7 Self-Publishing Mistakes You MUST Avoid in 2025

Do you want 2025 to be your year? Then it's time to talk about the mistakes that could wreck your self publishing and book success before it even begins. So if you want to avoid some big mistakes with your author journey in 2025, then this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the Book Broad, founder of a fabulous self publishing services company called Book Launchers. At Book Launchers, we help nonfiction authors write, publish and promote a nonfiction book to build a business and grow a brand. If you want to save time and not watch this video and not make a bunch of mistakes, just hire Book Launchers. We will talk strategy with you, support you to write the right book and make it the best quality while putting the marketing team by your side to prepare for a great launch, pitch you for podcasts, live appearances, run ads, and so much more. So just go ahead, go to book launchers.com apply and Schedule A call with us. It's that easy. But of course this would not be a video worthy of your like and subscribe or attention if we didn't actually get into some mistakes. Now. Oh my gosh, there are so many mistakes that you can make. But for the sake of all of our sanity, I narrowed it down to seven to avoid because they're some of the biggest ones that I see and that I have been seeing recently. So let's get into it with number one, the first mistake I see a lot of authors making right now over complicating things. The journey of self publishing can feel overwhelming with so many tactics, tools and so much advice available. There's fancy book trailers, there's obscure marketing platforms, there's social media, there's events, there's creating courses, there's taking courses, there's so much. So authors often feel like they need to do it all to succeed. But the truth success comes from mastering the basics consistently, not chasing every shiny objective. And basics, well, they're boring. So I understand the desire to chase the shiny objects and personally, I kind of do it. I keep signing up for new software, new programs, new services. I hope to uncover something that is a game changer for our clients and for you here at Book Launchers tv. And so far the thing that works the most is to create a great book with a well defined reader that needs what you are sharing and then market it every dang day to your audience and other people's audiences. It's as simple and as boring as that. Now, if you're brand new, first focus on writing a great book. Self publish and succeed is A great guide for that. And we have a free community on Skool to help you as well. I'll put the link below. And if your book is out, well, just try doing one thing at a time and focus on building your email list. Trying to simultaneously run Amazon ads, Instagram campaigns, do YouTube videos, weekly webinars, pitch yourself to media podcasts, run ebook sales. Well, unless you have a team like my team at Book Launchers that do a lot of the heavy lifting and create cohesive plans for our authors, well if you try to do all that yourself, you're gonna be exhausted and so over being an author before you even get some juicy results. Focus on tried and true basics, a well edited and compelling book, build an email list with a strong lead magnet, and consistently engage with readers on one or two platforms where they actually hang out. Progress comes from steady steps, not leaps. That's the biggest mistake to avoid, and it's a theme that's gonna run through all of them. So I spent a little more time on it than I'm gonna spend on the other mistakes. But mistake number two is focusing on being a bestseller in 2024. I said that I felt an emphasis on becoming a periodical bestseller was a mistake for most authors. And that was because the Wall Street Journal list went away and the USA Today list went away and then came back but with much less credibility, which left self publishing authors with Amazon as a focus and well, this year I've decided I'm just changing my tune to say focusing on being a bestseller is a waste of time, energy and money. Now my team at Book Launchers will help clients with marketing and sales and many of the clients we're working with, well, sales matter and becoming an Amazon bestseller matter too. Here's the thing, the team of people I work with that help me with sales and marketing at Book Launchers, they don't really want me to talk about this because they say that a lot of people still really care about being a best selling author. And I get it, that's something authors still want. But I'm kind of about giving you what you need, even if that doesn't help me sell as much at Book Launchers. But what you need is not a one hit wonder getting you a little orange flag for selling 25 or 50 copies in a day on Amazon. What you need is a strategy to use your book for big picture goals and success. If you focus on a good launch strategy to build momentum, then you consistently lean into what is working for your book marketing and do more of that while Layering other things on that might work. You'll find you get those orange flags and you're getting your business and brand growth that you wanted from your book. It's boring basics. But if you want the real ROI from being an author, it's not from bestseller status. It's from the year or two or three or four after your book is in the world and people are reading it, reviewing it and preferring it and you to others. And your name recognition grows rapidly and so does your income and impact. Now I'm not saying don't go for being a bestseller and don't celebrate it when it happens. I I'm just saying you are so much more than your book sales and a launch is a single day. Let's worry about long term success. Mistake number three the third mistake is to not focus on email list building. Too