to work in as much backstory as in long-form fiction.

Does that mean you should ignore dialogue and description in long-form fiction? Of course not.

But short stories help you exercise your talents to improve your word choice skills and help you learn how to paint vivid pictures for your readers.

4. Tell Backstories

A great exercise is to use short stories to tell stories that don’t make it into your longer form fiction. Dig into your characters’ backstories, or write short stories about secondary characters.

Even if it doesn’t make it into your novel or an anthology, it helps strengthen your other books by giving you deeper insight into your characters and bringing their experiences to life.

Plus, you can always use these short stories as reader magnets, in your newsletter or in anthologies meant to build your readership.

5. Work on Your Self-Editing

Some people might argue with me, but I feel that self-editing a short story is easier than self-editing a novel.

In my experience, you’re less likely to have major plot holes, and when you can read your story in one sitting, it gives you a better comprehensive view on your story.

With fewer scenes and subplots to focus on, you can focus more energy on each scene, your dialogue and word choice. All of this helps you become better at catching inconsistencies, grammar mistakes and other story elements.

One of our sister sites, the Freelance Writer’s Den, is running a bootcamp in the month of October focused entirely on improving your writing skills. Click the banner below or click here for more info.

Writing short stories can be tough. I find them more difficult than writing novels because there’s less room to elaborate on backstory or work in “clues” to the final resolution.

It’s not about cramming a novel into a shorter word count.

While you should still follow a story arc, it doesn’t mean your scenes are fast-paced. It just means there are fewer scenes that get you to the destination, and that gives you the chance to really hone your skills when it comes to dialogue, description, setting, and pace.

If you’re struggling to write short stories, a great tip is to listen to the real-life stories people tell you. These stories almost always follow a story arc with a beginning, middle and end, so it gives you a good place to start to come up with ideas that will suit the “short story” category.

Short stories are not just exercises to help you with long-form fiction. However, they can act that way when you want to improve your writing skills.

Have fun writing, and let us know in the comments below how your latest short story has helped shape your writing.

It’s certainly possible, but not everyone who sells well makes it onto the list. As it turns out, you need to meet certain criteria to even be considered for a list like the USA Today bestseller list.

Earlier this year, I hit the USA Today bestseller list with a multi-author box set.

I then joined a second list-aiming set, and in June, I ran a large promotion on my own series bundle. I didn’t make it that time, but I did learn a lot about what it takes to become a bestselling author.

The USA Today bestseller list ranks the top 150 best-selling books using data collected from the previous week from online and brick-and-mortar retailers. They publish the first 50 in the print version of USA Today and publish the top 150 online every Thursday.

Making the list can mean exposure for you, and the privilege of adding the title of “USA Today Bestselling Author” to your credentials.

Think you might want to aim for the list? Here’s what indie authors need to know before running a promotion.

1. Run your promotion Monday through Sunday

Keep in mind that the bestseller lists only give a snapshot of what’s selling really well during any given week.

That means a book that sells well consistently but never sells thousands in one week may never hit the list.

Likewise, a book that sells really well one week but stops selling well later on — or even goes out of print — can still make it. Even books that are several years old can rise to hit the charts with a good promotional strategy behind them.

The USA Today list adds up sales from the previous Monday through Sunday to determine the bestsellers for that week. So if you’re going to make a go at it, plan your run for those days.

(See point #5 if you plan to make a list run on a new release.)

2. Sell on more than one platform

To be considered for the USA Today bestseller list, your reported sales have to come from more than one platform.

That means that if you’re digitally exclusive to Amazon in KDP Select, you don’t have a chance no matter how many copies you sell. (Unless you’re selling enough print copies, which is rare for indie authors.)

It’s also worth noting that the USA Today list doesn’t collect data from every sales platform. If you’re trying to hit the list by selling enough print copies through print-on-demand (POD) companies like Createspace, those sales won’t count. Furthermore, Google Play isn’t included on their list of contributors, so those sales won’t count, either.

(You can view a list of contributors here.)

That said, if you sell enough copies on platforms like Amazon, Nook, and iBooks, all those sales will combine to determine your book’s ranking. Indie authors typically focus on digital sales.

3. Aim for at least 500 sales on Nook or iBooks

Amazon is arguably the easiest platform to sell on for indie authors, especially when running a major promotion.

