# Biggest Mistake YOU made in self-publishing



## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

Maybe this will be helpful to those getting started. List your biggest mistake of self-publishing. I'll list two (although I've made many more):

1) Hitting the Publish button the day after the 2nd biggest holiday in the USA: July 5th. Duh.
And:
2) Throwing advertising money at my 1st book to try to keep the rankings up, instead of writing the second to create a funnel for buyers, and THEN paying for advertising. FacePalm.


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

MeganBryce said:


> I was going to say I haven't made any mistakes...it's all a learning experience.  But then I read your list and realized, yeah, I have one.
> 
> I released my last new release January 1. Won't be doing that again!


Yeah...that's probably not a big day for buying books either, lol.


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## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

I didn't start off in romance. Who knew?


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## MrPLD (Sep 23, 2010)

Investing time & money in to all the ancillary things in attempts to draw in interest, and ignoring the book itself.


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## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

Ditto on the holiday. Released one on Thanksgiving.   Did not go as planned. Now I figure either before or after.

Letting fans rush me. It's great to be wanted and I'm really glad they are so enthusiastic but I'm not going to kill myself to get something out anymore. Last time I did that, someone asked the very same day if I'd put out the next book early.   Not unless there's a padded room involved.  

But the biggest mistake at all, having no faith in my own writing and not starting sooner. I loved editing but there is a reward in writing that I just never got in editing. It's given me so much more than I could ever express.


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## MrPLD (Sep 23, 2010)

Bethany B. said:


> Ditto on the holiday. Released one on Thanksgiving.  Did not go as planned. Now I figure either before or after.
> 
> Letting fans rush me. It's great to be wanted and I'm really glad they are so enthusiastic but I'm not going to kill myself to get something out anymore. Last time I did that, someone asked the very same day if I'd put out the next book early.  Not unless there's a padded room involved.


Yes, a big one here. We burned up a lot of money to make things ready sooner, and it was a mess - now we try very hard to keep our cool and go with "It's ready when it's ready, not when the schedule says it should be".


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## Moist_Tissue (Dec 6, 2013)

Allowing other people to convince me that self-publishing wasn't a legitimate option if I wanted to be a successful author.


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## Lionel&#039;s Mom (Aug 22, 2013)

Not having a mailing list until almost 6 months in.


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## D.L. Shutter (Jul 9, 2011)

Not publishing at least two novels a year starting in 2010. Like I told myself I would back then.


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## Nymirra (Mar 15, 2014)

Bethany B. said:


> But the biggest mistake at all, having no faith in my own writing and not starting sooner.


Yes!

I live in a very small country where perhaps... 50-100 authors can make a living from traditional publishing. I never thought I would be one of those, mostly because I prefer writing in English rather than my native language. I had resigned myself to writing just being one of those weird hobbies. Then I discovered self-publishing. I still struggle with a lack of faith in my writing, but I have friends who (Truthfully or not) encourage me to go on regardless. At this point, I'm just kicking myself that I didn't start until mid 2013.

The second big mistake also has little to do with the field itself. Due to RL circumstances, there was a 5-month break in my release schedule. Given that I publish erotic shorts, that pretty much dropped my fledgeling career off the map. Luckily it has picked up again very well after I returned in the middle of February 2014.

There are other mistakes I know I am making, like not having a mailing list, but I can't afford a P.O Box right now. At least I'm aware of it and will fix it when I can, eh?


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

Overreacting to all the dips and snags, forgetting that an author's career is a long one and that ebooks are forever, feeling like everything was do or die. 

Also glad I didn't come to kboards until later, frankly, until I was already selling well, because it's so easy to compare yourself to others, to doubt your own process and progress. Of course, there's a lot of value here, too, but opinions can get very decided, it can get easy to second-guess your gut. 

Still working on both those things.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

Getting sidetracked with all sorts of random projects instead of placing my own career growth first and staying focused on my series.  That and not getting a treadmill desk sooner.  I don't know if I will ever lose these pounds from my first year as a full-time writer...


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

L.L. Akers said:


> Maybe this will be helpful to those getting started. List your biggest mistake of self-publishing. I'll list two (although I've made many more):
> 
> 1) Hitting the Publish button the day after the 2nd biggest holiday in the USA: July 5th. Duh.
> And:
> 2) Throwing advertising money at my 1st book to try to keep the rankings up, instead of writing the second to create a funnel for buyers, and THEN paying for advertising. FacePalm.


OMG, the biggest mistake I made was starting and abandoning a teeny weeny mailing that I began back in 2001. I didn't start again until July 2013. I'm at 1003 now, I could have been at 3k, 4k by now? Then again, the ones I have are what I would call quality readers. Fans in other words. I don't do giveaways to get them. They sign up after reading my books using the link at the back. They want more books not gifts, so I am comfortable with those 1003 subs. Still, I can't help wondering you know?


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

1) Not self-publishing sooner.

2) Not starting a mailing list until four or five months in.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

For me it was having my first three books all be different genres. Readers like to know what to expect of you when you're a new author.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


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## ChrisWard (Mar 10, 2012)

Not starting sooner, that's all. Everything else has been part of the learning process.


