About becoming a self-published author (starting from the anonymity)

At least so far, this is not yet one of those "successful stories" you hear every day on the internet. However, even if it is not a success story, it has a silver lining, revealed at the end of the story.

This is somehow the story of many self-published authors at the beginning of their adventures.

I have experienced a few stages and the feelings connected that torment me since I have started this new adventure.

Excitement: I just saw my first novel published, I had a physical copy in my hand and friends around me congratulate for the job well done. I felt like I have accomplished something and that this could be a new beginning. In my wildest dreams, I hoped that perhaps I could even make a living out of it.

Wait: I had my first book sold!!!! YAY!!

"Now it is time to celebrate!" I said, as this can really be the new start, after all, you always start with one copy sold, don't you?

Another issue is to get people reviewing your work, and that should be done by people who actually have read it amd have some credibility. Amazon offers a list of reviewers who can read your book or ebook and give an honest feedback. Another way is to get in Facebook communities of swap review; how they work? Easy, you ask someone to review your book and in exchange you review his/her book. It is a sort of helping each other that can help in a quite fast way.

After all, what gives success to a self-published author is the information spread by word of mouth.

And with this we come to the next stage:

Wild promotion: Without any publishing house at my shoulders, I had to work double to make my dream come true, and I have invested all of my free time in finding a way to promote my novel.

Now, writing a book in English, and living in a non-English-speaking country, it is much more challenging, because it is not easy to set up book signing happenings (unless you are John Grisham or Stephen King). Not to mention that most of the bookshops are not dealing with foreign literature unless they are have been published by a known publisher, which is also accepting returns; however, a small minus of Amazon taht can deter bookshops and libraries is just the fact of not having the chance to give back the unsold material.

However, after a research about the ways to get your name around and perhaps having also some sales, I started to promote my novel in many ways possible, investing time and money.

Hopelessness and frustration: It is not encouraging to see that regardless the efforts, your sales are still equal to zero. I continued to look at the only two reviews I had from people who actually read my novel, those great five star reviews, that reminded me that my novel was not garbage, or at least not totally garbage if the people who read it were satisfied with their purchase and would recommend to other readers.

The question was obvious, "where did I do wrong?"

At that question, the only answer was that perhaps I haven't been promoting it wild enough.

The return of the hope: I haven't yet sold more than a couple of copies, but you know what? I am not going to give up, this has been and still is my dream, so considering that I have a good job that sustains my family and me, so I am not going to be bankrupted in the near future, my life is looking bright.

The bottom line:

Pursuing the dreams I have is what keeps me alive, and if I didn't have any dreams to fulfil or to reach for, I think I will be dead and gone. The failures are a very important part of our lives as they can teach us far more valuable lessons than every single success achieved. If I were to give advice to everyone who is looking to become a published author, I would say: never lose the hopes and treat it as a hobby. Make sure that your passion will never subside, regardless the failures, keep that spark alive, no matter what, because that is the dream that can keep you alive.

Stay tuned for other news!!