Updated on October 12, 2026
I self-edited and designed the cover of my first poetry book, and it showed. Here's what went wrong, how I fixed it, and why I kept the old cover anyway.
Learn more about Love’s Cycle here.
What my first book taught me
Don't edit your own book. Hire a professional editor.
Don't design your own cover. Hire a cover designer.
Do keyword and category research so readers can find your books on Amazon.
Keep visual markers of your progress, even the embarrassing ones.
Treat every failure as a lesson, not a verdict.
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If you know me well, you know how much I value self-reflection, consistency, and even failure. Now, why do I bring this up?
The Mistakes I Made Publishing My First Book
In 2017, I published my first poetry collection, Love's Cycle.
I went about it horribly, though. I initially published it only as an ebook (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). However, I decided it would be a good idea to bypass a professional editor and edit the book myself. Additionally, I thought it would be a good idea to create the cover myself. Needless to say, it did not go well, and it might be one of the titles that has sold the least throughout the years.
However, I take that as an opportunity to reflect on where I started, apply the lessons I've learned as an independent author, pursue continuous improvement, and see how much I have grown.
The Road to Improvement
I eventually had Love's Cycle professionally edited and published a second edition, with a paperback version, around the same time I launched my second poetry book and Spanish bestseller, Las Musas. Still, I never updated the cover of my first book. My second poetry book wasn't perfect either, but I took lessons from my first book and applied them. For Las Musas, I didn't edit the book myself, and I hired a designer for the cover.
If I chose to, I could get discouraged about many things as an independent author. There are so many things to learn about the writing and publishing business, not even including the marketing and post-release side of things (which I still have trouble with because I'm an introvert and don't like sharing that I'm an author).
After over a decade of writing and almost ten years of publishing, I still find things to improve on with every book I write. However, I've learned to make the process fun.
“With every failure, I learn a new way to polish my craft, and it reminds me that my best work is yet to come.”
Redesigning the Love's Cycle Cover
In fall 2023, ahead of Love's Cycle's sixth anniversary, I decided it was a good time to assess my past failures, reflect on what I could do to improve, and make many changes. I took advantage of some free time to:
Do keyword and category research for all of my books to help increase their visibility on Amazon
Reformat Love's Cycle's manuscript for a hardcover edition
Finally redesign the cover of Love's Cycle
Before: the original cover (2017)
Love’s Cycle’s first cover was designed by none other than… me. Not great.
I will keep the original cover on the paperback version even if it costs me sales, because it reminds me of where I started and how much I have learned since 2017. I think it's important for us to have visual markers of our progress in all parts of life. That way, when we look ahead and get discouraged by how far we still have to go, we can instead look back for a moment and see how far we've already come. It's the consistent baby steps that lead us to victory.
After: the new cover
Love’s Cycle’s new cover was designed by Getcovers.
With the cover designer's help, we came up with a minimalist design for a new cover that we hope will engage the audience in the contemporary poetry genre more effectively. Let’s hope for the best!
Lessons for Indie Authors
I hope the biggest lesson you take from this story is to embrace your failures and, instead of being discouraged by them, rejoice in the lessons you can learn from your mistakes. It's never too late to improve yourself or a project you've been working on.
If you're stuck on a project right now, my free guide, 15 Ways to Overcome Writer's Block, might help, and A Writer Is the Sum of His Experiences captures the same idea: looking back to see how far you've come.
My first collection—Prose and poetry on the highs of love and the lows of loss: the reaching, the grasping, and finally the letting go, when you accept that not everything lasts forever.
Common Questions From New Indie Authors
Should you edit your own book before self-publishing?
I wouldn't. I edited my first book myself to skip the cost of an editor, and it showed. I later had it professionally edited and released a second edition, and I didn't edit my second book myself.
Should indie authors design their own book covers?
Not unless you're a designer. My self-made first cover may be part of why that book has sold the least of all my titles. For my second book I hired a cover designer, and I eventually had my first book's cover redesigned too.
Meet the author
Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, raised in a military family, and a former U.S. Marine. Pablo Camacho has written more than eight books in English and Spanish, including the Pencraft Award–winning Bittersweet, and is currently writing his first horror stories. He lives in Florida with his wife and daughter.
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