often authors come to me with a book that is out and they've not done anything to start building an email list or market their book. But here's the reality. The money is in the list. The opportunities come from your list. This is kind of my back to basics theme for this year. But your focus as a self publishing author is probably on freedom and control and owning your stuff. So before you worry about getting 100,000 followers on IG, let's get you a 1000 person email subscriber list because you own that list and they're going to open your emails and be excited to hear from you. I know you think you're only going to write one book, so why do I need a list? Well, do you want that book to be selling for the next five years? Do you potentially want to speak at conferences and be able to help them sell seats and at an event if they bring you in as a speaker? Are you wanting reviews? Do you want to partner with other authors to get them to promote your book and vice versa? All those things are so much more likely to happen if you have a list. We have a ton of content on this channel on building an email list and I'll put one of the more recent videos at the end. But really this is one of the most important things you can do to create long term success as an author. If you also want to sell your book direct, this is important. Check out selfpromoteandsucceed.com to to see our direct sales setup and I can run ads to this and track conversion. I collect emails when anybody buys my book. Then I can also send them an email to review my book or I can also offer them membership in my school community, the paid one or the free one, and on and on and on. I have an audience as a result of this. All right, mistake number four is to not network. AI has made the need and desire for human connection even more important. It in my mind, I've been saying this all year that I love AI and where the real opportunity is emerging with AI is to be more human. Plan at least a few conferences and events and book fairs or other things in your schedule to make connections. Every single Book Launchers author that joined me at Author Nation last year learned a lot, made some new author friends, sold some books and just had a blast connecting with readers and fellow authors. Factor FaceTime networking into your plans for book marketing in the next 12 months. I get it. Many authors are introverts, including me. But plan for some alone time and still. Get out there and find some new friends, promotional partners and meet readers. And when you get to meet readers, you see the impact of the work you're doing. Believe me, it's a blast. So get out there, pick a couple of events that you're interested in and go meet people. If you're a speaker, go to National speaker association events. By the way, we're going to be their partner sponsor for the year, so you'll see us at their events. If you're a podcaster, check out PodFest or Podcast Movement. If you own a business, consider EO, YPO Speakeasy. Of course, there's also local writers groups, book clubs, and so much more. Get active locally and attend a couple of national events. It's a game changer, I promise. This one made the mistake list two years in a row because not making a point to get in person is a mistake I see so often because authors just want to write a book, hide behind their computer screen and hope people people find you. That doesn't work. And with AI, people want to know you. All right, Mistake four Hiring the wrong people for your book. Just take a minute to go through Book Launchers TV Content from the last six months I've been on a bit of a kick sharing that you must avoid companies that are trying to scam you or are deceiving you, and one in particular. Amz Amazon Publishing KDP Publishing maybe it's not KDP Publishing, I can't remember. There's different versions of them. They sound like Amazon, but they are not Amazon. Amazon does not offer editing or book design services and we've worked with three different authors and I've talked to several others who've hired these companies and then we have to redo a lot of their bad work and well, there's plenty of other things to watch out for too. Go through my videos and see and then I'll post a link to the Ally Watchdog list as well. Because we have to watch out for each other as authors and companies like that are not helping any of us. The other one I shared recently was a company that says they're kind of global publishers and they charge you $1,000 to upload your book to Ingram, but they never actually say that's what they're doing now. It's not a complete scam, but I was contacted by an author that was miserable over the experience and the decision and they didn't even know what I knew and what I shared in that video. So watch out for companies like that. Getting help is smart, but if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Do some research before you hire anybody to work on your book. Number five Underestimating the time required to do this. Well, I just spoke with a lovely man today. He's drafted a really solid book and he has a great hook and a clear audience. When I asked him timeline, he's like, well, I think I should be able to publish next month. But he hasn't had any editing done. So I started walking him through the content edits, the copy edits, if he wanted a fact check, the design elements and the marketing pieces. And I explained why it was more likely going to be something he's launching in six months. And he was stunned. He did recover and smile that, hey, listen, I just don't know what I don't know. But he really did think that writing the book was the long part, and now he was going to be published within a month. Way too many authors come to us after struggling for years to write a book and they've had a friend read it and they think they're good to go. But