If you are thinking of doing self-publishing but you are not sure if it's going to work, I can tell you the answer based on my experience. Find out if you have a great chance at winning with an author published book.
Today's question has three answers and you are going to want to stick around for the third answer. It is a secret as to why most authors fail to succeed at self-publishing.
So, let's get into it. The question that was sent in is can an author published book succeed? Now, this is an excellent question because maybe you are an author and you are thinking should I even bother to publish this book myself?
Do I really need to keep on trying to get it published by a traditional publisher? This is quite common and if you are not going to succeed at publishing it yourself, then perhaps it is better to just go the other route.
I am going to answer this question in today's article. So, let's get into it. By the end of this article, you are going to know whether or not an author published book can succeed.
You are going to have the steps necessary to succeed and you are going to feel great about even your failures. But before we get into the answers, grab a copy of my absolutely free Self-Publishing Checklist. It will help you ensure you succeed at self-publishing.
So, can an author published book succeed? Let me tell you a little story from my past regarding a secret seed. What happened was my son had an assignment from school.
He brought back a can, like a can of soup. The label had been taken off and soil had been put within the can. In the dirt was a seed but we didn't know what kind of seed it was.
The entire project was to water it and give it sunlight and the things that are necessary to get this plant to grow. As the plant began to grow, we saw that it was some sort of Asian basil. But we didn't know anything about plants.
Since in our history we've actually had all of the plants we've ever had in our house die on us. We are unable to keep the plants alive since we do quite a bit of traveling.
Now, as the plant began to grow, we were amazed. It was doing so well. I had put it into one of my task management systems to make sure I was watering it daily.
We were giving it the necessary sunlight and everything was going fantastic. The plant was growing very well. The problem was that I was going to leave, I am going on a trip for a week or two.
Water For Survival
The question was, how exactly are we going to ensure that this plant continues to grow even though we're off on a trip. What I did was I began to Google the particular question of how do you create some sort of self-watering system?
I came up with several solutions. One of them was a little thing you put in the top, it will self-water but it over-watered the plant. Another solution involved a little bulb-type of device that would go in there and it over-watered.
Some people suggested putting Coke bottles with little holes in the bottom inside the plant. That also resulted in an over-watering effect. The final solution we found was on a Youtube video where it showed how you could take a bottle.
You could have a water bottle and have a string going down from the water bottle up into the plant. It would pull the water through the water bottle up into the plant and have it water itself. This solution actually ended up working while we are gone on our trip.
Though the downside of course was it was wobbly and it fell over from time to time. So I checked around some more until I found an actual pot that would do the watering for me.
That then suddenly hit me. I'm like wow this is truly amazing that I can have plants that do the water themselves even though we're gone on a vacation. This was quite decisive with regards to one of our biggest problems which is why all of our plants always die?
The result was that after I had that setup, it was that I said, why do I stop here? Why not buy additional herbs? Since I already had basil, I began to buy additional herbs and that has become 12 different herbs that we have.
These herbs are growing at the same time in these designed self-watering pots. So there is a little string that comes down in each of the pots into a reservoir where you fill up with the water. You can see the water level and then it automatically waters the plants.
The key issue here is that we discovered that the failures drive success if you don't give up. My son's original secret seed sprouted into something more than basil. It sprouted into a brand new hobby.
Well, you might be wondering what does this has to do with the question of the day. Can an author published book succeed? The answer is yes and our secret answer will hit a little bit upon how that relates to the seed that we are dealing with.
Check out this related article: "How I Wrote My First Book?" (+Self Publishing Tips)
The answer is yes, though you will have to try different strategies and keep on trying. Just like with the plant and the self-watering, I had previously given up too many times.
We would get a plant, it was fantastic and it would grow a bit. We would go on a vacation and we'd come back and it would be dead. We simply didn't have the right strategies implemented to keep the plant alive.
Just Don't Give Up
The second answer is there is an enormous audience of readers even now more than any since everyone is stuck at home. Everybody has cell phones and more and more people each year have cell phones. Some people want to buy your books.
They are going to need your book and you are going to need to have a book in a market that doesn't already have too many books. So, you definitely can succeed with your self-publishing.
That brings us to the secret answer of the day which is most people fail because of 2 major reasons they fail. They stop learning and they stop executing. If you only execute without learning, that would be like us getting our plants and simply allowing them to die over and over.
We executed but we never succeeded because we didn't have the right strategies. If you only learn where you're just doing the right strategies, you're still going to fail. Because you are not executing and putting those strategies into action.
Most authors fall into one or the other camp or the third camp which maybe even is the most common. You try and fail and you just give up. This is a key issue that you're going to want to keep track of and make sure you don't fall into that group.
Don't be one of those who are quitting too early and then hop to something else. You try, you fail, and hop again. So I know the group that I'm most likely to fall under even though with the plants it was trying and failing.
I kept executing but just kept failing because I didn't learn. I'm a type that tends to learn too much and less execution. So I have to work on staying focused, on continually putting books out.
I have to focus on learning things, updating my checklist, and making sure that they are the highest quality books. And I get better each time so that I can sell more books to the audience that wants to read those books.
What have you found out? Can an author published book succeed? What is your nasty habit?
Is it to learn too much? Or maybe it's to do execute too much without any learning at all. Or maybe you just are considering quitting.
Let me know in the comments. Check out my other blogs and videos for more answers to your self-publishing questions.