What I’ve learnt from reading self-published authors

I’m a self-published author. My first book was a travelogue, anecdotes about my experiences in business travel early in the noughties. I wrote it for my own entertainment during the pandemic, but then decided to publish it. I was surprised and delighted with the response. So much so that I followed it up with a novel, “The Repurposed Spy”. That sold better than I had expected, I suspect largely down to advertising (though recently it has won 3 awards). Book marketers told me that I needed to expand it into a series if I wanted more recognition and sales. That wasn’t straightforward because, not expecting to write a sequel, I had left the main protagonist apparently dying at the end of the first book! But he was resurrected, and he and the other characters all appear in “Spies on Safari”, which I published in November 2023. Now I’m writing the third. I’m not unhappy with sales, but I know they could be better – and the One Big Thing that I learnt from marketing my first two books is that reviews – specifically Amazon reviews, and lots of them – are essential.

Book marketing gurus told me (amongst other things) that I should ask other authors to review my work. That seemed wise advice, and so, having previously subscribed to their mailing lists (which I admit was to get ideas for my own), I responded to their requests for Advance readers. I proposed reciprocity, which I thought was reasonable. I review yours, please will you review mine. I duly read and reviewed three such books, gave them all five star reviews (which, to be honest, were not entirely merited), and waited for them to review my latest. After sending gentle reminders, one wrote back to say she never reviewed books, and the other two told me they were too busy. I tried a fourth and fifth. “Not my genre,” they replied, responding with such alacrity that I should have twigged then that my book titles are misleading (nothing to do with your MI6/CIA/KGB type of spy). It didn’t stop one of them asking if I’d review their book, though.

I found these attitudes more dispiriting than depressing. Surely every writer needs to do a lot of reading, devouring a variety of works from other authors to gain insights, study styles and, hopefully, be inspired? I know I do. I read every day. Do they assume that, being an unknown and self-published author, my book is rubbish? Presumably not, they’re not exactly famous and self-published themselves. Perhaps there was some other hidden agenda.

Anyway, I didn’t want to be another refusenik. I posted in a social media author group on Facebook that I’m a member of, asking other authors if they’d like me to buy, read and review the Kindle edition of their book. I wanted variety, but said upfront not to suggest romance, fantasy or sci-fi, simply because I didn’t think I could leave a worthwhile review of those genres. But that leaves a lot! In my post, I wrote “no reciprocity expected” – I didn’t want to get refusals or excuses, and I genuinely did want to read new books. I got an enthusiastic response, and over the last four months have bought 24 books by independent authors.

It’s been an enlightening journey. I would never normally have chosen to read at least half of them, based on their genre or back cover blurb. I would have missed some gems. I discovered writing styles that appealed to me, structures that I wouldn’t have considered. I hope these revelations will help me become a better writer.

Certain books emphasised aspects I find frustrating, and provided me with useful lessons on things to avoid, and things that are difficult to get right. For example, descriptions of characters and their background are essential, but some authors have a tendency to spin out a very thin plot with page after page of repetition. It’s particularly true of books in series, which risk also suffering from excessive “in an earlier episode…” explanations. But irritation helps – I’m hoping that my recent reading will help me get the balance right in the third book in my series, which I am currently working on. Though I note that the books I enjoyed most were one-offs.

A few of the books highlighted – by their absence – the value of editors, of both the developmental and copy variety. I suspect many self-published authors dispense with professional editing because of the cost, or rely on non-critical friends. But if a job’s worth doing, surely it’s worth doing well?

There were only three or four books that I couldn’t bring myself to finish and review. Some have literally hundreds of four and five star reviews on Amazon, so there are plenty who like them. But, for one reason or another, not me.

I’ve posted all my reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads. If you’re interested, you can find all my reviews (including, from an earlier time, books from big publishers) on my author page https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22306132.Oliver_Dowson

If the author has a Facebook page that can be followed (surprisingly, some don’t have their pages set to ‘public’) I’ve also posted the review on FB and in book review groups and on X/Twitter. When I see posts by those authors, I’m liking, commenting and sharing. Us self-published authors need all the help we can get – and surely we should be helping each other? Yet my approach to posting reviews and supporting others on social media appears to be a rarity. I wonder why? And, though I did say that I didn’t expect reciprocity, I confess I’m a little disappointed that none of the authors have reviewed any of my own books or asked for a copy. But that won’t stop me.