Publishing your first book can be an overwhelming experience. How to publish, where to get a good book cover design, how to format your e-book and where to market it. Here, in ‘5 things I wish I knew before publishing my first book’, author Nicky Blue shares his publishing perils and pitfalls. Enjoy and hoover up as much knowledge about the book publishing game as you can!

5 things I wish I knew before publishing my first book

1. The importance of having enough beta readers to pick through the plot holes in your book.

2. The importance of a professional cover that is relevant to your genre.

3. The importance of having your book copy-edited.

4. The importance of having your book proofread and then proofread again

5. The importance of having some sense of writing to market. Just because we have an idea that a book will be the next bestseller, doesn’t mean that’s what people want to read. Sadly.

Try to place your book somewhere on the bookshelf that has regular readers, this will give you some chance of selling some books.
I am mainly influenced by humorous writers Douglas Adams, Tom Sharpe and Terry Pratchett. But in general, it’s important to read all genres and discover what other writers are doing. What techniques are they using? Templating is an interesting technique to use. If you find a chapter that you really enjoy from another writer’s work. Mimic the structure of that chapter with your own text and see what comes out. It’s an interesting exercise to stretch and develop your writing.

Latest book release from Nicky Blue!


The biggest mistakes writers can make it spending too much money on ads and book promotions when they’re not sure they’re going to sell or don’t have any reviews yet.  A good way to find an audience to join a platform like Story Origin (currently free) where you can do newsletters swaps with similar authors and join group promotions.

You can also do giveaways on a platform like King Sumo whereby you can buy a signed book of a well-known author in your genre and advertise it to the readers of that genre to get them on your reader’s list. Also, offer something free as a reader magnet on your website too.

Start to build up a relationship with your audience, get feedback on your work, ask them what they like to read. Do your research, know what people want to read and then write it.


With that said, you can see what I get up to and enjoy some of my writing work for by visiting nickyblue.com/read