As a self-published author, gaining ground in the literary field can be taxing. An author website is vital, but having it up and running isn’t the only matter to consider.
The literary world has come full circle.
Gone are the days when authors were highly dependent on publishing and marketing agents to assist them in every step toward creating and publishing their works. They’ve become self-published to enjoy their freedom and balance their decisions fully.
Working away from contractors binding them around similar marketing strategies, these authors have taken hold of their careers themselves.
Why Go Solo?
Annually, 300 million books from self-published authors get sold, a 264% increase within the last five years. This amounts to an estimated $1.25 billion, with each book sold at different prices depending on demand and genre but, on average, sells for $4.16. To further break these figures down, here’s how self-published authors typically earn their royalties and income:
- On average, 250 copies of self-published books get sold annually, with each author making $1,000 from their publications.
- Only 33% of self-published authors earn less than $500 annually, with 90% of their books selling less than 100 copies.
- For first-time authors, 1,600 have reported to earn at least $25,000 a year.
Obviously, promoting and selling books as a self-published author takes work. But from these figures, one can deduce the greatness of the trade-off.
If they run their careers through a third-party agency, these figures need to be portioned among the agency and the bookstores or platforms they’re working with. For self-published authors who don’t have their websites and utilize Amazon and other websites to sell their books, such platforms take at least 30% of the revenue for their services. But those who invested in their websites keep up to 96% of their revenue minus the costs for production.
Author Autonomy
Aside from these numbers, one of the perks I have observed as a self-published author is having complete control and responsibility to make the choices I believe are suitable for my brand and career. It’s choosing whether I need to invest in creating my website or solely trusting book-centered platforms for my promotions. From these decisions, I get to manage my finances, understanding where most of my revenue comes from and what takes it away.
But as they say, things always have limitations, and the autonomy I get as a self-published author isn’t an exemption. In exchange for independence, I struggled to build my loyal following.
Without an agent working on connections with local and international bookstores, finding a single soul interested in reading my stories was tough. And as an ambitious and budding author, this was the closest situation to a failure I could fathom and bear.
Fortunately, the world has been brought closer by technology. The internet period does pose a lot of benefits, especially to authors. Everything is found online, even readers.
The Emergence of Author Website
Upon searching for means to establish a following, I bumped into ReadersMagnet, and the information I gathered from its blog was nothing but useful. They’ve taught me to treat my career like a business. Beyond having the passion to pursue what I want, I must also be resourceful in finding the right audience for my product.
In today’s generation of consumers who’ve been raised with the help of technology and the internet, authors can’t solely expect physical bookstores to do all the work. They must roll their sleeves up and dabble in personally promoting themselves. This doesn’t necessarily have to mean making appearances in the media and broadcasts. Instead, this can be done through publishing an author website. Whether you’re writing children’s books, religious material, or science fiction, the internet world is the first place to look for prospective readers.
Indeed, by its name, the company has helped authors become a readers magnet. Now more than ever, finding readers has become a breeze because of these tips I’ll share.
Why Is It Beneficial to Authors?
Readers want a connection beyond consumeristic. They won’t settle for a simple purchase-and-go system. Instead, they want to build a relationship with their favorite authors. Aside from being a vendor’s stand for one’s book, an author website can serve as an avenue for every author to connect and showcase the depth of their creativity and ideas to the target audience. Look at it as a portal that draws authors and readers closer.
There’s a combination of factors as to why I think my author website was a massive contributor to the growth of my followers. As someone who wasn’t tech-savvy, it was tricky to understand how a single website could help achieve these benefits. But upon months of employing this, I’ve enjoyed the following advantages:
- Independent control over my brand, revenue, and creative freedom
- Increased engagement with my readers within my author website, likewise an increase in social media interactions
- Organized events to further grow and foster the relationship I have with my readers
Over a single domain, I felt I’d improved my career tenfold. My author website became a community of people who I was sure were interested in the themes I wrote about and were curious about my ideas and progress. The website became my most significant asset, and I wasn’t the only one who could see the potential. Obviously, with thousands of other author websites on the internet, the competition was cutthroat. Creating and beautifying the pages and actively interacting with my readers weren’t enough to beat the competition.
I realized the need to optimize my author website.
What Is Website Optimization and How Does It Help?
The term SEO for self-publishing authors can be intimidating.
After all, it’s not in our forte and sounds too technical to make anyone interested. But again, if you want an increased audience and website visits, this process is essential.
My first encounter with SEO wasn’t the most wonderful experience. It was foreign and confusing to dive into alone. But with the help of ReadersMagnet, the field was simplified into a straightforward matter: the efficiency and visibility of my author website. With hundreds of authors using the internet as leverage, how can I ensure readers arrive at my page?
I had to properly and effectively lead them to it.
How do I do it? I had to ensure that my content, articles, graphics, or videos had the appropriate keywords these consumers sought. It ensures that every element of my author website would be attractive to the visitors, and every page informative according to their needs. Again, I wasn’t tech-savvy enough to understand and work on these complicated aspects of the website, but fortunately, numerous software helped me through the process.
Check out some of the best website optimization options:
These and more websites helped me with the following processes for my author website:
- Improved Search Engine Optimization
- Social Media engagements and activities
- Blogging and content creation
- Improved page speed and
- Optimizing my website for different device layouts
It sounds overwhelming, a process with many steps to remember and consider, but as soon as one takes the risk to start, the rest is simply smooth sailing.
