The relative ease of self-publishing allows anyone with to become an author with both hardcover and ebooks to sell and/or give away.

Unfortunately, self-published authors often make mistakes that can ruin the reading experience and even influence readers' opinions about the author, especially if the author is using a book to promote a business or a cause.  Avoid these mistakes if you want your book to shine and receive better reviews on sites such as Amazon and GoodReads. Reviewers on sites such as Amazon will often give a book a lower rating due to the following mistakes, even if the content is great.

Mistake #1: You are your own proofreader

Even the biggest grammar snobs need someone else to proofread their books. Once you've seen the same text over and over again, you become immune to how things are spelled or punctuated, and it's easy to overlook mistakes.  And, let's face it, most of us are not grammar snobs and don't always remember how to use commas or the variations of "to, too and two".  Book reviewers are often a very literate bunch, and they do not take kindly to books with multiple errors.  Find a good proofreader; he or she will make sure you avoid common mistakes and make you look good.  Your local printer can often suggest a good proofreader.

Mistake #2:  You are your own editor

Editing is not the same as proofreading. The editor's task is to bring "finesse" to your text so that it all observes the conventions of good writing. Editors look at your content with a fresh set of eyes and carefully examine whether or not something "sounds good".  They may show you where a sequence of events don't make sense, recommend chapter title changes, or even point to a section that needs to be re-written.  Editors are not always popular, but the changes they recommend are probably good ones. Remember, you are the writer, so everything makes sense to you, but it may not to everyone else. And having your spouse or grandma read your draft is not usually good enough.

Mistake #3: You design your own cover

People DO judge a book by its cover! How many times have you passed up a book because the cover didn't seem to do anything for you or didn't fit with the genre?  There is a science to book cover artwork, font type and colors; the best-written, most interesting book in the world can be left undiscovered if the cover looks amateurish.  Leave these details to a graphic artist who has designed other book covers; ask to see a portfolio of his or her work.  Many local printers who specialize in short-run book publishing will also have a graphic artist on staff who can advise you.

Mistake #4: You aren't online

If you want people besides your spouse and grandma to read or even purchase your book, you need to have a presence on social networking sites. People often like to go and "check out" an author online before purchasing a book. Ideally, you should have a website for your book that contains a picture of the cover, a short synopsis of the book, a page about you, a link to purchase your book and links to your social media profiles. You should also consider starting a Facebook page that's devoted to either your book or you as an author. If people do read your book, they are more likely to share about it with others if there is a way for them to do so online. Some authors even record short videos in which they read short synopses of their books and then post the videos to YouTube. The possibilities are endless; the important thing to get make sure you have a presence online!

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