T.S Elliot once said, “Success is relative. It is what we make of the mess we have made of things.” Your gauge for success may be different from another author’s. For some authors, being an Amazon bestseller is what they consider the pinnacle of their publishing career, while other authors find accomplishment in selling 10 books a month.

Regardless of your benchmark for success, there are specific ways to realize your vision and maximize your book’s sales potential.

1. Make your book cover the best it can be

The cover is your book’s face. It’s a visual representation of the book’s content, story, message, tone and mood. The key to selling a self-published book is to make it look like it wasn’t self-published. So, unless you’re a qualified graphic artist, hire a professional to create a stunning book cover that accurately embodies your book’s message. Bad book covers make seem like the author didn’t bother to put much effort into creating the book.

2. Edit, edit, edit

Incorrect grammar, redundant words and phrases, incoherence, and inconsistencies in the writing are very obvious to most readers. An immaculately written and edited book will allow readers to move through the story with ease and capture all the emotion you want to convey in the content. More importantly, you will not turn off anyone.

3. Solid promotion work

You need a marketing plan as well as a high level of dedication if you want to see book sales. Be consistent in promoting your book and dedicate time to various promotional activities. Start with identifying your target audience and don’t limit yourself with your book’s primary audience, because your book may also appeal to other portions of the reading population. Next, tailor your marketing efforts according to your target audience’s location, age, sex, interests, etc. and use social networks, websites and other marketing platforms that they frequent. This is a surefire way to expose your work to where your readers are.

These may just be three key elements for publishing success, but you can use them as a guide for your book publishing success.