How to Become a SUCCESSFUL Self-Published Author

I talked to Ryan Cahill, the author of The Bound and the Broken series, about how he found success in self-publishing!
Check out Ryan Cahill's blog post on "Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Self-Publishing: www.selfpublishedfantasymonth...
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0:00 Intro
1:01 Rapid Questions
1:04 What is one thing that you wish you knew about self-publishing before publishing your book?
2:07 What is more important? An editor or a beautiful cover?
3:40 Writing process
3:45 How many words should I write in a day? Should I write every day?
5:53 How many books should you publish a year?
7:43 How important is it to find a good writing process 1-5?
8:43 Covers
8:46 How important is a beautiful cover?
10:55 How much should you spend on a cover?
13:31 How important is a good cover from 1-5?
13:46 Pricing
14:00 How did you price your book initially?
14:11 Why do you think it was important to start with 0.99?
22:59 How important is it to set the right price 1-5?
23:14 Marketing
23:27 How were you able to get so many reviews early on?
29:10 How many arcs should you give out?
34:11 How did you approach reviewers?
40:26 In what other ways do you promote your book?
46:31 How important is marketing 1-5?
47:26 Amazon Exclusive/Wide
47:34 What is the difference between Amazon Exclusive and Wide?
48:12 Which one would you recommend?
50:54 How important is choosing the right distribution 1-5?
51:23 Launch
51:26 How much time should there be between finishing a book and launch?
59:29 Any tips on how to successfully launch your book?
1:05:47 Concluding thoughts?
1:05:50 What advice would you give to someone considering indie publishing?
1:07:14 Conclusion
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[@RyanCahillAuthor]

Thanks for having me on! It was genuinely so nice to get to chat to you and talk about self-publishing from this perspective!

[@libraryofaviking]

Thanks again for being willing to come and do the interview! It was so insightful and interesting!

[@SJ-GodofGnomes21]

It was very interesting

[@simon-shugar-fantasy-author]

Great interview, thanks for doing this Ryan. I published my first fantasy book this May, working on the second. I absolutely love your covers, would you share the name of your cover illustrator?

[@bodine219]

Thank you for doing this interview! I'm debuting soon and you have a lot of thoughts opposed to the generally circulating advice. This was very informative!!

[@mrmastr]

Great interview - at the start you said if you look at XXX reports :/ The closed captions couldn't pick up what report it was when you were talking can you calrify please :)

[@gabrielahouston9295]

It’s honestly so refreshing to watch a self-publishing video that is not “how to make your first £1k by selling blank books”. Great content, thanks!

[@StarvinitySaga]

100% agree.

[@AndrejNina-pp5qr]

Incredibly! I've been writing my first book for two and a half years, changing it seven times and changing it from the ground up, never satisfied with the result. It took a lot of positive comments from various test readers, teachers of my native language and family in order for me to finally put a stop and allow myself to send the result to the proofreader for review. However, since none of them have ever done anything like publishing a book in a foreign language, the fear and uncertainty of publishing is huge. Despite all that, this podcast was kind of great. Not only instructive and helpful, but also very motivating and encouraging. Huge thanks to both!

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

Fantastic interview! I'm not done watching yet, but I'm pausing to comment on what a pleasure it is to hear Ryan Cahill's responses to your questions. It sounds to me like he's done a lot of things right as a self-published author.

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you Philip! Indie authors definitely can learn a lot from Ryan Cahill's approach!

[@J.R.Carrel]

Loving this discussion. As an indie author I try to write every single day and because I work 10 hours a day in my day job, I aim for 1000 words a day. I will technically published three books in my first year.

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you! 1000 words a day is impressive! Well done!

[@stefanielozinski]

Romance is so, so dominant, which is part of why I’m doing a romantic suspense pen name on top of my much-slower-to-write fantasy, haha. It’s hard to keep up in the indie speed game writing longer books (and mine are fairly short for fantasy, my biggest is like 118k or something). I also enjoy the clean / Christian romantic suspense stuff, they’re fun for my brain as a reader, and hopefully I’ll be able to do the genre justice as an author. :)

[@bannannamilkshakez2907]

That’s one of the genres I write Christian romance and horror too lol

[@ToriTalks2]

This interview was SO good, Ryan and Johan. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I'm feeling very inspired and just soaking in all the information.

[@astevenswrites]

Omg, the insight about putting heartfelt sections about reviews at the end of the book... GOLD! Appreciate this very insightful information from Ryan, and thanks for working providing the platform and the questions, Library of Viking!

[@bodine219]

Thank you for doing this interview! I'm debuting soon and you discussed a lot of thoughts opposed to the generally circulating advice. This was very informative!!

