In this “cover-to-cover” interview, book coach Ameesha Green and podcast producer Shakira Morar reflect on this series of Better Shelves. They compile authors’ top tips on writing and and offer a chatty mix of publishing tips, tricks, and inspiration to take into the future of your writing journey.
Join book coach Ameesha Green and podcast producer Shakira Morar as they reflect on this series of Better Shelves. In the final chapter of the series, they compile top tips from the guest authors they’ve had the privilege of talking to and offer a chatty mix of publishing tips, tricks, and inspiration for aspiring authors to take into the future.
They’ve pinned down the best writing tricks and lessons learned from each author in the series to help you implement these ideas on your own publishing journey. This final episode is a sweet goodbye to a year of interviews and conversations about self-publishing and nonfiction, from the show’s host and producer.
Turn the page on this podcast to reflect on nine authors’ self-publishing journeys, with top tips on book marketing, PR strategies, writing, and the importance of believing in your creativity.
Turn the page (the time-stamp!)
[01:15] Writing to help the community
[03:40] How can authors best combine their journey and nonfiction writing to make a story that is both factual and engaging?
[06:50] How do you balance a full-time job and writing
[14:01] Does the publishing industry have a duty to publish taboo topics?
[16:40] Where is the line between content editing and censorship from the perspective of an editor?
[24:30] What would you say to writers struggling with perfectionism?
[25:01] What kind of gatekeeping occurs in the industry that you notice?
[28:36] Being brave as a writer
[31:40] Will my editor steal my manuscript?
[33:24] When do I start marketing my book?
[34:00] The pros of working with an editor sooner
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TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE INCLUDE:
Nonfiction
Self-publishing
The self-publishing process
Writing your first book
Creativity
Editing
Publishing
Traditional publishing
Book marketing
Book PR
Book publicity
Book awards
Writing
Book coach
Book editor
Write a book
Ameesha
Welcome to Better Shelves, the podcast from The Book Shelf Ltd. We help aspiring authors to create life-changing nonfiction books. We’re based in Birmingham, but we work with authors across the globe, and our mission is to make the world a better place through books.
Shakira
Hello and welcome to the final episode of ‘Better Shelves.’ My name is Shakira, I’m the podcast producer and today I’ll be reflecting on the series with Ameesha. We’ll be discussing the challenges our authors have experienced and the themes that have come up in conversations about the publishing industry. We will be learning from all of the authors we have interviewed so far and this will, hopefully, help you, aspiring authors, on your self-publishing journey.
Our first guest wsa Anand Chockalingham, full-time cardiologist and author of Seeking Hunger. He mentioned that the motivation behind writing his book was to improve the health of those suffering. Anand said this was a better motivator for writing instead of making money as he could positively impact his community by giving back. From working with Anand, what did you notice about this method of motivation, Ameesha, as opposed to making a profit?
Ameesha
Yeah, that’s a really good question. It’s especially relevant in nonfiction and self-publishing because a lot of authors go into writing a book expecting they will sell hundreds or thousands of copies. The reality for self-published authors is often quite different so they might only sell a hundred copies or maybe less so if they go into it thinking, “It’s all about making a profit and making lots of money.” Then, they’re often quite disappointed and maybe don’t meet their goals. Whereas if they’re motivated by trying to impact people, even if it’s only one person or a few people or fifty people and then they get a positive review that says, “This book changed my life!” It makes them feel like they’re adding value and it was worth going through this process of publishing so I think it’s a much better motivator because the hope is that you’ll, at least, positively impact one person through your book and it’s a much more achievable goal than making lots of money. I mean, I always think that making money is a nice side-effect if the book does well. But if it’s your only motivator then you’re likely to be disappointed because often authors spend a lot of money on getting their books out there so if they want an editor, a book cover designer… if they hire proofreaders… all of these things cost money. If they put money into a marketing campaign… and the problem is they might never make a return on that investment. You know, in financial terms so if it cost them £500 or a few thousand pounds to put the book out there and self-publish and then they only make £200 back. The problem is that they might then feel that it’s a failure or that they’ve made a loss but, actually, if they look at it in terms of the impact that it has on people then it’s a win, isn’t it? Because they’re helping people and they’re making peoples’ lives better.
