There was a time when you set out to write a book, and hundreds of pages later, you ended up with a manuscript ready for editing. Now, there are tutorials for everything you need to know about, writing, editing, formatting, publishing, and marketing your book. Read how a best-selling author made the big time, purchase his formula and you too could be on the ‘Best Seller’ list with your first book. Of course, it’s possible for new writers to hit the big time, however, the odds are stacked against the thousands of writers wanting to become authors. I can speak with first-hand experience of buying into the dream of self-publishing, but selling big numbers of my book on Amazon was a dream. Even if your book has all the credentials to become a best seller, it cannot sell in big numbers unless you are running a costly ad campaign on social media sites and Amazon. New authors often pay good money to publish a book without having it professionally designed or edited. That is fine if all you want is your name in print to impress your friends and boost your ego. While it’s true that many successful authors never made the bestseller list with their first book, they would have drawn on writing knowledge and used an experienced editor to get them to the top of the literary profession. Not a myriad of expensive tutorials and hype, I will go back to the drawing board and rethink my failed strategy.