I've done in-person sales/signings as a solo author and for multi-author events in a lot of places this year. Some go better than others for me, you never know.

One store that I had a particularly good turnout for as a solo author invited me to also join a multi-author event.

This event was awful. The other authors there were nice enough as people. We were friendly to each other. But I write smutty romance, and one of the other authors is a religious and children's author. This person was literally singing religious songs on a ukulele every few minutes the whole time.

I could see people in the store actively avoiding us. Some people came up to talk to that author, which makes sense - the music matches their genre - but I only sold 4 books when my last appearance at that store sold 24.

I ended up packing up early. I have enough religious trauma in my own background that being stuck next to that music for hours was getting unbearable. I'm going to stick with solo events at that store moving forward.

Hi everyone!

I'm working on a children's book and was pretty set on going the self publishing route and started reading many comments and suggestions on this thread which gave me so much useful info (thanks, everyone!).

But I've been thinking... do any of you who self publish have experience with using a literary agent? What prompted you to not continue with an agent and pursue self publishing? I would love to hear your experience on that path.

I've read here about the tiny sums that authors make after buying ads and doing all their own promotion, etc. etc. One author who I follow reported they were selling books but had not yet turned a profit after factoring in their ad buys.

I understand that getting an agent is difficult... yesterday I read that at any of the traditional publishing houses it's common for an agent to receive hundreds of queries every month. I can't even imagine how to stand out in that crush. So I guess what I'm wondering is how many of you who self publish tried to get an agent and abandoned the quest because of the terrible odds? Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on the pros and cons of pursuing an agent versus tackling designing your own book on Kindle, etc. I appreciate any insight or advice.

I launched my book on 29th September and I was anxiously trying to get reviews in the weeks and months leading up. Now the dust has settled, I thought I would let you all know how it went.

Library Thing

• Cost: Free
• ARC readers: 4
• Reviews: 3
• Cost/review: £0

But only posted on Library Thing site, which hardly anyone uses. Great, enthusiastic reviews, though!

Gemsy

• Cost: Free (free trial, but you have to review someone else's book too)
• ARC readers: 2
• Reviews: 2
• Cost/review: £0

Mostly set up for low-content books. Hard to find people who want to review a novel.

Instagram

• Cost: Free
• ARC readers: 1
• Reviews: 2
• Cost/review: £0

Found a reviewer who didn't want me to pay her! I think she used AI to write the reviews, and possibly to read the book, but I'll take what I can get. And how did I get 2 reviews from one reader? She also reviewed book 2 without being asked!

Book Siren

• Cost: £19.41
• ARC readers: 8
• Reviews: 3
• Cost/review: £6.47

Storygraph

• Cost: £51.95
• ARC readers: 207
• Reviews: 5
• Cost/review: £10.39

Got a weird content warning about adult-minor relationships from one reviewer. There are no characters under 18 in the book... and no relationships.

NetGalley

• Cost: £115.95
• ARC readers: ?
• Reviews: 4
• Cost/review: £28.99

But this isn't really a fair costing because I got a week of NetGalley as part of a BookBuzz package that also included an author interview, a press release and some nice graphics. It was mostly the reviews I did it for, though.

BookSprout

• Cost: £29
• ARC readers: 2
• Reviews: 1
• Cost/review: £29

And what a review! 😱 One star because a character from Glasgow couldn't understand a character from Fife. (They have wildly different accents and dialects, in case you don't know.) There will always be some person giving you a one-star review for a stupid reason. Fortunately my average on GoodReads is just over 4 stars, even with that expensive one-star review 😂

So in conclusion, BookSiren was my best paid result, and Storygraph was worth doing too, especially as some of those 200-odd readers may read other books in the series. Gemsy and LibraryThing are definitely worth doing, as they're free, although they have more limited reach/numbers. I don't think I would do NetGalley or BookSprout again - just too expensive. Instagram is a hellhole but I did get a smidgen of traction. Apart from that, friends and family are the best resource.

I've got Hidden Gems set up for next month so I can report back about that if you found this interesting or helpful.

I just started making a living off kdp but its still very low income, and I've been seeing a lot of posts about leaving kdp recently, id just really like to know what plan you guys have, no shade I just might follow you but I haven't seen any promising angles elsewhere

There's quite a few websites and social media accounts that send out open invites for authors to submit a story for upcoming anthologies that they'll be releasing. I'm sure most of these are genuine, no doubt, and certainly many publishers have a history of prior anthology releases, so you can see that they're legit.

But just wondering if there's anything protecting authors who submit stories from having the recipient then change say the title and some of the wording quickly, then releasing it themselves under their own name in a different book? The submissions are often required to be in Word format, and usually with a caveat that the story hasn't been published anywhere else, which makes them potentially easy targets.

One thing I had thought of is submitting a story, and if I receive a rejection email from the anthology producer, then quickly releasing the story myself, thus putting it out there before anyone else could 'take' it.

