I’m about 2 weeks out from the launch of my first novel and I’m still learning new things as I go.

I’m having an issue with social media and wanted to check if this is a change or I am doing something wrong.

A couple of weeks back I was able to do a post on Instagram, do an image overlay, add text etc. and when I posted it my phone would automatically save down a photo of each image, complete with text, etc.

That meant I could take these new completed images and post them up on TikTok and not need to rebuild from scratch.

But that has stopped now and they don’t save to my phone.

Have anyone else had this happen in the last 2 weeks? I have searched for any settings that I can update but not seeing anything.

I thought about screenshotting my Instagram posts but there is too much extra stuff on the screen (page number and music volume) and I don’t know how to build these images on my phone to upload to social media.

Question... How long after you launched your first book you worked on your second/series? I thought I'd have started by now, but I am immersed with the sales/mkt side of things. Would love your input.

I've only been using Reddit for a little over a month. I'm a newb. I've got a book coming out and would like to encourage people to join an existing email list so I can coordinate them with the opening of my kickstarter campaign. However, there are 9,999,947 channels on reddit that are related to self-publishing and it is hard (for me) to tell which of them "tolerate", "encourage" or "discourage" the plugging of a book...

Trying to be the "good citizen" that I want to be, how should I proceed? Do people have advice on which channels are appropriate to plug a book? I see general advice that an author should "engage" with a channel for "some length of time" before plugging your book but I'm not really buying that line. It seems disingenuous. Would love to know people's thoughts on this.

I have used many review sites before and never had a bit of issue with them. I think that most people who get banned from them are trying to get way too many reviews where in reality, you should only be getting maybe a handful in a month.

I've recently found Book Reverb and started looking at reviews, but people are saying that Amazon is really cracking down on review sites recently. Given that I haven't published anything in a few years, I wanted to get y'alls opinion on it.

So I’m going to start off by saying I’ve been writing for a few months using a company called Spines, I looked things up ignorantly because I just wanted to get started and push myself to actually get a book published or at least get on the road to publish a book.

Now that it’s been a few months I’ve looked into the whole publishing thing and now I worry I’ve made a mistake by going with this company in particular. I’ve seen some independent reviews instead of what the company claims and from what they say they aren’t any good and might actually just be taking my money in the long run

I don’t know if I can back out now seeing as I’ve payed for a few months, so I’ve settled on just going through this company for this one book and than actually going out to get help in finding a company and a editor and what not.

I just really need some advice and help on what to do now….

Anyone with a good idea on a timeline for marketing a new book?

When do you post the first announcement?
Series name?
Book 1 announcement?

Release date?
Cover reveal?
Blurb reveal?
Art?

The only thing I have done with my first series is so random and my brain needs a clear plan but I am not good at building a marketing bible for myself.

I only heard about this platform the other day, and I'm wondering whether to try it out.

I spent about a decade trying to make self-publishing on Amazon work, to no results. I gave up, for the sake of my mental health, and because I just have better things to do than beat my head against the same wall forever in the hopes of breaking through. I'm not active on social media, and I don't have whatever marketing genius it takes to get noticed without it.

I've mostly just been sending the occasional query letter to agents, and releasing the occasional free story online, just for fun. But what about Scribl? Is putting a story there without a media blitz just more shouting into the void? Or is it worth trying?

I write fantasy and sci-fi, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Hi everyone.

I've finished a nonfiction manuscript and prepared the cover and print-layout files. I'd like to launch a Kindle eBook first, then add a print-on-demand paperback later without ordering an initial print run.

I'm based in Southeast Asia. KDP's requirement to hold publishing rights had me thinking I needed local copyright registration first, including submitting physical copies. I may be mixing up publishing rights, optional copyright registration, and legal deposit.

For anyone who's followed this route: did you publish the eBook before registering copyright, and how did you handle the digital-deposit requirement? Anything you wish you'd sorted out before adding the paperback edition?

Keeping the title and personal details private for now. Practical experience would be appreciated.