Shakira
Yeah! So, it’s like achieving multiple goals at once. That’s a very good point. Next up we have from Glen, a fitness instructor who wrote Think and Grow Vegan. Glen writes about his journey from being a eating meater to becoming vegan. Usually, nonfiction is known for being quite hands-on, but Glen adds a different flavour to his book by writing about his personal journey and how his mind around veganism changed the more he learned about it and what he had to unlearn what he was taught for 8 years. In your experience, how can authors best combine their journey and nonfiction writing to make a story that is both factual and engaging?
Ameesha
Yeah, I think that’s a really good point because back in the day, certainly when I was growing up, nonfiction was very dry. It was all textbooks. I remember not really enjoying nonfiction when I was growing up because it just wasn’t that engaging so I think we’ve seen a change in the last decade or so where nonfiction is much more storytelling and I don’t mean in the sense of ‘not true’ but in the sense of… authors have realised that they, actually, have to get people to go on their journey and to have an experience reading the book rather than just having: “Here’s a topic. Here’s another topic. Here’s another topic.” So, I think Glen did a really good job of it because he told it as a story. So, he basically started from him being a meat-eater and kind-of making the decision that he wanted to reduce his meat consumption. And then he wove in the lessons so he did a lot of myth-busting around veganism basically. So he would, kind-of, have a chapter where he would talk about his experience of trying to cut out a certain meat and then he would have a myth-busting chapter or little segment that would explain some of the more practical points. And I think alternating in that way worked really well for him. Other authors do it in a morerefined way. They might have the story and weave in facts and figures. But I think the key thing is it’s about storytelling. It’s not just about giving people dry information. It’s warming them up with a story that will capture their interests and that they can relate to.
Shakira
Definitely. I think when people hear about nonfiction, they think about just facts, isn’t it? Not the story alongside it. But to have a story and to learn alongside an author’s journey… just makes the nonfiction book that much more engaging.
Ameesha
Yeah. I think that’s why we’re seeing so many of the books that are coming out now are actually a lot more personable and more specific to the author than they used to be so remember how you would read a nonfiction book in the past and you would know nothing about the author? You won’t really know who they were and they were almost secondary to the book which was the key thing. Whereas now it’s actually about the author and what’s their experience? What’s their knowledge? What’s specifically unique to them that makes them the person to write the book? And I think weaving your own story into that… your own personal experiences and examples… people really buy into that. You know, they really find that more relatable than just having straight up information.
Shakira
Definitely. I think also having experience count as nonfiction is quite an interesting one. I think you were mentioning how you used to not want to read nonfiction and I also was the same, I loved fantasy books, and fiction, but reading more and more nonfiction that had someone’s journey it feels a little like fiction. You’re reading a character. But that’s really interesting.
Ameesha
Yeah, I think it will definitely continue in that way… the art of storytelling is definitely part of nonfiction these days.
Shakira
Definitely. Okay, next up we heard from Debbie. So, in Debie’s episode she talked about A Connection Blueprint and how it was challenging to carve out time for writing while running a business. Lots of people get up earlier to write in the morning as this is the only free time they can find. Ameesha, as the owner of your own publishing business, what patterns do we notice among people balancing full-time jobs and writing and what advice would you give them?