However, since you need sales on more than one platform, your best shot at getting enough sales as an indie is to focus on iBooks or Nook as your secondary platform.

However, these two retailers won’t report numbers to the list unless you’ve received 500 U.S. sales for the week. Be sure this goal is part of your promo strategy.

4. Shoot for 6K U.S. sales minimum

There is no real number needed to hit the list.

It all depends on what else is selling that week, and some seasons are more competitive than others. I’ve been told  summertime is a good time to aim for the list because there’s less competition.

However, 6,000 sales is generally a “safe zone” for making the bottom of the list (though it’s best to aim higher because that number is never a guarantee).

Also note that these sales have to be in the U.S. to count.

5. Consider a pre-order period to gather more sales

Any book can make the bestseller list no matter when it was released. However, many authors aim for the list with a new release. One of the benefits to this strategy is that you can set up digital pre-orders on platforms like Amazon, Nook and iBooks.

Note that your Amazon sales ranking is determined based on when a pre-order is placed, but the USA Today list counts your pre-order numbers when the book is released. A pre-order period gives you more time to gather those sales.

A word of warning: Due to time zone differences, pre-order numbers can sometimes hit the night before your scheduled release.

That’s why if you’re going to go this route, you’ll want to release on a Tuesday. That way if pre-orders do hit the night before, you still get those numbers on Monday, which is when the clock starts for your list run.

6. Give it all you’ve got

Make no mistake: Hitting the list isn’t easy, even when multiple authors are working together.

Expect to invest a lot of money into marketing. How much really depends on your genre since some books are easier to sell than others. I’m in the young adult genre, and several authors I know — including myself — didn’t make it with a $2,000-$3,000 marketing budget.

That’s just a marketing figure for the week. It doesn’t count the cost of publishing a book, such as the cover design, editing, formatting, etc. You’ll need all those aspects down first before you run a huge marketing campaign.

It also takes an incredible time commitment. I spent a month of daily work preparing for my solo promotion, but it’s pretty typical for authors to run three-month pre-order periods prior to a list run.

I won’t claim to be an expert on the USA Today list, and I’m sure much of this information is subject to change over the next few years.

However, after aiming for the list three times in the past year, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes, and I hope that other indie authors can learn something from it, too.

Do you plan on trying to hit the USA Today bestseller list within the next year? Tell us about your plans in the comment section.

If people share your posts on social media, that means more traffic to your site, more conversions and more profit. (Ideally!)

But how do you get people to share your content?

Obviously you have social share buttons somewhere on your site. You might even include a call-to-action at the end of your post to get people to share it.

But is there more you can do to optimize your blog posts for social sharing? Yep!

Here are just a few tricks to getting more social shares.

1. Use Click to Tweet links

Click to Tweet is a service that allows you to create custom tweets.

Users simply click the link, and it opens a Twitter window where they can easily tweet the message you’ve prepared for them. (They can also edit and personalize the message before tweeting.)

So let’s say you shared an awesome statistic or said something worth quoting.

Place that in your custom message with a link to your blog post and your username, generate a link, and insert it into your post with anchor text like, “Tweet That Stat!”

Click to Tweet allows you to try the service for free, or you can upgrade to track your link activity of unlimited links.

Personally, I use the social sharing WordPress plugin Social Warfare. They have tons of amazing features, including a built-in Click to Tweet function. But what makes them better is that you can choose from a variety of styles to make the tweet stand out and get more people to share it.

Plus, you can easily set up the custom links right from your WordPress dashboard.

Here’s what it looks like in a real blog post:

The actual tweet that goes out includes the message plus the link to the blog post and your username.

This is a great way to drive shares because it doesn’t take much effort on the reader’s part, and it gets them to share thought-provoking messages while you have their attention on that specific topic.

Tip: When creating custom tweets, you can include a link to a photo on Twitter, and that picture will show up in the tweet. Here’s how to create custom tweets with images.

2. Enable pin-it buttons on images

Pinterest is a great social network for attracting new readers, especially if you’re writing about visual topics such as beauty, crafts, interior design, or cooking. (Other industries can drive traffic through Pinterest, too, so don’t write it off just because you’re not a food or beauty blogger.)