[@GordonMcLachlan]

Great interview! I love Ryan's honest and open answers. So refreshing.

[@jazzya.4283]

I love when the algorithm brings me to these interviews! Thank you!!

[@alexvaldiers9788]

Fantastic interview! Thank you

[@asherscott3151]

Excellent interview! It's great to hear from a moderate success, and you chose important questions.

[@bradywedshot4936]

I know I’m a little late to the party, but this interview was very valuable. Thanks to both of you!

[@SpencerRussellSmithAuthor]

This was such a great interview! Thank you both so much for this!

[@Yaya-iu3uy]

Such a wonderful interview! I have a page full of notes and plan to use them as I publish my first book of a series I'm working on. Thank you!

[@andreabknight]

Thanks for this- gives a lot of valuable information here for indie authors. I have Ryan's books and look forward to reading them.

[@totallysick88able]

Ryan seems like a very down to earth, humble dude. I feel good about buying books from authors like this.

[@gj1234567899999]

Thank you so much for this!!! In an aspiring writer too!

[@thebrothersgwynne]

I have read and thoroughly enjoyed Of Blood and Fire and The Fall. Ryan Cahill has shown he is a great author! I'm looking forward to reading Of Darkness and Light, and also watching the rest of this later :). Will

[@libraryofaviking]

The series just gets better and better! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on ODAL!

[@awakeningalchemy5744]

This is absolutely brilliant and so refreshing. I'm going to listen to it all over again. I've just finished my first novel, and it's taken me two and a half years. I watched a few KZbin videos about how to get a literary agent, and what they like and what they don't like and my heart sank a little bit more with each one. But this was so different, informative, helpful, kind and truthful, and I feel in my gut that the Indie way is the way to go for me.

[@natashaquaresma8428]

Fantastically informative and open. Thank you!

[@v.cackerman8749]

I'm going to be publishing books someday, so this video was extremely helpful! Thank you Libraryofaviking and Ryan for this video!

[@libraryofaviking]

Glad it was helpful!

[@esmayrosalyne]

What an amazing interview, I love how you structured this! Ryan Cahill has quickly become one of my favourite authors, so it was a joy to hear him talk about his writing career so far! Also, I love spending time in his Discord, it's so great to be able to interact with an author that way. Thanks for sharing this interview, you did an incredible job!! :)

[@libraryofaviking]

Aww thank you so much Esmay! I tried to keep it very structured so we could cover a lot of ground! Thanks again!

[@dpeady78]

This is a fantastic video that I come back and refer to a lot as I plot my path. Ryan’s advice seems sound and logical

[@writersbloc-reubenjeckhart3180]

Just watching this video. Great stuff. Great questions and structure, with great answers from Ryan.

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you Reuben! I really appreciate that!

[@Cam_Wolfe]

came back to this video for some help with my new release, and got some really great insight. Thanks to both you and Ryan, mate!

[@libraryofaviking]

That makes me glad! Best of luck!

[@joshs6536]

This was a great interview. Thank you guys so much for going o er all this stuff.

[@libraryofaviking]

I am really glad it was helpful!

[@Anonymous-ot2kk]

Thanks for this 🙏

[@michelleashleigh]

What a fantastic interview! You both had so many great points, and the information was amazing. As I'm about to hit publish on my debut fantasy series, it was well timed, too 🙏 thank you both!!!

[@libraryofaviking]

So glad you found it helpful! Good luck with your book!

[@pixireads]

Thank you so much for sharing this interview. I'm learning a lot about some of the thought process behind self-publishing.

[@libraryofaviking]

I am really glad it was helpful!

[@niknic3409]

I checked a lot of podcasts and interviews about self publishing and this one I feel gives the most insight and a true feeling for how its like and what to focus on. Thank you, this was great.

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you! That makes me glad!

[@RichardNellAuthor]

Excellent advice here for published and unpublished authors alike, gents. Thanks very much for the great interview.

[@libraryofaviking]

Glad you enjoyed it Richard! I am sure you also have a lot of insight into indie publishing!

[@RichardNellAuthor]

@@libraryofaviking Less than I should, no doubt! It's always very interesting to hear what other writers are doing/have done. Usually it's 'shit why didn't I think of that'...but sometimes it is a comforting 'OK I probably did that right'.

[@dylancanread]

I loved this really insightful interview! Tons of gold nuggets for anyone looking to self publish!

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you Dylan! Glad you found it helpful!

[@damagedpages676]

Great interview, I'm still watching it but you've done a great job 👌 Also the quality of the new audio is so CRISP 👌👌

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you Yuli! I am really happy with the new microphone!