Ameesha
Yeah, that’s the key questions, isn’t it, for authors? Like, when do I actually get the time to write this book? And I think a lot of authors do get up earlier because they think that’s the only time they’ll find, especially if they have a family. So, they might get up before their family and do an hour’s writing in the morning. But, personally, I think it has to work for individual. So, if you’re the type of person who gets up at 6am and you have no motivation whatsoever and you know, your creative well is completely dry, there’s no point trying to force yourself to do that. It has to be something that works for you and fits in with your lifestyle. So, if you’re a night owl then, you know, maybe stay up a little bit later or see if there’s something else you can cut out and replace writing with. Maybe scrolling on social media. You know, there are always kind-of times in our day that we do thing that we don’t need to be doing. I think social media is a really big one of those. You know, there are definitely other things people could do. Or if they commute to work, you know, because they get the miscrosoft word app on their phone and sit and write as they’re on the train for example. So, I think it’s definitely about each individual figuring out what works for them and their lifestyle and the other thing is how much to write per day. So, people will often ask me, should I write 500 words a day or 1000 words a day? When actually the amount of words isn’t the key thing. It’s more about what works for you if you feel like you’re progressing by writing consistently everyday then it’s a good thing but if you’re one of the people who you have a Sunday afternoon free and you can write 2000 words then do it that way. You know, it’s more about what works for the individual
Shakira
Definitely. That’s a really interesting… finding out what works for you because one way doesn’t work well for everyone. So, yes, just experimenting with what fits in with your life… and what you said about fitting it into your day like on the commute? I think that’s a really good tip!
Ameesha
Not if you’re driving though.
Shakira
Yes.
Ameesha
So, actually, even in times when you’re actually walking around your house doing chores, you can literally plug your headphones into your phone and you can audio-narrate it. So, there are a lot of audio-transcription apps these days and you can do it that way and edit later so there are you know different ways you could do it even while you're doing the washing up.
Shakira
Brilliant and moving on to Sam, author of Your Next Big Idea, a book that helps entrepreneurs, including aspiring ones on how to come up with their own idea to start a business. Sam discusses the marketing and PR side of self publishing, including the importance of having a good book cover that appeals to your target audience. So Ameesha, from a publishing industry perspective, how important is a good book cover and why?
Ameesha
Thats the thing isn’t it? Like don't judge a book by its cover up. But actually in the publishing industry we do and should judge a book by its cover. I know that's controversial, but a book cover tells people so much about the book. So often it will tell you whether it was published or self published. It will also tell you what genre the book is in it will tell you what type of book it is. So I think people learn a lot subconsciously from book covers. So for example, there's a lot of genre standards relating to colours, self help books, for example, that often blue or yellow, so if you don't really pay attention to what colour you make your book cover, you could subconsciously tell people it's a totally different genre, confuse people. So I think it's not just about having a good book cover but about knowing what are the standards in your genre, and then sticking within those and you can kind of play with them a little bit, but it's genuinely about understanding what's your genre, telling people and how is it telling people and also what's kind of popular at the moment. So if you look at books from 10-15 years ago, the covers look very different to how they look now. So there are a lot of trends in the last couple of years gold for example, became really popular like white and gold, the whole good vibes, good life kind of guys, and also just having really strong bowls, texts, so you can read the title on a thumbnail on Amazon. So that was another trend that came in as we started to look at books online rather than in a bookshop. Could you actually read the title of the book in a thumbnail size on Amazon? So I think there are so many things that an author has to understand about book covers and how to convey what they want to and often it's not that easy for an author to figure these things out. So I would always say if you can afford to get a book cover designer it's worth it because it's the first thing that readers will see. and it's really the first thing that will sell your book or not sell it and if you have a bad book cover, people will instantly just turn away from it or scroll past it on Amazon. So in an ideal world, people would still check out the book anyway, even if they didn't love the cover. but the reality is, you know there are millions of books self published every year and published every year so if you don't have a cover that grabs people's attention, then they'll just move on to the next thing.
Shakira
So we do judge a book by its cover, but it's all to do with trends and authors should look into getting book designer invest in that if they need help. With the trends and the research.
Ameesha
Yeah, definitely. So they can either do their own research and there is information out there they just need to make sure they're looking at the up to date information because the trends do change every couple of years. Gold probably won't be popular in a few years time and everyone be like redoing the covers from a few years ago. But yeah, if they can hire a cover designer, they can either go with like a template cover. So there are companies that offer template covers, or they can hire a bespoke cover designer. So there are options available. I mean, they might know somebody who's a designer who can create something for them as long as they're doing their research into. Yeah, what works in the genre or what's popular ish at the moment or just understanding really what makes a good engaging book cover.
