r/selfpublish

practical take on writing tools from someone who's shipped books in them because most comparisons are written by people who tested the free trial and never finished a manuscript

book 1: google docs wrote the whole thing in one massive document, no organization, just scrolled for days, lost scenes I'd written and accidentally contradicted myself because I couldn't find my own notes, the editing process was a nightmare because I had zero structural overview.

the book still got published and still sells, the tool didn't stop me from finishing

book 2: scrivener, the binder gave me the structural overview I was missing and the compile feature saved genuine time when formatting for publishing, those two things were worth the purchase price, but I also spent significantly more time on "organization" and the book took longer to write despite being shorter, for me personally the organizational tools were a net negative on speed even though they were individually useful.

book 3: mythrilio , the writing experience was simpler and the notes lived alongside the manuscript which worked for me, but I genuinely miss scrivener's compile feature, nothing else exports as cleanly for publishing and I ended up formatting in vellum anyway which added a step that scrivener would have eliminated.

honestly if I had to pick just one thing that mattered for actually finishing and publishing all three books it wasn't the tool it was having a daily word count target and hitting it regardless of whether my writing app was fancy or basic, I know people who've published 10+ books in google docs and people who've published nothing in scrivener and the difference is never the software

what actually mattered across all three was being able to see chapter structure at a glance and having notes accessible without switching apps

what didn't matter at all**:** graph views, linked databases, second brain systems, mobile apps I told myself I'd use and never did, dark mode (I know)

what did you write your published books in and would you switch for the next one or are you staying put

So, I recently published my first book. But I want to share a nightmare of an experience that set me back months of work and nearly cost me thousands of dollars. Hopefully this experience can help other authors avoid the same mistake, and hopefully, we can find an alternative cloud service that works better.

For Context, I switched to OneDrive for cloud backup years ago and have had very few issues with it overall. I have nearly a TB of files stored there for various projects spanning nearly a decade. So naturally, I trusted it with the many versions of my Manuscript over Google Docs (which I heard steals data from things written there)

Fast forward to when I finished the 9th and final draft of my first book (i know.... too many.) I sent a OneDrive link to my editor for him to work with. The intent was for him to track changes in Microsoft Word so that I could easily review what was edited and see his progress. My editor worked closely with me, often over voice call, to go over the changes. Once he finished, we reviewed the changes. I had the file open on my desktop word app, he had it open in the Office 365 web app. We could both see the changes the other was making as we reviewed his edits.

We finished the review of the edits and I saved it as the final draft. However, this is where the nightmare starts. Unknown to me, the entire time we were reviewing the edits together, there were file sync errors happening in the background. (not the ones that OneDrive catches.)

I sent the final draft in for copyright and started submiting queries to agents. Months in the querry trenches with nothing but rejections had me go back to my origional plan of self publishing.

So before I uploaded to Amazon, I did one final readthrough. Thats when I found them.... not only were about half of the edits my editor made no longer applied on any version in OneDrive, entire sentences, paragraphs and sometimes individual words, were duplicated and sometimes triplicated. I don't know how this happened, but it was either go back to version 8 or send it back to my editor to fix version 9. Thats about when I got a letter from the U.S. copyright office accusing me of using AI. And no wonder, they had the version that had the repeated sentences and words. This is also the version I sent to agents, which is probably why I got nothing but rejections from the 60+ agents I querried.

Thankfully, my editor, an amazing person who is now my friend and permanent editor, re-edited the book free of charge and the copyright office accepted my evidence of human authorship when I sent in previous versions as proof. But this error likely cost me getting an agent, nearly cost me my copyright, and if I had any other editor, would have cost me thousands in the way of another round of edits.

Hopefully this experience helps other authors avoid the problem. I am almost certain it was caused by automatic sync between desktop and web apps while collaborating and tracking changes.

I am interested to see what software other authors use for cloud backup/cooporation.

So, there was some controversy over a self published book called "Shy Girl," by Gia Ballard. The book was accused of AI (honestly I think it was at least partially written by AI) and since has been taken off of shelves.

But that aside, this book did really well on its own, before getting picked up by a large publishing house.

My question is, how? The book is terribly written, AI or not. On top of that the page count is only like 200 pages. How can this book get so much traction?

I naturally write with a lot of em dashes but I’m worried about being accused of using AI. Anybody have recommendations? I could go through and remove all dashes, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it.

Just curious how you got started writing on these platforms instead of self-publishing on Amazon, and what the experience is like so far?

Hi everyone! I am getting closer to the release of my book and I have two blurbs, but I don't know which is better. Please let me know your thoughts!

