Author's Should Never Compare Their Publishing Journey with Another Author's Journey

    When I self-published my first book back in 2012' comparing my writing journey to other author's at the time was something that I often did, and I have to admit this was not a good thing.  The truth is no author should ever compare their publishing journey with another author's publishing journey.  Yet, I have found so many authors doing just that out on social media groups.  They will say things like; my book is so much better than that book that has sold thousands of copies, so why isn't my book selling?  I have also found that this is generally stressing them out.  Hey, I can relate...been there, done that!

     Here is a video discussing this subject of comparison...

     So are you an author who is somewhat frustrated with your book sales and wonder why other writers are more successful?  Are you constantly comparing your writing and story as being better than theirs?  Take my words for it this is only hurting you!

     It was when I finally stopped comparing my writing journey with other writers that I saw growth in what I was writing and what I was doing.  It was when I finally realized that my own writing journey was just my own that I went back to loving what I truly do, and that is writing and creating a story.  I'm willing to admit here that I am still looking for my large group of readers, but I have found peace in just knowing that I am creating my stories and that I am able to publish them for the world to read.  This was something I wasn't able to do many years back before self-publishing became so available on the internet.  

     My best advice to you is to stop comparing your journey to another author's journey and just keep loving what you are writing and creating.  They always say that if you do what you love the money will follow.  My feeling is, just keep doing what you love whether the money comes or not.  I truly believe the rest will work itself out on its own in the end.

     In my next blog entry, I am going to discuss what size you should consider if you are creating your own Paperback book.

Book Trailers: Does My Book Need One?

     A "Book Trailer" is generally a visual representation of a book.  The book trailer is what a movie trailer represents in a movie theater.  It is designed to make a reader interested in reading a book.  So does your book need a book trailer?  Here is a video discussing this topic below:

          So do you need a book trailer for your book?  I would have to agree with the video somewhat.  A Book Trailer is a good marketing tool, but only if you already have a large audience of readers.  Personally, only one of my books has a book trailer, (you can view it here), although I have considered doing them for all of my books because I feel it will offer my books another backlink for the search engine to grab onto.  

     I think the biggest question if you are considering creating a book trailer for your book is the PRICE!  Some book trailers can cost several hundred dollars and more. You could actually consider making one yourself for free by using a website called adobe spark at: https://spark.adobe.com  (See my personal instructional videos (Parts 1-3) below that I created myself showing you how you can do this).

     So whether you decide to create a book trailer or not for your book or books just know that it can be a great way to introduce your book to a potential reader.  They say that people are more visual then they 've ever been, and I would have to agree when you consider how popular websites like Pinterest and Instagram are in the area of photos.

     As stated in Part 3 of "How to Create a Book Trailer for Free, if you want a book trailer for your book but you don't really want to do this yourself and you don't mind spending some money to have one done,  then Fiverr.com might just be a good way to get one done for lesser money than you might think.

     In my next blog article, I am going to discuss how an author never should compare their journey to publishing with another author's journey, and how detrimental this can be to you if you do.

     So stay tuned!