Shakira
Awesome. Next up, we had Carly's episode, and she discusses how she had to go down the self publishing route to publish her book A Pocket Full of porn, because traditional publishers refused to print her book, as they claim no one would buy a book with the word porn on it as the topic was too taboo. Her book covers the dangers of porn and how this links to violence against women, an important ongoing issue. Do you think the publishing industry has a duty to talk about issues? People are uncomfortable discussing, not just what will sell.
Ameesha
That's my favourite question. Yeah, it's a really difficult issue because the publishing industry is essentially about making money, you know, even though we would like it to not be the reality is that publishers have to make money and it costs a lot to get each book out there. So, for a publishing company, they have to believe there's a good return on investment to make their money back. And if it's a really controversial topic or something they think people won't buy then obviously they will be very wary about taking that on and maybe even because of their reputation as a publisher as well. So if they publish a book that has porn in the title, what will that tell readers about that publishing company? Because until someone actually reads the book and knows what it's about, then they might think, Oh, this publisher is promoting porn as opposed to saying it's dangerous. So you know, there are definitely some risks for publishers and I understand why they sometimes shy away from those difficult subjects. But I do think that we have a duty to talk about these topics, because, you know, they're really important issues that affect people's lives. Because nonfiction books are there for education. They're there to inform people and if we're not trying to inform people about a certain topic, because we're shying away from it, then we're doing a disservice to people, you know, so for authors like Carly, for example, you know, I think it was so brave of her to do that and to put her personal story out there because it's not just facts and figures. It's her experiences as she researched and her experiences with her boyfriend and for her to put that out there. I just think it's a really important thing to do. And her reason for doing it was that she doesn't want her son to grow up doing these really demeaning ways of portraying women and she wants a better world for him in the future and for women, and so I think if more authors did that, and try to create a better world for people then hopefully the publishing industry will take notes and think okay, no, maybe we should be talking about these topics as well.
Shakira
Yeah, because I think often with taboo subjects reading about it does help, you know, educate people, and if people feel they can't talk to their family or their friends or they want to learn about something, but they don't know where to go. often the internet is the first place and sometimes that can be a little bit dangerous because we don't know who's written what sources and which information to trust so having a book to go to and especially someone's experience can help guide someone or educate them so taboo topic that they're kind of struggling to get to grips with.
Ameesha
I actually found that while working on Carly's book, you know, I learned a lot from it. I already knew a few things, but I didn't know some of the facts and figures, for example, like 88% of porn contains violence against women. So I learned a lot as I was reading. But also one of the things that Carly raises is that nobody is talking about this topic. So one of the things I started doing afterwards was talking to my friends about it and asking what their opinions are, and do they know the kind of reality and do they know how it portrays women and so I think one of the things that books like Harley's encourages people to do is actually to talk more about it because the more we talk about these subjects, then the less taboo it becomes. and then hopefully big publishers will start publishing books on it.
Shakira
Definitely. We're moving on to Jim's episode, he talks about his book clever enough to be stupid, and the dangers of censorship in relation to freedom of speech as an editor Misha, you not only edit the technical aspects of a book, but you can also comment on the author’s content and how their words may be perceived by readers, where's the line between content editing and censorship as an editor?
Ameesha
Oh, that’s such a good question, and it's a topic I think there were both quite passionate about. So I think it's one of the biggest challenges of being an editor on the content development side or maybe being a book coach, not so much being a copy editor, but certainly at those early stages or books going from a first draft into you know, something that will look more like it's finished form is where do you draw the line between telling the author, I think this might be a risky thing to say, and letting them kind of have that freedom to write what they want you as an author, and it's something that I've struggled with, to be honest because obviously as a company We have values and our beliefs and what an author says may not always kind of fit in line with those. And so what I try to do is tell authors look, this may be perceived this way, or what you're saying here is controversial, or I'm not sure that you have fully researched this. So, maybe go away and double check something and I might try to encourage them to present a balanced view or at least warn them of the dangers if they say something that is likely to be very controversial. Ultimately, it's up to each author who is self publishing to determine what they put out there and how comfortable they are and how they would feel if they get backlash. But I feel that it's my duty as an editor to warn them about that and to talk to them about some of these things, which goes back to the original point about taboo issues. Yeah, just kind of having the confidence to say I'm not sure that this will come across very well, you might want to reconsider. And that's a difficult thing for an editor to push back against an author and say that to them, and it might not always be received in the best way. But I do think it's our duty, you know, as content editors or when we're doing a critique to talk to authors about these things.
