I Self-Published My Book. Two Days Later, I’m Full Of Regret.

I'm really proud to say that I have just published my first novel days ago.

But as soon as I held that beautiful paper back in my hand, I was already filled with regret.

Yes, regret. Dreaded regret.

I know I meant to feel happy (and trust me, I am), but right now, I can't help mulling over everything I've done wrong, could’ve done better and should have worked on first.

It's the business owner in me, constantly evaluating my work and trying to do better.

I tell myself to be kind. I'm a first-time novelist, self-learning everything on the fly while maintaining an income.

I can't beat myself up too much for making some mistakes.

Yet, considering another novel is on the horizon, I don't want to make these mistakes again.

This is everything I regret after self-publishing my first novel (and my list of what to do differently with the second book).

Marketing first, along with everything else

As I'm writing this, my launch weekend has just finished. It's been 48 hours since my book was published, and I have two sales. One Kindle sale and one paperback.

I know where both of those sales have come from, even though Amazon doesn't show me the specific customer names or details. I know these are both from my husband.

I'm not upset he was my only sale. I’m disappointed that my family and friends haven't supported me or bought my book, but that's an entirely different conversation I'll share with you another time.

Now my book is launched, I'm dedicating my entire schedule to marketing my book. I'm engaging the following aspects to promote my book to potential readers:

• Running social media videos on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest
• Running photography-based content on the same platforms
• Running Amazon ads
• Potentially running social media ads
• Influencer marketing
• Heavy, word-of-mouth marketing
• Possibly looking into putting my book into libraries or book clubs
• Sending my book for reviews from potential readers

Here’s the thing: much of what I'm doing now I could've done before the book launch.

For example, I could've created an entire social media campaign about writing the book and launching it, getting behind the scenes into the writing experience.

While I attempted a few behind-the-scenes videos, they were not enough to impact my sales.

A dose of motivation

It would've felt more encouraging if I had marketed first and then launched to a big audience, resulting in big sales. It would've made me feel positive about launching a second book or the success of this book.

It doesn't mean it's too late. But when you're writing a book, it doesn't mean you have to do your marketing in a conventional order.

Say it out loud

During the editing process, I read my book extensively, mainly on the computer. I also printed a copy onto standard A4 paper during my initial editing phase.

While it was valuable to read the book on the screen and on paper, I wish I had used one simple method of reading.

I wish I had read the book out loud.

It was a game changer because:

• It was incredible to hear how the language in the conversations and the descriptions came to life when I read them out loud.
• It really pointed out places that needed more or less description.
• It really highlighted the way the language flowed and when it felt stuck and awkward.
• I also found it incredibly easy to pick up on mistakes when I read it out loud. It's like it stopped me from skimming over the content.

Never too late

I didn't read the book out loud until one of the very last edits. I wish I had done every edit by reading it out loud.

I’m confident it would've sped up the process for me by eliminating the need for multiple edits on the same content.

By the way, I've seen many writers talk about reading their work out loud, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't follow their advice sooner.

It feels like they've all known about the secret way of editing, and I'm really just finding out about it.

But hey, better late than never, right?

Read the dedication

When my husband read the first couple of pages of my book, he had questions, questions I didn’t expect.

We were lying in bed when he forced the book into my hand to ask me a question.

He read the opening dedication to Mum, a set of quotes from her favourite movies, lines from The Adventures Of Priscilla Queen of the Desert and The Birdcage.

I thought he was asking me about what these lines meant and why they were in a dedication to my mum. But then he read it out loud to me, and I realised there was a big repetitive typo in the dedication.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe the amount of times I had run the book through editing programs, and none of them picked it up.

As context, the book has been run through the following programs:

• Grammarly
• ProWritingAid
• Hemingway App
• AutoCrit

Not one of these programs picked up on the typing error.

I was fuming when I saw the error. It was too late to change it.

