How I Overcame Doubt and Published My First Poetry Book

So, I begin with “why do anything at all when some project or task exhausts more energy than others—is it all just a means to an end to fulfill some desire or distract from some angst?” When it comes down to writing, publishing, and marketing a book, is it done on a surface level value like money? Do you think it would hold an inch of motivation in the long game of life? 

So, I ask what you would rather have on your deathbed, a pile of toys paid for with money or experiences of a well-lived life that gave others value. It’s easy to lose sight of where and why we started. We can implement reflections to foster gratitude and purpose by scheduling weekly, monthly, and annual reviews that reinforce why we’re here and where we’re going next and enjoying the ride.

Monitor success and failures

Monitoring success and failures take great courage in the face of one’s expectation for all the effort to create a book. From the time I started writing, I was having bouts of fantasizing about how many copies the book will sell and how much money I will earn. Then the negative voices spoke louder: “you’re a fake, an amateur,” “you don’t have writing talent,” and “expect to receive low star ratings and nasty criticism because you suck!” 

Those voices never left me throughout the book’s writing journey, and now they’re much more tempered after months from release. If you wrote a book from a genuine place, you would be open to growth, and you can discern the praises and criticism from reviews as an opportunity for learning. I’ve learned I sold many copies from free promotional days and made some money. My goal is to build brand awareness rather than money as the focus. 

I knew way before the book’s publication this is a similar story experienced by other authors—starting you’re a white noise overshadowed by the radio background noise. It takes months to be seen and recognized for something of value. 

It takes patience and awareness of why you’re on this path and celebrating the wins and losses because those are growth opportunities. Opportunities to evaluate what worked and did not, detach your emotions for a moment, and objectively identify where to glean the lessons and apply them. 

Suppose you’re genuinely making the authentic effort to improve and provide more value with each book. In that case, it will speak for itself, and readers can spot a fake from a mile away. I evaluate the following areas to better position my next book and my business as an author:

• Sales report on Amazon KDP to identify which promo sites resulted in the most downloads
• Read reviews from editorial, Amazon, and Goodreads to extract insights
• And social media posts to identify which type of content has the most engagement and capitalize on it

Only a little to work with, but I am learning bit by bit and adding something new to the repertoire as I expand my business.

Reevaluate assets and strategies

Periodically evaluating assets and strategies ensure they stay consistent when considering opportunities or shifts in the industry that require adapting to changes. Regarding assets, it’s not just the book. It’s also the words, and how can I repurpose them elsewhere? Phrases from the book can be repurposed as quotes shared on social media. The inspiration behind the book project can be converted into creating scripts for videos and blog posts; it does take deliberate creative thinking on how to repurpose existing assets. 

Furthermore, after some experience with published books, that’s an opportunity to share this knowledge in a blog post and/or video and even create high-quality courses. It takes great effort and stumbling to fill in the void of knowledge gaps and experience to grasp what it takes to take an idea to market. Something like a course can shortcut efforts made for those who want it. As an author, there are several strategies to remember and revise as the business grows. At the foundation, you have your broader author business plan that encompasses the essential aspects:

• Business summary: a summary of what intellectual properties you will focus on, goals, brand, publisher, genres you write in, reader avatar/s
• Production: the products you will produce, not just books but also courses, freelance services, writing process, schedule, publishing and licensing, and pricing, and systems to bullet-proof the workflow
• Marketing: organic promotion (Instagram and GoodReads). Paid advertisement (Amazon and BookBub ads). Author website with an email service provider (MailerLite, ConvertKit). Content (blog, videos, podcast, email book updates, etc.) and social media marketing (inspirational quotes, book excerpts, polls, updates, live feeds, etc.). Networking with writers, publishers, communities, conferences, and meetups
• Financial: money mindset (discerning if this is a hobby to supplement your current income or creating a path towards making a living from your writing skills). Revenue model and income—whether to go exclusive or wide or start out exclusive for brand awareness and then go wide after getting some exposure. Initial investment (website, email service provider, budgeting for editing/design collaboration, publisher fees, and marketing budget with book promo sites and ads) and ongoing cost (ads, book promo sites, budgeting for future projects, and expenses in resources and education)

Determine how often you will review the broader business plan and identify any improvements that can be made in the business systems to ensure its operation runs unhindered without wasted effort. If so, develop contingencies for worse-case scenarios—always document every process because you need to delegate some task that others can do better. At the same time, you focus on what you’re really good at.

The Gist

• After publishing a book, celebrate it.
• Monitor the success and failures if the game plan is to publish more books and whether you choose to be a full-time author or a side hustle. 
• Develop a mindset that the uncomfortable parts you consider are failures in the author’s business or a book’s sales. Use the information as an opportunity to learn than attack your character. 
• Review sales reports, book reviews, and social media engagement. Evaluate whether any criticism is valid or whether someone is not particularly fond of your book style and writing. You cannot satisfy everyone, and you’re not supposed to because your goal is to find more of your ideal reader.
• As you gather, collect, and assess the success and failures, determine if you need to adjust the marketing or publishing strategy. It’s a good rule of thumb to reevaluate an author’s business even if you plan to pursue a different path than a full-time author. 
• Suppose you want your books to do well and reach the ideal readers. In that case, you have to be deliberate about promoting not just one book but many if your goal is releasing a series or a variety of books. I recommend every six or 12-month review, and if you can throw in a weekly or monthly check-in, then do it. It will further help with micro-adjustments, whether in the systems with your writing process, marketing, getting into the flow, and even scheduling and adapting to life’s unexpected events to stay within deadlines.
• Be honest with yourself; by asking “why do anything at all?” Do you prefer to binge-watch a show after a long workday and not pursue hobbies and goals that could enrich your life? As lovely as extrinsic values are, such as a book hitting the best-seller list, earning a six-figure income, or having several thousand followers on social media, these euphoric feelings will wane. You will question one day why you feel lost. 
• When you remind yourself regularly why all the effort crafting a book or writing hundreds of blog posts or scripting, recording, editing, and publishing YouTube videos. The intrinsic motivations will remind you why you chose to show up to write daily, why you schedule your weekend, and sacrifice all that free time carving a path towards a lifestyle that aligns with your values, passions, and purpose.