Shakira
And how do you often bridge those conversations? I mean, they must be uncomfortable at times or like you said, some people receive it. Well, some people don't. So how do you find as an editor you approach the situation?
Ameesha
I think what I tend to do is just be really open and honest upfront. And it's I think it's about setting the expectations from the beginning that actually, I will be completely honest with you about this book and like everything about it, not just the controversial topics that might be in there, but the inherent value of the book and the structure and the writing style. So when I first do a critique, the reason a lot of authors will come to me or come to us as a company is because we are completely honest with them. So I think as long as they understand from the beginning that that's what they're getting from us, then it won't come as a surprise to them. You know, when we do say later on down the line, oh, you might want to reconsider this. So I think it is it's very much about understanding what the author wants from you and what you will give them back and being clear that you will tell them if there is something that the public may find very challenging or may disagree with.
Shakira
Definitely. In the next chapter, we had Katie Grey author of The Empowered Heart where she touched on creativity and commerce and how she wants to break free from the rules of the traditional publishing industry, what are your thoughts on how commerce affects creativity in the publishing industry?
Ameesha
That's a good point. I think it goes back to the idea that the publishing industry is ultimately about making money and sometimes making money hinders creativity. So Katie's book, for example, and a few other books I've worked on where they've included images of, you know, sort of art or poetry and things like that a publishing company might not necessarily take that on that kind of mixed media approach to books, because they might think like, oh, this is too random, or I'm not sure that this will sell. So I think it can mean that the authors who are doing something a little bit different that they won't necessarily get a traditional publishing deal. And I think it's a shame for authors who are putting amazing content out there. If a publishing company decides no, we're not going to take them on because it has a poem in the book or because they've included their own personal artwork. But the good thing is that because of self publishing, it now means that authors can still get their books out there. Anyway. I personally love self publishing for that reason, because it's removed the barriers to entry that meant only certain people or certain types of people would get a publishing deal. And I think it just gives everybody the opportunities to put their work out there. It now means that authors can still get their books out there anyway, I personally love self publishing for that reason, because it's removed the barriers to entry that meant only certain people or certain types of people would get a publishing deal. And I think it just gives everybody the opportunities to put their work out there and to see, you know, how the public feel about it, not how the gatekeeper of the publishing industry feels about it.
Shakira
Definitely and talking about gatekeeping what have you noticed in the publishing industry that has made people turn away and go to self publishing? What kind of gatekeeping occurs in the industry that you notice?
