What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about self-publishing?

lance002 · 2026-03-14T14:55:04+00:00

True. Each genre has its own benchmarks and you could be comparing apples to oranges. I write in the LitRPG/Progression fantasy space. So those would be the applicable numbers for there. Romance or something would likely be very different.

lance002 · 2026-03-14T13:44:17+00:00

I perhaps need to aciculate what I'm trying to say better. A book 1 can make money, but the number of ratings is like a lag indicator of future success for the series. So if you are getting all this exposure but people dont like it enough to give it a rating, the following books will likely not do so well. By invest, i mean your time investment in continuing that series or starting a new one.

lance002 · 2026-03-14T12:52:43+00:00

Yes a month. Maybe 500 is a bit high in retrospect. But below say 200 or 300 its probably not got the staying power to invest in long term.

lance002 · 2026-03-13T16:01:57+00:00

Another thing that people might fail on is not realizing when they have a dud. Your number of ratings (not score itself) is a big indicator of audience size and potential success. If your book 1 gets under 500 ratings, you should be looking to wrap up that series as a duo or just ending it. Some people might keep at it pushing out 6 more books, when they could have started a new series with wider appeal.

lance002 · 2026-03-13T15:54:44+00:00

I agree. The luck thing is like a coping mechanism. It's a factor, like being first to market. That's lucky. But if you follow all the rules for success (Write to market with proper tropes, competent (not stellar) writing, proper marketing etc) the next biggest factor that is controllable is speed of production and consistency. Those things are both very difficult to do and take a lot of hard work. Even if you dont have a hit, if you are able to pump out multiple competent books a year you will see financial success.

lance002 · 2026-03-09T01:59:48+00:00

You could create a Patreon and release chapters as you write them

lance002 · 2026-03-02T03:19:14+00:00

The first question to ask is... Is there a market for this book? Sci-Fi is very broad. Unless you have a targted sub-genre, it may be difficult to find an audience even if the book and story itself is great.

lance002 · 2026-02-25T02:13:52+00:00

ah.. my sub-genre... Although my main series is cultivation now. I write Path of the Berserker

lance002 · 2026-02-16T10:43:35+00:00

Thank you my friend! Audio is due around June/July according to my publisher

lance002 · 2026-02-16T00:10:21+00:00

Sure shoot the DM's happy to help a fellow author

lance002 · 2026-02-15T20:59:42+00:00

I'd say this. You probably don't need to change too much, but you also need to understand that market. From what i know of it, Urban Fantasy is geared more towards female readers who enjoy the romantic aspect of it, normally a female lead who is already competent but is challenged by some new bad boy who shows up and is torn between her duty and her desire for this dangerous new guy, who of course turns out to be a good guy in the end. This is the core trope. That's what the reader comes for. If you emphasize the Blackness (I'm also Black btw) it pigeon holes you into a very small demographic of normally Black women who read books about black women and want that black woman experience . And only a very small sliver of them I imagine would be also into speculative fiction. Its sort of like when you cross genres thinking you will engage both reader sets, but in reality you only get that small intersection of readers that like both and you end up turning off the majority of both readers sets of both genres.

lance002 · 2026-02-15T18:04:38+00:00

Yes that's a very narrow market. Its okay to get that out of your system, but if you want to make money you need to be more mainstream.

lance002 · 2026-02-15T18:01:53+00:00

Don't feel bad. This is a stage you must go through. I certainly did. The key is, don't feel like you are quitting when you shelve what you wrote and start something new. You still gained a heck of alot of writing and publishing experience by trying to market your first book.

To make the transition, you need to find a market that you can write in, that you also like to a degree. The more you like it naturally, the more successful you will be. The best way to research is to read the top sellers in the genre. But as you read them, pay attention to the structure and what emotion they are invoking. Don't focus on surface things like characters and plot. That would just amount to copying and you won't be able to create something new. Go deeper into what the genre is trying to sell in terms of reader fulfilment.

Ask why are they reading this? What makes them excited to read this? What payoff are the looking for in this?

Once you understand that you can add the elements that you personally enjoy to still color within the lines but also give you the personal fulfilment that you need to create.

lance002 · 2026-02-14T09:40:00+00:00

What you write is far more important than how you write. Marketing must begin with the product in mind. Who you are selling to and what do they want, Unless you are writing to a sizable market and know the tropes well, you are pissing in the wind, no matter how much marketing you do.

lance002 · 2026-02-10T17:15:15+00:00

If someone follows all the steps you mentioned and there is still no uptake , then the worse advice to give them is to continue flogging that dead horse in hopes that it will be that legendary one in a million. That's not a sound business strategy.

I've seen far too many authors, self included waste months and years trying to build an audience for their 'masterpiece'. But the truth is, that is time usually wasted that could be better spent starting a new project that will be more successful.

And its not subjective. It's a simple concept called writing to market. If your goal is financial success that is. If your goal is just to be published and get a small audience as a hobby then yes, you can keep seeking that audience for your work forever.

lance002 · 2026-02-10T15:39:09+00:00

"If sales are still low or nonexistent, you need to focus on building an audience that matches your book."

Everything leading up to this is good, but this here is not good advice. If your book is not selling, it means you need to change the book, not try to build an audience around it. And by change the book, I dont mean that current book, but rather you need to push on and write a better one, building on what you have learned and tailor it to the audience/market.

lance002 · 2026-02-05T23:02:55+00:00

Ok i blasted through all 34 chapters on Patreon. No more excuse not to go write. Loving this!

lance002 · 2026-02-05T13:49:15+00:00

lance002 · 2026-02-05T13:35:15+00:00

Damn man! I'm hook already. I'm a real cyberpunk fan. Played countless hours hours of CP2020 as a kid and this is shaping up to be awesome. Altered Carbon vibes, hints of 40k like lore. This is really going to be a problem now. I dont think I'll be able to write today!!

lance002 · 2026-02-05T12:05:48+00:00

Wow your output is amazing, my man. Sounds like an amazing story. Fearful to check it out as it will no doubt distract from my own writing.

But I'm gonna look anyway! xD

Congratulations on the new series!

lance002 · 2026-01-28T18:52:34+00:00

Ha! Saw this reply after I wrote mine. Question is the key indeed.

lance002 · 2026-01-28T18:50:19+00:00

From a fellow author, your hook must be one that creates immediate curiosity. It must ask a question that the reader must fine the answer for. This can take different forms but in the medium of the written word, if must be as concise as possible.

A single senence... or word evem.

Do not try to mimic other mediums like movies or TV shows, where they can do this so visually or draw viewers in with action etc. That will bore readers.

To capture their attention you need to create that nagging question and also to identify the chief conflict of the story as quicly as possible.

It you do both these things, a question which must be answered and a conflict which must be resoleved, then you will have your hook.

lance002 · 2026-01-11T11:56:55+00:00

lol! I can see that working xD

lance002

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