It's embarrassing to make a typo so early on in the book, especially one that means so much to me. Thankfully, my Mum hadn't seen it but now I pointed out I'm sure she will never unsee it.

AI Anger

Part of me contemplated suing these editing platforms for not picking up on the error. Considering how many times I had used them, it felt like they were broken, to not pick up on this.

Wanting to take legal action was an angry, knee-jerk reaction. I would never do that.

I have to blame myself. One thing I didn't do was read the dedication out loud like I did the rest of the book.

Imagine if I had.

Where are the beta readers?

The feedback I received about my storyline, the pace of the book and the overall feel of the book came from an editor I paid to review it.

It doesn't mean the feedback I received from her is invalid or wasn't helpful. But as I emerge out of the editing process, I'm jealous of the authors who use beta readers, receiving additional feedback before publishing.

Beta readers are generally book lovers in your genre who give feedback on your manuscript before publishing.

Using beta readers would have offered me:

• Insight into overall areas that I can improve
• Specific areas that needed changing that one person can’t see
• An idea of whether the book would sell to my audience
• If people would buy the book with changes made or as it stood
• Sometimes, I imagine what this feedback could have been and what I could’ve learned.

Beta Assumption

The grass is always greener.

I’m making an assumption about how brilliant working with beta readers is. As I haven't used them before, nor have I been a part of the beta in the process, I don't know if it would actually offer me the list I just outlined.

I’m guessing.

But from a marketing point of view, it would've been nice to have those readers invested in my book beforehand. If I had that natural word-of-mouth from the beta readers, I might have had more sales.

I wish I had at least investigated it before publishing, even if I found out it wasn’t for me.

The publishing process has taught me a lot about playing all your cards. You don't know how much a process will help you until you try it.

Publisher or no publisher?

I love that I'm a self-published author.

I did a lot of research going into the process about whether I was going to be self-published or whether I would venture down the traditional path.

Settling on self-publishing was easy. (I can dive deep into the decision-making process; just let me know.)

Yet, there is this little part of me that wonders what would've happened if I submitted my book to a traditional publisher.

Would I be in a different position right now?

Would I have more sales?

Or would I feel rejected and dejected by the authoring process?

Going through a publisher's submission process would've been a valuable experience. Finding out what our publishing house thought about the book beforehand could have changed what I wrote and how I published it.

But it's not like I haven't been through that before. I have submitted multiple attempts for Mills and Boons with no luck.

There’s a reason I don’t keep attempting to publish a Mills and Boons. The rejection process defeated me.

Working with the publisher is a bit of a sliding-door moment for me. I assume I’m thinking about it because I’m not making big sales yet.

I might not have this on my regret list when I’m a bestseller (I hope!).

Time will tell.

Silence with my loved ones

For a long time, I kept the book's launch relatively close to my chest. Of course, my husband knew about it and was supportive of its release.

But I didn't tell my friends and family until I had a release date and the final copy.

It's been amazing to hear the congratulations and interest in my work. I could count the number of times someone has asked me about my work or how work is even going on one hand.

The people in my life don't seem to care about my writing.

Now, I’m a published author with a book to prove it, I still don't think they care. How do I know this?

• One friend has bought my book
• Two out of the three people I dedicated my book to have bought it
• None of my family or immediate friends, including my bridesmaids and groomsmen from my wedding, has bought it

I didn’t write the book for my family and friends to be my only customer. I also didn't tell them to make them care, nor did I do it for attention. I actually ended up telling them because I didn't want to share what was going on in my life.

And let’s be real: If I didn't say something and then they discovered my book while shopping on Amazon, what would happen?

Seeing the lack of support on the sales page makes me feel regretful for sharing. I feel more vulnerable than I did before, even though putting a published book into the world has been the hardest professional accomplishment I've ever done.

A waste of time

Moreso than anything else, I see this regret as more of a waste of time problem.

When I'm writing and running my business, I don't invest my time in tasks and products that don't give back to my business.