Ameesha
Yeah, so back in the day, it used to be that every manuscript would end up on an editor's desk or the editorial assistants desk and it was like the dream job so be going through manuscripts and deciding what gets published and what doesn't and then the industry changed to literary agents doing the gatekeeping instead. And so the issue there is that it's not only whether the publishing company will make money but whether the literary agent will make money because they want to make their cuts as well. So in a way, you kind of have two levels of gatekeeping because both of those people need to make money if they take on that manuscript, and a lot of agents are quite secretive about how they decide you know which manuscripts they'll take on and which they won't. What we do know is that approximately 99.9% of manuscripts will never make it through to a publisher will not get a publishing deal. So you know, the chances of getting a publishing deal are quite low. And you really have to understand what's the agent looking for, what type of books do they represent, what books have they worked on already? And basically, for anyone who's pitching to get a traditional publishing deal, who's pitching to agents I would say you have to do so much research to really understand what the agent wants and make sure that you appeal to them. When you send off a query letter. It's not just a case of send off a generic letter to 100 agents you have to really A basically, for anyone who's pitching to get a traditional publishing deal who's pitching to agents, I would say you have to do so much research to really understand what the agent wants and make sure that you appeal to them. When you send off a query letter. It's not just a case of send off a generic letter to 100 agents, you have to talk about why do you want them as an agent and, you know, really get them to buy into your book because it appeals to them personally. So it's almost like applying for a job really, you know, when you write your cover letter and you don't write a generic cover letter, so it's very similar, but yeah, there's definitely a lot of challenges in trying to get a traditional publishing deal if you don't understand what agents are looking for. And ultimately, it is about will a publisher take this on? Because will they fear a potential return on investment? Is this a popular subject or the type of book that readers will buy? So it's difficult again, authors can work with editors or book coaches to help them with this process. So for example, we help authors write their book proposals. So for nonfiction, you need a book proposal, which is basically a business plan for your book rather than just a query letter like you would with fiction. So we help authors we have like a template book proposal that they can use, and then we can direct them through doing some of that research to understand their target market and to understand the key words they might need to use or Yes, sort of how to prove that this book will sell so we can help guide authors through that and there are other companies out there that do the same so I think, you know, if someone's struggling, they should hire an editor who's worked on book proposals before and get that help get that insight into what agents are actually looking for.
Shakira
Definitely. In Adams episode, author of You Are Going to Fucking Die. You and Adam talk about perfectionism and social media Ameesha is that as an editor, it is your job to strive for perfect and the publishing industry is bound to this idea too. But Adam counters this by swearing in his writing, as he doesn't want his book to be perfect but genuine instead. What would you suggest to writers who are struggling with perfectionism, but are also wanting to publish writing that is as true to themselves as possible?
Ameesha
Yeah, that's a really funny question. I think a lot of us working in the publishing industry probably are perfectionist, you know, especially for people who work on the editing and proofreading side of things. And that may be why these kinds of jobs appeal to us. So I think sometimes it's a battle with our own perfectionism to let authors go with whatever they want to like Adam's book, for example, he didn't even necessarily want us to correct all of the punctuation and it because he wanted it to feel genuine to you know, the way he speaks. And a lot of people comment actually, that reading the book is like listening to him speak. So, for him, it was important to have that authenticity. So I think it goes back to us understanding as editors, what does the writer want? Do they want perfect English? Or do they want it to be authentically representative of them and their writing style and their voice? I think on the other side of the coin, it's writers who are trying to be perfect themselves. And I think there is this idea in the publishing industry that everything we put out there has to be perfect. You know, if there's a typo, it's like a heinous crime. And everyone's really angry about it. Like how dare this book, have a typo in it and people assume if there is a typo that it means the book is in good quality in terms of the content when that isn't true. So I think we all have to be more understanding that actually, almost every book will probably have a typo in it. Most books I read even by big publishers like penguin will have at least one typo in there. And you know, there's a copy of The Handmaid's Tale they have where there are three E's in the middle of a word. So you think how did nobody noticed that but it's because we're human, you know, we're not really designed to be able to pick up typos and errors. So I think we have to understand that actually, a typo or an error here or there doesn't mean that the book is bad quality. It just means that we're human and that the proofreader or multiple proofread has missed something. And also, I think the perfectionism comes in with authors not wanting to put the book out there. So they're trying to perfect it and perfect it and perfect it and it means that they end up delaying publishing so I would always say Publish when you're 95% happy with it, because you can always go back onto Amazon or or whichever platform you're using and upload a new copy of it. And the same with if an author's hired a proofreader. And then they noticed that there are a few typos and then they're really annoyed that it shouldn't be like that. It should be understanding that actually the proofread has picked up, you know, 100 errors somewhere else, and they might have missed a few but it's not the worst thing you know, you can always put a new version of the book out there. And it's funny because back in the day when books were typeset on big printing plates, they used to celebrate typos in the sense of the back of the book would have a list of errata and it would be added in as a page and people would almost celebrate if someone had written in and said that there's an error in this and make difference in the errata. Whereas now it's seen as something really negative if a book has typos, so maybe we can try and turn things back around and go back to embracing typos because they're just part of the process. So I think it comes down to all of us just being more understanding of errors rather than us all trying to be perfect as readers as authors as editors. So yeah, embrace the typo.
