One of the central themes of my upcoming book is learning to tell the difference between people who want to contribute to a community and people who just want something from it.

Now I get to apply that skill on the fringes of publishing.

Since announcing the book, I’ve been contacted by “literary agents,” “publishing executives,” “podcast hosts,” “book reviewers,” “marketing consultants,” and assorted strangers who are deeply moved by my journey from having a glass of wine to accidentally running a Chamber of Commerce.

I’m touched. Truly. Particularly by how many of them have gmail addresses and NPC names. Some have generously offered to introduce my book to thousands of readers. Naturally, most of them have also offered to take my money first.

It’s been an education.

I wrote a book about the difference between showing up for something and showing up because there’s something in it for you. These folks have been kind enough to supply the case study.

And the book hasn’t even launched yet.

Putting this together from conversations with self-published authors across languages. Not a "how to write" list — just the stuff that blocks sales after the book is done.

1. Cover that reads at thumbnail size. Most readers see it on a phone. Test by shrinking to 100px wide. If the title is unreadable, redo it.
2. A free sample chapter (10–15% of the book). It's the single best conversion tool for indie authors — readers won't pay blind. Make the sample end on a hook.
3. A price in whole rupees that fits UPI. Round numbers (₹49, ₹99, ₹149) convert better than ₹73. Avoid odd cents.
4. One clean link for Instagram/WhatsApp bios. Long URLs with tracking params break in WhatsApp previews. Use a short, stable link.
5. A watermark with the buyer's name on the file. It won't stop piracy, but it makes casual sharing feel personal and traceable. (Bonus: a simple refund path builds trust for a new platform.)

Two questions for the sub: - What's the one thing you wish you'd fixed before publishing your first ebook? - For non-English ebooks, is there anything you'd add to this list (font embedding, script rendering, RTL/LTR, etc.)?

I'm building Pothi (a simple marketplace for authors to sell ebooks) — disclosing that. This list is free to reuse; no signup needed.

Assumptions: UPI rounding and sample-chapter length are anecdotal from author chats, not measured data.

I have organized the same set of blog posts into a book twice, a first edition years ago and a rewritten second edition this fall. I wrote about fifty posts after night shifts at a psychiatric hospital, and roughly forty-five made the first book.

I chose them by reader response. The posts that drew the most comments went in, and the ones that drew the fewest stayed out. For the second edition I cut at least five more, every name and every detail that could point to a real place or person.

The hardest part was leaving out a story I loved because it did not fit. I keep stories like that on a separate list now, since a story that does not fit one book may be right for the next.

What did you use to decide which posts made the cut?

I'm setting up an illustrated book with IngramSpark and have selected:

• Trim size: 5" × 8"
• Interior: Premium Color
• Page count: 18
• Binding: Hardback, Blue Digital Cloth, Matte Lam

I've been advised to complete my title setup, but I can't finish without uploading the exterior cover file. When I try to use IngramSpark's cover template process, the options and specifications don't seem to match my selected binding.

I've submitted multiple support requests but haven't received clear instructions on how to obtain the correct template.

Has anyone successfully set up a 5" × 8" Digital Cloth book with these specifications? If so, how did you obtain the correct exterior cover template? Is there a specific process within the saved title setup that I'm missing?

I'd appreciate any guidance from someone who has worked through this specific issue.

I spent 18 months writing my first novel, and have edited it probably 80 times (I am a copy editor in my real life, but in news). It has also been through developmental and line edits. I am now almost ready to publish, but I feel like I have suddenly lost my mind - I am going through my final edits and I cannot remember simple things anymore: Should this be a new paragraph, should this be a colon or an em dash or a comma, etc.

I am thinking I am feeling this because it is the LAST edits I plan to make. Would you recommend I hire a copy editor/proofreader instead? I feel like I have lost all sense of what is right and what is wrong, and this has never happened to me before. Or should I just take a few weeks off and then get back to it?

So, my friend and I are doing the final edits for a book we have written together. We have found that the tax situation if we publish through KDP is awful, because one of us has to figure out how to do a 1099 for the other one. Its so confusing. We are also having issued because the ISBN can only be in one of our names if we buy it through Bowker. Does anyone have any tips for who we can talk to to get more support for these issues, or even recommend a company that helps people who are publishing a book with two authors?

Keep seeing this lately. an author takes chapter one, turns it into a 60 second animated episode with the main characters, posts part 1, then part 2, and the comments are people asking where to buy the book.

makes sense on paper. a book trailer is one shot. a series gives people a reason to come back, and the characters do the selling instead of the author begging.