Holly Jesterspawn was forced into Magnum’s School of Sorcery. For anyone else, it would be a privilege, but for her, it might be a death sentence because unbeknownst to most, she does not have magic.

Third year and current top student, Rogue Enderbright, one of the few people who knows of her plight, promised to help her survive her schooling. The rest of the school though, seems determined to see through their deceptions – like Dolian Crestfallen, heir to the throne of a hated nation and the only student who can give Rogue a run for his money.

She’ll need every edge she can get and without sorcery, she will have to learn who among her friends she can trust.

Yet, everyday that passes, Holly begins to suspect there is more going on in the school and the faculty may even be in on it.

Deception, secrets, trust. Magnum’s School of Sorcery is not for the weak and Holly is stepping through the doors and everyone is watching.

 

 

Holly Jesterspawn should never have been admitted to Magnum’s School of Sorcery.

She has a secret—one that would get her killed if anyone found out: She has no magic.

In a school where power is everything, Holly is nothing.

Her only ally is Rogue Enderbright, the academy’s top student—and the only one who knows the truth. But even he can’t protect her from Dolian Crestfallen, a ruthless rival who’s watching her a little too closely—because at Magnum’s, secrets don’t stay buried.

As suspicion grows and alliances crack, Holly must survive a deadly game without the one thing everyone else relies on*.*

When she uncovers something far darker lurking within the school, one thing becomes clear: At Magnum’s School of Sorcery, it’s not just the students who are dangerous.

Per my previous post, all my paperbacks were stuck in "Awaiting Updates," and I emailed customer support after all troubleshooting failed.

After five days, I got an email that only said, "Your book interior file dimensions are too big. Hope this helps."

But the files match perfectly, and this is not an issue with all of the books. They all have the same dimensions. Really not sure what else to do, other than resize everything and start over.

I am planning to publish my book seriously, so I am considering a paperback. However, selling an ebook itself is already difficult, so I am unsure if a paperback is recommended. Even though publishing a paperback is free, investing in Atticus and ordering an author copy to check quality feels like too much without knowing if anyone will buy it in the first place. So should I stick to an ebook first and only move to paperback if there is demand?

I’ve been working on it for a while now while I wrote other books. I basically turned the walls of my room into a ‘murder board’ to keep track of everything. And today, it’s finally out. The amount of dopamine running through me right now is unfathomable 😆

Any advice on getting the book into book stores and libraries? I walked into a book store in my town a month ago and he agreed to sell physical copies of my first book, but I doubt it’s that easy for everywhere else. Do I donate my book to libraries, or is there a special process?

In the words of Jessie Spano: “I’m so excited. I’m so excited.. I’m so.. scared.” 😆

Hi everybody!

I just self-published my very first collection of short stories. They're shorter-than-short stories (I call them 'Pocket-Sized Prose') that are meant to fill up the small parts of your day. The collection is now available on Amazon, but I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to promote and get audiences attention. The collection actually started as an Instagram account (@PocketSizedProse), but I had initially just made it more for myself rather than to gain a following, so it doesn't have too many followers.

Any advice is very welcomed!

Thank you! 

I posted on most of the major sites for ARCs about a week ago and have been fortunate enough to get some traction (~80 accepted requests). I've managed 5 GR reviews/10 on Netgalley, which basically already hit my goal for my debut.

I'm curious: did you see more reviews closer to when you sent out ARCs, or closer to release day? (Mine isn't until June 1st; I think I'd wait three weeks if I did it again). What percentage of accepted ARCs ended up leaving reviews on GRs/Amazon?

Hey everyone, I'm curious how I should approach relaunching a series that got interrupted for several years by health issues. In 2017 I published my debut (military/spy thriller), which seemed to do great, based on what people were saying were the metrics at the time ($1k royalities, 380 sales, 200% ROI—held off on more advertising until I had more titles).

Cue the health problems, but now I'm ready to prep the second novel for publishing, and have the cover for the third, too (could do a pre-order at the same time to boost interest in the series).

I'm just trying to gauge if I should take the first down and relaunch it at the same time (it has been significantly redrafted/edited), or leave it up for the social proof/reviews (50 total).

Basically, would it really matter to the algorithms that much if #1 had a new pub date, since #2 would be fresh at the same time and the ads would be driving views through to it anyways?

Thanks for your input!

Yesterday, I finished my manuscript. Now I have to polish it. A few questions.

I was originally planning to read through the entire novel first (74k), send it to the editors, then publish it. But I read somewhere to read it after the editors; twice seems a little too much for me. Should I send it to the editors now without doing my own read?