Shakira
Definitely. I think what's really interesting what you said about perfectionism in the workplace as well because I think as creatives doing anything creative, there isn't really a perfect I mean, perfect is depending on someone else's judgement, isn't it or your own judgement, so I guess we all have the inner critic as well and trying to be kinder to ourselves may help with the perfectionism streak in all of us.
Ameesha
Yeah, definitely. I completely agree.
Shakira
Yeah. So last but not least, we have marks episode right off who stole grandma Mark emphasises being brave as a writer and putting yourself out there so you can find an audience. You mentioned a lot of authors are scared people will steal their work, but it is not easy to steal a manuscript, publish it and for that to be successful. Mark found an audience through a Facebook group and also raised 4000 pounds for charity. How can writers get their work out there and also contribute to charitable causes through self publishing?
Ameesha
Yeah, Mark was really interesting, actually, because a lot of authors don't put their work out there before they fully self publish or fully published. So Mark was a bit different in that he basically had this Facebook page where he'd published a chapter of the book or a page of the book every day, and he started to develop this audience of people around the world who would go back and be looking for the next episode, like every day, and I think it's a really good lesson for people that actually instead of being fearful of if I put this out there, someone's going to steal it, but actually, if you put it out there, you might find an audience already. And then when you do come to fully fully published the book, you have people who are ready and waiting to buy it and who already believe in you and will support you and contribute to your journey as an author. So I think Mark was a really good example of that. Because when he asked for help with proofreading, for example, because he wanted to get people's opinions, but also to see if people could spot any typos, he just asked, and he literally had 30 people who were willing to help him for free, just because he'd already put this book out there on Facebook. So I think that shows the kind of impact it could have, if you're brave enough to just put your work out there in the first place. And on the other side of things, if you raise 4000 pounds for charity because he basically decided he didn't want to make a profit from the book, but he wanted to be able to help Parkinson's UK and because his mom who was writing a book about how Parkinson's so we talked about the idea of running free Kindle book campaigns. So on Amazon, you can put your book out there for five days every 90 days completely for free on Kindle. So he did that a couple of weekends a month and he said to people look the Kindle book will be free. But all they ask is that you go and donate to Parkinson's, UK, he had a just giving page for people to go to and so he raised 4000 pounds through that and doing a kind of comedy like viral video type campaign where you had to hit yourself in the head with Tunnocks Tea Cake. It was fun. Yeah. So I think he's just such a good example of how you can do that and make life easier for yourself as an author but also contribute to charity at the same time.
Shakira
I think that's really amazing what he's done of going on Facebook and going on social media is just seeing who you can find who gravitates towards your work, because I think being an author can be quite an isolating role.
Ameesha
So yeah, the whole point is to share and to have people read your work. So, yeah, I totally agree with that. And I think one of the questions I get asked them most often on Quora at the question and answer site is, will my editor steal my manuscripts and there is this genuine fear that authors have that if they share their work with anyone, even a publishing professional, that someone will steal it so you know, I constantly have to explain to people that actually the biggest challenge in self publishing is not someone stealing your work. It's getting anyone to read it. I know that sounds sounds brutal, but you know, the reality is 1.7 8 million books for self published on Amazon in 2018. And that was four years ago and it's increasing every year. So it is a challenge getting people to find and read your book, and it's it's not an easy process. So it's definitely worth it. And it can be really rewarding. But yeah, the challenge isn't whether anyone will steal it because then they would have that challenge of trying to get people to find it and read it. The challenge is how you get it to readers. So the more you can do before you publish to pique people's interest and get them involved and get them to buy into your journey, the better the more likely you are to get readers when you actually come to publish. So, you know, we talked about growing an author platform, and that's really what it's about. It's about building an audience before you publish so that when you do publish, you already have people ready and waiting and willing to support you and buy your book and review it on Amazon. If you're too scared to put anything out there. Before you've published you're basically giving yourself an uphill battle because at the point that you've clicked submit on Amazon or whichever platform you then have to start your marketing from day one, and nobody knows who you are. So they say that the first 30 days are the most important and if you spend those 30 days just trying to get anyone to know who you are, then you've already missed the boat. So you kind of say start trying to market maybe like three months before publishing companies obviously spend a lot longer you know, that's like was it more like a year, maybe longer, whereas with sales publishing, if you start marketing yourself a couple of months before you publish then at least you should hopefully have people who can help you before you market but definitely don't leave it to the point you've put the book out there because yeah, you're on the backfoot then.
