10 reasons why Self Publishers need to network with other authors

We authors sit alone at home or in a café while we write our books. But when the book is written, we need the support of colleagues.

Here are the main reasons why you need to network as an author.

1. you don’t have to make every experience and every mistake yourself

Anyone who has been in business for some time knows that as an author, you can always do something wrong everywhere. To avoid spending the first few years of your career as an author making all the mistakes yourself, you have to network.

My network has helped me avoid many bad experiences. Without the other authors, I would have bought bad premade covers, given titles to some of my books that pass my target group, booked expensive advertising on bad platforms, and a thousand more things.

An extensive author network gives you access to a wealth of experience you’ll need sooner or later — probably sooner rather than later.

2. you get valuable information about the market

Did my sales break down, or is that just a bad week for everyone? Is this new ad format that Amazon is now offering worthwhile? How many books can I really sell in Thriller? Are men or women more likely to read my kind of books? How old are my readers?

Of course, you can collect all this information yourself after years of work. The more books you publish, the more feeling you will get for the market. But make life easy for yourself and ask your network.

Of course, you can try out a new ad format yourself, but you’re probably just burning money without learning anything from it.

But if you are twenty authors who try this format and make two of them a profit while everyone else loses, you can learn from it.

What did the two successful ones do differently? How many ways are there that don’t work? Do you want to try them out for yourself? Better not.

3. only authors understand other authors

Have you ever tried to talk to your partner about what is important in your life as an author? About the varying payouts at Kindle Unlimited, the new Shitstorm in this big Facebook author group, the A/B test of your new ad campaign? If so, you’ll know that it can quickly become a nuisance.

Other authors want to talk about these things because they affect everyone. Sometimes it’s just good to be able to complain to a colleague about your particular author’s misery. The other doesn’t even have to have good advice for us — it’s often enough for him to know what we’re talking about.

4. the newsletter exchange

Even if your newsletter still has very few subscribers, you can still exchange newsletters with other authors. Experience has shown that most authors are very generous if, in return, you might do more for them on Facebook and Twitter.

What is a newsletter exchange? Basically, it’s simple: instead of always promoting your own books through your newsletter, you send your subscribers recommendations from time to time for books by other authors you’re friends with.

Of course, it is crucial that you only exchange books with authors from your own genre. It is of no use to anyone if your fantasy audience is served a horror novel. The only thing you get is a lot of angry subscribers who unsubscribe from your newsletter.

But when the right authors work together, everyone benefits from the reach of all the other authors involved. Even for the one with the most massive list, the exchange benefits when he reaches the audience of multiple contributors. If everyone keeps their end of the bargain, it’s a win-win situation.

5. combine reach in social networks

What works with newsletters also works on social networks. An author network that posts tweets on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram posts on a colleague’s publication day can make a difference.

But you can also do a lot for each other beyond just selling books.

Recommend your friends’ newsletters, link to articles they’ve written and videos they’ve posted. Promote their readings and recommend their homepages.

Always give more than you expect to receive. This brings you good karma and makes you a reliable and valuable partner for the authors in your network.

6. e-book bundles and boxed sets

When several authors publish together, you combine the possibilities of newsletter exchange and collaboration on social networks with a joint presence in the e-book shop.

Bundles and boxed sets are not anthologies. This means that several independent books are bundled and sold together.

Here, too, there are nice synergy effects when everyone can present their work to the readers of the other authors.

Also, a book that everyone advertises at the same time is much better and cheaper to sell than a single book. Not every author bears the full marketing costs here, but each only a share.

7. analyze sales figures

I wrote it earlier as an example: If your sales collapse, you can only guess why. But if you have an extensive network of other authors, you can better classify your current numbers.

Maybe the whole market is weak because it’s holidays, for example. You will only learn this if you compare your numbers with those of others.

Even if you offer Amazon books on Kindle Unlimited, other authors’ numbers are essential. This will tell you how far away you were from a possible bonus with your read pages, how in your genre the usual ratio of sales to read pages is, and much more.

Many numbers can only be analyzed meaningfully if you have the largest possible database available. You’ll get that if you maintain a large network, and the corresponding authors willingly exchange their data.

8. mutual beta reading

This is especially interesting for beginners who may not yet be able to afford expensive editing. Other authors have a more neutral view of your work than you do. At the same time, they understand the craft and find mistakes, plot holes, and other inconsistencies very reliably.

They can also judge the readability of your texts much better than your mother or your best friend. If the authors in the network are honest with you, you may get a lot of negative feedback, but it will definitely help you more than the well-meant praise of your loved ones.

9. make cover decisions together

For a long time, I just didn’t know what makes a good cover. So I always presented my cover designer’s designs to my network and asked for their opinions.

Every single time my people came up with valuable hints and suggestions on how the cover could be improved. On more than one occasion, the majority chose a different design than I did.

In these cases, I always listened to the majority of my fellow authors. Each time it turned out that they were absolutely right.

10 Healthy, social pressure

We all know it: The new book should be ready in three weeks, but we just can’t get our hands on writing.

If we use our network correctly, however, the others have known about us for a long time that we have set our deadline in three weeks. This means that we are subject to positive social pressure.

As usual in life, we are more motivated to do something when we feel observed. Ask your colleagues to ask you every now and then how your new book is going. You will work more disciplined by yourself if you know that you have to account for it to others.

Conclusion

These ten reasons should show you how important it is to form networks as an author. As a lone fighter, nobody can make it in the long run.

If you haven’t built a network yet, today is the best day to start.

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