Common Self-Publishing Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

As a self-publishing writer, you get to decide when the manuscript is ready, who edits it, what the cover looks like, how much the book costs, and how readers will find it; a weak decision in any one of those areas can make a good book much harder to sell.

Here are some of the most common self-publishing pitfalls to avoid (and what you can do instead).

1. Skipping the professional edit your book needs

Running your manuscript through software like Grammarly or PerfectIt is useful, and asking a sharp-eyed friend to read it can help, too. But neither is necessarily a substitute for professional editing.

Before deciding on an editor, an important question to ask is: What kind of editing does your manuscript actually need?

Developmental editing looks at the big picture, including structure, pacing, character arcs, plot gaps, argument, and organization. Line editing works on how the writing reads, including clarity, rhythm, tone, repetition, awkward phrasing, and flow. Copyediting catches grammar, punctuation, usage, consistency, and style issues. Proofreading is the final check after the manuscript has been edited and formatted.

These stages solve very different problems. A proofreader can fix their when you meant there, but they are not there to tell you that Chapter 6 repeats most of Chapter 4 or that your protagonist’s motivation disappears halfway through the book.

So before you hire an editor, figure out what problem you are trying to solve. Better yet, ask for a sample edit. A good sample can quickly show whether the editor’s services meet your manuscript’s needs.

2. Treating book formatting as an afterthought

“Take great pains to be clear” – C. S. Lewis

Although C. S. Lewis said these words in the context of writing, it could apply to every facet of your book. And one among them is your book’s formatting. Good formatting should almost disappear while your reader is reading. You usually notice it only when something is wrong.

In an ebook, that could mean paragraph indents behaving strangely, chapter headings appearing in the wrong place, images spilling off the screen, random font-size changes, or large gaps between paragraphs.

In print, you might see a chapter beginning at the bottom of a page, inconsistent margins, awkwardly placed blank pages, headers appearing where they shouldn’t, or widows and orphans that make pages look sloppy.

Always check the actual files before publishing. Preview the ebook on more than one screen size, and order a physical proof if you’re releasing a paperback or hardcover. A PDF looking perfect on your laptop may not tell you how your Kindle edition will behave!

3. Choosing a book cover you like instead of one your readers understand

Don’t judge a book by its cover. You absolutely can judge a book by its cover. Readers do it every day. A book’s cover has a practical job; it needs to tell the right reader, often within a few seconds, “This is probably the kind of book you like.”

Imagine a psychological thriller with pastel handwritten lettering and a cheerful illustrated couple on the cover. It might be beautifully designed, but readers could quite reasonably assume they’re looking at a romantic comedy. That’s why genre conventions matter.

Before approving a cover, pull up 20 successful books that compete for the same reader and look at:

• typography
• imagery
• color
• title size
• how much information appears on the cover
• what the cover looks like as a tiny online thumbnail

You don’t want to copy them. You do want your book to look as though it belongs on the same shelf.

4. Waiting until launch day to think about book marketing

If nobody knows your book exists on Tuesday, uploading it to Amazon on Wednesday might not magically change that. That doesn’t mean you need to be everywhere, either. Start with a few things you can realistically maintain:

• An author website gives readers somewhere to learn about you and your books.
• An email list gives you a way to reach interested readers without depending entirely on a social-media algorithm.
• Early readers can give you feedback and, where appropriate, leave honest reviews after launch.
• One or two useful social channels are usually better than six accounts you’ll abandon in a month.
• A launch plan helps you decide in advance when to reveal the cover, send ARCs, announce the release, run promotions, or contact reviewers.

You certainly don’t need a 40-page marketing plan to launch your first book, but you do need something more specific than “I’ll promote it on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter (insert any and all attention-hungry platforms).”

5. Trying to market your book to everyone

Your book could be “certainly useful for anyone,” I understand. Trust me, I surely do. But… for marketing purposes, it usually isn’t very helpful to market to everyone.

A better place to start would be to focus on who is most likely to finish your book and immediately recommend it to someone else. If you’ve written a cozy mystery, the answer is probably not simply “women between 25 and 70.” Think about what those readers already enjoy. Do they read small-town mysteries? Amateur sleuths? Low-violence crime? Long-running series?

Once you understand your ideal reader more clearly, several other decisions become easier:

• What should your cover signal?
• How to write your book description?
• Which comparison titles make sense?
• Where can you advertise?
• Which reviewers or communities should you approach for maximum returns on your investment of time and energy?

Your first self-published book may sell thousands of copies. It may also sell 37. Neither number, by itself, tells you whether you can build a writing career. Self-publishing often rewards authors who build over time. Another book brings in new readers. A stronger mailing list makes the next launch easier. A better cover improves click-through. A sequel can send readers back to Book One. So instead of judging everything by one big sales number, set goals you can actually learn from:

• How many readers joined your mailing list?
• How many finished the book and continued to the next one?
• Which promotion generated sales?
• Did readers understand the genre from the cover and description?
• What complaints kept appearing in reviews?

