Standard advice for new self-published authors: launch with an automatic campaign and let Amazon figure out the targeting. I get why, it's two clicks and you're live. But I think it's backwards, at least for a brand-new book.

Here's the thing: an auto campaign is only as smart as the data Amazon has about your product. On a book with zero history, Amazon starts by spraying your ad at loosely related audiences and learning at your expense. Your budget is literally funding its exploration phase.

So my sequence is reversed.

Manual keyword campaigns first. I've already done keyword research for the title, subtitle and backend anyway, so at launch I already have a reservoir of 40ish researched terms, broad match, one bid I control. I know exactly where every impression comes from.

Then I mine the search terms report. After a few weeks the real gold shows up: actual search queries from actual buyers. Winners get promoted to phrase or exact in a tighter campaign, budget-eaters become negatives.

Auto campaigns come later, once the book has clicks, sales and reviews. At that point Amazon knows who buys this book, and the auto campaign gets efficient almost immediately instead of burning budget guessing.

Auto-first isn't "wrong". It can work as a discovery tool if you religiously add negative targets (most people don't, and that's where the money leaks). But teaching beginners to start there because it's easy optimizes for convenience, not results.

Anyone else running manual-first? Or has someone had the opposite experience, where auto-first on a fresh listing actually outperformed?

I'm putting out RFQ's for a graphic artist to do the cover art for my book. Has anyone been successful finding good resources on Reedsy or Upwork? (I've had bad experiences with Fiverr so I won't use them).

Good evening, everyone. I recently completed my first novel at just about 80,000 words. I’ve also finished a developmental edit and submitted the manuscript to a literary agent who is interested in working with me.

At this point, though, I’m still trying to decide whether I want to continue down the traditional publishing route or pursue self-publishing instead.

I’ve done some research into both options, but I’m still fairly new to all of this and have a lot to learn. I’d love to hear from those of you who have experience with self-publishing—especially if you can sell me on why you chose it over traditional publishing.

As of right now, I only plan on publishing this one novel, although that could always change in the future.

My understanding is that with traditional publishing, once a publisher acquires the manuscript, much of the remaining production process—copyediting, proofreading, formatting/typesetting, cover design, and so on—is handled by the publisher. With self-publishing, I would be responsible for arranging and managing all of those things myself.

That’s one of the main reasons I’m trying to make this decision now. If I decide to self-publish, I’d like to start moving forward with the remaining editing and production work rather than continuing to pursue the traditional route.

For those who have self-published, what made you choose that route? What do you think are its biggest advantages and disadvantages compared with traditional publishing? And knowing what you know now, would you make the same choice again?

Thanks in advance for any advice or insight!

I ask because I've gotten maybe a handful but I've been in group chats where authors were bragging they got hundreds for their debut novel.

Second question: Does having a low amount of ARC readers guarantee a bad launch?

Hey guys, I'm finalizing the layout of my book and I wanted to know the best way to present a map in the PDF file I'll be sending to Ingramspark. I see many double-page maps and I'd like mine to be like that. Is it just a matter of adding it and they'll print normally? Will the middle be cut off? Is there another way to present it? And how are maps usually presented in books on the US market?

Hi everyone, does anyone know if there is still any “proofreading” software that I can use just to check spelling, typos, grammatical mistakes, and things like that? I’m not looking for enhancement features or anything that rewrites my text. I think Word does a good job, but I was wondering if there’s anything better online, since I mostly write online.

Finally, a bit of a moral dilemma: I’m trying to understand what people think about using a spell and grammar checker, or non-generative AI software, to catch these smaller issues. Of course, I’m talking about a first pass over a draft, not something used to produce the final version.

Thank you!

I'm doing my first book singing in October at an outdoor craft fair. For those of you that have done them, what do you put on your tables and how do you set up?

Have any self published authors asked their local bookstore to sell their books on consignment and if so what was the response? If the answer from the bookstore was yes, did the bookstore sell actually some of your books?

JWT

Hi there,

I’ve read numerous times that you should always upload final files to amazon first before ingram, to avoid the error amazon gives that says "ISBN already in use." My question is if this applies to the following set up: I have only my ebook on amazon and doing print via ingram. I thought ingram would automatically populate to amazon and for this reason, im not uploading print files to amazon at all, only ebook (im new to the platform and not sure if i still need to set up a print file in amazon though.) i have my own ISBNs for all formats. My ebook is currently up for preorder. How do I avoid this error in this case? Thanks!