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2014)

1) Only releasing one book in my first year of self-publishing.
2) Throwing away a lot of money on advertising that book, and there wasn't even a second book to buy.


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## von19 (Feb 20, 2013)

This is very informative and helpful. 

Sent from International Space Station using Tapatalk


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## NicWilson (Apr 16, 2011)

Saying "I work as a graphic designer; I can do my own covers!" 
I've had almost all of my covers redone, because the original covers were not at all targeted to the market.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

1) Spending a fortune on more web hosting than I needed.

2) Not writing more.

3) Not working on edits for more of my first drafts so that I can actually publish them.


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

Releasing my not-a-Christmas-story on Dec 17 with no advertising.

asking a non-professional friend to do the cover for Heart of Rock

not putting illustrations in my books earlier.

oh, and I can think of so many more... I've learned so much from this group!


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## phil1861 (Dec 22, 2011)

Not vetting our first editor - who did this professionally and was a college buddy. He had a business and a process but alas was not doing this for people writing books but for businesses writing proposals, etc. 

Not keeping up with this editor and allowing him to drag the process out waaay to long. 

Not reading through the final returned ms before accepting it and paying - many corrected mistakes were reintroduced due to his process of sending a chapter or several at a time for acceptance instead of the whole thing at once. 

Being late to the email list start. I did let the first year go by with only one book out but no way to have readers reach me or stay in touch. Facebook was where I poured all my energy and money into building a fan base that turned into half click farm generated.


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2014)

Rosalind James said:


> Overreacting to all the dips and snags, forgetting that an author's career is a long one and that ebooks are forever, feeling like everything was do or die.
> 
> Also glad I didn't come to kboards until later, frankly, until I was already selling well, because it's so easy to compare yourself to others, to doubt your own process and progress. Of course, there's a lot of value here, too, but opinions can get very decided, it can get easy to second-guess your gut.
> 
> Still working on both those things.


Rosalind, I agree with Chris Vaughn. I always enjoy reading your posts. You inspire and encourage, and you don't get off on dissing people.


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## nico (Jan 17, 2013)

cassidycayman said:


> Not having a mailing list until almost 6 months in.


Seconded. Not having a mailing list when our first book shot up the rankings, never to recapture the same glory again (so far).


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Joe_Nobody said:


> I didn't start off in romance. Who knew?


   

Not starting earlier (self-pubbing and mailing list)
Paying someone to send queries to a bunch of reviewers instead of doing that work myself. (Money, meet drain)
Moping over reviews (this is an ongoing mistake that I can't seem to shake)


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

Not using Scrivener to format my epubs. OMG. It formats fantastic epubs. ARG. Damn you Microsoft Word! Damn you.


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## Mark Dawson (Mar 24, 2012)

Not getting a mailing list until later in the day.

But, by far, finishing a book and publishing it in October 2013 and then forgetting about it until 2014. I was spinning my wheels and lost a chance to get established earlier.


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## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

I would echo not starting self-publishing my work sooner.
The other is starting three series when I first started out. I know I lost fans across each of them because it took me too long bouncing between them to finish them all.


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## KristenDaRay (Aug 4, 2012)

I have one that I almost dwell upon:

First: pushing my first book out with just an edit and not a proof read after. *silly silly girl*

Now, I also have one that isn't about my experience publishing, but trying to "graduate" my self from college to the real world too early:

I tried to start an editing business. HA! I'm a professional writing major, and while I passed my tech editing class with flying colors, that doesn't mean I had any business editing someone else's novel. It's different. Anyway after realizing that, I refunded my one customer and moved on. I realized soon after my new internship that my skills are on the "creative detailed" side rather than the "editing a full novel" detailed side. I can create posters, videos, and covers (I just started on covers, though). I can format books and handle social media. That is what my professor advises me to do and she says I'm more than qualified to handle that line of work. That is what I'll pursue in the months following my upcoming graduation (May).  And while my "degree" says I should be qualified to edit long works too, it's not something I'm strong at and I should exclude editing novels from my resume.

Hope that wasn't too off topic, but I think it could shed some light for some writers in college as well. Just because your degree says you should be qualified doesn't always mean that your talent lies there. I think college qualifies you for the bare minimum and in this business, these authors needs above and beyond that. It's all about experience and talent. I've accepted that I'm not an editor, no matter how much money I paid for classes to help me improve. I'm a creator and while my degree prepares me for the bare minimum of what I have studied, I feel confident that I can stretch above and beyond that.

Edited to include a note: So there isn't any confusion on what all my field of study includes, I will basically add that the Professional Writing field is a jack of all traits, so to speak. By the end of our college careers we should be able to: technical write; technical edit; ghost write; format books; create and format covers, posters, business cards, and etc.; write a video script and format the video; know the ins and outs of all social media writing and be able to apply them; and so much more.

This is why it was hard for me to know what I was better at. I thought I had to actually do everything in that list and if I didn't I failed in my studies. In reality, I only need to do what I am capable of doing right and well--very well.


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## cwashburn (May 20, 2013)

For my first novel paying iUniverse $1000 to do what I didn't know I could do myself.  At least I stopped at $1000.  Some people have paid much more.


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Publishing my first book without a proper edit and garnering some deserved one and two star reviews before getting it fixed up.