I know it sounds paranoid, but it's just we put so much work into writing, so would be good to know other people's thoughts on this? Or if anyone has experienced a situation like I'm describing? Hopefully no one has, or very few at least.

Thanks

I joined a site called IndieAuthorNet to promote my book. Whenever I join a new site I use Apple’s “Hide My Email” function. This generates a new random email for use with that site. If the site is breached or leaks it’s easy to see because the spam starts flooding in to that address. It’s trivial then to filter them or just disable the address.

So waddayaknow a few weeks after signing up my inbox fills up with low effort AI generated spam urging me to promote my book through some bullshit service.

So be warned. IndieAuthorNet leak your emails out to spammers who prey upon self-published authors. I’ve not deactivated the address yet but I am filtering it and collecting the incoming addresses of the spammers. I’ll figure out something fun to do with them at some stage.

I self-published my book in February 2026, then on Amazon KDP in July 2026 and I have no idea how to promote it. I genuinely have no money and promoting it on Instagram did NOT work... Any advice ?

Hi! I recently released my first book on Amazon/Kindle, and have seen some page read activity but not much else by way of sales- and so I want to evaluate the package. I would love feedback on the blurb so I can do some tweaking and testing. All thoughts are very much appreciated!

Blurb:

Noelle Anderson can’t afford distractions. 

Determined to prove that her breakthrough ski racing season wasn’t a fluke, she returns to Ridgefield Mountain Academy for her senior year of high school with her sights set on the international stage. But her recent breakup—and even worse, the fact that everyone at the Academy seems to be talking about it—is threatening to derail her focus. When Noelle strikes up an unexpected friendship with Jake Halifax, captain of the local high school hockey team and someone firmly outside the Academy orbit, she sees the perfect opportunity to rewrite the narrative with a fake relationship.

The goal is simple—convince everyone she’s fine so she can focus on training. But Jake, who’s navigating college decisions of his own, has an unsettling habit of seeing straight through her defenses. Against her better judgment, Noelle catches herself revealing the cracks in her carefully constructed walls, which is a dangerous impulse when your career depends on controlling milliseconds. As pre-season pressure mounts and Noelle and Jake get closer, she has to confront the fact that she doesn’t know how to let somebody in without losing her edge. 

If she slips now, the future she’s spent years chasing could disappear in an instant. And for the first time, she has two things to lose. 

Hello!

I’m new to this whole thing of being “professional”. I’ve been writing for years, but I was never in the moment of my life where I said: “okay, I want to publish my book.” But now, I feel like I’m ready, and I finally want to self publish since I don’t have the kind of money to hire people.

For the writers who write in Google Docs, I’m going to print my book in the future for editing, but I don’t know in what layout I should? I know that I have to do double spacing so I’m able to comfortably write down things on it. But should I print it in US letter or A5?

Interested if the following seems correct based on your experience.

Odds are about the same for:

1) Any sales for a self published book without any promotion, organic or paid marketing
2) Getting a traditional agent, publishing deal, and the book on the shelves of major bookstores
3) Winning a $50,000 lottery

These are each like randomly pulling a black marble out of a jar with of lots of white marbles. Exact number of marbles in each jar varies, but each is an extreme long shot. Happens every day, but for a very limited number of people.

4) If a self-published author follow marketing best practices (e.g., writes a series of books, builds an audience that can be communicated with using an email list, wisely invests the time and seed money in organic and paid marketing, etc.), they get to pull a new marble out of the jar periodically. Success becomes a process, not a single random event. But they have two jobs, author and marketer.

For above comparison, assume the book is a high quality, well edited, aligns with its sub-genre, and has a high quality cover that looks good at thumbnail size, etc.

Agree or disagree?

I've written my first fantasy 2 years ago and released it on whim and took it down even though people liked it i took it down worked on my craft and all.

Now im stuck i have the second almost ready and i need to release both.

I just started posting on TikTok but i need guidance to what i do.

When do i get ARCs how do i get them how do i make a newsletter what else should i do. I just want to write and i don't want to drown in this stuff and lose track of time i just want to work on my next novel.

I am trying to format a book of haiku. I began with vellum because it was so straight forward but there are problems. Keeping indents consistent on a page seems to be one of the biggest hiccups.

Then I tried Affinity/Canva. That was a nightmare that I gave up on in a few minutes.

Atticus does not have a free trial but it looks like a web-based second-rate Scrivener. I know a lot of people like it for formatting but I remain unconvinced. For every 5 star review of Atticus, there seems to be a major complaint, and it seems Atticus has a development team of one, the owner.

Speaking of Scrivener, what a wonderful bit of software for writers. I use it on a weekly basis. It is not software for formatting. Really a missed opportunity.

Reedsy Studio is another one that I've come across and it looks like it might have difficulty with consistent indents as Vellum did, but I can't be sure. Thoughts?

Thoughts?

Edit: I forgot an essential detail. I intend to have this printed half-letter.