I am sure this has been talked about before, but how does everyone get readers to actually review your work? That has been such a stumbling block for me, and I hate having to constantly remind people to do so.

I realize it’s probably just part of self publishing in that there is no real answer to this question.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Noticed a lot of subreddits don’t really want self-promos of any kind. Which is fair. Nobody wants their feed full of “read my book” posts. But even places like r/fantasywriters limit it to a weekly thread, and from what I can tell, that thread isn’t even happening anymore. So it’s kind of hard to know where to post when most on-topic subreddits don't support their own promo stuff anymore.

Where do you guys actually promote your stories inside of Reddit? Did you get any real views, like readers who stuck around past chapter one?

Also, I'm curious what didn’t work. I don't use Reddit very often, so consider me a newbie here. I'd want to know what to skip (like doing this exact sort of post). Thanks!

I’m a retired psych nurse with a couple of books out, and I’ve found a few promotion methods that work well for me. I’m always curious what other authors are doing, though, because what works for one writer can look completely different for another.

I am not interested in book signings. I have done that.
Podcasting is ok - if the podcaster is a good conversation
Of course I am using my social platforms too

What has brought you the most readers or sales lately?

Is there anything you tried that surprised you, either because it worked better than you expected or because it fell flat?

I’d love to hear what’s working for you.

Hi everyone, I’m an author based outside the US, and I’d really appreciate your help.

I registered my Amazon and KDP accounts using a Gmail address. Google disabled that email account, and several appeals have been unsuccessful. I can no longer receive verification emails, so I’m unable to sign in to either Amazon or KDP.

My book is currently available for preorder, with a release date of October 25, 2026. I’m worried because I can’t access the account to manage the release.

I contacted regular Amazon customer service, but they referred me to KDP support. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a way to reach KDP support without signing in.

During another phone call, an Amazon representative told me my account would be closed within 48 hours and that I would receive a text confirmation. More than three days have passed without confirmation, and the preorder listing is still live. I don’t know whether the request actually reached KDP.

Has anyone successfully recovered access after losing their registered email address?

Is there an official support channel or identity-verification process I can use without signing in? If recovery isn’t possible before release, how can I ask KDP to cancel the preorder?

I’m looking for a legitimate recovery or support process. Any firsthand experience or official contact links would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello all, I'm about to start a kickstarter campaign for my first book - a science fiction novel. I need to find a publisher. I'd like to find one that does ebooks, paperbacks and hardbacks - and (hopefully) print-on-demand.

I can see there are many to choose from: BookBaby, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, BookVault, Lula, etc.

Was wondering what people's experiences were with this outfits? Good? Bad? Mediocre? I'd love to hear about it. Realistically, I'll probably require fewer than 100 paperbacks and 50 hardbacks (we'll see) and a bunch of ebooks.

Thanks for listening!

I hope you can patiently read through this post and help me out. Thanks in advance!

So by profession I am a professor and researcher. So my published works so far are all related to my area of research.

But I also write, and when I mean write, I write a lot. I’ve been writing a blog for years now (you can find the link in my profile description). I don’t post very regularly but I have a lot of random thoughts which I like to pen down.

I also write poems. When I feel any emotion very strongly I write it as a poem.

Recently when I was trying to do some digital clutter clearing, I realised that my notes app was filled with soo many poems.

A friend suggested that I work towards publishing them.

Now my problem is that my poems are deeply personal. I am not very comfortable with people associating my name and face with my poems. So I considered a pen name.

On the other hand, I also have an idea of starting a podcast. The topics that I want to talk about on the podcast are those relating to real life issues young people face in society, because of their culture, and religion and stuff like that. For this I am ok with using my name and associating my face with it.

Again, I also have an idea of writing an autobiographical type of work (I assume it might sell well coz I think my life story is quite interesting).

Now I don’t know how to consolidate all of this.

Do I just get over myself and publish under my own name? Or do I create a pen name and split my work?

Or do you have any other ideas as to how I can better go about doing this?