Those reviews are there forever, even though the errors are gone.


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## Incognita (Apr 3, 2011)

Saying, "Oh, I don't want to write series. I want to write standalone novels!"

Oy. Learned my lesson on that one.

Also, echoing the mailing list thing. I didn't start mine until I'd been publishing for more than two years.


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## Fictionista (Sep 14, 2012)

Lydniz said:


> 1) Not self-publishing sooner.
> 
> 2) Not starting a mailing list until four or five months in.


Totally agree with number 1. I spent months and months shopping around my first book to publishing houses and small presses, thinking I needed to get my book published with them in order to feel validated as a writer / author. I did eventually get it published with a small press and thought it was the be all to end all---measly sales and all. Then I discovered this forum and learned of all the successes people were having with self-publishing. If only I'd known this type of freedom sooner...


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## sandarr (Mar 8, 2014)

My biggest mistake is being a procrastinator, a big one! I earn my living as a writer and find it easy to put off personal projects.  I have had 18 novels sitting unpublished since 2004-2005 in both fiction and non-fiction. I have had offers for traditional publishing that just have not interested me. I decided it is time to change this and start getting them published.


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## SomethingClever (Mar 9, 2014)

I agree with the not starting to self publish sooner.

Also, putting up one short story under my name in July 2013 and nothing since then because I'm still working on my novel.

Participating in a box set under my pen name with the first story she had out - with nothing else up. The box set did very well but there was no other story for readers to buy by my pen name. I have since put out another story by her but the momentum is gone.


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## Jason Eric Pryor (Jan 30, 2013)

I promoted my first book before there was a second book available. I was so curious as to how the self-publishing process worked that I wanted to try everything right away, including running free promos. Well, the good news is my free promos were a huge success. The bad news is there was nothing for anyone to buy after they got the first book.


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## LBrent (Jul 1, 2013)

Being too much of a fraidy cat to start sooner and being too much of a control freak (still working on both).


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

1. Taking too long to stop equating self-publishing with vanity publishing.
2. Letting myself be put off self-publishing because of the hassles of getting the US government to honour the tax treaty and not charge me 30% withholding tax.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

Letting a year pass between publishing Book 1 and Book 2 of my series. I'm repeating the mistake. Many months have passed since publishing Book 2. I vow it will NOT be another full year!


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## Eskimo (Dec 31, 2013)

Not starting a few years earlier...


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## Wansit (Sep 27, 2012)

Not making the next book my priority above all else from the start.


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## tknite (Feb 18, 2014)

Let's see...

1.) Didn't start my mailing list until after the new release rush had passed -- because I didn't know mailing lists were a "thing."
2.) Bumbling my first release because I didn't quite get the mechanics of new release pricing.
3.) Not sending out ARCs sooner to build reviews quicker so I could have access to promos.
4.) Paying for a "release day blitz" with a blog tour company that failed to get any visibility for my book.

And...the list goes on, but my issues get progressively more minor. I've learned. My second release strategy is largely based around lessons learned from my Echoes release screw-ups.


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

Sapphire said:


> Letting a year pass between publishing Book 1 and Book 2 of my series. I'm repeating the mistake. Many months have passed since publishing Book 2. I vow it will NOT be another full year!


Me too, Sapphire. I'm trying to dig my heels in... This third one is really tough. I just want to move on to something else!


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## Jason Eric Pryor (Jan 30, 2013)

Sapphire said:


> Letting a year pass between publishing Book 1 and Book 2 of my series. I'm repeating the mistake. Many months have passed since publishing Book 2. I vow it will NOT be another full year!


Same here. I was laid off work when I wrote Book 1. I went back to work right around the time I started Book 2 and it took forever to write. I will not allow that much time to pass between books again.


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## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

Not so much self publishing but publishing with a small epublisher - I didn't understand the difference between a content editor and a copy editor and obviously neither did my publisher.  

Once on my own, that has been rectified. 

I also didn't start a mailing list until very recently - so kicking myself for that omission.


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## kwest (Mar 16, 2013)

Giving up in early 2011 when my first self published book was a flunk. I waited almost two years before writing Wasteland Chronicles, which was not a flunk. How many books could I have written, or how much could I have worked on my craft, during those months?


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Sapphire said:


> Letting a year pass between publishing Book 1 and Book 2 of my series. I'm repeating the mistake. Many months have passed since publishing Book 2. I vow it will NOT be another full year!


This is my problem, too, though it will have been more than two years, not one. I don't see much way of changing the pattern, unfortunately. I obviously suck at balancing family obligations, the day job, and writing.


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## sstroble (Dec 16, 2013)

L.L. Akers said:


> Maybe this will be helpful to those getting started. List your biggest mistake of self-publishing. I'll list two (although I've made many more):
> 
> 1) Hitting the Publish button the day after the 2nd biggest holiday in the USA: July 5th. Duh.
> And:
> 2) Throwing advertising money at my 1st book to try to keep the rankings up, instead of writing the second to create a funnel for buyers, and THEN paying for advertising. FacePalm.


