Do you have enough self confidence to self-publish?

Recently I have been asked a number of things about the self-publishing process. I have recently taken a sales and signing table at the Birmingham MCM Comic Con and Nottingham Comic con. At both of these events I was asked by a some aspiring authors how to go about getting the confidence to self-publish. Now, I am fairly new to self-publishing myself and have learnt, and am still learning, by trial, error and research. However I am also an experienced teacher and lecturer and a nurse by background and both of those facets of my career require a degree of self-confidence. The reason I mention these is because in order to gain that self-confidence I needed to go through a process of self-criticque and colleague critique and feedback on my performance and knowledge and I feel there are many similarities to gaining self-confidence in other aspects of life, self-publishing for instance.

It took me four years to write A Bond of Venom and Magic, and this was writing every spare minute that I got, much to the disgruntlement of my family. Four years seems like an awfully long time when some authors are turning out 4 or 5 books a year. However, I was learning to find my own style and voice for the story I wanted to write, and had to go through many changes to find myself as a writer. How I did that is a story for another time but needless to say I was determined to finish my first book and see it published. As I mentally typed ‘The End’ (and getting there was not a straight forward process) I began to wonder if it was really good enough for others to read and enjoy. So although I was confident in other aspects of my life and career being an author was and still is a new experience for me, therefore I did not have an over abundance of self-confidence.

I had already started following other authors and had done some research on review groups and beta readers on the internet. As you can imagine, the advice I found varied greatly.

Self-confidence is not something others can give you, and even showing part of your work to others takes a lot of guts. I cannot give you a perfect way to increase your confidence in your abilities but I can share some of my thoughts and ways that helped (and continue) to help me. Below are a number of options for you to consider, that may help.

1. On line review groups and writing sites.

I found most advise centred on joining a review group of some kind. You do not have to submit your whole manuscript to most groups and sites, in fact I would be very reticent to do so. I personally joined a few groups, I can’t remember them all now, but as with most things there were positives and negatives to them. In some groups you will need to review the work of other people, so ensure you have the time to commit to this. Join a few groups, read some reviews and see how often people post their feedback. It is also wise to look at the calibre of the feedback and check out the profiles of those that post on a regular basis. I found some of the most frequent reviewers were very critical and did not provide helpful points for improvement. I did not submit my work to these groups. Though I do think review groups can be a good place to start to get a general feeling for what others think of your writing style, ideas, writing tics etc.

Fiction press and Critters Writers Workshop might be worth a look for you.

I personally found I received some feedback that was useful but also some that was sarcastic and not helpful. Please be prepared for people who are not used to giving feedback to be very blunt and negative. If you are already under confident go into these groups prepared.

2.Family & friends.

I know many writers give their work to friends and family to receive feedback. This might seem like a safe route to take and can be useful, but bear in mind unless your chosen reviewer/s has experience of delivering critical feedback this may be very hard for them to do in a way that is useful to you. This way may not increase your confidence as much as you hope, as you may begin to wonder if said loved one is ‘just being kind’. Remember if you are asking those you love and who love you to review your work, especially when they know how hard you have slaved over it they generally don’t want to hurt your feelings and will not be completely honest if they find the situation uncomfortable. Please be wary of putting your family & friends in that position.

3. Join a forum/platform such as Goodreads.

If you are serious about being an author you need to be part of the Goodreads community and begin growing your platform. There are many different types of groups within Goodreads which are genre specific and offer critical feedback and beta reading. Some are free, some are paid services. Please be careful and look for reviewers/beta readers with plenty of customer reviews. There are many unscrupulous people out there who will fraudulently use you work….be aware.

I’m sure there are other ways, such as local author/reading/library groups that may be of use too, but engaging Beta readers that I did not know and receiving comments on the flow and feel of the book was the most helpful thing to me. Please please if you are under-confident choose Beta readers who like your genre of work. I did this and still had one person who strongly disliked the violence in my book. Her manner of feedback was very upsetting but if you get negative feedback, dry your tears, pick yourself up, harden your skin a little more and pick out the useful bits from the feedback.

No matter how under-confident you are, if you want to release your work into the big wide and often cruel world, you need to first make sure it is as good as you can get it. You have to be happy with it because no matter what you do and how hard you work there will always be people who dislike it, and those are the people that are often the most vocal, eloquent and cutting in their review of your work.

At the end of the day the only person who can give you the confidence to press that publish button is you, other people can help build you up with positive reviews and feedback, but you also need honesty from them, and a willingness to receive criticism in order to develop as a writer. We can all improve no matter what skill it is we have. Just remember growing a thick skin is a prerequisite for anyone putting themselves out in the public arena, but all I can say is if it’s your dream to write and publish then only you can decide when you are ready; no matter how many people say they like your work, it’s your choice.

I hope my thoughts are of use. Feel free to email me if you have any more questions.
email@karentomlinson.com.

Karen Tomlinson is the author of A Bond of Venom and Magic book 1 in The Goddess and the Guardians series of YA fantasy novels.

AMAZON iBOOKS KOBO B&N SMASHWORDS

A half-blood magic wielder… A hard-hearted warrior…. A deposed prince. A Bond of Venom and Magic is an epic fantasy tale set in a dangerous world of magic, fearsome winged warriors, dragons and forbidden romance. It is ideal for mature YA readers, fans of SJ Maas and Cassandra Clare, and readers who love to discover spectacular new worlds.

The Wraith Lord is hunting; his prize, the key to unleashing darkness and Chaos upon the eight Kingdoms.
For Diamond Gillon the war raging in the south seems a remote danger until she loses everything she holds dear. After her home is brutally attacked Diamond is catapulted into a terrifying new world in which legendary beasts arise, magic is condemned and half blood fae, like her, have no rights. Diamond is drawn ever closer to her saviour Commander Hugo Casimir. Despite her growing feelings for him, Hugo remains a paradox, not only is he a heartless killer, he is owned by the cruel immortal fae queen; a queen who will murder her own people for magic. Will Hugo become her friend, her protector or an enemy not worthy of her trust?
As Diamond’s circumstances become ever more perilous she is drawn deeper into Hugo’s world and discovers the lengths to which he will go to save what he holds dear.
A Bond of Venom and Magic is a tale of two people bound by magic and secrets, but trapped in the complexities of love and betrayal. It is the beginning of an epic journey, one that will test Diamond’s resolve and determination to battle an evil that threatens not only her world but that of Eternity, the land of The Goddess and the Guardians.