Also, I'm thinking of doing three edits:

1. Developmental edit

2. Copy edit

3. Proofread

Can I have one editor combine all three into one read? Maybe I can have an AI do the proofread and copy edit? (I have already had some AIs look at some of my chapters for general feedback.) Not sure where to go at this point.

I’m planning on self publishing a novel next year, and I wanna know how I can budget so that I don’t overspend on editing and designing a cover.

Hello, simple question really but want to get advice from those who may have done it already rather than try and piece together the internet. I completed a 450 page non-fiction book, and I am wanting advice on the best way to approach editing. I have read through and edited twice on my own over the last 2 months. So now I want to know the best type of editor to approach, with a limited budget. For some background: this is my 2nd book, first book was 170 pages non-fiction on pour over coffee. I edited myself and sold a little over 200 copies with 4x 5 star organic reviews on Amazon so far.

This new book is the complete world of specialty coffee from farm, agronomy, taxonomy, value chain, brewing, etc. I have a farmer and a 3x cup taster champion reviewing it now for context edits. So now I am wondering the next best approach before my final read through. Thank you!

Going to keep this short. I'm pretty young. I write standalone sci-fi thrillers with no interconnection. Only one book out, a cyberpunk thriller. It came out end of October. It is in KU, so I can't reach out to bloggers, etc, anymore to give them a free copy. Can't see myself ever writing a series. I'm (incredibly) short on £££, but I'm trying my best. I make my own covers. I do my own (extremely thorough) editing—I've got a whole checklist for this. This all takes around a year.

Website is up. Can't pay for a domain right now, so I'm using Wix's free version. Definitely going to get one as soon as I have a stable income. No social media aside from Reddit. I don't think it's necessary. Email newsletter has been up since last year. I've got a Goodreads, a Storygraph, an Amazon account.

I did my very first newsletter swap in March on StoryOrigin, so that's one thing off my bingo, but I just can't spend ~£9 every month to do them.

I haven't been promoting my book a lot, so I've only had eight sales this year. My goal is fifty for this single book so I at least reach ninety (or thereabouts) copies sold, but I don't care much if I hit it. I know a single book won't turn me a quick profit. Got this from my "author journal": initial sales are usually slow, but they build reputation, audience, trust—setting stage for gradual, lasting success over time.

What I'm basically trying to get at—and I feel like I've rambled here—is I'm unsure of what I should now be working towards. Reviews and ratings on all platforms haven't hit double digits. I know I can't make readers review or rate, but it'd be damn nice to see the number change once in a blue moon.

Goals I'm thinking of working towards:

- Enter sites like Freebooksy, Bookbub now?

(I'll have to research on how to do a priced-down promo for my book as I know free books net free downloads but don't turn them into reviews, ratings, or even readers.)

- Facebook for ARCs? Do I need to "warm up" my account or can I just post in groups from the get-go? No idea how FB works, so research is needed. Is FB good for indie authors or what? How was your experience? I don't want an Instagram again due to a personal reason.

- 20 Amazon reviews across all marketplaces. Doable?

- 30 newsletter subscribers - currently at 26. Free reader magnet, a short sci-fi thriller.

I'm pretty busy trying to find ARC readers, sorting out the paperback and ebook for my next book's release, so there's that. Am I doing well? I suppose I'd also like some encouragement!

hey all. self-published 2 weeks ago. 36 sales so far besides books I bought to hand out. so, is there a sub here or elsewhere that I could get input on a draft fb ad that I designed? ie, too self-designed, ineffective, time to hire a pro, etc? no self-promotion or book details are allowed here, so unable to provide more. thx.

I’m not extraordinarily interested in going viral (would be cool), I mostly want to be able to share my book with people I know,

and maybe have it spread through word of mouth. I know IngramSpark will list the book on their catalog, and then potentially Amazon + B&N + other retailer websites may list it, but where can I direct people to buy the book directly?

Will there be a link for people to buy directly from IS or only retailers can do so? In which case, how might the average person order it? Could I potentially buy copies myself to essentially sell out of the back of my car?

Silly questions as I reach these last few panicked steps lol thanks for the help!

I’m curious if anyone has had a similar experience publishing their debut novel, or a new story outside of a typical genre for the author. And if an experienced author would come across this post, I’d highly appreciate their knowledge of the matter — as well as any recommendations and advice!

When my debut novel was in its best shape and ready for the market, I faced a new kind of puzzle:

How do I label the genre tags accordingly?

What shelf would it sit on in the bookstore?