1. Thinking that just putting the book out there will automatically bring readers
2. Believing the wrong advice just because 9 out 10 blogs say the same thing


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## Maia Sepp Ross (May 10, 2013)

1) Not doing enough due diligence on the promos I used when I started out (and losing a lot of $$)
2) Not having a backup plan and getting trapped in the timeline of a freelancer who had no intention of producing a product in a reasonable time (ie 6 months for a completed project). Now I have backups for cover artists, editors, etc.


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

I've made many, but one thing I don't regret is trying new things. Some don't work, but many do.

The one thing I wish I would have done from the beginning was to put a *link* to my mailing list in the books. I waited way too long to do that. What was I thinking? But at least it's in place now.


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## MT Berlyn (Mar 27, 2012)

Mercia McMahon said:


> 1. Taking too long to stop equating self-publishing with vanity publishing
> 
> 
> sstroble said:
> ...


Ditto

I am split 50/50 on whether changing the book title was a good idea or not. Some days I really regret it, others not so much.

Sometimes, I feel there have been more obstacles than mistakes, ie: lack of confidence, but in some ways they blend in together.


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## Indecisive (Jun 17, 2013)

I have done two sort of "practice" projects and I'm glad I did. The biggest mistake so far was not doing yet one more final polish on the novella before hitting publish. The mistakes weren't horrific, but they made it look bad. 

The other thing (and I'm not sure this was a mistake, because I haven't tried the alternative) was not sending out ARCs in advance. I am going to try that next time.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

My biggest among many mistakes was depending on a writer's discussion group (not KBoards) to get up to speed on self-publishing. I come from a background in traditional publishing, and I ran into a wall of thinly veiled anti-SP bias at every turn. Any new idea, which should be encouraged and rationally discussed in a growing paradigm, was met with disdain and self-superior snobbery. If you don't buy into decades-old commercial publishing tradition, you are told flatly that you don't know what you are talking about. Finally, when I saw successful, talented authors bailing and when my own efforts to help others was disrespected, I stopped contributing. Too bad because that site has potential and many helpful contributors.

My second biggest mistake was wanting print editions of my SP titles and spending way too much time on typesetting and cover design and money on ISBNs. If I hadn't done that, I'd probably have two or three more titles finished, and I'd be $250 richer plus whatever I spent on author copies and ARCs.

Third: Trying to write a self-help book for self-publishers, which I almost finished and never published. The tricks of the trade won't hold still. By the time I'd finish a chapter, there'd be multiple better ways to do the same thing. And the marketplace is glutted with self-help SP books, all obsolete by the time they get to market, but creating a mire into which any new such work will disappear and be lost forever.

Fourth: Fervently believing that it was important to have a presence on iTunes, Kobo, and Nook, such that I burned valuable time on epub formats. Perhaps that will pay off later, but for now, those platforms aren't worth it in sales.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

I haven't got a mailing list. All my books are very different (except for Leon Chameleon PI) so not sure what I would do with one


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## JeanetteRaleigh (Jan 1, 2013)

Releasing my books with AWFUL covers.  I mean, REALLY bad covers.  (I'm almost finished transitioning them out, thank goodness).  

Also, writing a bunch of stand-alones.  Now I have 4 stand-alones that don't sell and I just don't have the time or inclination to keep sequels going across 4 storyline that were only meant to contain a single book. From now on, if I'm going to write a book, I'd better love the characters enough to write five in quick succession


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## Chrisbwritin (Jan 28, 2014)

Kitten said:


> 1) Only releasing one book in my first year of self-publishing.
> 2) Throwing away a lot of money on advertising that book, and there wasn't even a second book to buy.


Apropos of nothing, I LOVE your covers, Kitten. Especially the whimsical ones with the moon. Just lovely.

And as for my regrets: 
1. Not starting sooner

I'm sure I will have some, but it's early days for me yet and I read so much great advice on the WC that I think I dodged some mistakes I SURELY would have made, like the mailing list thing. I had no clue how important it was. Luckily I saw here before hit publish on my first book.


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

Hitting the publish button, right after typing "The End", without any other eyes looking at it and only a cursory once over by myself.

Now, I use an Editor and ten Beta Readers. 

I will upload my finished manuscript as a place saver to get the cover spine width right while I'm waiting on them, But never again will I assume I don't make mistakes.


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## WDR (Jan 8, 2014)

[list type=decimal]
[*]Publishing the first six chapters as a short novella, figuring I would be releasing four months later. Four months turned into ten. People forgot about me. While sales on the short were excellent, when I released the full version it didn't move anywhere near as well as I had thought it would. Instead of sales picking up as my savings ran out, I found myself rapidly approaching insolvency. I'm still trying to find my audience.
[*]To boldly go where everyone else has already been! I figured I would push on the social networks (e.g. Facebook) and the word would spread. That worked well a few years ago when self-published authors were first starting to become mainstream. It was exciting and new. Now, people see yet another author pop up pushing their book and they yawn and look the other way. I used to think I was unique in being a writer, then I suddenly discover several of the people I went to high school with are already successful authors! So instead of friends telling friends, "Hey! I know an author!," I get, "Oh, you should give X and Y a call. They wrote some books, too!" (I just discovered two _more_ classmates who are making their livings as authors in the past couple of weeks. Oy!)
[*]Same thing goes for Kickstarter. Two years ago, it was for the little guy. Now big- and medium-name corporations use it to raise money to launch a new product instead of using their own millions. The little guys are getting lost in the noise. I figured the "Surprise Factor" would generate some buzz and get friends and acquaintances excited and clicking away. It didn't. I should have started pushing the campaign for two months before and lined people up before I launched the campaign.
[*]Setting up a promotional channel and fluffing it for two years only to watch the social network die and fade away. It was just too long before I finally released my book.
[*]Last, and certainly not least, I took on the leadership role in a charity organization that I probably should have refused. The hidden disasters in the organization and the huge draw it took on my personal time put me behind in my writing by two years. What should have been a one-year tour has turned into three and may become four. On the bright side, when I do step down, it will be stronger and leaner. The fires have been put out and there are now solid people poised to take over. The phone now only rings five or six times a week rather than five or six times a day. It's difficult to get any work done with that kind of distraction. Life has thrown me for enough loops the past three years without having the problems of an organization falling down around my shoulders.
[/list]