To make it easy for readers to share your featured image or other visuals scattered throughout your post, add a Pinterest button to your site that appears when you hover over the image.

If you’re on WordPress, it’s easy! Simply install any Pinterest Pin It button plugin, configure your settings, and you’re good to go!

All that said, you want to make sure you’re using high-quality images that will entice people to share on all social networks.

Not only will this increase direct shares of your blog posts, but your posts will perform better on those social platforms. If you’re on a budget, it’s easy to find free images on sites like Pexels or Pixabay and customize them with software like Canva.

3. Optimize your title and meta description

When someone shares your blog post on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, or other social platforms, the site automatically pulls the title and meta description for the post.

That means you have to optimize this information for social media.

Make sure your blog post headline is catchy and short. If it’s too long, users won’t see the full title. You usually want to stick with less than 70 characters in your blog post title.

The same is true of your meta description. However, it can be longer than the title, so it gives you some more room to capture people’s attention. Meta descriptions are usually 155 characters or shorter.

A plugin like Yoast SEO makes it easy to add meta descriptions. Keep in mind that your title and meta description will also show up in search engine results as well.

If you want something different between search engines and social, there is a way around that.

I mentioned Social Warfare earlier. The plugin actually lets you add a custom social media title and description separate from your other metadata so you can further optimize your posts for social sharing. It’s worth checking out if you’d like the versatility to customize your messages for social media.

Here’s what it looks like in WordPress:

By drawing attention to social sharing through Click to Tweet links, making it easy to share on Pinterest, and optimizing your metadata for maximum social impact, you should see more social shares from your blog and traffic to your blog.

Which social sharing tool mentioned here will you use first?

That’s why it’s smart to re-evaluate your blog at least once a year.

Take a look at where you’ve been, where you’d like to be and how you’re going to get there.

Don’t forget to take into account ever-changing factors in the blogging world, from website design to blog topic trends.

Start by considering these five New Year’s resolutions for your blog in 2018.

1. Get visual

More and more content marketers are moving from text-only content to visual content.

Convince and Convert predicts that businesses and bloggers will become more creative with their content in 2018. Not only do people love visual content, but search engines are becoming better at analyzing images and using them to determine what your site’s about.

For you, this means using more images, gifs and cinemagraphs on your blog and on social media.

This year, it’s also predicted that site owners will move away from the stock photo in favor of custom photography to stand out from the crowd. A great goal to start with is using custom photos for each blog post, with each one designed for social sharing.

Freelance writer Elna Cain’s blog is the perfect example of how to design images for social sharing. (Notice how the design is consistent with her branding, too!)

2. Start a video series

As long as you’re moving to a more visual blog, you might consider starting a scheduled video series. Video is hot.

According to the statistics:

• Facebook sees 8 billion video views per day.
• Compared to text and images combined, social video gets 1,200 percent more shares.
• Marketers who use video grow their revenue 49 percent faster than those who don’t.
• By 2018, 79 percent of all internet traffic will come from video.

Does that mean you have to swap your blog out for a vlog? Of course not.

But seeing as Google favors videos (since they own YouTube) and it can improve SEO, incorporating video into your blogging strategy can help grow your traffic and engagement.

If you don’t have one already, consider starting a YouTube channel and posting on relevant topics at least once a month. Another idea is to begin scheduling Facebook Live videos to engage your current fans.

3. Write more niche content

With a flood of online content hitting readers daily, it doesn’t pay to rehash old topics.

To get noticed, you have to dig deep and write to a niche audience.

We’ve all read generic posts on beating writer’s block, haven’t we? Instead of writing about “Top 10 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block,” dig into one technique or tool. Talk about how to use yoga to beat writer’s block or how to teach yourself to lucid dream so you can brainstorm in your sleep.

Be specific.

Here are some ideas to help you come up with niche-focused ideas:

• Look through lists you’ve written before. Recycle old ideas by focusing on a single list item.
• Write about how a specific tool, app or technique can help solve a certain problem.
• Tell true stories or highlight unique case studies.
• Write timely pieces focusing on current news, trends, or developments in your industry.

Be sure to keep a running list of ideas in Trello, on your phone or in a good old-fashioned notebook.

