As an author, we can't deny the fact that we always wanted to make everything right when we self-publish our books on the market. Check this out let me tell you about this Perfectionism vs. Self-Doubt for Self-Publishers.
Today's topic has three points and you're going to want to stick around for the third point. Because it's a secret as to the real issue that you may be suffering with when it comes to self-publishing.
So the topic we're discussing today is Perfectionism vs. Self-Doubt for Self-Publishers. You're going to know the difference between perfectionism vs. self-doubt you're going to have the steps necessary to identify which of these is your real problem.
And you're going to feel great that you're not going to allow in a motional barrier to prevent you from succeeding when it comes to self-publishing. Grab a copy of my absolutely free Self-Publishing Checklist.
From my own story, when I first got started I self-publish my very first book is I had written it and I wanted to make sure that I had everything right. I was following through with a template that I had found. There were a lot of books, videos, podcasts, and some things that I'd listen to.
I learned that it is important to have a lead magnet so that we can get people on our email list. That means you also need it so I created a secondary book which by the way outperformed my primary book when I started it selling by itself. Then I need a website before I can start publishing my book.
The problem was my desire to get everything perfect and in place, before I'll get my book on the market meant a huge delay. From the point in which I wrote the book to the point in which it was published on the market.
There were some things that I begin to learn from this whole process here. It was the idea that when you finally do get the book on the market that triggers a series of responses. Most people see that when you put your first book on the market you're not going to see that many sales.
I was discussing this with the viewer recently. The idea that somebody had commented, "Oh, it may make 2-3 thousand sales on the book with this, not a well-known author" nor they targeting in a hungry and underserved niche. They just magically got 2-3 thousand sales.
I took a look using one of my favorite tools KDSpy you can find my affiliate link below of all of my YouTube videos. It gives you the ability to see, well I found their book was in millions. In terms of the ranking, it made me very unbelievable that they could get so many sales.
It was an unreasonable expectation that you would but then the question if you're getting thousands of people who want to buy the book when it releases on the market. Then how exactly would they drop to such low ranking overtime?
Secondly, why would many people wish to purchase their book in the first place when nobody knows who they are on the market that they're producing. But the thing is when you get your first book on the market. Sometimes in many cases, you're disappointed with the sales of your very first book.
It triggers a series of responses in terms of "I now can see what I need to fix" to improve upon this. That was exactly what I saw many of the things that I just give away for free cost me thousands of dollars. To learn the skills that I'm teaching you.
That's one of the advantages to subscribe to this specific channel. Because I go in-depth on these specific issues that are holding you back from succeeding when it comes to self-publishing your book. As you can see, I was dealing with the subject of Perfectionism.
I need to get everything right before I get it onto the market. In this case, I was not experiencing self-doubt feeling like "Oh this would be terrible or embarrassing". I didn't even expect my book necessarily to sell.
I was just delaying because I thought I had so many things right before I can get my book out there. That was a huge mistake on my part because I was losing sales. Once you get your book onto the market you start discovering all of the mistakes that you've been making.
So, Perfectionism vs. Self-Doubt for Self-Publishers before I get to the first point. I want to comment that perfectionism is this internal feeling that things need to be perfect before you put them on the market.
Sometimes this will express yourself in the idea of "I don't want to put garbage on the market" therefore it needs to be perfect. So what happens is in a way that you can see this is triggering it's because we're waiting forever.
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We're simply not pulling the trigger in getting the book onto the market. Rather we're waiting for the perfect timing, perfect demand of editing, perfect cover, or a perfect description. We're going through these steps and then what we're doing is we're creating new barriers.
Well, I don't want to put my first book on the second or third cause you know it's going to be challenging. It's going to be 6 books or 15 books in the series that's one thing that you can do. The other thing is, I need to learn more about marketing before I put my book on the market.
These are the excuses we use on the perfectionism side of self-doubt. This is an interesting one because we can lie to ourselves right on the perfectionism one. And the self-doubt says "I'm not good enough, I'm not strong enough, and I'm not smart enough to put these things on to the market."
My books are garbage, this internal feeling that you are not worthy of being a self-publisher, does that resonate with any of you out there? Do you feel internal that you just don't have what it takes to succeed?
These are complete lies because of course you have what it takes. The only thing that you need is one, we need to keep self-publishing easy. Because what this channel is about, slowly moving you through the steps of self-publishing instead of doing it a hard way.
And two, you need to stick in there because I'm not telling you like the fake gurus. That you're going to get the book out there and be making millions of sales. That's another thing that you need to remember.
Like I mentioned earlier don't ever lie about your results. You need to be honest yourself and honest to other people. Don't tell people "Oh, I'm making millions of sales" this is a terrible idea.