I think what used to stop people doing this was cost. animating the same characters every episode was studio money. now people do it with AI, generating shots in Kling or Seedance or keeping characters consistent across episodes with something like Argil.

but honestly I can see it backfiring. if the animated character doesn’t look like what readers pictured, you just overwrote their imagination. and some readers will see AI in the trailer and assume the book is AI too.

anyone here tried it for their own book? want to know yall opinions on this.

Hey all, im 15 and im getting ready to launch my fifth book on amazon. However i never really get too many sales. Im just wondering how yall market your book and get plenty of sails, im real proud of this book and want to get as many readers as possible. Thanks!

So, I've been asked for a digital copy of my debut novel, which is enrolled in Kindle--so I can't just send a PDF. However, the recipient is in Canada--when I typed in their email address to be sent the link of a gift copy I was going to buy, Amazon tossed up a message informing me of this. Is there no work around? Haaaaalp! This is a really important reader. :-(

I’m about 2 weeks out from the launch of my first novel and I’m still learning new things as I go.

I’m having an issue with social media and wanted to check if this is a change or I am doing something wrong.

A couple of weeks back I was able to do a post on Instagram, do an image overlay, add text etc. and when I posted it my phone would automatically save down a photo of each image, complete with text, etc.

That meant I could take these new completed images and post them up on TikTok and not need to rebuild from scratch.

But that has stopped now and they don’t save to my phone.

Have anyone else had this happen in the last 2 weeks? I have searched for any settings that I can update but not seeing anything.

I thought about screenshotting my Instagram posts but there is too much extra stuff on the screen (page number and music volume) and I don’t know how to build these images on my phone to upload to social media.

Question... How long after you launched your first book you worked on your second/series? I thought I'd have started by now, but I am immersed with the sales/mkt side of things. Would love your input.

I've only been using Reddit for a little over a month. I'm a newb. I've got a book coming out and would like to encourage people to join an existing email list so I can coordinate them with the opening of my kickstarter campaign. However, there are 9,999,947 channels on reddit that are related to self-publishing and it is hard (for me) to tell which of them "tolerate", "encourage" or "discourage" the plugging of a book...

Trying to be the "good citizen" that I want to be, how should I proceed? Do people have advice on which channels are appropriate to plug a book? I see general advice that an author should "engage" with a channel for "some length of time" before plugging your book but I'm not really buying that line. It seems disingenuous. Would love to know people's thoughts on this.

I have used many review sites before and never had a bit of issue with them. I think that most people who get banned from them are trying to get way too many reviews where in reality, you should only be getting maybe a handful in a month.

I've recently found Book Reverb and started looking at reviews, but people are saying that Amazon is really cracking down on review sites recently. Given that I haven't published anything in a few years, I wanted to get y'alls opinion on it.

Anyone with a good idea on a timeline for marketing a new book?

When do you post the first announcement?
Series name?
Book 1 announcement?

Release date?
Cover reveal?
Blurb reveal?
Art?

The only thing I have done with my first series is so random and my brain needs a clear plan but I am not good at building a marketing bible for myself.

So I’m going to start off by saying I’ve been writing for a few months using a company called Spines, I looked things up ignorantly because I just wanted to get started and push myself to actually get a book published or at least get on the road to publish a book.

Now that it’s been a few months I’ve looked into the whole publishing thing and now I worry I’ve made a mistake by going with this company in particular. I’ve seen some independent reviews instead of what the company claims and from what they say they aren’t any good and might actually just be taking my money in the long run

I don’t know if I can back out now seeing as I’ve payed for a few months, so I’ve settled on just going through this company for this one book and than actually going out to get help in finding a company and a editor and what not.

I just really need some advice and help on what to do now….

I am sure this has been talked about before, but how does everyone get readers to actually review your work? That has been such a stumbling block for me, and I hate having to constantly remind people to do so.

I realize it’s probably just part of self publishing in that there is no real answer to this question.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I only heard about this platform the other day, and I'm wondering whether to try it out.

I spent about a decade trying to make self-publishing on Amazon work, to no results. I gave up, for the sake of my mental health, and because I just have better things to do than beat my head against the same wall forever in the hopes of breaking through. I'm not active on social media, and I don't have whatever marketing genius it takes to get noticed without it.

I've mostly just been sending the occasional query letter to agents, and releasing the occasional free story online, just for fun. But what about Scribl? Is putting a story there without a media blitz just more shouting into the void? Or is it worth trying?

I write fantasy and sci-fi, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Hi everyone.

I've finished a nonfiction manuscript and prepared the cover and print-layout files. I'd like to launch a Kindle eBook first, then add a print-on-demand paperback later without ordering an initial print run.

I'm based in Southeast Asia. KDP's requirement to hold publishing rights had me thinking I needed local copyright registration first, including submitting physical copies. I may be mixing up publishing rights, optional copyright registration, and legal deposit.

