Why Wattpad Might Be A Bad Idea

When authors think of marketing their writing, their books, themselves basically, they consider multiple ways of getting it into the hands of readers, even large chunks for free as to draw them to the sale.

And that’s not a bad idea.

If there weren’t such high risks involved.

Mainly, plagiarism.

The main one that comes to mind is Wattpad.

You wouldn’t believe how often I see writers and authors post on social media asking for advice, if posting the beginning, or even their whole book, is a good idea.

The simple answer?

It’s not.

Why? Because there is nothing stopping someone from downloading or copying your book, word for word, maybe changing a few things, and publishing it under their own name. Then when you go to publish it on Amazon, they flag it for copyright issues and from the horror stories of others who I’ve heard from, it’s not pretty to prove that you, as the author of the original work, wrote it.

Not. Pretty.

So don’t. There are safer ways to get your work out there, creating awareness without all of the headache, stress, and anxiety.

Another aspect of Wattpad is the fact that if you did publish to the platform, you can’t change it. Once it’s up, it’s up unless you take it down. Something else to consider is the content itself. A lot of the books featured are full of the same genre and if you post a genre outside of that, your read levels remain low. It doesn’t do any good.

However, and this is just my opinion, the main concern for many authors and writers (and what has honestly stopped myself, is the plagiarism aspect.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to worry about my work being stolen.

Hell to the no! We all work our butts off on creating our worlds, investing a significate amount of time building and fine-tuning our characters and plots, the details that drive us crazy but give us such satisfaction. That’s a lot of work to just threw away.

Or even risk it.

That’s about it for me today!

Stay sane and stay safe my friends!

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional

There are many stigmas of self-publishing, but I do have to say that when I started out ten years or so ago, it was even worse and not as common. I was often told that anyone who was self-published wasn’t really an author.

Yeah, I was told that, constantly.

Which, I will say, made me go the more traditional route and thankfully, I obtained a contract for my paranormal series and contemporary romance series.

But today it’s different. Self-publishing is more common and even well-known authors are becoming self-published, going that route, detouring from the more traditional path, the familiar path.

Now you might ask, why??

It’s simple.

Control.

Most of the explanation, honestly, in my opinion, boils down to control.

Traditional publishers are great because they do shoulder a lot of the expenses and burdens of the publishing process. The editing, the cover art, the formatting, the launch itself, all of it. Even some of the marketing.

However, you will read that I said “some” of the marketing.

In the book community today, with advanced technology, most publishers will flat out tell you that it’s your responsibility to market your books, to get your name and brand out there.

  • Websites
  • Social media
  • Book signings
  • Contests
  • Paid Ads (Facebook and Twitter)

It’s all very possible but it is time consuming and sometimes, it feels like you’re barely getting ahead. You take one step forward (creating an account to market such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), then you fall two steps back on trying to create awareness of your new book or series. It’s hard. I won’t lie to you.

But also rewarding and honestly, it’s a great feeling.

But now I’ll get into the meat of this article. What’s the difference, the true pros and cons, of self-publishing vs. traditional publishers?

Pros of Self-Publishing

  • Control – You own the rights
  • All royalty and sale profits
  • Marketing
  • Easy and fast to do.

Cons of Self-Publishing

  • All expenses
    • Editing
    • Cover design
    • Formatting
    • Marketing
  • Mass competition

Pros of Traditional Publishing

  • A name behind your brand
  • All expenses paid

Cons of Traditional Publishing

  • No control – You don’t own the rights for several years designated within the contract.
  • Split royalties, usually a 40/60 but it all varies with each publishing house.

It’s all a matter of perspective, of what you as the author, want. What’s best for you in the long run.

Now I’ve had a few people ask me, “how can I self-publish only?” To some experienced authors out there, you might be looking at the question in bewilderment, astonishment, and think it’s silly. But it really isn’t. Remember, you were in the shoes of those just starting out. You didn’t know much in the beginning either so cut those people some slacks. Honestly, self-publishing is so easy today.

Amazon.

The mega company of the world.

That’s right. You heard me.

Amazon.

You can upload your manuscript and cover to Amazon, and it’s published within 72 hours but please remember, if you are going that route, don’t slack on editing, formatting, and cover design. Believe it or not, the appearance of the book, internal and external, carries a lot of weight with readers. If a book is riddled with errors, mistakes, grammar issues, it’s going to get a lot of low reviews but that’s a blog for another day!! 😊

Thank you all so much for reading and love to read the comments!

Stay sane and stay safe my friends!

Building Your Online Presence

Good morning Friends! Today’s blog might be a little short but today’s piece of advice for you all is growing your online presence, even if you haven’t published yet. When I first started writing, I didn’t think of anything beyond that.

Writing. Getting my book written. Pages in my hand.

And yet something nagged at me even when I was writing.

I kept thinking, when I’m done, how am I going to get it into the hands of readers beyond the simple act of publishing? There has to be more to it than that. How am I going to market it if no one knows it’s published?

I have found, through the years, that the number one mistake writers make, is getting the story, their book, published first, and then they start to build their platform, their online presence.

Me and a friend were talking a few years ago and she’s in the process of writing her book. I told her to build her presence and her response was, “but it’s not done yet. I’m not technology an author yet so what’s the point?”

Wrong.

Just because you haven’t published yet doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t build your presence. In fact, it’s better to start early, to grow. A few steps you can take are simple.

Develop an attractive professional Facebook Page. Work on growing it. Build your base.

WordPress and WIX is free. Develop your website. Design it yourself. Believe me, you will be very proud of yourself when you do. If you aren’t confident enough, hire someone to build it.

Create a twitter account. Create LinkedIn. Create Pinterest. Start an author blog or more generic one. Since the internet has revolved, it’s been so easy to grow your product, your brand, beyond your own little world and family.

I wish I had known all of this when I was first starting out but if you focus on growing your presence, even before you publish, it will be a lot easier to sell when you have your audience in front of you.

For me, I began to develop it as I published my first paranormal romance. I created all of the above, worked on networking, posted teasers with specific hashtags, etc. It was after I was published so a little late but heck, better late than never, right?

There are so many paths you can take to build your online presence. Never be shy of promoting yourself even before you publish.

You won’t regret it.

Stay tuned, stay sane, and stay safe my friends!
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