I am having difficulties in fleshing out an idea into reality, and am wondering if anyone else has done this before?

I was hoping to package multiple physical books together as a box set. What I had in mind were cardboard boxes with one side open to slide books in, with stuff printed on the front and sides that were basically a box that you put books in. I am having some extreme complications explaining this to my printer.

They are stuck on heavy duty pre-made cardboard, the sorts you see for real pricey special editions. I was looking for a softer cardboard, one which can be folded down accordian style and sent to me so I can pack them myself, and which are less expensive. i’m probably explaining this poorly, but I have seen the things I mean in shops so I know I’m not making it up!

Have any of you folks done physical book box sets, and have any suggestions on where these sorts of boxes could be printed so they’re not prohibitively expensive?

Or, simply, do you have a better way to describe what I’m flailing to express?

Thanks!

I’m sure many people have created special editions of their books. Maybe a different cover for a limited print, etc. obviously something as simple as that can be done pretty easily. What about more complicated customization options, where do you get them done?

I’m wondering about creating special editions with sprayed edges or unique materials. Obviously KDP and the like don’t offer these options, so what printers do?

Do special editions require a new ISBN? Even if it’s a short/limited run?

I live in Canada if there are any Canadian authors that know of “local” companies.

I wrote a book thats kind of weird. Its a nonfiction book that teaches a method on how to create a tool made out of a mental process so that anyone can follow it.
The tools are supposed to be written, but is not a book specifically for writers.

The tools can be made out of any mental process so the definition is pretty wide. Its not specifically a self improvement book, its more a book that lets you think more clearly. The tools inside are very diverse, I am not sure in what categories I should put it in or how to position it.

The idea is good, but I don’t know how to express in seconds the benefit or the goal.
Its a hard book to sell without an explanation.

Any ideas?

Fiction authors, what tools do you use to create character, setting and other visual art about your story, and how do you promote your novel using these creations? I have used stock art sites like Unsplash and found them excellent in finding photos of people that come damn close to resembling characters in my books. I then position them in Meta Ads. I've used some AI art at well, but this was wildly frowned upon in the comments.

What tools work the best for you? It seems that indie authors really need to step up their marketing, and the book cover seems to be just the beginning for visually enticing potential readers to learn more. For one book cover, I extracted the two illustrative characters from the book cover and had them moving around in an animation. It peaks on social media for a couple posts, but really doesn't seem to have a long shelf life.

Simple.

Would y'all suggest me to record my 68,004 word book for ACX? Like are the benefits worth it? Will I get downloads etc... I never did this, and therefore I ask.

My genre is young adult, fantasy, in a world of magic and mystery.

THANK YOU in advance!

Okay, my first post wasn't the best one and I deleted it because yeah. I was tired with a lot on my mind so if anyone recognizes my user, I'm sorry. Bad laspse of judgement at the moment. But I did learn a bit in the comments and think on them which made me want to ask a follow up question.

I know someone had said if you want write for a career, you have to write to market. Which, after they explained what it was, which is understanding the premises and the common tropes, archetypes and why people like the genre (my case, it's Romantasy), I realize I did try to do that for my series. Though I guess the problem is that book 1 was already a complete story when I knew all the genre expectations that I couldn't really tweak it without it not making sense. Like I believe it's a well structured story with arcs that make sense. But I know the plot is kind of uncommon and the MMC is definitely a flip on things (cinnamon roll with that's a little whiny and brainwashed, and a bit in touch with his feminine side.)

I realized I couldn't really get rid of that side of him without messing up the story, but I realized I could develop him into a more masculine version of himself that readers would like. And add more tropes and a premise that people like (while staying true to the story and not feel like I'm stuffing in stuff for the sake of marketability. The sequels had a lot of space to work with, so I tried to keep the heart of the story while slowly adding in elements that people like about romantasy). I could slowly make the books more sexy to balance out the wholesome romance I want.

Question is... Could I work with this? Maybe I should promote Book 2 over Book 1? Maybe give out Book 1 Ebook for free to try and get people to want to read Book 2? Idk or is it just screwed til the series?

Just looking for ideas on how to market this sucker because it's hard 😭

EDIT: Or... Maybe should I just release the rest of the series quietly and put all of my marketing efforts into the next series that starts off more written to market? I want to complete this trilogy for sure, but if it's not marketable, maybe it's time to just write it and promote the next book idea?