[@timhardie502]

Great interview. Really insightful and lots of useful advice for any budding and indeed established indie authors out there.

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you Tim! I am glad you enjoyed it!

[@derekb.4292]

This was really insightful, thanks for doing this!

[@libraryofaviking]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@DavidDecero]

Wow. There is so much good information here on self publishing. The tip about telling readers how important reviews are at the end of your book is so good. Not something I would have even thought about. Glad I watched this.

[@libraryofaviking]

I am really glad you found it insightful and helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@specialtwice4975]

My fav author is Quinn loftis.

[@Johanna_reads]

This was an illuminating interview! I'm not an aspiring author, but I'm always fascinated learning about the writing and publishing process. Sleep is important for mental hygiene and for productivity in any field. Thank you both!

[@libraryofaviking]

That makes me glad to hear! Absolutely! Sleep and mental hygiene are vital! Thank you for watching Johanna!

[@libertybro2294]

Solid interview! A lot of good information has been noted.

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you! Glad it was helpful!

[@PaperTigerProductions]

Top notch interview! I loved how you structured this and it's so invaluable to get advice from someone who has broken in recently. Self-pub changes so fast that what worked for people like Will Wight who started way back when doesn't really work now. (Not to mention that Will Wight is pretty upfront that he genuinely has no clue what caused the Amazon algorithm to pick up House of Blades.) I will be back to re-watch this interview multiple times, because Ryan Cahill just dropped a ton of wisdom.

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you so much Deborah! I didn't know that about House of Blades! That is so interesting. Thanks again!

[@gothbricks2000]

Immensely helpful interview as I navigate this space. Thank you both for the specific, pragmatic questions and answers.

[@libraryofaviking]

That makes me glad to hear! Thank you for watching!

[@Ed_Crocker]

Brilliant interview, and absolute legend Ryan Cahill is for answering those questions so insightfully. Already knew he was a top bloke (and great writer) but this confirms it. Also confirmed that my skillset would be pretty rubbish at indie, so I'll guess I'll have to keep trying to slog through the horrendous gauntlets of trad pub!

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you E L Crocker! Ryan Cahill is definitely a legend haha! Indie publishing is definitely not for everyone. Good luck with your pursuit of finding a publisher!

[@FrankKoine]

Wonderful interview, great information and absolutely worth the time to watch. I am a week and a half from KDP release of my first book. I have picked a lot of great ideas. Best of them all, put readers before profits. 🎉

[@craigbookwyrm]

Great interview and insight from one of my favourite authors 👍

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you Graig!

[@gregoryamato8693]

Really interesting interview. I like how Cahill was so specific about his process. It helps with the transparency of what it takes to succeed as an independent author these days. One thing I would like to see as a followup is an interview with an indie author who has a less frenetic publishing pace, maybe taking more time for editing rounds and polish. J. Zachary Pike is a good one!

[@libraryofaviking]

I am really glad it was helpful! Thank you for the recommendation!

[@safinan8008]

Wow 😮 great video with author!!! Congratulations on ur 5k subscribers on your KZbin!! Happy reading to you!! 🎬🎉🎥🎉

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you so much Safina!

[@jeremyfee]

Wonderful discussion. Thank you for this.

[@libraryofaviking]

I am glad you enjoyed it!

[@chrismohan]

Fascinating. I was surprised when some authors had mentioned how KU was intrinsic to their income and that if I was looking to support an author, reading there was a great start - followed by the review of course!

[@libraryofaviking]

Glad you found it fascinating! I was also surprised by that!

[@charlesgabriel5569]

First ! Love Cahill's Books ..Going to read The Exile soon. Interesting video

[@libraryofaviking]

The Exile is fantastic! Happy reading!

[@SJ-GodofGnomes21]

Great interview and as an Indie author myself found it very interesting. Have just been an purchased the Novella.

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you! I am glad you found it interesting!

[@user-xt2ed3uv3b]

Fantastic!

[@Verity4]

This is fantastic.

[@AbiofPellinor]

this was so educational!

[@libraryofaviking]

That makes me glad! Thanks for watching!

[@tomdumbrell9003]

Great video lads, I only listened in for mention of my name. Great to hear that Ryan is doing so well :)

[@libraryofaviking]

I hope it was worth the listen then 😉

[@wolfborn3973]

I clicked on the video thinking I'll watch it for 10-15 min. Here we are an hour later and I wish the video was longer, very interesting talk, thanks for sharing!

[@libraryofaviking]

I am glad you found it helpful!

[@stebbigunn7690]

wow. 2-4k words a day, that guy must have quite a fluid imagination, I struggle to get 1k words a day in the 3 free hours I have for myself.