Because what you're doing is you're setting up expectations for other people that are going to destroy their vision. Secondly, it's being dishonest with yourself and lying to yourself is a huge problem that many people have.
So, we need to learn to be honest with ourselves when it comes to self-publishing. If we have self-doubts let's just be honest, I don't know if the books that I'm putting out are high enough quality, good enough, or least.
Check out this related article: How To Find Success In Self Publishing
The first point is you tell yourself that you want the quality to be high enough. And you'll notice deep down, you'll maybe experience that you don't have what it takes. Some of the people that I comment back and forth.
And the clients that I worked with for my Coaching which you can find below in the description of all of my YouTube videos. Many of those clients feel deep down, I don't know if I have what it takes. I don't have the technicalities.
Maybe the books are high-enough quality, and maybe I need a way for better things. You see they have self-doubt but then others will say "I just want my book to be good". Because there's so much garbage being put out there when they self-published.
Therefore, I'm going to wait forever before I put my books on the market. That's the thing that I wanted you to stop doing. Some of the other clients go in other directions because they wanted to get the book as fast as possible.
Then we can fix it and this is the route that I push. You know some of my viewers push back a little bit on this one. But I would say, if your book is getting between 3-5 stars organically that is a good book and I'm saying that's good enough.
If you're putting the garbage out there of course you will get 1-2 stars. But that would be a learning experience and that will help you on your journey to putting out high-quality books. Because our ultimate goal is to produce things of value and quality.
To put them all on the market where we can find a market that wishes to buy those books. In exchange we can get a triple win environment and Amazon wins because they're making sales, you win because you're making sales. And I encourage you to write more books and your readers win.
Because you're providing value that they're exactly looking for at a right time. This combination of the triple win is a key thing but you're not going to get there. If we don't have to get anything on the market at all.
Be True To Yourself
That's one of the reasons many combinations look forward to calling a minimal valuable product. We're making a new app or whatever it is and we put it onto the market. Keep in mind even YouTube right here is a dating service.
It wasn't even a video service and the whole point of it was like a hot or not, or was an app or program. And then they copy it in a video format where you can meet people in your local area by putting videos out.
But they've waited forever, polished, and made sure everything was flawlessly perfect. Then they would never discover the fact that people are using their "Dating service" to just post a video that would be of value to people.
Well, it's funny cat videos or teaching how to self-publish. So, there are several things but the thing is when you get it onto the market then the market will tell you what they like or don't like. That will help you improve on your next one.
I just want to make it clear though that both your self-doubting which may be your underline problem. Or your perfectionism is destroying this win-win-win environment it's a lose-lose-lose and nobody wins in that environment.
The second point is that deep down your doubt that you're producing anything of quality. That's different the perfectionism because perfectionism is truly the product or service. The things that you're putting out or too low quality.
Self-doubt is that you are low quality and therefore nothing you put onto the market is getting to provide value for your target audience. That is a huge problem that you're going to need to work through.
The third point and the secret point of the day is that your real problem may be self-doubt disguised as perfectionism. Deep down inside of you feel that you're inadequate that you are not high enough quality. This is something we need to work with.
You know what I'm telling you is, there are two ways to get past this. The first thing is you need people to be speaking positive thoughts in you. That's something we do on the channel, you'll notice I never tell you maybe you are up to being a writer, maybe you don't have what it takes.
I don't say these sorts of things, the same goes with my coaching clients who are always satisfied with the services that they get from me. As we're going through the steps they begin to click and see that this is easy I don't need to do it a hard way.
I can achieve these goals and the same with the courses that I'm offering whether the Book Formatting Made Easy Course. Or Content Marketing Made Easy Course below in the description of all of my YouTube videos.
Both of these will take you through the steps necessary to get that deep feeling. That not only am I worthy of putting my book on the market. But the books that I'm putting on the market even if they're not perfect can become perfect to great over time.
This transformation will happen but it won't happen if we don't get the books on the market. If you're finding these barriers whether it's perfectionism or self-doubt and I'm telling you self-doubt is a much worst one. Both of them will prevent you from putting your books on the market.
But don't lie to yourself and be honest that may be your problem is self-doubt. That's one of the reasons I'm asking you today, is your problem perfectionism where you want everything to be perfect? or is it self-doubt?
Check out this related article: 3 Things Self Publishers Should Do
Because you don't believe that the books that you're putting on the market have enough quality. If that's the case, people can ask for a refund on Amazon so you don't have a problem here with this if they don't like your books.
They're going to give you either one star or they will be going to ask for a refund. Either way, they're communicating to you that you have a problem that you should fix on your books. Check out my other articles and videos for more answers to your self-publishing questions.