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You Don’t Need To Spend A Fortune On Editors & Cover Designers – I think the biggest lesson I learned was when I published my very first book in 2011. I spent around $1200 on an editor and like every new author, I believed a lot of people were going to buy my FIRST book. Needless to say, I didn’t quite make back the cost of editing. I also learned that you don’t need to spend quite that much on an editor, either. I’ve had comparable editors charge less than half that cost. I’ve had my sister design my book covers (I paid her $50 for each one) and those ones have sold more than the pricier ones I paid for. You can hire good quality professionals without having to pay a fortune.

You Need To Market Constantly – Maybe this seems like a no-brainer! I knew that one had to market their books in order to sell them, but I didn’t originally realize the work you need to put in just to sell a few books. Once you stop promoting your books and cease placing ads online, your sales will drop. If you want to sell your books, you can’t slack on marketing. Like it or not, you become a business once you decide to sell your books and advertising them is essential to earning money.

You Might Get Accused Of Having An Alter Ego – To people who know you in real life, you’re just you. Then they creep you online and discover you’re all over the place sharing your ideas and promoting your books. Some people might see a disconnect between the person you’re marketing yourself to be and the person you are “in real life”. I’ve had a few people tell me I had a second identity or an alter ego, or that I’m attention seeking, etc. I’m sorry if it appears that way, but I’m just trying to sell some books, dude.

Other Indie Authors Can Be Your Best Supporters – Connecting with other authors is a good move. Indie authors will often buy and review one another’s books and they can be a great emotional support to you since they’re going through similar things that you are. They’re not our competition – there’s room in the market for everyone.

Indie April! – Don’t forget about this important month in the indie community! This is when authors can promote their books on Twitter like no tomorrow. Avid readers and authors alike will post links asking you to promote and link your book for them to buy – if they like the look/sound of it, they’ll get it! It’s a fun way to put yourself out there while supporting other indies if you’ve got a few dollars to spare. I gained a lot of new readers from Indie April last year and I will say that my book sales were fairly steady even months later. Don’t be shy about promoting yourself next month!

$2.99 Is The Golden Price Range For An Indie Author – This has been researched time and time again for indie books. If you’re not a famous author, $2.99 is usually the most marketable price for an indie book. I’ve experimented with prices in the past, from 99 cents to $5.99 and the sales always drop off when I do this. Once I switch back to $2.99, more people will buy. The logic behind this is that it’s not too cheap (People will always wonder why something is only 99 cents – unless it’s a sale) and not too pricey (People don’t want to spend much more than $2.99 on an author they don’t know).

I hope you enjoyed this post! Stay tuned for more things I’ve learned since I started the indie author journey. 🙂

As always, please feel free to drop a comment! What have *you* learned since you started indie authoring? Do tell.