With the ease of self-publishing, there have been a glut of poorly written books that get no reviews and no sales. This dilutes the pool for other writers, who then need to fight harder to get their books known.

And given the deluge of bad books coming from self-published writers, readers are hesitant to give any self-published book a try. They simply can’t sort through all these options to find good stuff, and they’ll turn instead to a standard benchmark of trust: tradpub books.

As a self-published author, I completely understand why someone would only stick to books from the Big 5 or other trusted imprints. That author needed to convince dozens of people that their book would make money; there’s a much higher threshold of quality.

This is, of course, harmful to every self-published author. While it can partially be blamed on the fact that we don’t have anywhere near the same resources as a giant publishing company, it’s also kind of on us as a community too.

Too many people are publishing before they’re ready, making it harder for everyone – and themselves.

Why is it so bad to publish unpolished work?

One may say, “Well, I want to start making money. I can practice my craft while getting paid for it! I can get feedback from readers and improve my work over time!”

Bzzt. Wrong.

Readers are not a good resource for feedback. You need skilled teachers, beta readers, and editors to help you with this endeavor because most readers are consumers who don’t have the skills necessary to tell you what you’re doing wrong. They’ll just tell you that they don’t like it and be done with it.

The first book that a reader encounters from you is your only opportunity to impress them. If that first impression is bad, then they’re not going to take a chance on your next works. Unless you attract new readers with your later works who then go back and read the rest, your better novels are going to flop too.

So if you’re going the self-publishing route, you need to decide for yourself whether you’re ready. Unfortunately, many writers write their very first book and decide that it’s time to go … then publish something that’s not great.

If you have not written one million practice words, you are not ready.

I stand by this rule because it’s what kept me from publishing crap. I did approximately 1.6 million practice words before developing an original series, and I’m so glad that I did. Looking back at my work from 2021, I can see an enormous difference in quality, while that quality jump slows down in the last works before I started the Eirenic Verses.

This tells me that I’ve gotten all the kinks out of my writing style, learned from my mistakes, and developed a unique voice.

During this process, I read a mixture of beginner and professional writing while I did my own practice. I beta read for other beginners so that I could see the common mistakes in a more “neutral” setting; ie, I wasn’t tearing my own work to shreds. When I noticed that I didn’t like something, I would look for similar instances in my own work and recognize that these things aren’t helpful.

I read books about writing, studied great books, and kept practicing until I felt very confident in my skills. If I’d published back in 2021, before I began my million-word journey, I would have been ripped to shreds.

And as I have said before, fanfic was the best way to go for my practice. Some writers get frustrated because they feel like they’re “wasting their talent” by writing practice novels, but I never felt like I was expending unnecessary effort because I really enjoyed what I was doing. It didn’t feel like work, nor did it feel wasted.

Age is not a reliable indicator of your skills.

This is a niche argument but one I need to point out. People tend to believe that when I say “beginner writer,” I’m talking about high school students or college freshmen.

Not true.

I often see people older than me (I’m in my mid-thirties) who write like teenagers because, well, they haven’t practiced enough. But for some reason, they believe that simply being older means that they’re a better writer than someone in their twenties who started writing seriously when they were very young.

Maybe this is because they have written hundreds, even thousands of emails, social media posts, or diary entries. Business and everyday communication are entirely different from fiction writing. They don’t provide you what’s necessary to succeed as a writer.

Age does provide experience in some things. You will know more about how relationships work; you’ll have a greater understanding of world affairs; you can draw on things from your own life. But, these do not automatically translate to good writing skills. You still need to practice.

We would all think it’s ridiculous if someone had never ridden a horse but insists they know what they’re doing just because they’re in their forties. Being 56 wouldn’t imbue you with the ability to play the saxophone. The same is true of writing.

This is why I stand by the million-word rule. It says nothing about age, only practice. Someone could be 25 and have written a million practice words, or they could be just starting in their fifties.

Do not assume that being older makes you wiser. Do the work.

Not being ready now doesn’t mean you’ll never be ready.

I’ve gotten pushback before when espousing the million-word rule. People complain that it’s gatekeeping and that I’m trying to police other peoples’ actions, but I’m really not.

If you publish a terrible book, it dilutes the market for the rest of us, but ultimately it’s not my problem. I don’t have to attach my name to that work or risk my reputation on a bad book. I offer this advice because I want you to succeed, not because I’m a snob who wants to feel superior to you.

A million words can feel daunting, even insurmountable. But it’s not. That’s about ten 100k books. For me, it was 130 fanfics of all different lengths, with the largest being about 110k.

Slow writers or those with a very busy life are going to struggle with this, it’s true. But if you really enjoy writing, you want to bring your best work to the masses, and you won’t be mad about the idea of working toward that goal.