6. Leaving book reviews until after publication

Early reviews are much easier to plan for before launch than after it. That’s where Advance Reader Copies, or ARCs, come in. You give selected readers access to the book before publication so they have time to read it and, if they choose, review it once the book is available.

Depending on your genre and budget, you might use:

• your existing reader list
• a small ARC team
• relevant book bloggers in your genre
• BookSirens
• NetGalley
• genre-specific reader communities

Remember that you’re looking for genuine reader reactions in this stage, not guaranteed five-star reviews. And be prepared for feedback you don’t love. If three beta readers, an editor, and an early reviewer all stumble over the same chapter, it’s probably worth looking at that chapter again. Easier said than done, I know.

7. Doing everything yourself because it’s self-publishing

The “self” in self-publishing does not mean you personally need to edit the manuscript, design the cover, format the ebook, run the ads, maintain the website, create social posts, and reconcile the royalty statements. You can do all of that. Whether you should is the question.

Start with the jobs where mistakes are expensive or where you already know your skills are weak. If you’re comfortable formatting an ebook but hopeless at cover design, hire the designer. If you’re excellent at marketing but too close to the manuscript to spot its problems, hire the right editor. You don’t need a giant publishing team. You just need to know where doing it yourself saves money and where it simply gives you a less-than-ok result.

8. Assuming last year’s self-publishing strategy still works

Self-publishing platforms change. Advertising changes. Reader habits change. So do the tactics authors swear by. That doesn’t mean you need to constantly chase the algorithm or try every publishing “hack” you see on YouTube. It means you should occasionally check whether what you’re already doing still works. Maybe an ad campaign that was profitable six months ago now costs more than it earns. Maybe most of your newsletter sign-ups are coming from the back of your books rather than social media. Maybe readers consistently stop after Book Two in a four-book series. Look at the evidence and adjust from there.

Author communities, publishing newsletters, industry blogs, and your own sales data can all be useful. Just remember that another author’s winning strategy is not automatically yours.

What to do instead

Avoiding mistakes is useful, but building a repeatable publishing process is even better.

1. Build your author platform before you need it

You don’t need 50,000 followers before publishing your first book. You do want some way to stay in touch with people who genuinely care about your work. A simple setup is enough for that:

• A website where readers can find your books and learn about you.
• An email list readers can voluntarily join.
• One social platform you can maintain without resenting it.

Start early and let it grow gradually. An email list of 300 interested readers can be considerably more useful than 10,000 social followers who barely know who you are.

2. Invest wisely in professional self-publishing services

Self-publishing can involve a fair amount of upfront investment, so it helps to decide where professional support will make the biggest difference. For most books, that usually means looking closely at:

1. editing
2. cover design
3. formatting
4. marketing

You don’t necessarily need to choose the most expensive option in each area. Instead, compare samples, portfolios, experience, and exactly what is included in the quote. For editing in particular, a $600 proofread and a $1,500 line edit may look very different on price, but they are also doing very different jobs. So, make sure you’re comparing like with like before deciding which quote offers better value.

3. Plan your book launch before you press publish

Work backward from your intended publication date and decide:

• When will the final files be ready?
• When will you send ARCs?
• When will you reveal the cover?
• When will preorder links go live, if you’re using them?
• Who will you contact about reviews or interviews?
• Are you running any launch promotions or ads?
• What will you send your email subscribers?

Then leave yourself some breathing room.

If your proof copy arrives with a formatting problem three days before launch, you’ll be glad your schedule wasn’t built to the hour.

4. Embrace reader feedback without giving in every time

Feedback is useful, and the best practice for a writer is to welcome constructive criticism with an open mind. Again, easier said than done. I know. But that also doesn’t mean you should blindly follow every piece of feedback. Instead, pay attention to the patterns.

One beta reader disliking your protagonist may simply be taste. Five independent readers saying they couldn’t understand why she abandoned her family in Chapter 8 deserves a closer look. 

The same principle applies after publication. Reviews can tell you whether readers are getting the experience you intended. If thriller readers repeatedly say nothing happens until the halfway point, that is useful information for your next book, even if you decide not to change the one already published. You’re still the author. Feedback should help you see the manuscript more clearly, not hand control of it to everyone who reads it.

Moving forward…

Self-publishing gives you enormous freedom, but it also makes you responsible for decisions a traditional publisher would make for you. You don’t have to become an expert editor, designer, formatter, marketer, and publishing strategist overnight. Instead, you do need to recognize which jobs you can comfortably handle yourself, which deserve professional help, and where getting something wrong is likely to cost you readers.

At Falcon Edits, we specialize in editing and polishing books—including those written with the assistance of AI (Yes, those with the em dashes, the very frequent “It’s not X, it’s Y,” and all!). Whether you need developmental editing, copyediting, or final proofreading, we can help. 

 Get a Free Editing Sample – See what professional editing can do for your book.