Self Publishing Tips Quotes

“Self-publishing a book for the first time isn’t for the faint of heart: it’s a daunting project that takes time and money. Just because you wrote a book (of which you should be proud) doesn’t mean you know anything about self-publishing that book. Authoring a book and publishing that book are two completely different endeavors.”
― hank quense, Self-publishing a Book

“Writers can write whatever they want, but after THE END, when they self publish their book, they become accountable to readers for the quality of the book they're selling.”
― Eeva Lancaster, Being Indie: A No Holds Barred, Self Publishing Guide for Indie Authors

“Books used to be written by humanity's greatest thinkers, or at least our greatest entertainers. Now every halfwit can publish his verbal diarrhea. And millions of shitty, mediocre, uninspired, trite books are drowning out mankind's greatest literary accomplishments.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Pro tip: If you can't think of anything more interesting to post on social media than a picture of your cup of coffee, you are boring and you have nothing interesting to say.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Conformists are boring. Artists are interesting. That's the difference between a wannabe writer and a real writer.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Keep your head down, fingers on the computer and write. Ignore the naysayers, the skeptics, the friends, church patrons or family members who provide nothing but negativity. Your story is the only one that counts. Write it.”
― Sarah Gerdes, Author Straight Talk

“Before you take anyone's advice, check the sales rank of their own books. If their Amazon sales rank is somewhere around 700,000 or worse, they're barely selling one book per month, if even that. Why would you follow their advice? They have no idea what they're talking about. They're rookies pretending to be experts. It's almost like they're role playing. They're make-believe writers, the way kids are make-believe astronauts or pirates.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Its pretty annoying to real writers, when some unqualified, talent-free hack calls himself a writer, because it devalues the word. Millions of shitty self-published wannabe writers are giving real indie writers with real talent a bad name.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“If everyone is suddenly a writer, then no one is. It feels like cultural appropriation. You're stealing their identity. You're appropriating the one thing that is sacred to real writers. You're not a writer. You like to write. There's a difference. To you it's just a hobby, and yet you decorate yourself with stolen feathers. You give yourself a title you haven't earned and don't deserve. Just like you can't wake up one day and pretend now you're a proctologist.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Most wannabe writers are to the book industry what cows are to the meat industry.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Have you traveled the globe? Have you been places, done things and experienced the world? Have you lived a colorful, unique life? If not, you have nothing of value to contribute to humanity. Everything you write is not based on real world experience but recycled second hand information.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“You can't be a writer if you haven't done shit and experienced nothing interesting. They say write what you know. If you know nothing about life, you can't be a good writer. Good writing is based on who you are as a person. Every good book is a part of who you are. Every good writer reveals his true self in his books. If there is nothing interesting to reveal, go be an accountant or something. You have no business being a writer.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“The difference between some random toddler scribbling some crappy drawing and Leonardo da Vinci is that Leonardo has talent. Someone with no talent is not the same as someone with talent.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“If someone with talent creates something, it's art. When someone with no talent creates something, it's crap.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“If you want to be a good writer, you need to be a talented artist. And artists are unique and stand out. Artists are the opposite of conformists.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“If you want to be a good writer, you need to be a talented artist. And artists are unique and stand out. Artists are the opposite of conformists. So by doing what everyone else is doing, you're proving your mediocrity, and your lack of artistic uniqueness. When you follow everyone else's example, you are by definition not an artist. You're a copy cat.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Not every self-published indie author is bad. There actually are some very good ones. But they're the exception, not the rule.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Shakespeare was one in a million. That makes you pretty unique, if there's only one million people.

But when there's a hundred million people, then being one in a million means there are 100 people just as talented as you.

In a country of 300 million people, there are 300 people like you. And in a world of seven billion people, you're competing with 7000 other people who are every bit as good as you. I wonder if Shakespeare would have gotten famous if he lived today, and had to compete with 7000 other Shakespeares.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. But if there's a shirtless guy on your cover, or your title includes the words billionaire, alpha-male, werewolf or werebear, your "book" is probably a pile of unimaginative, derivative drivel devoid of a single original thought. Yet another poorly written romance clone the world didn't need.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Only a fool writes for anything but money,’ Samuel Johnson wrote in the 18th century. If that's true, and it probably is, I've been a fool more times than I care to count. I will say that I've been a much happier fool when I'm writing what I love to write. Here's the rough-and-tumble fact of it: The overwhelming odds are that when you're writing your first book (and even your second) you will be writing it for free, you will not receive a contract or advance from a major publisher, and you will not get an agent. I say this with utmost affection and empathy. I also say, let the statistical truth of all that, free us to write what we love, what we want to write, exactly what we would write for free. And once you're dancing down that path, write hard, write the thing the best you can write it, and who knows? Maybe the phone ringing on your bedside table is that literary agent and they're calling with good news. Best of all they're calling because they love your work as much as you do. And if that call doesn't come through, not right away, where does that leave you? With no regrets. All respect to Dr. Johnson, [but] the far, far better quote (for my ‘money’) is: ‘Never for money, always for love...’ Talking Heads. They didn't just write it. They sang it.” (Ruuf Wangersen interview, July 2018, sevencircumstances.com)”
― Ruuf Wangersen, The Pleasure Model Repairman

“I think of book development like cooking spaghetti. There are many ways to cook it, but the basic ingredients should be present: The pasta, and the sauce, and the cheese topping! If you’re a fabulous cook, and you plan on selling spaghetti to earn extra income, it should be obvious to you that there are a lot of other places where it is sold, and you would have to convince people that your spaghetti is better than the others. You’d do this by making sure that the noodles are perfectly al dente, the sauce is tasty, and to give it an edge, you’d make it cheesier, put it in a nice container, and maybe add a sprig of parsley on top to add to the appeal. You wouldn’t serve it on the floor and tell people to go on and taste it because it’s truly delicious, and that you have slaved for many hours perfecting the taste.

Packaging and appearances are important, as much as the taste. In publishing, you could be the next great writer, but if you don’t present your words in the most appealing way possible, especially in this highly competitive industry, I doubt anyone would bother to read it except your friends and family, if at all.”
― Eeva Lancaster, Being Indie: A No Holds Barred, Self Publishing Guide for Indie Authors

“We can’t be everything for our book. Sometimes, we must surrender it to people who can help.

It’s all about the book. It’s not a reflection of your competence.

But, please ask from the right people. Hire the right people. Approach experts. Friends are great for moral support, but when you need expertise and advise, then ask the experts.

Otherwise, you’d be a blind man being guided by another blind man telling you which way to go. A practice that is too common in this industry.”
― Eeva Lancaster, Being Indie: A No Holds Barred, Self Publishing Guide for Indie Authors

“A key reason one novel receives a one-star review while another gets top stars always boils down to the story-crafting of each. A novel written by an author who does not fully grasp the technical basics of writing fiction is the one likely to get that one-star review.”
― Harold Bascom

“Most reputatable service providers are active within the author communities they serve.”
― Jim Giammatteo, Choosing the Best Self-Publishing Companies and Services: How To Self-Publish Your Book

“A professional and experienced company will offer a coherent set of services that makes your book the best it can be.”
― Debbie Young