4. Improve engagement

Every blogger wants more followers, more comments, more newsletter subscribers, etc.

Increasing engagement should be an ongoing goal of yours to grow your blog and increase profit (assuming you monetize your blog or want to in the future).

The difference this year is that you’ll want to start measuring engagement if you aren’t doing so already. Things you can measure include:

• Comments
• Social shares
• Social followers
• Newsletter subscribers
• Inbound links

This year, measure it! If you want more comments on your blog, take a look at how many you’re averaging per post. Consider how much you want to average, when you’d like to achieve that goal, and how you’ll get there. For example, you might include questions at the end of every post and make a point to respond to every comment personally.

Also think about how these smaller goals play into the overall goal of your blog. Are those comments turning people into leads and then into customers and boosting your profits?

5. Set a work schedule

As a blogger, it’s easy to get wrapped up in being online 24/7, but you have to take care of yourself as well as your blog. If you don’t, your blog will suffer.

Make it a point to set boundaries this year so you can achieve work-life balance.

That means setting a time that you’ll shut down your computer every night. It means taking a lunch break instead of eating in front of the computer. It means giving yourself permission to step away from the internet on the weekends and spend time with your family.

This year, outline a work schedule, whether you blog full-time or are a hobby blogger. This will keep you from burning out so you’re more productive when you’re blogging.

Remember when setting goals that they should be SMART: specific, measureable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

It helps to write down your goals and share them with someone, whether it’s with a writing partner or your blog followers. Stay accountable by sharing your milestones and achievements with those same people.

Start by sharing your 2018 blogging goals with us. Comment below with a specific goal you’d like to achieve by the end of 2018.

According to a 2014 survey, 54 percent of traditionally published authors and almost 80 percent of self-published authors make less than $1,000 per year, says The Guardian. Because of this, most authors stay at their day jobs to support their families.

But if you love the writing and publishing world, your skills don’t have to get stuck in hobby mode. If you’re not making enough money to support yourself through fiction writing, there are other careers you can pursue using your writing and marketing expertise.

Consider one of these other jobs in the writing and publishing industries.

Careers Outside of Fiction Writing

If your passion lies in the writing side of being an author, consider becoming a freelance writer. If you don’t want to run your own business, there are also opportunities to work with content agencies or on marketing teams.

As a fiction author, you have the unique skills to work in the following areas because they require storytelling skills and creativity. Writers must be able to appeal to an audience in a way that doesn’t come across as dry, and you already have experience in that! Some non-fiction writing opportunities include:

1. Copywriting

Copywriters write a variety of promotional content, such as website copy, email newsletters, advertisements, and brochure copy. The writer’s goal is to get people to take action. As a copywriter, you’ll need to become familiar with marketing, user experience, and headline creation.

Numerous free guides can help you learn the basics of copywriting, such as Quicksprout’s The Definitive Guide to Copywriting.

2. Blogging

When I suggest blogging as a career, I don’t mean starting your own blog and making money through ads (although that is a viable way to make money, and it can even help boost your book sales if you appeal to the same audience).

Instead, I’m talking about writing blog posts for clients.

Though I’m a fiction author, freelance blogging is my primary source of income. The types of blog posts I write look just like the one you’re reading! I personally make anywhere from $60 to $200 per post depending on the length and topic.

Not all blogs pay, but once you find clients to work for, it’s a good source of ongoing income since blogs continuously need new content.

3. Ghostwriting

Ghostwriting can be any form of writing, from blog posts to screenplays to full-length fiction novels. However, the content all has one thing in common: you’re not credited as the author.

Although someone else takes the credit, ghostwriting is a great way to turn your creativity into profit, and it can help you hone your writing skills.

Careers in the Publishing Industry

If you’d rather save your creative writing juices for your own projects, that’s OK.

As an author, you have more than just writing skills, and these skills can come in handy by helping out other authors. You might work through traditional publishers big or small or privately with indie authors.

These jobs will keep you immersed in the publishing industry:

4. Private Assisting

Becoming a private assistant (PA) to other authors means you’ll be marketing other writers’ books. With the connections you forge for other authors, you can also leverage in marketing your own books. PA duties typically include:

• Setting up Facebook release parties
• Organizing book-release blitzes and blog tours
• Marketing book sales
• Submitting books to advertising sites
• Setting up Thunderclap campaigns
• Writing authors’ email newsletters
• Sending books to bloggers for review

The list goes on. I personally see author PAs charge around $100-$250 per month per client.

