How Over Publishing Is Stopping You From Being a Successful Author

If there is one bad thing that's come from the ease of the internet and social media it's the pressure to create, create, create, no time to stop, slow down, or relax for a single minute as the one who isn't putting themselves out there every day are the ones who will be left behind while their "competition" speeds ahead to riches.

Well, some say riches - I say burnout but to each their own. 

 What may be seen as productivity and production can hinder you as an author when there is too much pressure to create something - instead of something worth reading. 

(I'll be finding out the major pitfalls of this in the 360 Publishing Challenge: 360 Days of Constant Posting. Update Coming Soon.) 

Let's move forward and find out how to turn that over productivity into actionable solutions to redirect you to lasting success. 

Quantity Doesn't Equal Quality

Just because you could put out a boatload of books in a short amount of time - it doesn't quite mean that you should. 

There's a hugely successful author right now with books coming out almost monthly, sure she's rich, and there are millions out there who have bought her books - but almost every person I talk to who has read them - can't understand why she's so successful as the books are nothing more than smutty trash with zero plot or character development.

Although this sounds like a comprise you may be willing to make - being rich over having good books - this is not something that happens often in the world of writing. Just because some books have received a cult-like following despite the books themselves being terrible - doesn't mean that you should just start popping out books left and right by tossing them at the market and seeing what sticks.

You may get lucky - but at what cost? By the time you have a fantastic book, nobody will want to pick it up having been burned by you before. 

Reader Saturation Leads to Diminished Impact 

Let's say that each book you put out is fantastic. A wonderful story that is the perfect thing that readers have been waiting for. 

But as soon as it's available - well your next book is also ready to go so the readers are going to start looking at that new book instead since it's well - newer. 

An important aspect of releasing more than one book is Spacing and Pacing. You don't want them to come out too quickly and you don't want them spaced too far apart that no one remembers the first. 

The key is the balance in between. 

Mistakes Slip Past

There's a reason books take a while to be released and while sometimes it can just take a while to complete a draft -  most of the time it's the rest of the process that's keeping the book. 

You never want to publish a book after a first draft and you never want to edit a book the moment you've finished writing it. 

Editing, feedback, revision, all of these processes take time to make sure the book that you are producing is done to the best of your team's ability. 

If you rush a book out before the proper process has been completed you are leaving room for major errors to be made and then you're back to the beginning of this article, sacrificing the quality of your novel for the quantity of having something released. 

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Slow down and take your time when working on your novel. 

Unless you have a publisher or an agent breathing down your neck for a copy of your manuscript there is no major rush to get your book out on the market. 

Don't prioritise quantity over quality and don't pump out more books than your readers can keep up with. Find the balance that works best between them so that you are making the most effective decisions when it comes to your novel releases. 

Best of luck. 

With love, 

B.K. xoxo

Want to write with me live? I'm now on Twitch! Come join me in some writing sprints every Wed-Thurs-Fri-Sat at 10:30 pm EST

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