One of my ambitions years ago (too many to say out loud!) was to write a novel.
I did it. In the end, I did it, yay!
Then I wrote another.
Then another—thrice yay! Go me.
Someone told me I'd never actually finish writing a book. It was someone who had little faith in me and put me down a lot...so, it's two fingers to them, haha! (fist bumps the air—back of the net!)
I'm proud of my achievement because I've done most of it myself.
I had the help of an editor to do a light edit and proofread, which was a godsend, and I had a graphic designer to bring my ideas for a book cover to life.
The worst bit is marketing. I've had no help whatsoever on that score, and it's like wading through tar, to be honest. No help from a publishing house or promoters; no cheerleaders or coaches; no community interest companies to carve a path for me to negotiate, and help with costs along the way.
I'm self-funded and self-reliant, but the downside is, that it's difficult to spread the word about my books.
People have read them, don't get me wrong, but not as many readers as I would have had if I'd had some of the help I've already mentioned.
Someone told me that you only get one review (on average) per 150 books read. I don't know if that's true, but it's a mountain to climb if you're going it alone.
Reviews are important to the self-publishers—oh, SO important because people tend not to give something a second look if there aren't many. Trust me, I'm an avid Amazon shopper! It's only since writing books that I've come to realise how much of yourself you put into it, and now when I've finished a book, I give it a review—or at the very least, a rating.
So, on behalf of all the self-pubbers, if you like what we do, let us know, because it might help us from tearing our hair out occasionally as we wade once again through the first drafts of the next one. Hopefully... Fingers crossed.
Have a good day and happy reading!