You may agree to spend a specific number of hours on that author’s work per month, but keep in mind that you can perform some tasks for all your clients at once.

5. Editing

If you’re good at spotting grammatical errors, issues with sentence structure, plot holes, and other story elements, you might consider becoming an editor.

Just remember that your own books serve as a sample of your writing and editing capabilities, so make sure they’re thoroughly edited. Keep in touch with other authors since these connections will be your most likely clients.

6. Cover and graphic design

If you’re talented with visual art and know how to use Photoshop, another option is to offer book cover design and graphic design. I typically see designers charging anywhere from $60 to $150 for premade cover work and around $125 to $250 for custom covers.

Some well-known and in-demand cover designers charge upwards of $400-$800 for custom work, and sometimes even more for custom photography.

Aside from book design, you can also design author logos, website images, teaser graphics, Facebook header images, release-party graphics, and more.

7. Book formatting

Indie authors and traditional publishers alike need someone to format their books for print, Kindle, and ePub. If you have experience with this or are willing to learn, it’s a great service to offer.

Some formatters charge by word count, and others charge by the hour. Industry rates typically fall between $45 and $85 per hour. You can charge on the upper end if you design graphics for the interior.

8. Author web design

Another service that’s needed in the industry is web design. If you have a coding background or experience with web design, why not offer this service specifically for authors?

Although you can branch out, focusing specifically on one niche — author websites! — can help you position yourself as a go-to designer for writers. Plus, it helps you build connections that could benefit your own books.

If you like the idea of staying in touch with the writing or publishing industries, consider one of these career paths to supplement your fiction writing income.

Which one of these roles would best suit your skills?

Then you might consider self-publishing. It’s a simple and fast publishing route that can help you see your book in print.

But slow down!

I was once as eager as you are. I wrote my first novella, Where the Darkness Ends, in August of 2013. By September, I already had the book in hand.

And now I completely regret it.

Why I regret rushing into self-publishing

I’m not afraid to admit the first book I ever published wasn’t very good. I hadn’t done much longform writing before, and I didn’t even let anyone read it before publishing it.

Sure, people have told me they liked the book, but I could have done so much more with it if I took my time.

The problem is even though you can make updates to a book, you can’t get rid of it once you publish it. Amazon and Goodreads will not remove books from your profile even if they’re out of print.

So you have the choice to put out a book that will need future changes, or you can do it right the first time and stand proud of your accomplishments.

I wish I had taken the time and money to produce a higher-quality book the first time.

How to avoid the regret

If you only want your best work out there for the public, I suggest following these tips to launch your book with confidence:

1. Take a breather

Between every self-edit, give yourself at least two weeks to clear your mind before going back to the story. This helps you spot grammatical errors and plot holes easier.

By the way, if you haven’t edited your book, you’re not ready to publish it. Edit for story elements like plot and characters, not just grammar and spelling.

2. Get feedback on your book

Take your time and let other people read and critique your work before you publish. That way, you can fix major plot holes, inconsistencies, character arcs, and other issues paying customers might have a problem with.

You might consider working with a professional editor, too.

3. Hire a proofreader

One thing I’ve learned that’s true of all authors is we simply are too close to our work to look at it objectively. It’s too easy to skim over errors like “your” vs. “you’re” because you’ll read your book the way you intended to write it.

Someone else can easily catch those errors, but if you don’t ask someone to do it, you’ll end up with reviewers pointing out your mistakes for you.

4. Pay for a professional cover

You’ve probably heard this a million times, but it needs repeating. Your book cover is your #1 marketing tool. It’s the first thing people will see, and it will either push them away from your book or draw them into the blurb, reviews, and excerpts to decide whether it’s worth buying or not.

This was the first cover for my novelette, In My Head. I created it myself using a stock image and Photoshop.

Eventually, I purchased a professional cover from the designers at TheCoverCollection.com, and I have seen a lot more downloads after uploading the new cover to Amazon and other platforms.