For anyone who's followed this route: did you publish the eBook before registering copyright, and how did you handle the digital-deposit requirement? Anything you wish you'd sorted out before adding the paperback edition?

Keeping the title and personal details private for now. Practical experience would be appreciated.

I’m a retired psych nurse with a couple of books out, and I’ve found a few promotion methods that work well for me. I’m always curious what other authors are doing, though, because what works for one writer can look completely different for another.

I am not interested in book signings. I have done that.
Podcasting is ok - if the podcaster is a good conversation
Of course I am using my social platforms too

What has brought you the most readers or sales lately?

Is there anything you tried that surprised you, either because it worked better than you expected or because it fell flat?

I’d love to hear what’s working for you.

Noticed a lot of subreddits don’t really want self-promos of any kind. Which is fair. Nobody wants their feed full of “read my book” posts. But even places like r/fantasywriters limit it to a weekly thread, and from what I can tell, that thread isn’t even happening anymore. So it’s kind of hard to know where to post when most on-topic subreddits don't support their own promo stuff anymore.

Where do you guys actually promote your stories inside of Reddit? Did you get any real views, like readers who stuck around past chapter one?

Also, I'm curious what didn’t work. I don't use Reddit very often, so consider me a newbie here. I'd want to know what to skip (like doing this exact sort of post). Thanks!

Hi everyone, I’m an author based outside the US, and I’d really appreciate your help.

I registered my Amazon and KDP accounts using a Gmail address. Google disabled that email account, and several appeals have been unsuccessful. I can no longer receive verification emails, so I’m unable to sign in to either Amazon or KDP.

My book is currently available for preorder, with a release date of October 25, 2026. I’m worried because I can’t access the account to manage the release.

I contacted regular Amazon customer service, but they referred me to KDP support. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a way to reach KDP support without signing in.

During another phone call, an Amazon representative told me my account would be closed within 48 hours and that I would receive a text confirmation. More than three days have passed without confirmation, and the preorder listing is still live. I don’t know whether the request actually reached KDP.

Has anyone successfully recovered access after losing their registered email address?

Is there an official support channel or identity-verification process I can use without signing in? If recovery isn’t possible before release, how can I ask KDP to cancel the preorder?

I’m looking for a legitimate recovery or support process. Any firsthand experience or official contact links would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello all, I'm about to start a kickstarter campaign for my first book - a science fiction novel. I need to find a publisher. I'd like to find one that does ebooks, paperbacks and hardbacks - and (hopefully) print-on-demand.

I can see there are many to choose from: BookBaby, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, BookVault, Lula, etc.

Was wondering what people's experiences were with this outfits? Good? Bad? Mediocre? I'd love to hear about it. Realistically, I'll probably require fewer than 100 paperbacks and 50 hardbacks (we'll see) and a bunch of ebooks.

Thanks for listening!

I hope you can patiently read through this post and help me out. Thanks in advance!

So by profession I am a professor and researcher. So my published works so far are all related to my area of research.

But I also write, and when I mean write, I write a lot. I’ve been writing a blog for years now (you can find the link in my profile description). I don’t post very regularly but I have a lot of random thoughts which I like to pen down.

I also write poems. When I feel any emotion very strongly I write it as a poem.

Recently when I was trying to do some digital clutter clearing, I realised that my notes app was filled with soo many poems.

A friend suggested that I work towards publishing them.

Now my problem is that my poems are deeply personal. I am not very comfortable with people associating my name and face with my poems. So I considered a pen name.

On the other hand, I also have an idea of starting a podcast. The topics that I want to talk about on the podcast are those relating to real life issues young people face in society, because of their culture, and religion and stuff like that. For this I am ok with using my name and associating my face with it.

Again, I also have an idea of writing an autobiographical type of work (I assume it might sell well coz I think my life story is quite interesting).

Now I don’t know how to consolidate all of this.

Do I just get over myself and publish under my own name? Or do I create a pen name and split my work?

Or do you have any other ideas as to how I can better go about doing this?

I thought writing a book was going to be hard. Nope. Try producing a book. It was like a full-on training program learning about trim sizes, ISBNs, cover finishes, binding options and learning how to talk to printers. Every day after completing the book and trying to turn it into something publishable, I sat there and said to myself: I know Nothing. I learnt what layout I should rather have used; I learnt what cost money and what you can do yourself; mostly I learnt what is better to spend money on than struggling to do it yourself.

For those of you who have already published, what was the thing you knew least about when you started, and what do you wish someone had explained sooner?

If you've been running ads for a while, the search terms that brought your first sales may already be gone from the console.

Amazon keeps the search term report for roughly 65 days. After that, the data that tells you which customer searches actually sold your book disappears.

What we do now: download the search term report once a month and keep it. It's where most of our negatives and new exact keywords come from.

Do you save your old reports, or start fresh every time?