It started with a simple question: ‘How many books do self-published authors write per year?’

It seems as though there are varying opinions on this. But it seems safe to say that the traditional publishing model of one book a year, perhaps one book every two years, just isn’t going to cut it any more. The number of titles an independent author can release is the one advantage they have over the traditional publishing houses. The amount of gears involved in getting a book through the publishing mill means that most tradpub authors will be doing one book a year. Prolific ones can do two.

Some independent authors are releasing between six and ten titles a year. Two is probably considered the very minimum. It’s easy to see why. In those first days of publishing your title, there is a surge – maybe into the heady heights of double digit sales (I’m just being honest and realistic here). The best way to ride the wave is to have another book – assuming you’ve wowed your reader – for them to jump right onto the back of. The more titles you can have for them to select from, the more chance there is of them seeing something they like. They’re also more likely to see you as committed; a ‘proper’ author writing books for a living. Which may or may not be true.

Welcome to this century – where perception is everything.

I started this year with a plan to self publish two books. That seemed reasonable. Now, some days, it does not seem like enough. I will be trying instead to release three full length novels, but with one big caveat:

I don’t want to compromise on quality.

Now, I’m not saying I’m going to be churning out three literary masterpieces a year. If only.

The simple reality is that there still needs to be a certain level of quality if you expect people to go on to make that next purchase. Even traditionally published ebooks seem more prone to formatting errors than good old paper ones. Nothing is going to be one hundred per cent, because humans are involved. Pesky, pesky humans.

It still needs to make the reader feel like they haven’t just forked out their hard earned cash for something that has been churned out and not even run through spell check first. They especially don’t want to feel scammed because that first ten per cent they’ve downloaded as a free sample was markedly better quality than the rest of the book.

So a minimum of two books, of an acceptable quality.

If possible, then a novella or two also doesn’t hurt. One thing I would suggest – something I’ve learned the hard way – is to make sure that short pieces are consistent with your novels. If not, it can be confusing and off-putting for the reader. I’ll hold my hand up to making that mistake and can simply do my best to rectify it over time as I publish more.

If you’ve yet to publish anything then I’m sure the above seems like a daunting task. Six months ago, I felt the same way. Take comfort in the knowledge that it is the first of anything that is the hardest. Once you’ve wrangled with the various platforms and requirements, had your editors make demands yet again (even friends beta-reading it for you as a favour will have demands), and agonised over your cover design, it becomes easier each time to press ‘publish’.

Do you think two books is enough? Or does it need to be more? Or is quality more important than quantity every single time?