Do yourself a favor and don’t try to create your own cover unless you’re also a designer. Most authors aren’t very good at this. With the exception of my current Where the Darkness Ends cover, all of my covers were professionally designed, and all my future books will have professionally designed covers.

I put this one together using a stock image and Photoshop, but that was only after taking several graphic design classes. I still wouldn’t recommend it and no longer try to make my own covers. There are plenty of professional designers out there who can do a much better job and create unique artwork at an affordable price.

Designers are all over the place. Search on Facebook or Google, or ask around for recommendations from author friends, and you shouldn’t have a hard time finding a quality designer.

5. Have your marketing plan ready

With my first book, I thought if I put it out there, all my friends and family would be eager to buy it.

They weren’t.

Now when I publish books, I know which day it will go live, what types of promotions I’ll run and when, which promotional sites I’ll submit to, etc. I also set up blog tours and launch parties, and I design social media images before the book launches. Without a plan on how to get the word out, it’s unlikely you’ll get much exposure — if any — for your book.

You can be successful

None of this is to discount the credibility of self-publishing. I’m still an independent author. With my first full-length novel, Fire in Frost, I slowed down and put more time and money into the book. As a result, it’s earned several awards and dozens of favorable reviews.

A friend of mine once pointed out there’s a difference in mindset between self-publishing and independent publishing. Self-publishing implies you’re doing everything on your own. Independent publishing is more about building your own team, and that’s the route I’ve taken with all my full-length novels.

You can become a successful independent author, but it takes time, hard work, and sometimes a little bit of money.

Or you can rush into things and regret it. The choice is yours.

What have you learned about the challenges of self publishing? How have you adjusted your methods?

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you purchase through our links, you’re supporting The Write Life — and we thank you for that!

That’s great! You should be using your website to reel in clients, but what if you’re not seeing results?

You know what I mean. You spent weeks of sleepless nights fighting with your theme, researching plugins and arranging your widgets so that you’d have at least a half-decent writing website.

Do you hear that? That’s nothing but the sound of crickets coming from your contact form. Either nobody cares about your services or you’ve gone the wrong direction with your site.

Tons of people are looking for writers, so chances are it’s not the former. That leaves your writer website as the issue. Where are you going wrong?

You don’t have a clear call-to-action

One thing I see a lot of writers miss is a clear call-to-action (CTA), and it’s crippling your website’s effectiveness.

What’s a call-to-action? It’s web-speak for asking visitors to do something on your website. That could be signing up for your newsletter, or getting in touch for a quote, or buying an ebook. Getting people to visit your website is only half the battle; you won’t make any progress if they don’t take the action you want them to take.

In a case study, ContentVerve.com found that tweaking a single word increased click-through rates by 90 percent. Imagine what having a decent CTA could do for you!

The two most common errors are:

1. You don’t include a CTA at all

You might make this first mistake because you’re under the impression your prospects know where to go next. It’s a no-brainer to head to the contact page to get a quote, right?

However, it’s important to show website visitors what you want them to do next. That way, prospects won’t end up all over the place without any direction.

Even if “contact me” is implied, it’s worth giving the information explicitly. This way, you get prospects onto page two without them having to think too much about it. Plus, there’s no confusion, such as whether you’re available for hire.

2. You include too many CTAs

Here’s an example with too many CTAs:

Want to learn more about me? Check out my about page, then take a look at my portfolio to view my samples. If you’re still not convinced you want to hire me, visit my testimonials page to see what past clients have to say.

Ready to get started? Contact me for a quote!

Here, you’re giving prospects four choices, but exactly what you want them to do next isn’t clear. Should they follow these steps in this exact order? What is the most important step to take next?

If prospects explore your first three pages before getting to your contact tab, they may get distracted or run out of time before they get a chance to contact you.

See where both of these mistakes can point clients in the wrong direction?

How to develop a clear call-to-action

If your site is falling victim to one of these common errors, here’s how to fix it.

Step 1: Determine your website’s goal

As a freelance writer, your main goal is likely to get clients to contact you for your services. It’s not to get them to read your blog or even to download your free gift, yet many writers stick with these CTAs.

If building your email list or getting exposure on your blog really is the focus of your writer website, then by all means go with it, but be sure you’re really thinking about what you want your site to do for you.

