The Ten Commandments for Self-published Authors

And it came to pass in the time of Jeff Bezos that all the authors of the land shall write. And when they are finished writing, they shall publish. And they did. And it was good. But the authors became afraid and wandered in the deserts of the internet in search of readers and guidance. Fear not, brave authors. Knockin’ Books is here to part the seas of Goodreads and Facebook and lead you through the gates of self-publishing success.

1. Thou shalt not let negative reviews break your spirit or hurt your feelings. Learn from them if you can. Otherwise ignore them.
2. You shall not covet the success of other authors. Delight in the success of others, keep writing/improving, and you, too, will find your audience.
3. Thou shalt not obsess over thine Amazon sales ranking. That is the path to the Darkside.  
4. You WILL proofread carefully or hire a professional proofreader—or else face the wrath of the grammar Nazis on Goodreads and Amazon.
5. Do not worship the false idol of vanity publishing. “Pay-to-publish” is not the same as self-publishing.
6. Thou shalt not pay for Twitter followers or reviews. If they aren’t free, they’re not worth having.  
7. Thou shalt not be a douchebag. You will not respond to negative reader feedback or demand that a blogger review your book. You will not refer to your book in grandiose, self-important, or cliche terms such as “the next runaway bestseller”  or “an action-packed thrill ride” or “an epic emotional journey.”
8. Thou shalt not publish your book with a butt-ugly cover.
9. You shall not write only what is trending. Write what you would like to read. Like-minded others will follow you.
10. Thou shalt NEVER STOP WRITING!

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Did we miss any commandments? Do you need to confess if your sins to the self-publishing gods? It's not too late to repent. (We're pretty sure the first step to receiving forgiveness is to subscribe to the Knockin' Books newsletter but, if not, you'll still get a great newsletter with links to all our best content.) Leave a comment below or drop us a line.