That being said, there are a lot of things I did incredibly right. From lining up editors and proof readers to taking the time to setting up proper business entities and accounts. I've done an excellent job of managing my writing time, including creating time in my schedule when I would work on other, non-writing projects and time when I would not work at all. As long as I can avoid the distractions of the item mentioned in #5, I'm doing pretty well.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Several. Here are a few key ones:

1. Starting _too_ early. Different from everyone else's answer on this, but I started off with print only through Lulu and later CreateSpace. Wasn't until a few years after the fact that I discovered e-publishing.

2. When I finally did get into e-publishing, I had zero links in my books. I mentioned my website in the author bio and I had descriptions of my books, but no links to get them.

3. Not planning series in advance. Two of my books ended up being part of a series, but at the time I didn't know if they would lead to one, so I didn't mark them as a series. Later I had to jump through some hoops to change this.

4. No mailing list, which is something I still have to rectify once I find out how to go about getting a PO box in Japan.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Perry Constantine said:


> 2. When I finally did get into e-publishing, I had zero links in my books. I mentioned my website in the author bio and I had descriptions of my books, but no links to get them.


Okay for some platforms, but such links are against Amazon's TOS, and they have warned authors about including them. They don't even allow links to their own website, and the Kindle readers do not follow the links. There was a recent thread on this subject. I removed the links from most of my books and am gradually eliminating them from the others.


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## LeeBee (Feb 19, 2014)

Al Stevens said:


> Okay for some platforms, but such links are against Amazon's TOS, and they have warned authors about including them. They don't even allow links to their own website, and the Kindle readers do not follow the links. There was a recent thread on this subject. I removed the links from most of my books and am gradually eliminating them from the others.


Have you received a warning saying that you can't link to your books on Amazon?


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## 28612 (Dec 7, 2010)

Starting a little earlier with putting my books up on the etailers sites. (Offsetting that is being ~really~ glad I got rights reverted to a bunch of my trad published books before there was anything to do with them -- just because I wanted the control in my hands, not the publisher's. Sure wish I had the remaining 9 titles!)

Being faster to accept I can't do everything, and when I try to do everything, writing is usually the item that gets pushed down the day's list.

Remembering I can't do everything.


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## komura 420 (Aug 25, 2013)

Waiting too long to publish.

I have 2 novellas, a collection of short stories and an anthology all a couple of weeks away from launching.  There is also a very shocking free story ready to go.  Yes, the big day approaches...birth of a new author.

Plus 2 novels completed and in final editing.  

A third novel is already planned out, started and 1 month from completion of 1st draft.

Just wish I had pulled the trigger sooner.  Have spent almost 1 and a half years getting this stuff ready (while I work on a corporate plantation 50 hours a week).  

During this time of carefully planning the transition from corporate slave to writer my tolerance for the plantation has dropped to near zero.  Everything I do at work now is fake, the enthusiasm, the politeness, the caring and concern.  'I'd like to thank the Academy...'  The extended period of fakery has messed with my head.  It has dropped me off at the far side of cynicism.

I still have plenty of mistakes to make...so far waiting to publish has been my biggest.


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## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

Not setting a mailing list up earlier!


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

The mailing list seems to be coming up as a common theme. Newbies, take note!


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## Guest (Apr 6, 2014)

Lydniz said:


> The mailing list seems to be coming up as a common theme. Newbies, take note!


I'm good there. I started mine months ago.


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## FH (Jul 30, 2012)

L.L. Akers said:


> Maybe this will be helpful to those getting started. List your biggest mistake of self-publishing. I'll list two (although I've made many more):
> 
> 1) Hitting the Publish button the day after the 2nd biggest holiday in the USA: July 5th. Duh.
> And:
> 2) Throwing advertising money at my 1st book to try to keep the rankings up, instead of writing the second to create a funnel for buyers, and THEN paying for advertising. FacePalm.


Number 2 I definitely got wrong.

I did a big promo push on the release of Ghost II but it's taken more than 18 months to get Book III out (Writers hell). I've been hugely lucky that with no actual active promotion the first two books have sold pretty consistently over that time but I'm kicking myself that I lost out on my initial buzz waiting so long. Now the books are in the doldrums of 400K rankings and sales have finally hit a wall I've got all the hard work of trying to reignite the series.

