Many times potential clients ask me whether they should go with an Assisted Self-Publisher or publish themselves. It is easy these days to self-publish, you can upload to Amazon and you can use Ingram Spark so why invest money with an Assisted Self-Publisher like Forward Thinking Publishing?
Below is an example of why you should invest money in a self-publisher.
Zoe Thomas, published as Zozo Thomas, is an author of the children’s colouring books, Sunny, Bill and Coo and Counting Beans. She spoke to me about her first two books Sunny and Bill and Coo. She had already published them, put them on Amazon but wasn’t getting the sales she wanted. Therefore, when she heard about Forward Thinking Publishing she signed up for my free manuscript review for my advice.
Zoe did a wonderful job of putting together Sunny and the concept was spot on but how could she improve on her book so it would sell better. The important question that I ask all authors are:-
What do you want to achieve with your book?
As an editor and publisher this answer gives me great insight into how the book needs to be improved and what platforms I need to make sure the book is uploaded to achieve the author’s goals.
I gladly looked at the book and gave her my advice. As an editor I’m looking at ways in which I can improve the manuscript, to make it even better. I am also looking at the commercial side of the book, to get it into the best shape possible so it has a good chance of selling well.
How can it be improved?
Initially, I showed Sunny to some teachers to get their opinion on the age range and carried out research of age ranges on Zoe’s behalf. Research is an important factor to consider when marketing a book.
My advice was that the book was too small, it could easily be expanded on, the age range was too wide, and Zoe was addressing sensitive topics which she should be shouting about and she wasn’t. In Sunny the theme was about loneliness, but I didn’t get that initially when I was reading it. My advice was that if she expanded on these topics, which clearly are a selling point, then she would have a wider audience to sell her book too. Then Zoe could approach schools, charities, parents etc which would give her more sales. Although the colouring book concept was a great one, she could have expanded on this idea with the sensitive topics to give more of a hook for the parents to buy.
The cover is also a very important factor to get right and sometimes when you are too close to your book you just can’t see what needs to be improved upon. You should always use a professional book designer and I bulk at the idea when people try and do it themselves like on Cava. If you want to save on money, then the cover isn’t one of them.
Can you see the difference?
Taking in all of these factors together we produced a better quality book that Zoe could now sell to a wider audience.
It wasn’t that Zoe didn’t know what she wanted and didn’t know how to write but I feel that authors are too close to their book, too emotionally invested that they can’t see how it could be improved. Zoe agreed that in fact her book was better with all the changes that I suggested.
Therefore, by Zoe investing in an editor and Assisted Self-Publisher she got advice on her manuscript and how to improve it to sell it. The writing was good, Zoe had a great concept and all we did was help her to improve it, so the book was more sellable.
As I always say you not just paying for the service of an Assisted Self-Publisher but also their advice and experience. Forward Thinking Publishing is invested in all of their authors to get their books in great shape and to put them on all the platforms necessary, so they are able easily to sell their books. That is the job of an Assisted Self-Publisher.
With all of the changes that we made with Zoe, can you see the value of investing in an Assisted Self-Publisher? If you can, then sign up for your free manuscript review at https://www.forwardthinkingpublishing.com/