Publishing a book - what I learnt

What I learnt from book publishing a year on from the release of How to Leave a Group Chat

Next Saturday 28th June marks one year since I realised the lifelong dream of publishing a book. How to Leave a Group Chat is a popular psychology book which steers you towards the ultimate goal of leaving the group chats on your smartphone that don’t serve you, helps you understand how and why you engage with this medium and how we got to the situation we are in and also prompt you to use your smartphone less. It was published by the Book Guild on the 28^th June 2024 (although Amazon made up its own publication date).

This was my lifelong dream realised, but publishing a book was only the beginning. As a Marketer I knew that promoting my book was going to be tough. Instead of walking into a company with a name and a base, I had to get people to care about How to Leave a Group Chat and even about me. But I didn’t know that the odds would be stacked against me or just how hard I’d have to push to open doors and keep them ajar.

Here are some of the things that I have learnt during a year after book publishing.

1. It’s best to have a publisher

I published How to Leave a Group Chat under a hybrid contract, which, considering the efforts and costs you have to go to to produce a book, was a good option. I have also since learnt that libraries (in the UK at least) largely do not accept any self-published books (which makes sense because there is no official quality control).

2. Publishers are not marketers

As part of my hybrid book publishing deal, I paid half of the total costs. I also opted in for 6 weeks of marketing from my publisher, assuming they’d have contacts and be able to do get some good PR opportunities during that time. For a considerable sum, the only promotional opportunity I received via my publisher was a radio interview. Solo, I have managed to achieve much more including features on and in BBC Radio, Australian News, podcasts, blogs, Newscorp news sites, Metro, Marie Claire, as well as appearances at literary festivals, libraries and bookshops. I’d recommend that unless your publisher or their marketing team can produce a detailed marketing plan upfront, it’s not worth marketing through them and instead spending the money on your own paid advertising or planning a campaign with a marketing agency.

See my talk on Book Marketing to learn more.

3. Start by targeting your county’s biggest bookshop chain

Some authors will disagree with me here, swearing by the independent books. And absolutely, nothing beats a small, independent bookshop. But for your published book to sell, it needs to be seen, and for that, it needs to be in the shop. If your friends, family and colleagues ask where they can buy your book, direct them to your biggest bookshop chain, which in my case is Waterstones. The big players need to see that there is demand for your book if their book buyers are prepared to purchase your book, and demand will be created for your book if customers know that it exists. I made the mistake of agreeing to people that they could buy my book from Amazon, instead of pushing them towards Waterstones which I think would have made much more of a difference to my sales, and potentially have led to bigger opportunities.

4. Ask libraries to stock your book

In my experience libraries have been some of the most helpful and accommodating institutions since publishing my book. Ensure that they realise that you are published through a publisher if you are, and that you are on the system which they use to purchase books – which in the UK is Askews and Holts. Most of the library groups (in the UK, most libraries come under the council where they are located, rather than being run individually) that I contacted replied saying that they would forward my details onto their book buyers for consideration, and as libraries might order multiple copies of your book, it is definitely worth spending the hours emailing them. As you are getting in touch, work out which libraries you wouldn’t mind travelling to and offer to do a book talk as well.

5. You don’t have to agree to everything

I have had a few co-promotional opportunities that have turned into something larger, where a small bit of PR has turned into me suddenly being included in someone else’s big project. Agreeing to one small interview or app feature is one thing, something larger like being included in a book can potentially generate a lot of profit for the other party, however much they might tell you that being involved in their publication can get you a lot of exposure so it’s great for you, yadda yadda.

If you are happy to be part of such a project of course that is up to you, but I’ll recommend that at this point you request a contract and fair compensation (have a look at the country in question’s author’s society to find out what is fair or talk to a legal expert) and decide where to go from there. Just because you are the new kid on the block doesn’t mean that you have to agree to everything that other people ask of you.

6. You will have to put yourself out there once you have published a book – if you want to sell any books

Times have changed in the world of book publishing. Whereas a smaller pool of authors had the support and security of being on a conveyer belt of published book direct to bookshops and libraries where they would capture the consumers, maybe with a few media reviews thrown in if they were lucky, now a much larger pool of authors, and celebrities (most of whom don’t write their own books), are overcrowding the space and AI-generated books are throwing up new challenges.

You’ll have to compete across many spheres and this means that you will have to get out there and promote your book personally, even though as authors this is exactly what we dread doing. Also be aware that even when you are lucky enough to be on the bill at an event, you are not at the top of the list. I’ve lost session time and sales at an event because the author before me was allowed to overrun, and as a result people were leaving for their next event before I had finished my talk.

7. Payment where payment is due

In my experience literary festivals pay fees, libraries do not (although I have heard of authors receiving fees for library appearances – if you have experienced this comment below). As the new author you are unlikely to be the star of the show at the literary festival, but don’t be afraid to ask for a fee and/or some help to cover the cost of transport. I always request that the organisers compensate me fairly – there’s no reason why they shouldn’t.

8. Journalism is uncertain

I’ve rushed home from the gym or blocked out time on my Saturday to take part in interviews with journalists for magazine and newspaper features only to find that in the end they never materialised or that they took months to get published. The nature of the journalism is such that journos are always chasing the next story, and if your story isn’t big enough, they might run with the next big thing that comes along. All you can do is persevere and hope for the best. Also be vigilant – I haven’t been given the head’s up very often as to when articles featuring me would be published and often haven’t been given a draft to proof ahead of publication either. Don’t be afraid to ask for those things and to chase.

9. It is very hard to get people to review your book

It’s not just me; I see this all the time on social media and message boards. Trying to incentivise people with competitions and getting people to read the book early can help, but even then, many authors are really pulling at teeth to get their published book reviewed. If you are one of the people who has read How to Leave a Group Chat, please, please leave me a review. If you have successfully managed to get readers to review your book, please comment below so that we can all find out how you did it.

What have you learnt since publishing a book? Comment below. If you want to know more about how I published How to Leave a Group Chat in the first place, I wrote a blog about that.

How to Leave a Group Chat is available from all good bookshops, if you really want to support me, please order it from Waterstones.