That said I'm kind of glad that I've had time to focus on my writing and game plan without too big a readership, I still feel like I have it all to do and am now starting to feel I am writing stories that I want to be writing.

So my biggest mistake was not reading Hugh Howey, DWS and Russell Blake's advice earlier and focusing on a overall game plan from the off, I've only just started thinking about my author platform and doing any work on co-ordinating my website, twitter, Facebook etc or even having a mailing list.

Anyway I probably lost a ton of sales by not having all three books done before i released them. If I did it over i would write them back to back then release them 1 month apart.


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## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

Not doing it sooner! That was my biggest mistake.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

There is so much wisdom in this thread it's making me queasy. Thank you all so much! I have some serious thinking to do (like for example maybe skipping all the advertising after book 1 in series is released and just focus on releasing books 2 and 3, then work on advertising?).


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

not setting up a decent accounting system earlier.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

LeeBee said:


> Have you received a warning saying that you can't link to your books on Amazon?


A member here posted that he asked Amazon why links in kindle e-books to his books and author page did not work in most kindle apps and devices. Amazon replied that such links are against their TOS (which is true) and that unless he removed them they would take his book offline.

He included the content of his and their messages in his post. That was a week or two ago. I do not recall which thread it was in. If I run across it, I'll post it here.


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## Guest (Apr 6, 2014)

Quote:
_"how to go about getting a PO box in Japan"_

There are several companies that will give you a box in Japan. Google "po box in Japan"
Here's one for about US $8 a month (about US $17 sign up) pay through PayPal
http://www.mailbox1.jp/

Also MailBoxEtc and others


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## J. R. Blaisy (Feb 4, 2014)

Clicking Publish before finding out anything about promoting or marketing ebooks. It's easy to do - let's see what happens! (Nothing.) Any advantage of newness is lost, self-confidence drains away.

If I can add a second I'd say that I wish I'd done a POD version first, after I'd made it as good as I could, with beta readers, a professional cover etc. Then given away ARCs to friends and family (all of whom seem to prefer to read physical books), inviting reactions rather than reviews - on the basis that I didn't know who it would appeal to (true enough), and that it wasn't too late to change things.


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

Adding one more to my list:

Not checking the DRM box before publishing my work. I was in too much of a hurry to find out what it meant. Dagnamit.


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## Jason Eric Pryor (Jan 30, 2013)

L.L. Akers said:


> Adding one more to my list:
> 
> Not checking the DRM box before publishing my work. I was in too much of a hurry to find out what it meant. Dagnamit.


Don't feel too bad about that. My friend read an ebook that was DRM free. He said it was great and I should read it. So, he emailed it to me. I got the book and it didn't cost me anything. I loved it so much, that I went out and bought some of the writer's other books. That book just so happened to be Wool by Hugh Howey. (This was before it was perma-free) It worked out well for Hugh. Don't sweat it. You learn something every day. At least now, you can make a better informed desicion with the next book you publish.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

Al Stevens said:


> Okay for some platforms, but such links are against Amazon's TOS, and they have warned authors about including them. They don't even allow links to their own website, and the Kindle readers do not follow the links. There was a recent thread on this subject. I removed the links from most of my books and am gradually eliminating them from the others.


Do you mean links to sites other than Amazon? As far as I am aware, links to our book pages and our other books on Amazon are allowed and many here, including myself, have them in the back of all our books. The nearest I could find within Amazon's TOS (https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A1CT8LK6UW2FXJ) is this:



> *Can I include a link to my book's product page on Amazon inside my Kindle edition? *
> 
> Absolutely!


Does anyone have any more definitive information on this?


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## Joseph Turkot (Nov 9, 2012)

One of mine was not starting a mailing list sooner. I'm almost at 250 members now, but if I'd started earlier, I'm sure I'd be higher.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

L.L. Akers said:


> Adding one more to my list:
> 
> Not checking the DRM box before publishing my work. I was in too much of a hurry to find out what it meant. Dagnamit.


Good for you. DRM is the abomination of all abominations. Because the Kindle in our house is registered in my husband's email, I can't read anything on it that I would download at Amazon, because I downloaded it for Kindle for PC and could not manually transfer it to the Kindle.

I've since bought a Kobo Touch and let my Amazon account lapse, but I read on the Touch and on the Kobo app on the tablet. With DRMed titles, I can't read on the tablet. There are no words for how much DRM pisses me off.

I do not download any SP work that has DRM anymore. If it has DRM, sorry, buddy, but you've lost me before I've even looked at the sample.

I really have no freakin' clue why anyone thinks DRM is a good idea. Yeah, I know you can break it, supposedly easily, in Calibre, but I hate Calibre and have no desire to spend half a day figuring out how it works.

Don't make it hard for people to read your stuff. DRM doesn't stop pirates. It does stop readers.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

My biggest self-publishing mistake?

Not starting earlier.


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## J. R. Blaisy (Feb 4, 2014)

Patty Jansen said:


> I do not download any SP work that has DRM anymore. If it has DRM, sorry, buddy, but you've lost me before I've even looked at the sample.


Fair enough. But how do you tell if it has DRM?


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

J. R. Blaisy said:


> Fair enough. But how do you tell if it has DRM?