you can publish a book after your friends read it and told you it's good, but should you not? Usually not if you're growing a brand and a business around this book, or if you want to have a book that people are reading in five years from now, or a book that you're just not embarrassed over. So you need to invest time, energy and money into making it great and then positioning it for success. If you watched my video on the report for business book ROI in 2025, the data showed how vital this step is for success, and the authors who do it make much more money on their book. All Right. Mistake. No, not that. Mistake six. That's right. Putting your book on Amazon and then wondering why it's not selling. I won't call this person out by name, but I have a video I'm publishing on Apple Books and they were questioning my comment on the fact that Apple doesn't sell your book for you. You have to still help it be found there. And they were going, well, if there's people on Apple buying books, they'll find it. It's like at a bookstore. Well, having it available for distribution does mean it can be found versus a book that's not available for distribution. But that's not strategy. You need to have a marketing strategy and be executing on that strategy day in and day out. It's work. And it's work that I recommend. You start before your book is even written, or at the very least while you're in editing, so you can make sure it's positioned properly, but it's just not a build it and the readers will come kind of world. You build it, you make sure it looks good, it's set up right, and. And then you tell them you built it. Then you tell them you built it again. Then you ask them to review your build, then you go back to the beginning and tell them you built it. It's basic, it's simple and it's boring, and it works. A secondary part of this is only putting your book on Amazon can be a mistake, too. I don't think it's a good idea to be exclusive with Amazon, maybe with your ebook, if you want to access their programs that are only available when you're in Kindle Unlimited. But I'm an advocate for going wide with your book, print, digital and audiobook, so you can reach readers wherever they're hanging out. I also don't like giving Amazon all the power and control, because another thing we've talked about a lot in 2025 is all of the Amazon account suspensions and terminations. So if you are publishing your book on all the platforms, you're less susceptible to losing all your readers and all your money and business if you're distributing wide past just Amazon. And the seventh mistake is not hiring my team. Okay, that might be a mistake for you, or it might not be. We aren't for everyone, which is why we've created some community groups on Skool, and I'll link to those below. But we really are for those authors that don't want to do it themselves. They want the entire process under one roof to maximize the chance of success. So there's strategic and marketing alignment throughout. And they're doing this with a bigger picture goal, like speaking or thought leadership, business growth, brand recognition. We love working with professionals that are going to use the book to get on more stages, sell courses, sell workshops, and build their brand. But truly, the seventh mistake I want you to avoid in 2025 is beating yourself up. If you feel like it's overwhelming, hard, or you put a book out and it's not doing as well as you hoped. Being an Author Becoming an author is building a business. And anyone who has ever started a business will tell you mistakes are the greatest gift because that's when you learn. They'll also tell you that it's challenging. You never know all the right moves to make. You have to take some risks. You have to measure what you're doing and figure out what you should do more of and what you should stop doing. And you have to persevere in the face of uncertainty, rejection and failure, or at least not the success you were hoping for. And sometimes you'll do things and nobody will show up like a bookstore event. Oh my gosh, the number of bookstore events I did where nobody wanted to talk to me about my book. They wanted to know where the cookbooks were, where the bathrooms were, where the Starbucks was, and sometimes they even said, hey, are you famous? Or something. They didn't care what I was there to talk about. Well, that's kind of humbling. Ultimately, I always go back to it's a privilege to have an audience. And for that I truly thank you. I keep creating content on book Launchers TV because of you. And I hope you found this video and others to be helpful because I want to help you on this journey. So go easy on yourself. It's hard, it's full of obstacles, bumps and detours, but it's also one of the more powerful things you can do as a human. Write a book to impact and help other people. You're downloading your story and your expertise into a low cost item that other people can benefit from for years and years to come. Doing something that important would never be easy, but you're doing it. And you need to be okay with the fact that you might not do it perfect or it might not be smooth. But I'm here to help. So be sure to tell me what you're working on in the comments below and join our school communities and join and connect with the other fabulous humans around our community so we can all support each other on this journey in 2025. I wish you much success, impact and income, and I hope you have a lot of fun along the way. There are probably 100 videos on this channel I could send you to from this one, so I'm going to rely on YouTube. This is YouTube's recommendation for you to watch and this is the one on email list building to help you go back to basics this year. Because basics work and it's not a mistake to stick to basics. Click on over. I'll see you there.