Step 2: Explore and decide on a CTA variation

You can say the same thing in lots of ways, so don’t be afraid to experiment with different wording.

Look back at step 1. Your main CTA should be some variation of this ultimate goal.

Here are some examples if you decide to go with the “contact me” CTA:

• Contact me
• Shoot me an email
• Get in touch
• Let’s chat
• Drop me a line
• Get a quote
• Tell me about your content strategy

Play with CTAs until you find one that fits your goal and your writing voice.

Step 3: Place it prominently

A quality CTA includes an eye-catching design, explains editor Ginny Soskey on Hubspot. As she suggests:

Your CTAs’ colors should contrast with your website design, yet also appear large enough to be noticed (we’ve seen them perform best around 225px wide and 45px high).

Lots of writers include a link within their content as their CTA. This isn’t a bad way to go if you’re clear about it.

However, a well-designed CTA button placed prominently is likely to get more attention than a single link in your content, since it really draws the eyes. If your theme doesn’t feature a button on the homepage, create your own at ButtonOptimizer.com and place it above the fold (i.e. so your potential client doesn’t have to scroll to see it).

Not all prospects will land on your website via your homepage, so be sure your CTA is clear across your website. A sidebar button, for example, can also work well so that it appears on all pages.

Step 4: Consider your alternative CTAs

I’m not suggesting that you should have only one CTA; I’m only saying it should be clear what your main call-to-action is. You might go with “contact me” as a primary CTA, while a secondary one could be “join my mailing list.”

When you have more than one CTA, be conscious of how they work together. If your secondary CTA is higher on the page, has more contrasting colors or features a larger content box, it may appear as your primary CTA when that’s not your intent. Take a look at these web design hierarchical elements to make your primary CTA stand out against the others.

If you have to ask whether your CTA is clear,  it probably isn’t. Even so, it’s worth asking a friend to take a look at your site and to report back on his or her impression.

Do you feature a clear call-to-action on your site? Tell us what it is and how you draw attention to it! Does it work well for you?

1. You’re passionate about writing and want to learn as much as you can about the industry

2. You think writing sounds like a great way to make easy money from home, and you want in on the riches

People from one of these groups are likely to build solid writing careers, while those from the other group are inevitably going to crash and burn. Pretty obvious, isn’t it?

Using passion is crucial to fuel your writing career. If you’re 100 percent committed to writing for a living, you stand a better chance of succeeding than if you’re just in it for the money.

If you’re not sure whether you love writing enough to make a serious go at it, it’s time for a gut check.

Why passion is important

Passion is the driving force to success.

In a technology forum at BYU, Mark Zuckerberg said:

“I think it’s important if you’re going to take on any big challenge, that you just love and really have faith in what you’re doing. That I think is the most important advice I would say, more than any specific technical thing about how to build a company.”

Billionaire Warren Buffett also said, “You have to love something to do well at it.”

And what about Steve Jobs? He said, “People with passion can change the world for the better.”

These insanely successful people have one thing in common: they all believed in themselves and had a passion for what they did.

Here’s why passion will help you succeed:

• You’ll put in the hours to learn the craft.

• You’ll be energized to work towards your big writing dreams.

• You’ll keep writing even when you don’t see results.

To use your passion to your biggest advantage, make sure you do these two things:

Continue learning. No writer’s talents ever peak. Keep learning and keep improving.

Share your passion with the world. Publish a blog post. Self-publish a poetry collection. Submit your novel to publishers. Whatever project it is, share it with others.

How to find your writing passion

Simply being passionate about writing doesn’t always guarantee success; you also have to have a passion for what you’re writing about.

Explore your passions and you’ll be driving yourself toward success:

• Look at your current passions and hobbies. Can you write about those?

• Test drive different subjects and decide which ones you enjoy writing about.

• Create meaningful goals to help you on your journey.

• Try different types of writing (poetry, fiction, blogging, etc.) to get a better idea of what type of writing you enjoy.

• Write for 15 minutes a day about anything. You’ll begin gravitating toward the things you love most.

• Step away from your computer and start trying new things.

For a more in-depth exploration of your writing passion, check out Barrie Davenport’s post on “6 Key Steps to Finding Your Passion as a Writer” at Write to Done.

How has passion helped you succeed as a writer?