This past Sunday I celebrated 7-years as a self-published author. The journey to here has been a learning experience from the very moment I published my first story. I started this thing knowing nothing and today I can say I know plenty. And even with that, though, there is still so much more I need to learn. But you don’t get through 7-years of self-publishing stories and not learn anything. 

Here are a few things I learned in my 7-years of self-publishing (in no particular order).

Invest in yourself

This was a lesson in a lesson for me. When I was starting out, I looked for everything free. Newsletter services, advertising, graphic design and writing software… free, Free, FREE! Listen, if it wasn’t free, I wasn’t trying to look twice at it. I was canceling free trials right before the charge date. Would set reminders in my calendar app just to make sure they didn’t catch me slipping. So, when I tell you I was about that free life, please believe I was about that free life. But you know what? Self-publishing taught me that if you’re not willing to put your money where your vision is, neither will the vision (or people, for that matter). Most free services were limiting, and I found myself limiting my plans and targeted goals as a result. Free was cool when I wanted to try out a service, but at some point, I had to open my wallet and dip into that cash compartment to get to business. Now, I’m not saying go broke paying for things. DO the research to know what you’re paying for and to see if the investment is worth it for you and your plans. And investing doesn’t stop at finances. It also applies to time. Time turned out to be another valuable investment for me. Time in working on my craft, time in creating said craft, and time in learning how to make said craft better. Understanding how to manage time and how to make the most out of every day, especially as a mother and wife, was a task itself. Investing my attention in figuring out how to make it all work was a must. Please note – I’m still learning how to do the previously mentioned. The best proof of if you’ve spent your time wisely is what you can show you’ve done with it, the tangible return on your investment. Thoughts become ideas, and ideas truly become things… with time. So, invest yourself.

Hone your craft

A tool is only as good as it is maintained. Your craft is no exception. For the first few years of my writing life, I believed writing would be enough. I also believed the more I wrote, the better I’d be at it. Which is true. This, my friends, is very true. However, practicing my craft to hone and perfect it has been my greatest asset. Reading craft books, analyzing my stories before and after writing them, self-editing, testing out theories, studying the greats with works out of my genre and that are a century old. Tact that on with writing, became a recipe for creative success. It’s amazing how much inspiration we can find in learning and practicing what we’ve learned. And practicing and honing my craft has kept my creative juices flowing. Speaking of which…

Learn like you’ll live forever

I will say this until I am blue in the face – learning everything under the moon in self-publishing is paramount. Read the book on marketing, take that online class on graphic design, pay for that workshop on writing, sharpen your editing skills by self-editing before sending your manuscript to an editor. Learn it all! When you hear self-publishing, so much is a part of that process besides writing. You can pay someone to do those things, true. I’m all for outsourcing and I highly recommend it. Outsourcing is one of my modes of self-care. But I also encourage fellow writers to learn how to do it too. The wonderful thing about learning everything about self-publishing is that the learning never ends. There’s always something new to discover, new strategies to test out, ideas and tools you’d never think to apply in your process or add to your toolkit, and the list could go on. Why? Because I’m still learning! Being a student to this game is key. Never, ever think or believe that you know enough. Because once you do that, you stop growing. And if you aren’t growing, what are you doing? 

Enjoy life’s little things that aren’t little

The grind culture is popular. Putting in the work, hoping to harvest what you’ve planted, is promoted everywhere you turn. It sure is wherever I turn lol. Self-publishing has taught me how to balance writing and how to enjoy life. So much inspiration hits me when I’m doing everything other than writing. Traveling opens my eyes to new experiences I want to create stories around, hanging with my family forms questions I’d like to base story themes on. Being under the sun, watching my favorite movie for the millionth time, taking a walk, eating out at my favorite spot, conversing with like-minded people. All of that recharges me and removes any writer’s blocks that may be looming. I love the feeling of being away from home and looking forward to returning just so I can complete a scene. I’m a bit of an escapist, so taking care of responsibilities with the excitement of opening my laptop later to escape into a world I created is bomb! Life can be tough. Not all weeks are great weeks. But neglecting life instead of taking care of it and enjoying the little things, at least for me, is not it. Avoid letting the internet rush you. Everything in due time. Life is for living and enjoying in the space between where you are and where you’re trying to be. Enjoy the little things. It’ll fuel you and inspire you, too.

Your comfort zone is not a benchmark 

If you can only take one thing from reading this, please take this because this was a mountain that was hard to move. In fact, for me, I’m still moving it at different iterations in my journey. Let’s get clear on this – comfort zones are the devil. That’s it. That’s the sentence. And when you self-publish, your comfort zone will always seem like the place you want to be and stay. It’s nice, warm, and inviting… and a damn lie. Get out! Self-publishing showed me my comfort zone is not my home. It’s enemy lines. Yes, we must think this dramatically when dealing with comfort zones. Because if you don’t take a stand against it, it will have you standing in your way, shooting yourself in your own foot, and being your own enemy of change. The minute you try to leave it, you doubt yourself. It’s instant too. Self-publishing helped me realize my comfort zone is not a good point of reference and it is not a launchpad. Everything will seem scary when you are viewing it from the window of a comfort zone. So learning to be brave enough to be bad at something new was a breakthrough for me. Thinking big and aiming high continues to help me rebel against mine. One thing to always keep in mind when dealing with doubts when trying to leave your comfort zone is that anything new and different is uncomfortable. It’s supposed to be. It’s the unknown. We’ve never done it before, and we’ve never been here before either! Of course, it’s scary. But with consistency and repetition, familiarity blossoms. And then experience, and eventual mastery. And that, love, should be the exciting part – becoming a master of the thing you once feared doing.

I hope these tips were as enlightening to you as they were for me. I know there are tons of advice articles on the web about how to self-publish and articles on self-publishing in general, so I wanted to give a fresher take. This space isn’t often used for writers and giving writer advice, but I’m a believer in sharing the knowledge I’ve gained through experience. The world would be a happier place if we all did what we loved. Plus, I believe we all have a story worth telling. 

I wish you much success in this journey, writers, both vets and aspiring… we’re all students, remember that!