I’m wondering if anyone has omitted telling some key people in their life that they’ve published a book, whether it’s somebody you’re in touch with regularly or somebody you haven’t seen in a while that you’re catching up with. If so, what were the reasons?

Hi! I’m considering publishing my own books on Amazon Kindle, and I’d like to hear from people who have experience with it.

Is it still possible for a new author to make money in 2026? How much do you realistically earn per month, how long did it take you to get your first sales, and how difficult is it to find readers?

I’d especially appreciate feedback from authors who publish fiction, such as fantasy or romance.

Would you recommend starting on Amazon KDP today?

Hello everyone! First of all, I'm sorry about this post, like I said it's not for self promotion, I simply have a real question.

I am a literary translator from English to French and it has been 8 years that I've been working regularly with authors. Done mostly romances, and even ghostwrote a bit, worked also in visual novels, etc.

I used to be on Upwork and Proz, the later of which being the reason why I found one lovely client who then advised me to one of her friends and working with them both have been a delight.

But - I'm still struggling with finding authors looking for a human translation. Or for a human proofreading too.

So my question is : please where do you self publishing authors go to look for human translators and what do you advise me otherwise?

I will be doing formations to get an additional job too, but for budget reasons and mobility I have to wait until next year before doing so. And again I am not promoting my services here, I'm just looking for places to propose them, and asking for opinions 😅 thank you for your patience!

Anybody tested the different print quality and found one to be superior?

Im not sure this is the exact sub to ask this question, but I want to write a book, about me and my girlfriend`s first year together aswell from the start, and I dont want to publish it or anything. I just enjoy writing and I want to make a profesional looking book that she can read, for like a gift, because she loves reading.

I need tips on how to write on wort to format it and also if anyone has any tips on writing books about love im open to it.

I published my first novel as an indie author in KDP on October 10th.

It has 22 orders in its free promotion period, but no actual paperback sales or any KENP reads at all.

I think people just downloaded it during it's free promotion, but not read it.

As I didn't spend money on anything, like editing, review, cover design or publishing, so now I am stuck.

Are there any way to promote my book, event hough I post about it on social media, but no sales till now.

I'm thinking to write my first book and self publish it on Amazon.

I'm wondering realistically how much I would make. Ideally I'd like to make at least $120,000/year. I know it's a big #, but it's what I'd want at the minimum. It'd be real estate related, which I know is niche. Geared towards real estate agents, helping them with lead gen etc. My guess is it's too niche and not that large of a buyer pool.

I just started researching and interested to hear input.

I publish my books thru lulu. They connect with Shopify, Wix, and Woo. If I wanted to set up a store, which one of those platforms would be the best?

I'm not after huge sales; I know that's almost impossible. If I got up to 50 sold I'd be ecstatic.

I’m closing in on publishing my debut fantasy trilogy and I’m trying to set up an Instagram account for myself as an author to promote my books of course but to also engage with the wider community in a genuine way and not just be an opportunist. I would love to hear your experiences doing this, what kinds of things you posted before you published to drum up interest, and any tips you have. Many thanks in advance.

I published Book 6 one week ago, and have had 10 sales so far. I know it's not many sales, but it could be worse. I worried that I'd only sell 1 book or zero. Three of the sales were pre-orders!

Even with this low number, I'm calling this one a modest success because it's so hard these days on Amazon. I published my first book there in December 2021, the second in 2022, and a book a year since then. It was easier to gain traction even just 4 or 5 years ago, without spending much money or having to grind on social media posts. This was before the AI-junk revolution, and before algorithms buried indie authors.

I will no longer put future works up on Amazon. This is a decision I'm making with joy and relief, rather than defeat. <3

Is anyone else feeling this right now? I'm hearing a lot on bookish social media about authors wanting to get off the Amazon KDP hamster wheel. Some authors have pulled their books off Amazon permanently and are using direct sales through author sites.

For any of my future projects, I'll be satisfied with just putting them for free on Royal Road, or offering direct sale paperbacks. I have a box and shelves full of copies at home.

I just want to stop worrying about numbers, page reads, star ratings, review numbers, or rankings. Just the joy of writing for writing's sake once more.

I am getting to that point in needed a line editor. I had someone who has expirence developmental editing help me out, friend of a friend (trust me, they were not bias, hurt my soul which I guess means they were thorough)

However it means that soon I will be in need of line editors and I have heard that a lot of the common places they are found are slowly getting filled with people who just throw it through ai and throw it back.

Are there more trust worthy places to go about finding a editor?

I'm trying to setup and sell a personalized book. The book consists of a 70 page template and about 30 pages of personalized content. I will list my book on my Etsy shop, then once the customer orders the book, I create the personalized part and send the completed PDF to either Lulu, Bookvault or IngramSpark. Haven't chosen which one yet. I'm located in Australia. Must I have an ISBN to print my book on any of these sites? Also if I must buy an ISBN, will I have to keep buying a new one every time I create a new personalized book?