[@amyrs03]

I just purchased all of Ryan’s books last week. I cannot wait to read them. This was a great interview.

[@libraryofaviking]

I hope you will enjoy them! Thank you Amy!

[@caravanlifenz]

Wonderful, insightful interview. Did Ryan say he lives in New Zealand at the end of the interview?

[@scottmarker-treasurevalley7244]

🎉🎉🎉🎉 coming from a two-time author your guest is spot-on many of his recommendations. One being the cover, there's a zillion people out there most trying to take your money saying how important your cover is to pick it up how many bookstores are there now? I've said it since my first book 2009 look at your top 1% of authors I think their covers were terrible. Once they become popular or famous because of what's between the covers not the covers. 😊

[@estherolawuyi4204]

Lol! Mine launch in 29 days and defs still making changes today.

[@SheriffJoe]

Where is the best place to go to review a book? Amazon? Goodreads? All of the above? Also, this interview sold two paperbacks right off the shelf. Thank you!

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you! I am actually not sure but I believe Amazon. It is definitely worth posting the review to both platforms!

[@RyanCahillAuthor]

@@libraryofaviking I would usually say Amazon as it's the direct sales platform and can help convince other readers, who are already browsing Amazon, to try out your favourite authors . But really, anywhere is great!

[@MrHellgate82]

If you like this kind of discussion I recommend checking the Wizards Warriors and Words podcasts (here on KZbin). Its podcasts hosted by 4 fantasy writers include Rob J Hayes and Michael R Fletcher, and it's awesome.

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you for the recommendation!

[@Whyismusic]

Thanks for this! So helpful. Still a little lost on the pricing. Does he have an article that goes over that? (: thanks for all you do!

[@libraryofaviking]

I am glad it was helpful! I've linked to an article that he wrote in the description! He goes into more detail in the article! I hope you find it helpful. Thank you for watching Amanda!

[@sorrowstriken9481]

John Cusack- as writer 😜😅

[@momo_genX]

I am going to put something at the end like this guy has to explain how important reviews are. Why can't readers take the short time out to at least give it a star review, if not a written one.

[@RootedandtheWingedBook]

44:00 SEM

[@jacobgamber5407]

"How long of a piece of string do you need..." See, I believe this man is a mathematician, because that sounds like the classic "It's a line segment, not a line."

[@krystlematar5291]

LOL RYAN one day I'll teach you to say my name, but maybe not because we'll be drinking next time we talk, too! This is a great chat :D

[@libraryofaviking]

Love this 😂 Thank you Krystle!

[@stevenswancoat1150]

Need to raise the audio on his end, its hard to hear and my audio is full blast

[@byrontim4531]

The audio volume is so low for the guest you can't hear anything he's saying unless you're sitting right in front of the computer of have an internal speaker attached to your computer.

[@zshn]

I like how Irish people say 'money'.

[@Financiallyfreeauthor]

Just watched a video of a debut indie author who priced her ebook at $9.99 out the gate and sold fantastically. I'm kind of burning with jealousy, in all honesty.

[@asherscott3151]

If your book looks like it's traditional, you can get away with it

[@JandenHale]

I once released a book for free, i got over 700 downloads and make #1 on Amazon. Didn't get a single read or review from it.

[@SOULMAN641]

16:49

[@danielroque891]

Bro love what you do , but you gotta work on the interview skills 😁

[@joshuaforeman2611]

Ryan = John Cusak

[@cerielvanarneman9399]

I wrote my first book and my book won an international award. I have no experience with self-publishing and I chose Author house publishing that was my first big mistake. That publisher doesn't sell my book; they only sell fake marketing to the author. I buy books fair and more that was a waste of time and money. To publish with author house you have to pay the scammers, there were authors who lost more than $100,000 and don't sell 1 book. Writing a book is a lot of work and not easy to make money with a book. The biggest mistake an author makes is publishing a book with scammers. I won't write a second book anymore I prefer to play guitar as a hobby. Lost money is not a problem, I can get money back, but wasting of time I'll never get it back. Finding a traditional publisher is important for an author, but that's difficult because you need to find a literary agent.

[@DamienLavizzo]

How to become a successful self--published author: get off KZbin and go finish your novel.

[@asherscott3151]

For covers that require two drawn figures such as monster romance or LGBT sf/f romance, you can't get a professional cover for less than 1000. I've seen ugly covers cost that much when the author chose a mediocre artist and tried to save a few hundred bucks

[@bronwynsa74]

What about the opinion of readers who just search for free books and download anything that's free and don't even read it. The just want freebies. That doesn't build you anything