[Silly Writer]

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.

 

[Silly Writer]

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.

 

[Joe_Nobody]

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

 

[MrPLD]

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

 

[Not Here]

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. 

 

[MrPLD]

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".

 

[Moist_Tissue]

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

 

[Lionel's Mom]

Not having a mailing list until almost 6 months in.

 

[D.L. Shutter]

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

 

[Nymirra]

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?

 

[Usedtoposthere]

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.

 

[31842]

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...

 

[Mark E. Cooper]

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?

 

[Lydniz]

1) Not self-publishing sooner.

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

 

[CraigInOregon]

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

 

[ChrisWard]

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

 

[Guest]

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.

 

[von19]

This is very informative and helpful.

Sent from International Space Station using Tapatalk

 

[NicWilson]

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.

 

[Zelah Meyer]

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.