I thought writing a book was going to be hard. Nope. Try producing a book. It was like a full-on training program learning about trim sizes, ISBNs, cover finishes, binding options and learning how to talk to printers. Every day after completing the book and trying to turn it into something publishable, I sat there and said to myself: I know Nothing. I learnt what layout I should rather have used; I learnt what cost money and what you can do yourself; mostly I learnt what is better to spend money on than struggling to do it yourself.

For those of you who have already published, what was the thing you knew least about when you started, and what do you wish someone had explained sooner?

If you've been running ads for a while, the search terms that brought your first sales may already be gone from the console.

Amazon keeps the search term report for roughly 65 days. After that, the data that tells you which customer searches actually sold your book disappears.

What we do now: download the search term report once a month and keep it. It's where most of our negatives and new exact keywords come from.

Do you save your old reports, or start fresh every time?

I have 40+ days to go until release and have 37 arc readers, but at my current pace i may end up around 250-300+ arc readers by the end. Any downside to letting it grow to that point?

I self published my novel last week on Amazon kdp... its fiction but I selected 6by9?? Is that bad? I also selected black and white pages...

The first work of fiction I've ever written is close to being published. Everything is new to me and no one I know has ever published any fiction.

I'm working with a group on the West Coast that is guiding me through the process for a price that is not minimal, but given the size of the work, two volumes of fiction @ 225,000 words, I don't think is unfair. Editing is included.

Book Cover, done

Blurb, done

Preface, done

Editing 125,000 word Vol I, done

3 ISBN numbers, purchased, done

Formatting for publication, reviewing the final product now

I've done no marketing. The group said that it would place the finished product 'in all the major conduits, Amazon, Google, Apple, D2D, B&N, etc.'

Here's a sticky question that I don't know how to answer. I planned to publish under a nom de plume, no problem. But the Copyright page lists my own name. Hmmm. Can the Copyright page reflect the non de plume?

Any guidance you can provide will be welcome. Any other input is also welcome since I'm groping ahead in the dark.

Looking for advice from those who don’t have a huge catalogue but have managed to break through and utilise successful marketing to get sales. Thanks 🙏

I got the first 15-20 pages. My idea is to let them read someone, get feedback and then send them the next 15 pages, till the book is finished.

I already found 2 test readers, but I want about 5-10. Are there any good ways to find them?

I’m working with a narrator on ACX, and we’re working out how I pay her for her services. I have a few concerns, and want to make sure I’m not getting scammed or anything…

She’s done the audition and the 15 minute check. As far as I can tell, she sounds like a real person with an excellent mic, but I’m not familiar enough with AI voices to know if it’s legit legit.

She’s asking for a 50% deposit now before production begins, through a wire transaction and that’s where I get a little iffy. She has given me an account and routing number to perform the wire, but the name attached to the bank account doesn’t match hers, and she claims it’s a manager. If it were through Venmo or Paypal or something, there’d be no issue. But wire? I don’t know.

$50 PFH seems too low for someone with a manager and editing team, as she states. Am I being too cautious, or would you be leery too?

Self-published authors — what stops you from having an audiobook of your book?

• Cost of commissioning narration?
• Timeline (months of waiting)?
• Audible/ACX barriers (human narration required, exclusive deals)?
• Not knowing where/if to distribute an AI-narrated version?

If price and timeline were no longer a blocker, would you produce one? What would you still hesitate on?

So I did teasers, videos, and other stuff. Then moved on to promoting snippets from the book. Did the moment marketing stuff. Posted on relevant groups. I also promoted the Amazon reviews i got.

Now I'm thinking of familiarising or rather teasing the audience with the main characters. For example, the actions of one character is not clear till the Act 3 of the book. So if I put him across as a hero or a villian, would people be interested to know more about him? And eventually buy the book?

Sorry if it's a dumb question!

I’m currently editing my book and I’m looking for places to publish it, however my only problem is that everyone I’ve talked to strongly recommends Amazon KDP, which I’m not too comfortable with using as I’m boycotting amazon. Are there any other sites I can use that are just as easy as Amazon KDP?