Shakira
So is there anything you'd like to add on you share any highlights or reflections that you have for our aspiring authors?
Ameesha
Yeah, I think on the whole it was just really interesting that the same issues came up whether someone was writing a business book or a kind of self help personal development books that a lot of authors who are self publishing face the same issues. And one thing a lot of them said, especially when I asked them, what's the one piece of advice that you would give to an aspiring author? A lot of them said it would be working with an editor sooner, and maybe they were just saying that because they were talking to me and I was their editor. I would hope that they were being honest, but some of them got me involved really early on. So maybe for some coaching or for the critique stage, whereas some of them didn't get me involved until much later in the process. And I appreciate that. It's not always cheap. To hire an editor or to hire a team with designers and proofreaders and marketers that it really can make a difference to your book. And yeah, I think there are ways you can kind of leverage your budget to get the most out of it. So if you have a few 100 pounds, I would say go and hire a book coach. Get them to have a look over your outlines and maybe read your first couple of chapters and your introduction and try to get their input earlier on so they can steer you onto the right path. Try to get some free proofreading from people you know, you know, offered to take them out for dinner if they're willing to proofread your book and then invest some money into a book cover that's going to draw people in. If you have more money to spend, then you can hire developmental editors, copy editors and Layout Designer for the inside of the book marketers. So I think it's really about understanding how much can you actually invest into this book and what's the best way to spend that money to get the most value out of it. Either way, getting a publishing professional involved as early on generally has the most impact because they can check that you're on the right path. So there are ways you can do it that are much more affordable. You know, there are beta reading groups out there where people will critique your book for free if you look those up online. So I think it ultimately comes down to every author is different and every book is different. And as you said, you know one size doesn't fit all so authors have to understand what works for them. What can they afford, realistically how much time can they spend on this? How perfect do they need it to be and figuring out what will work best for them as an individual.
Shakira
Brilliant. I think that's really helpful and it's nice to hear from such a range of different authors. This series I found use that as an editor you learn something new from every book and I think on this series, we will learn something new from each author and each conversation. So I just want to say thank you to everyone for listening to volume on better shelves. We hope you enjoyed the podcast. Is there anything you would like to hear if we do a volume two, and who would you like to hear from and what advice would you like?
Ameesha
Yeah, and also thank you to all of our authors who contributed to this series and a special shout out to Katie Gray, who kindly let us use her beautiful music for our intros. So thank you, Katie and feel free to go and check out her music on all of the platforms. Thank you for listening.
Thank you for listening to the first series of the Better Shelves podcast. We’d love to hear what you thought about the podcast, what you found useful, and what you’d like to see in series 2 so make sure you connect with us on social media @thebookshelfltd. Let us know your thoughts and connect with us.
The music featured in today’s episode is ‘Set Free’ by Katie Gray which you can find on Apple Music and Spotify. From all the team at The Book Shelf, we want to say a big thank you for joining us on our first series of the Better Shelves podcast. We hope we gave you lots of tips, tricks, and inspiration from our authors for your next book. But if you need any help or want to work with us, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. At The Book Shelf, we bring nonfiction to life. As a team, we’ve worked on over 500 books with authors around the globe from first-timers to New York Times bestsellers because we believe that great books make the world a better place. We also believe that self-publishing doesn’t mean going it alone that’s why we’re here from idea to bookshelf, from coaching to critique, editing to design and marketing. So, if you want to put the author into authority, get in touch with us today and let’s bring your book to life.