Spending my time telling my friends about the book hasn't given back to me. No sales, no confidence, no warm and fuzzy feelings you hope your loved ones will give you when you’re going out on a limb.

I wish I'd spent my time doing other things, like marketing to potential readers.

The printed copy problems

When I first put my book together, I printed it on A4 paper and bound it for easy reading.

The printing cost me somewhere between forty to fifty dollars at my local printing place, Officeworks.

I hated paying that much, but I didn’t have any other choice.

Well, it turns out there was another way of getting the book printed without spending that much.

I could have:

• Put the book into a Word document
• Submitted it to the backend of Amazon
• Ordered an author copy

I could've done that at any stage during the process and paid six to seven dollars for the printing plus a few dollars for shipping.

I wouldn't have needed to commit to publishing the book on Amazon or set a launch date, either. I’m a poor writer; I can’t afford to spend money where it doesn’t need to be spent.

At least I won’t make this mistake again. Neither will you future self-published authors.

Priority Amazon Ads

As part of my marketing tasks to do post-launch, I’m investigating Amazon paid ads.

As my book is exclusively sold on Amazon, I have a built-in audience of loyal readers I can appeal to. It would be unwise of me not to look into this and experiment with running paid ads.

Do I have the time now to do my research on Amazon paid ads?

I sure do.

But I'm regretful that I didn't look into it sooner so I could hit the ground running the moment the book was published.

It's disappointing to be playing catch-up. My confidence could have used established paid ads already running at the time of launch.

Second mistakes

I won't be able to make this mistake again. Once I’ve researched and experimented with running ads, I won’t have this problem during the next launch.

In hindsight, though, I didn't have much time. Again, this is another moment to exercise kindness.

Had I focused on Amazon Ads, it would have taken a lot of time out of the editing process, too, time I probably didn’t have.

Too many (editing) suites

As I mentioned before, I have used a lot of different editing suites to edit the manuscript. As a reminder, I used:

• Grammarly
• ProWritingAid
• Hemingway App
• AutoCrit

As I reflect on the process, sometimes, I wish I’d stuck with one editing program.

Though every editing program has its benefits and offers different insights into the final edit, sometimes you have to keep things simple.

I was jumping between different editing programs, losing where I was up to, making a change on one program and then changing it back on another.

I was constantly copying and pasting between programs and getting frustrated when one wasn't working properly.

I found myself tired from the constantly checking content, feeling like I wasn’t getting anywhere from how much there was to do.

Sticking to what?

I'm trying to evaluate which editing suite I would go with on the next book edit.

My instinct is to say AutoCrit; it’s built for fiction writers like me. Yet, it doesn't have the capabilities that Grammarly does. I’m clearly torn.

At the end of the day, I need to uncomplicate the process to myself. Pick one and stick with it.

Regrets, let’s not have them

There's one regret about the writing process that I’m never going to have.

I’m never going to regret trying.

I worked so hard to get where I am today, and it's been incredibly challenging along the way. It has been the biggest labour of love and sacrifice. I can’t regret the effort.

To hold my book in my hand and to see the finished product has brought me immense joy. I feel proud of what I've done, and if I could go back in time and do it all over again, I would.

Sure, there would be a couple of tweaks and ways of speeding up the process. But it wouldn't ever stop me from taking the leap of being a self-published author.

Go for it

If you're thinking of venturing down this path, I will be your biggest cheerleader. I can predict that you will have regrets along the way.

Regrets are only a normal part of life and business. But I can tell you the biggest regret you'll have is not doing it. Letting that idea go to waste will haunt you forever.

Just go for it.

Write the book you want to write.

Publish that story and take the leap.

Because right now, it's worth it.

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I write about the emotional and practical reality of being a writer - drafting, doubt, discipline, and publishing while still figuring it out.

Mostly for people who write because they have to, need to, want to | https://linktr.ee/ellenfranceswrites