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You want to self-publish?
The Kindle store offers more than seven million individual titles. About a third have not sold a single copy. That’s right, more than two million books remain unread. Why? I’d speculate that a significant proportion were published by authors who believed they’d done all the hard work. They thought they could sit back and watch their creation find a readership all by itself. Whether you’re traditionally or self-published writing ‘THE END’ on your manuscript is only the beginning. I wonder how many authors give sufficient thought to marketing. I didn’t. Whatever way you publish marketing is key. Even traditional publishers will expect authors to take part in selling the product. Yes, I said product. Authors become very involved with their books. We have to; the wretched things would never get written if we didn’t. But if we want as many readers as possible to visit the worlds we invest so much creative energy into then we have to market. It’s an unavoidable evil.
My first novel, ‘Blood Libel’, won a prize at the 2020 Emirates Literature Festival and I’ll be self-publishing in early 2021. I never gave a moment’s thought to marketing until I’d finished the book and thought about pitching to agents. I’ve now done that both via email and in person. It’s scary but necessary. I’m only part way through my journey to publication, but my advice is:
Marketing: the only way you can change ‘writer’ into ‘successful author’.
Michael Lynes is a writer living in Dubai. You can follow his self-publication journey by visiting: www.michaellynes.com or Facebook.
Posted by Michael 13 Nov at 01:27
Responses to this blog
You'll find that advice (set up your platform and start marketing early) all over the internet. It's good advice - for writers of NON-fiction. For fiction writers, not so much.
A non-fiction writer writing about, say, football, can start a website or blog about football, work hard to build a following, and then when their book (about football) is published, they have a ready audience to promote it to. They would also join forums and Facebook groups about football and build a network of friends. They might run a Pinterest board about football, and so on.
For fiction writers, it's often hard - even impossible - to follow that strategy. What subject would you need to write about, to attract the people who'd want to buy your novel? It's often too hard to define. And remember, you need to be able to write a LOT about that subject, because it takes a long time to build a following.
For a fiction writer, an author website is usually just a showcase for your books. It's a place you send people to learn more about you, and to tempt them to sign up for your newsletter, so you can notify them when the next book comes out.
For fiction writers, there's no harm in creating an author website before you have a novel, but it won't do you any good until you have a book ready to sell. Likewise, there's no point in marketing a novel that won't be published for another six months to a year - people will have forgotten by the time it's out.
If you're going to self-publish, the best advice is to wait until you have at least two books ready to publish, and preferably three. For your first book, make an effort to get lots of reviews early (there are techniques for this). Publish your second book within a couple of months, so people who liked your first book still remember you, and will want the second book. It's worth noting that most successful self-publishing authors are prolific, bringing out two or three books a year.
First, I agree with Marisaw - for fiction writers, your web page means very little. I use mine to post blogs and as a place to give away stuff to readers. Yes, you need a webpage, but don't put too much time into it. Amazon is *everything*. Focus there.
Except for my permafree reader magnet, I sell exclusively on Amazon. Why? Love it or hate it, Amazon is the bonfire that keeps book sales going. All others are a match in the wind. I tried B&N, Apple, Kobe, and others. Limp sales went nowhere. Selling at Amazon is no cake walk, but you have a chance if: a) you write a dynamite story b) you pay for a good editor to help you make your story even better c) you hire a good cover artist to make it stand out among thousands, d) you find an author you want to "be like" and pay careful attention to how they pitch their books, and e) you learn and relearn the Amazon system (it's always changing). This is my latest book.
Writing a good book is hard. Marketing (I find) is even harder, but it can be done. Start your learning curve with Joanna Penn (thecreativepenn.com). Joanna has been doing this a long time and she has tons of free materials and good books to read. (I'm not associated with Joanna in any way - I only bring attention to her because her advice helped me). After Joanna, try Nick Stephensen (yourfirst10kreaders.com) - and I'm also not associated with Nick in any way. There are other gurus out there, but beware of anyone who says they'll handle marketing for you. I think those are the ones that are scams. Nobody can do this for you. It must come from the heart, and only the author can do that. Remember, it takes effort and time! Plan for 6 months after your first book - 100% marketing & sales.
Your Amazon sales page must be good, with a great blurb that reaches out to the right audience. You will also need a bunch of 5-star reader reviews. You can't buy them (that's illegal as far as Amazon is concerned), you must earn them. You might start with family and friends for the first 10 or 20, but to get to a 100 5-star reviews or more, you'll need to sell (and of course, your book will need to be good). Use Amazon ads that are finely tuned to hit just the right audience. As Michael points out - know your audience. Unless you get lucky, you'll need multiple effective ads that direct attention to your book page. There are plenty of resources out there that teach you how to create an ad - it's complicated, but necessary. Take the time to learn (I'm still learning).
I'm happy to talk to anyone who is struggling with this. It's not easy, and there are no guarantees. But if you have a good story to tell, Amazon has given us a way to get that story in the hands of thousands of people. Good luck!
Doug
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I can't say for sure how they knew she was someone in the 'not allowed' category. We are Facebook friends. I possibly had ordered something with her address at some point, but this was more than 5 years after I moved out. But regardless of how they tracked, they do catch some people.
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