As an indie author (with the perk of being an artist), I saved myself a lot of money on the artwork and promo graphics — and stepped into an entirely new learning curve and a beast of its own:

Marketing.

Fantasy is a broad genre, and despite being rich with sub-genres and categories, I found nothing seemed to seamlessly fit the story I wrote. The final product became something of a Frankenstein — a blend of High and Dark Fantasy, occasionally overlapping with Grimdark elements, and sprinkled with a Romance subplot.

Now, you may wonder where I am going with this? The short version of what I’m asking is:

- How do you market hybrid dark fantasy?

- How do you label your book's genre when the tone shifts?

- And how do you avoid YA misclassification?

If you’ve dealt with this before, please hop into the comments — hopefully I’m not the only indie author facing these issues, and this discussion could potentially help many authors at the start of their journey!

Long version continues below.

In my novel, the events unfold in a world with a dark setting, where magic is common but grounded in the most unforgiving way: no one is invincible despite how powerful they are. Although the coming-of-age arc is present for the protagonist, the grit and darkness of the world are shown through the POVs of the second main character and the antagonist POV with anti-hero arc.

The lore and worldbuilding are introduced gradually through multiple POVs; the romantic subplot isn’t explicit, and is strongly tied into the plot — it advances and serves the story, instead of being its focus…

Which creates a genre category plus market placement problem.

The Dark Romantasy tag doesn’t quite make the cut. Given current market preferences and popular works in this genre, readers who expect open-door intimate scenes, which Carissa Broadbent crafts masterfully, would be disappointed.

Those who picked up the book expecting Grimdark from the first pages, similar to spectacular works by Joe Abercrombie, would likely feel confused as the story starts out light. With a fifty percent chance, (and I might be very generous with this assumption), they won’t continue into the tonal shift that builds slowly throughout the chapters and peaks at around a quarter of the book, delivering a violent, action-packed payoff.

The closest example of a story with a similar tonal shift I can think of is The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang, but once again, the Dark Fantasy tag doesn’t quite fit — as the story offers meaningful moments of warmth and hope.

With my observations of current market options and trends, fiction intended for an adult audience is often labeled as YA (age group between 12 and 18). I find this labeling inappropriate — and even though my novel has no explicit sexual content, it’s not intended for an audience under 18, despite one of the protagonists being 19, which technically fits YA.

With all that being said, has anyone else experienced similar issues?

I'm pretty young. I write standalone sci-fi thrillers with no interconnection. Only one book out, a cyberpunk thriller. It came out end of October. It is in KU, so I can't reach out to bloggers, etc, anymore to give them a free copy. Can't see myself ever writing a series. I'm (incredibly) short on £££, but I'm trying my best. I make my own covers. I do my own (extremely thorough) editing—I've got a whole checklist for this. This all takes around maybe... eight months?

Website is up. Can't pay for a domain right now, so I'm using Wix's free version. Definitely going to get one as soon as I have a stable income. No social media aside from Reddit. I don't think it's necessary. Email newsletter has been up since last year. I've got a Goodreads, a Storygraph, an Amazon account.

I did my very first newsletter swap in March on StoryOrigin, so that's one thing off my bingo, but I just can't spend ~£9 every month to do them.

I haven't been promoting my book a lot, so I've only had eight sales this year. My goal is fifty for this single book so I at least reach ninety (or thereabouts) copies sold, but I don't care much if I hit it. I know a single book won't turn me a quick profit. Got this from my "author journal": initial sales are usually slow, but they build reputation, audience, trust—setting stage for gradual, lasting success over time.

What I'm basically trying to get at—and I feel like I've rambled here—is I'm unsure of what I should now be working towards. Reviews and ratings on all platforms haven't hit double digits. I know I can't make readers review or rate, but it'd be damn nice to not see the number change once in a blue moon.

Goals I'm thinking of working towards are:

- Enter sites like Freebooksy, Bookbub now?

(I'll have to research on how to do a priced-down promo for my book as I know free books net free downloads but don't turn them into reviews, ratings, or even readers.)

- Facebook for ARCs? Do I need to "warm up" my account or can I just post in groups from the get-go? No idea how FB works, so research is needed. Is FB good for indie authors or what? How was your experience? I don't want an Instagram again due to a personal reason.

- 10-15 / 20 Amazon reviews across all marketplaces. Doable?

- 50 newsletter subscribers - currently at 26. Free reader magnet, a short sci-fi thriller.

I'm pretty busy trying to find ARC readers, sorting out the paperback and ebook for my next book's release, so there's that.