25 Common Mistakes New Authors Make (And How I Avoid Them)
Every experienced author has a graveyard of mistakes behind them. Terrible first chapters, botched launches, wasted money on services they didn’t need, and at least one moment where they emailed a query letter with a typo in the agent’s name.
The beautiful (and painful) thing about writing is that mistakes are inevitable. But some mistakes are avoidable — or at least they’re avoidable if someone who’s already made them tells you about them first.
That’s what this post is. Twenty-five of the most common mistakes new authors make, drawn from personal experience and the collective wisdom of the writing community. Each one comes with a simple strategy for avoiding it.
If you’re at the beginning of your writing journey, bookmark this. If you’re in the middle, scan it for the ones you might be making right now. If you’ve already published — well, you’ll probably find yourself nodding along and wincing at the memories.
1. Starting Without Any Plan
Pantsing (writing by the seat of your pants) works for some authors. But starting with zero plan — no outline, no character sketches, no sense of where the story is going — leads most new writers into an abandoned manuscript by Chapter 5.
You don’t need a detailed outline. But you need something: a general arc, a few key turning points, an ending to aim for. Even a rough book planning system dramatically increases your chances of finishing.
2. Editing While Drafting
This is the #1 productivity killer for new writers. You write a paragraph, reread it, decide it’s terrible, rewrite it, decide the rewrite is worse, and spiral into paralysis.
Draft first. Edit later. These are different mental activities that use different parts of your brain. Mixing them is like trying to drive and navigate simultaneously — you’ll do both badly.
3. Trying to Write a Perfect First Draft
Closely related to #2, but worth its own entry. Your first draft will not be good. It shouldn’t be. It’s raw material — the clay before the sculpture. The most productive authors embrace messy first drafts because they know revision is where the magic happens.
4. Giving Up in the Middle
The middle of a book is where dreams go to die. The excitement of the beginning has faded, the climax is still distant, and everything feels like trudging through mud. Most abandoned manuscripts die somewhere between 30% and 60% completion.
Push through. The middle is temporary. The finished book is forever. If motivation is the issue, here are 31 strategies that help.
5. Not Reading in Their Genre
You wouldn’t try to cook without ever eating food. Don’t try to write in a genre you don’t actively read. Reading your genre teaches you its conventions, reader expectations, and the competitive landscape.
6. Telling Instead of Showing
“She was angry” is telling. “She slammed the mug on the counter, sloshing coffee across the morning’s mail” is showing. New writers default to telling because it’s easier. But showing creates vivid, immersive experiences that readers actually remember.
7. Writing Characters That All Sound the Same
If you can swap dialogue between two characters and nobody notices, your characters lack distinct voices. Each character should have their own vocabulary, rhythm, speech patterns, and verbal tics.
Read your dialogue aloud. You should be able to tell who’s speaking without any attribution tags.
8. Info-Dumping Backstory in Chapter 1
New writers often front-load their opening chapters with pages of worldbuilding, character history, and context. Readers want action, tension, and a reason to keep reading — not a history lecture.
Sprinkle backstory throughout the narrative. Let readers discover the world alongside the characters. Trust them to figure things out.
9. Using Too Many Adverbs and Adjectives
“She walked slowly and nervously through the dark, gloomy, ancient, terrifying corridor.” Every one of those modifiers weakens the sentence. Strong verbs and precise nouns do more work than a pile of modifiers ever will.
“She crept through the corridor.” Done. Same image. Twice the impact.
10. Not Investing in Professional Editing
“I’ll just have my friend proofread it” is the most expensive mistake in self-publishing. Professional editors catch structural problems, consistency issues, and craft weaknesses that even talented friends will miss.
Budget for editing. It is the single highest-ROI investment in your book. See our budgeting guide for authors for how to plan for it.
11. Neglecting the Opening Hook
Your first paragraph — sometimes your first sentence — determines whether a reader keeps going or puts your book down. New authors often start with throat-clearing: weather descriptions, characters waking up, vague philosophical musings.
