The Realities of Self-Publishing: Challenges, Tips, & Wins

About this video

In a long interview guest-hosted by Sylvia Hubbard, Dale discusses the first two books of his planned 12-book Self-Publishing with Dale series and the realities behind them. He explains the first two books began as one oversized manuscript he split apart, and that years of video feedback — comments, views and watch time — taught him what his audience wants and how deep to go without intimidating readers. He urges authors to treat publishing as a business rather than settling for quick wins, to keep a press kit updated, and to keep learning, arguing veteran authors often get stuck in ways that once worked. On KDP Select, he explains the 90-day ebook exclusivity, recommends trying at least one cycle, and says, as his own benchmark, earnings of about 1,000 dollars or more from Select alone may justify staying; otherwise going wide, including non-exclusive lending programmes, may pay better, with a warning to fully delist everywhere before returning to exclusivity. He calls an email list mission-critical, recommends newsletter swaps and network promotion for free-book campaigns, and describes Draft2Digital and its still-unfinished Smashwords migration. He advises against delaying a launch to release every format at once — he delayed his own audiobooks to fund them from ebook and print revenue, creating a second launch — and discusses digital narration as a cheaper option he personally dislikes. He also stresses free universal book links to remove buying friction and carry affiliate IDs, starting with Amazon Ads at a small daily budget monitored daily, diversifying income beyond book sales, and using audio and video for visibility, concluding that preparation means knowing your own goals because there is no one-size-fits-all path.

Key takeaways

• Dale says he split one oversized manuscript into the first two series books and used video audience feedback to judge what readers need and how in-depth to go
• His KDP Select advice: try one 90-day cycle; staying is worthwhile on his benchmark of about $1,000 or more in Select earnings alone, otherwise consider going wide — and delist fully before returning to exclusivity
• He calls an email list mission-critical and recommends newsletter swaps and author networking to promote free-book campaigns
• He advises launching ebooks and print without waiting for audio, then using that revenue to fund an audiobook as a second launch
• He stresses free universal book links to remove friction for global readers, low-budget daily-monitored Amazon Ads to start, and diversified income beyond book sales alone

Episode details: published December 2, 2024 · 1:07:34 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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