Writing & Publishing · Musings

Terrible Writing and
Publishing Advice

Benn Finn·October 17, 2023

I have been in the Kindle Direct Publishing and self-publishing game for nearly twelve years. I am not a full-time writer. I have not made millions. But I have made enough mistakes — and watched enough other people make the same mistakes — to have opinions about the advice that circulates in writing and publishing communities.

Some of it is genuinely useful. A lot of it is expensive, misleading, or simply optimised for selling courses rather than helping writers. Here is the advice I have seen cause the most damage.

Bad Advice #1

You Need Professional Editing Before You Publish

Very few self-published authors make enough sales with their books to cover the expense of professional developmental editing. The costs stack up fast — software, cover design, formatting — and adding a $500–$2,000 editing bill before you have a single reader is a financial barrier that stops more writers than it helps.

That does not mean quality does not matter. It does. But the advice should be to get what you can afford — a basic proofread for spelling, grammar, and punctuation — and to improve your craft through practice rather than paid services that require commercial returns you may not see for years.

Bad Advice #2

You Need an Audiobook to Be Taken Seriously

Like professional editing, audiobook production can be excellent for established authors with proven demand. For an unknown author with a debut book, it is an expensive upfront cost that rarely generates profitability in the short term. Produce an audiobook when you have a demonstrated audience for the material — not as a launch requirement.

Bad Advice #3

Paid Advertising is the Key to Discoverability

As someone with a background in digital marketing, I understand the appeal of this advice. Ads work — for the right product, in the right conditions, with the right audience. But for an unknown author with one or two books and no existing readership, paid advertising rarely converts. You need a catalogue, you need a track record, you need social proof. Build those first.

What Actually Works

The advice I wish I had followed from the beginning is boring but real:

Write consistently, and write things you actually care about
Build your catalogue before you try to monetise it
Develop an authentic author platform — a blog, a newsletter, a social presence that reflects who you actually are
Be patient with compound growth. Most things in publishing, like most things worth having, take longer than you think

"The terrible advice takes you away from writing. The good advice always brings you back to it."

Most of the shiny-object advice that circulates in indie publishing communities is designed to sell services, not to build authors. The discipline required to ignore it and write the next book is the actual competitive advantage.

Written by

Benn Finn

An author trapped in an employee's body. Co-author of the Kill Them Dead zombie apocalypse series. Twelve years in indie publishing and still figuring it out.

Terrible Writing andPublishing Advice

What Actually Works

Terrible Writing and
Publishing Advice