Start with something that demands attention. A question. A surprise. A conflict. A voice that’s impossible to ignore.
12. Overcomplicating the Plot
More subplots, more characters, more twists — new writers often equate complexity with quality. But overloaded plots confuse readers and exhaust writers.
Master the simple story first. One protagonist, one central conflict, one clear arc. Complexity can come in Book 2.
13. Not Building an Author Platform Early
By the time your book is published, you should already have readers who care. But most new authors wait until launch day to start building an audience — and then wonder why nobody shows up.
Start your platform — newsletter, social media, website — while you’re still writing. It’s easier to sell a book to people who already know and like you.
14. Skipping Beta Readers
Beta readers are your pre-publication focus group. They catch problems editors miss and tell you how your book lands with real readers. Skipping this step means publishing blind.
Find 5–10 beta readers in your target audience and give them structured questions to answer. Their feedback will reshape your book for the better.
15. Pricing Their Book Wrong
Too high and nobody buys it. Too low and nobody takes it seriously. Pricing is both an art and a science, and getting it wrong can kill an otherwise solid book’s momentum. Research your genre’s pricing norms before you set yours.
16. Ignoring Book Formatting
A manuscript that’s perfect in Word can look terrible as an ebook if it’s not properly formatted. Broken page breaks, missing headers, inconsistent fonts — these scream “amateur” to readers.
Use tools built for book formatting. Storyloft handles this inside the writing environment so you’re not wrestling with formatting nightmares after the fact.
17. Not Setting Realistic Timelines
“I’ll finish this in three months” is a classic new author prediction. The reality is usually 6–18 months for a first book. Underestimating the timeline leads to frustration, burnout, and the feeling that you’re failing when you’re actually on track.
Set realistic goals based on your available time, not your enthusiasm.
18. Trying to Please Everyone
Your book can’t be for everyone. Trying to make it appeal to the widest possible audience produces bland, forgettable work. Write for your reader — the specific person who will love this specific book. Everyone else can find something else to read.
19. Comparing Their First Draft to Published Books
Published books have been through multiple rounds of professional editing, beta reading, and revision. Comparing your first draft to a finished product is like comparing flour and eggs to a wedding cake.
20. Not Having a Revision Strategy
“I’ll just read through it and fix things” is not a revision strategy. Effective revision requires multiple passes with different focuses: structure, character arcs, pacing, dialogue, line editing, proofreading.
21. Spending Money on the Wrong Things
New authors often overspend on things that don’t move the needle (fancy website, paid social media promotions) and underspend on things that do (editing, cover design). Prioritize the investments that directly impact book quality and reader experience.
22. Writing Without Reading About Craft
You can’t rely on instinct alone, especially early in your career. Craft books, courses, creative exercises, and deliberate study of technique will accelerate your growth faster than pure writing volume.
23. Not Backing Up Their Work
Losing a manuscript to a hard drive failure or a corrupted file is a nightmare that happens to real people. Use cloud storage. Use version control. Back up your work in multiple locations. Or use a cloud-based writing platform like Storyloft where your work is automatically saved and synced.
24. Quitting After the First Book Doesn’t Sell
Most first books don’t sell well. That’s not failure — that’s the learning curve. The authors who build careers are the ones who write the second book, and the third, and the tenth. Each book builds your audience, your skills, and your backlist.
25. Thinking They Have to Do It Alone
Writing is solitary, but publishing doesn’t have to be. Use every tool available to you. Find communities. Seek feedback. Invest in systems that keep you organized. The lone genius myth has held back more authors than writer’s block ever has.
Related Reading
- 20 Things I Wish I Knew Before Self-Publishing My First Book
- 18 Smart Budgeting Tips for Authors Investing in Their Writing Career
- 24 Brutally Honest Truths About Writing a Book No One Warned Me About
- 16 Confidence Boosters for Authors Who Constantly Doubt Their Writing
- 18 Mindset Shifts That Helped Me Finally Finish My Manuscript
Avoid the biggest mistakes. Write with the right tools from day one. Explore Storyloft →