There’s no rush, especially because fiction writing isn’t a lucrative career in the first place. You’re not missing out on royalties by waiting because you wouldn’t have gotten many royalties for a bad book anyway.

Your practice writing is not wasted work.

Another thing I see is people complaining that the million-word rule is telling them to waste time on something that won’t ever be published. While that may be true for fanfic, it’s not true if you’re writing original fiction.

Practicing something isn’t wasted effort if you have a goal in mind and are systematized about it. Few people would be enough of a jerk to tell a garage band that they’re wasting their time practicing because they haven’t produced an album or headlined a tour. Someone learning to paint isn’t wasting time making art that won’t be put in the Louvre.

For some reason, it’s only with writing that people scoff at practicing, assuming everyone can be Stephen King with their first novel. It’s not true, and you should ignore those naysayers – especially the ones that have taken root in your brain.

Writers do have an advantage over other artists, though. Once you’ve sharpened your skills, you can absolutely polish your first stories so that they are publishable. This is the joy of writing: you can come back to it as many times as necessary until you’re satisfied.

You must be able to handle criticism before putting your work out into the world.

Can you handle negative feedback with grace, or do you fly off the handle? Have you ever fought with a reader about their score or badgered them into changing their review?

Then you are not ready to publish, even if your writing is up to par.

Authors must have good self-esteem that can take a few knocks. They need to be able to separate themselves from their finished product and recognize that everyone has different tastes. No matter how great you are, your work is not going to resonate with everyone who comes across it, and this is okay.

A few months ago, I did a review exchange with a fellow self-published author. I had given their first book five stars because I liked it, but I gave their second book four stars and an honest but polite review because, well, I didn’t like it as much.

They knew I didn’t like it because I had beta read for them, but they still begged me for a review, which was … not very smart of them. If someone told me they didn’t like what I wrote, I would not assume they’d say something different in the public sphere. Not everyone does fake nicey-nice; I certainly don’t.

Once they saw my review, they absolutely lost it. Not only did they leave me a passive-aggressive four-star review on Pride Before a Fall, but they fought with me about my review for hours, trying to force me to change what I said.

Well, of course I said no. I privately told them the exact same thing I say publicly, both about my review and about theirs:

You have to understand that reviews are not for you, they are for other readers. I was very polite in my review and simply said that the style wasn’t to my taste. I did not bash your book or claim it was terrible.

And you brought up valid criticisms in your review, which is perfectly fine. I cannot expect everyone to like my book, and you are very much entitled to think it was slow paced or not like my writing style. That review is not for me. It’s for readers who may like to know that the book is slow-paced so that they don’t waste their time on something they won’t like.

In fact, I welcome such feedback. It ensures that only people who will really like my book will pick it up and that I don’t have unsatisfied readers.

If you’ve ever argued with beta readers about their critique, or gotten angry when a reader did not give you a glowing review, then you need to take a step back and work on your self-esteem.

Get more critique, not less; train yourself out of your knee-jerk defensiveness and recognize that people not liking your work says nothing about you as a person. It has to do with your writing. It is not a personal attack.

Contrary to popular belief, self-publishing is expensive.

Self-publishing is not free unless you’re able to create a great cover by yourself and have great friends who will beta read your work for you.

When publishing two books a year, I spend around $2,500 on products and services. This includes cover artists, beta readers, editors, writing software, WordPress, Canva, and Booksprout.

This is on the cheaper end of the scale for self-published authors; many spend $8,000 a year or more, most of which isn’t being recouped by royalties.

Again, another reason why you should not quit your day job. You need an income stream to pour into your writing.

And you have to factor in the time you’re spending writing instead of doing something with immediate payoff. This is an intangible cost that I can’t calculate, but it’s a fair chunk of change.

So a lot of self-pub authors go deep in the hole for their work. If you’re not making much, you will need to save up for this expense and find good vendors who are within your budget. Writers will need to make a publishing fund for themselves so that they aren’t going into debt paying for the services they need to succeed.

Action points for publishing readiness

Here are the things you need to do so you’re ready to hit publish.

Find good writing manuals or free writing advice to guide you.

Read widely, thinking of what you can learn from each book.

Complete your million practice words, or more.

Learn to take constructive criticism.

Hone your unique writing voice.

Create a publishing fund.

Get feedback on your work.

Beta read for other beginner writers.

Learn about marketing (for later use).

Decide whether you want to pursue tradpub or self-pub.

Learn about tradpub expectations (even if you’re planning to self-pub).

There you have it. Everything relies on you practicing with intention, not rushing toward a finish line. Aim for those million words, read as much as possible, and know that good things take time.