It tells you somewhere in the description. That said, even fonts can be DRMed. You need to use publicly available fonts, or pay for them, or don't stipulate fonts (the latter is the best option).


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## J. R. Blaisy (Feb 4, 2014)

Patty Jansen said:


> It tells you somewhere in the description. That said, even fonts can be DRMed. You need to use publicly available fonts, or pay for them, or don't stipulate fonts (the latter is the best option).


Oh, must be...
*Lending:* Not Enabled


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Okey Dokey said:


> Quote:
> _"how to go about getting a PO box in Japan"_
> 
> There are several companies that will give you a box in Japan. Google "po box in Japan"
> ...


Not quite what I need, but thanks. This is for people outside of Japan who need a Japanese forwarding address so they can shop on Japanese websites. I live in Japan, so I'm talking about setting up an actual PO box with the local post office. Just need to find time when the fiancée and I can go down to the post office and inquire about it.


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## David Peterson (Feb 8, 2014)

J. R. Blaisy said:


> Oh, must be...
> *Lending:* Not Enabled


Lending is something else. You can lend a book to one other person for two weeks, or something like that. At least that's my understanding. I've never used it.


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## MGalloway (Jun 21, 2011)

Biggest mistake? Two of them. Spending too much time on short stories (instead of novels) and greatly underestimating how long the road was.


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## Daniel Dennis (Mar 3, 2014)

Biggest mistake? Using KDP Select. Yep. I had a small-but-growing number if sales on Nook and Smashwords. I decided after a month to try KDP Select. I saw zero increase in sales after giving away 1700 copies in one day and zero increase after another 2000 free copies a month later. I pulled from Select, re-entered on NokkPress and Smashwords and since then I've sold nothing for Nook, nothing for Smashwords, and seen my KDP sales stall ever since last November.

But I think a bigger mistake is not having a thorough understanding of proper marketing.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

At this point, after reading the threads on Google Play, I'm going to have to say that my biggest mistake will be not uploading there sooner. It seems like there is gold in them thar hills, and I will be uploading there just this week.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Daniel Dennis said:


> Biggest mistake? Using KDP Select. Yep. I had a small-but-growing number if sales on Nook and Smashwords. I decided after a month to try KDP Select. I saw zero increase in sales after giving away 1700 copies in one day and zero increase after another 2000 free copies a month later. I pulled from Select, re-entered on NokkPress and Smashwords and since then I've sold nothing for Nook, nothing for Smashwords, and seen my KDP sales stall ever since last November.
> 
> But I think a bigger mistake is not having a thorough understanding of proper marketing.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


Might I suggest making your novelette permafree? That is the ONLY thing which has given me traction.


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## Victoria J (Jul 5, 2011)

Two things: first, ignoring social media for promotion for so long. Second, telling someone I thought was a friend about my decision to self publish. I'm making up for the social media mistake because I'm immersed in it now and I enjoy it. But the second one really came back to bite me. Every chance he gets he ridicules me and hints that I'm a failure and that I can't write because if I could I wouldn't still be working at my job. Then he goes into his usual, tired tirade about how he has this friend who self-publishes that is a lousy writer, has no talent and so-on and so forth. 

One of these days I'll be making enough to write full time and when that happens, I'm going to rub it in his face before I leave.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Victoria J said:


> Two things: first, ignoring social media for promotion for so long. Second, telling someone I thought was a friend about my decision to self publish. I'm making up for the social media mistake because I'm immersed in it now and I enjoy it. But the second one really came back to bite me. Every chance he gets he ridicules me and hints that I'm a failure and that I can't write because if I could I wouldn't still be working at my job. Then he goes into his usual, tired tirade about how he has this friend who self-publishes that is a lousy writer, has no talent and so-on and so forth.
> 
> One of these days I'll be making enough to write full time and when that happens, I'm going to rub it in his face before I leave.


God, I had someone like that in my life. The really annoying thing was that to my face, she'd be supportive. But then later I found out she'd ridicule me behind my back, telling people, "I have a friend who _thinks_ he's an author."


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Victoria J said:


> Two things: first, ignoring social media for promotion for so long. Second, telling someone I thought was a friend about my decision to self publish. I'm making up for the social media mistake because I'm immersed in it now and I enjoy it. But the second one really came back to bite me. Every chance he gets he ridicules me and hints that I'm a failure and that I can't write because if I could I wouldn't still be working at my job. Then he goes into his usual, tired tirade about how he has this friend who self-publishes that is a lousy writer, has no talent and so-on and so forth.
> 
> One of these days I'll be making enough to write full time and when that happens, I'm going to rub it in his face before I leave.


What a jerk! You should tell him about all the SP millionaires. That would shut him up. Then become one yourself. That would REALLY shut him up.


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## Victoria J (Jul 5, 2011)

Thanks annie and Perry! What was most surprising was that he was supposed to be my friend. You think you know people sometimes. Anyway, I'm working towards my goal and I'm sure I'll be able to work full time in three years. I aim to show him that hard work pays off.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Victoria J said:


> Thanks annie and Perry! What was most surprising was that he was supposed to be my friend. You think you know people sometimes. Anyway, I'm working towards my goal and I'm sure I'll be able to work full time in three years. I aim to show him that hard work pays off.


