A self-publishing experiment

Holly June Smith shares her self-publishing lessons

Feb 19, 2024

I’ve known Holly for a few years now, and I can’t believe that it’s only 1.5 years since she published her first book, a novella called Just a Little Crush*. Since then, she has released 3 other romances, and all of them are fun, sexy, and have kind of ruined real life dating for me (no IRL man lives up to a good book boyfriend, and Holly’s are the best).

I have absolutely loved watching Holly market her books, so thought I would ask her to share some of the lessons she’s learned since she started her ‘experiment’. I hope you find it insightful, and that there are some ideas you can take away and implement in your own marketing practice.

In mid-2022 I faced the dilemma of whether to continue querying with my first book, The Best Book Boyfriend, or to go down the self-publishing route. I decided to spend the summer holidays writing a novella, Just a Little Crush*, to self-publish as an experiment, and I've never looked back.

Just a Little Crush* came out in November 2022 and since then I've published a further three books with several more in the works.

It's been a whirlwind year and a bit, and I wanted to share some things I've learned in this time.

1. Self-publishing is a long game.

Sure, there are some authors whose first book goes viral and they see phenomenal success, but for most of us, writing books will not earn us huge amounts. At first! Once you have a few books under your belt, each release will hopefully find new readers who will then devour your backlist and get invested in your future releases, too.

2. Take readers on the journey with you.

I love sharing snippets of progress as I'm writing my books. For me, this has two benefits. First, it gets readers excited about your book nice and early so that by the time it's released, they can't wait to buy a copy. Second, it makes me feel excited about the writing process too. Writing can be very lonely and it's easy for self-doubt to creep in, but sharing as you go can remind you that you definitely have an audience waiting for your work. You could share a quote from your writing that day, some facts about your character, or open up a Q&A.

3. The social media posts you spend hours creating might bomb, and trying to go 'viral' is pointless.

I started making a more concerted effort with TikTok in a few months ago and my goals have been consistency and growing my confidence in posting quickly (ie. not spending an entire morning on a 15 second video). I treat everything as an experiment, try to disengage from numbers, and just keep going.

4. Your first book might sell well with people who aren’t your long-term readers.

I am hugely grateful to friends and family who showed their support by buying copies of my first book, Just a Little Crush*. Understandably, lots might not have been fans of the genre, and haven't gone on to buy other books. Which is fine! One of my secret author dreams is to find a copy of one of my books in a charity shop, so I certainly won't be offended if it wasn't for them.

5. Not everyone will clap for you.

Writing a book is a phenomenal achievement, but you might feel disheartened when people in your life don't seem to care. Some might be snobby about it, some won't ever even mention it, and you'll only make yourself ill if you try to understand why. Just focus on finding your readers, who absolutely will applaud your efforts.

6. You aren’t just marketing to sell your book, you're marketing to remind people to read your book.

Perhaps they downloaded it months ago and forgot about it. Perhaps they read it and have been meaning to leave a review. Perhaps they loved it and your post about it is a reminder to recommend it to someone else. In fact, when you post about your book, you make it easier for other people to tell others about it. You are not bombarding people.

7. It's never too early to make friends with readers and fellow authors.

However, you cannot do this cynically, as if it's a tick box item on your to-do list. Follow authors whose work you enjoy, follow readers who read the genres you enjoy, and always engage authentically. I'm very lucky to count lots of my readers as new friends, and I love them for themselves, and their recommendations, much more than their support on release day.

I would also be wary of joining lots of author groups on social media in the hopes it will help you find people to promote your book for you. I've seen this happen a few times, and the groups dwindle fast. It's far better to have a smaller group of you at a similar stage to support and confide in each other.

8. Celebrate your milestones.

Whether it's your first copy sold, your 500,000th pageread on Kindle Unlimited, or your book's first birthday, nobody else is going to do it for you. Celebrating your own success is an important way to recognise how far you've come.

It's up to you whether to do it privately or publicly. Once I hit 1m pagereads on KU, I decided to stop sharing those figures on social media because as much as they matter to me, I know they can feel intimidating to other writers, and likely mean nothing to most readers. I'll definitely still be celebrating.

Thank you for reading Sparks. This post is public so feel free to share it.

9. Look for inspiration from those a few steps ahead of you.

When I was writing my first book, I looked at what authors on their third book were doing. Now that I'm writing my fifth, I'm looking at how authors on their tenth book are operating in terms of marketing and treating writing as a business. The gap between you and a best-selling author of 30+ books is going to feel extremely overwhelming.

10. Every week (sometimes every day!) there is a new drama in the book world.

Whether it's in the publishing industry, the influencer community, or just someone posting some rage baiting nonsense on social media, there is always something.

I'm not suggesting you ignore this completely, as some of it is very valid criticism, but you do not have to comment, get involved, or pick a side on every single thing. Use that time and energy for writing instead.

I've had a blast in my first year as a self-published author and enjoyed figuring out a lot of stuff as I go. I'm fully aware there's still a lot to learn, but as I said in point 1, self-publishing is a long game, and I can't wait to see where the next few years take me.

Thank you Holly! I can’t wait to read the next book in The Sunshine Bookclub Series! You can find all of Holly’s books on her Amazon page here*. Do you have a question for Holly or something that stood out to you from reading this post? Leave a comment and let’s chat about it!