That's the spirit!!!!!!


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## RN_Wright (Jan 7, 2014)

This is a little like that job interview question, "What is your greatest weakness?" You are supposed to reply something like "I work too hard," or "I care too much." 

In my case, just starting out, I may still be in the middle of my greatest mistake. We shall see.


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## Daniel Dennis (Mar 3, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> Might I suggest making your novelette permafree? That is the ONLY thing which has given me traction.


Trying. Its free on Smashwords and free on my website. I'm waiting for it to appear on B&N and others. I've already reported lower prices on Amazon. They just haven't adjusted yet. It's only been a few days since it was released though.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## bluwulf (Feb 1, 2014)

Victoria J said:


> Every chance he gets he ridicules me and hints that I'm a failure and that I can't write because if I could I wouldn't still be working at my job. Then he goes into his usual, tired tirade about how he has this friend who self-publishes that is a lousy writer, has no talent and so-on and so forth.
> 
> One of these days I'll be making enough to write full time and when that happens, I'm going to rub it in his face before I leave.


Wow - some friend. This person has extremely low self esteem do that. Use this as motivation to succeed.


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## Danielle Monsch (Aug 21, 2011)

1. Announcing a release date and not making it - I think of all the mistakes I've made, this has the most chance of biting me in the behind, already has a little. I don't think it's insurmountable, but it's darn embarrassing and entirely avoidable. I know I'm never putting myself in that position again.

2. Not pushing past things to write more - Life has happened to me and my response was to not write as much. The problem is that Life is always happening in some way, and that one day away from writing so easily slips into days, weeks, months, etc. where your output is spotty at best and you are losing momentum and good will.  Much like New Year's, tax season can bring introspection and make you evaluate where you were, where you are, and what you've been doing, and it's very clear to me how much of a mistake it is to go down this path. I'll be more actively fighting against it than I have in the past.

3. Losing the joy in writing and making it all about business - don't mistake me, I really believe in treating your self-publishing like a small business and making decisions with that in mind. Having said that, I started writing for the same reason most people do (I assume). It gave me joy. It excited me and uplifted me, as difficult and as draining as it could be, and I wouldn't want to do anything else. While I still plan to make decisions that will be best for my business, I won't that that overwhelm the writing anymore.

I'm sure there are many more mistakes, but these are the ones I would say have caused *harm* in some way (vs. being a learning experience) and therefore, are the ones I'd like newer authors to make note of and do their best to learn from example and not from experience


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

L.L. Akers said:


> Adding one more to my list:
> 
> Not checking the DRM box before publishing my work. I was in too much of a hurry to find out what it meant. Dagnamit.


Just saw this, but I would say checking the DRM box is a bigger mistake than not checking it. DRM does absolutely nothing to curb piracy, and if you don't believe me, just go on any torrent site the day a big movie or book or comic or TV show or whatever is released on the digital platforms and see how easy it is to find a perfect copy. The only thing DRM does is punish paying customers for buying your product by creating a massive inconvenience. I've got a number of movies I bought off iTunes, but god forbid my Internet connection goes down when I want to watch one of them, because I'll just get the loading bar and a "Attempting to connect to iTunes Store" message. I wrote an article on How I Met Your Mother and my plan was to get screencaps from the past season, but because I bought it on iTunes, all the screencaps turned out to be gray images, so I had to spend hours on Google Images finding the pictures I needed.

DRM is absolutely worthless, does zilch to protect you, and will only annoy your customers. You don't need it.


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## Victoria LK (Jan 31, 2014)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> Publishing my first book without a proper edit and garnering some deserved one and two star reviews before getting it fixed up.
> 
> Those reviews are there forever, even though the errors are gone.


I did the same thing! If only we could go back in time!


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## Meb Bryant (Jun 27, 2011)

The biggest mistake I made is waiting to self-publish in hopes of landing a literary agent.


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## Scratchy_Bitey (Nov 28, 2013)

Mailing list for me, too. Though...since my first book in my series went permafree and I added a link, I've been getting tonnes of sign ups. A+!
It's a long road and I don't want to be a one hit wonder. Little bits at a time...


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## Sydney M. Cooper (Mar 30, 2014)

Not having a release date for my first novel in mind. I just kind of released it when it was finished... which was in retrospect not the best way to go. However, I think the release of my sequel will be more important, so I'll take what I learned from the first release and apply it to the second.


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## CelinaGrace (Nov 20, 2013)

As many others have said, my biggest mistake was not starting earlier. I had barely heard of eBook publishing up until 2012 and wasted YEARS waiting for an agent to do something with a novel of mine.

Also, not that I regret it because boy, am I reaping the benefits now, but writing three books in the same year I had two children under three, a full time job and a massive house move wasn't in hindsight the best thing for my mental health&#8230; I've recovered now though <twitch>


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

Not playing close enough attention to the market. Not writing very specifically to the market so I could almost guarantee my success. Wasting time writing under a less popular genre. Wasting time writing what I felt like writing instead of writing what the market wanted. 

The good part of all that is, I have a lot of experience under my belt now.


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2014)

Take all the responses and add in even more offenses! 

I've made them all ... or probably will if I haven't already.


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