Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hi all,

When I published my first novella, I had no idea what I was doing. The result was that my book never gained much traction.

I'm releasing my second novella (Path of Destruction) soon, though it's currently available on Amazon for pre-order, and I'm searching for any and all suggestions on how best to market my book effectively.

Thank you for reading and for any help you provide, in advance.

Congratulations on your second novella!

Is there a theme in the book you can blog about? Or was there some research you did that didn't make it into the book or had to be condensed to fit? Maybe blog about that and how it links to your book then share the posts on facebook and twitter. Readers not only love behind-the-scenes information but they also love getting a glimpse at the author him/herself, so...showing what fascinated you could fascinate them.

For my trilogy, I twisted the history of the Salem witch trials into an erotic tale. The history itself had always grabbed my attention, so I blogged about that. Starting 2 months before the release of the first book, I posted weekly "Fact or Fiction" blogs where I posed a question or misconception about the period on Monday and the answer on Friday. I spent the week tweeting hints or otherwise sharing the post on FB, Twitter, Google+, etc. Anyone who answered Monday's post correctly had a chance to win an e-Copy of the book. I did that for six weeks and gave away six copies. Two weeks before, I held a cover reveal on the blog and shared it everywhere the same way, then a week before, I released the trailer. By then, there was some buzz, which was quite exciting. I created some memes to tweet, also. Unfortunately, I did not do the same thing for the second book and that release was a dud.

You might want to share some deleted scenes, too, or short excerpts. Anything to draw the reader into the mood and tone of your book so they're prepared for it when it's released.

That's just my experience. I'm eager to hear other responses.

Good luck!

I looked for bloggers in my genre when my first book was coming out, and offered them free copies for honest reviews. There weren't a lot of takers, but it did help a little. I only contacted a couple dozen people. I may have drummed up more interest if I had taken the time to research additional bloggers. I also used Rafflecopter to create a raffle for copies of the book, Amazon gift cards, and charms associated with my book, and I promoted the raffle on social media with a link. I added everyone who responded to an email list, so I could send them announcements of future book releases and giveaways.

My best advice is not cheap but helps tremendously. If you have this already on Create Space, order as many as you can afford at author's bulk, allowing for about $6 more apiece for postage, plus cost of shipping bag. Do a goodreads giveaway. Autograph each one with a personal note to the winner. Do only US unless you're rich, because foreign postage is a killer.

The result. Personalized autograph paper copies have the tendency to give the author one star more than any other method. I got 9 reviews out of the 10 I gave away.

Let's do the math... My bulk costs was $5.50 each, another $1.50 each for a mailer bag, and about $5.50 apiece for 10 books shipping in US. So about $121.50 and I got 9 reviews which averaged above 4 stars on Amazon.

This helps to get some traction, but you need to follow up with other promotions.

Arla wrote: "Congratulations on your second novella!

Is there a theme in the book you can blog about? Or was there some research you did that didn't make it into the book or had to be condensed to fit? Maybe ..."

Thank you, Arla! I appreciate your input. There are some fantastic suggestions there that I honestly would never have thought of doing.

Thank you as well C.A. I'll admit, I too began seeking bloggers far too late. Still, better late than never, right? The raffle idea sounds fantastic, I might try that as well.

Morris wrote: "My best advice is not cheap but helps tremendously. If you have this already on Create Space, order as many as you can afford at author's bulk, allowing for about $6 more apiece for postage, plus c..."

Thanks Morris, that's an interesting analysis. I'll definitely try the more personal touch with my next giveaway. I don't live in the US so, postage is going to be quite costly for me anyway since the vast majority of my readers are in the UK or US.

Well sir, just make sure you find out how much it ships per unit. A less personal touch but faster and cheaper delivery with Create Space is to buy each book individually, and have them shipped not to you, but to the customer's address. Since Create Space is in the US, the shipping will be minimal. You can write a hand written thank-you note and mail it regular postage. It will arrive later than the book, but you will reinforce to your reader and improve fan loyalty. Who knows? They might even upgrade their review. Keep in mind, fast delivery to the winner may also be a plus. With direct shipping you eliminate the extra shipping bag, as well.

Hope this helps.

The first work by any author rarely gains much if any traction. The same goes for the second. The authors who eventually enjoy commercial success (and we all know hos those are) usually don't find until they have quite a number of books published and have been at for years.

For writers just starting out, marketing is a distraction in most cases: it takes a lot of time and effort and the turn is negligible. Good reviews are good for our ego and can give us much needed shot in the arm and confidence boost to keep us going. But they are pretty much worthless for selling [fiction] books (as have been pointed out many times).

Some people enjoy marketing and the interaction of social media. For those people, the effort is not wasted because they get enjoyment out of it. But, as a rule, it doesn't create much, if anything, in the way of sales for new authors.

Marketing only works once an author has gained credibility with the their market. Credibility has to come first. Many marketing strategy The "marketing" strategy that helps most with gaining credibility is "don't" -- just write. Do what you enjoy. Then write more.

I realize that is not welcome news to many new authors. We all want to succeed, we don't all have patience to wait 5 or 10 years for our ship to come in (if it ever does), and the conventional wisdom is that marketing matters. The reality is more complex than that, and to many of us, frustrating.

If most of us don't want to frustrated, the question of marketing our book effectively should be turned around: first, define "effective" based on a realistic and realizable definition of success. Then figure out effective ways to achieve that.

Best of luck with your new work.

I suggest you blog, facebook, tweet and anything else you can find as much as you can.

social media in general can help, if used correctly. though what's the correct use, i have no idea, the argument differs on people's opinions lol
however people do do blog tours, get in touch with bloggers, reviewers, facebook pages that are okay with promoting or helping authors of their preferred genre.
putting your first book on sale of sorts and advertising that as well as the new one can also sort of help. getting fellow authors to help cross promote may also be a nice way of getting the word out there. a win win situation for all involved.

Does anybody know how to get your book listed on the Goodreads New Release page? I have all of my books listed under my author profile and one is being released on the 1st May but I can't see it as showing on the New Release page. I too am struggling in the sea of marketing and would appreciate any help that you can give me.

Hmmm didn't even know there was a page like that lol

Owen wrote: "Marketing only works once an author has gained credibility with the their market. Credibility has to come first."

from a pragmatic point of view, this argument is circular. how're you going to get credibility if you don't do marketing to get readers?

Michael wrote: "people do do blog tours, get in touch with bloggers, reviewers, facebook pages that are okay with promoting or helping authors of their preferred genre.
putting your first book on sale of sorts and advertising that as well as the new one can also sort of help"

those are good practical tips. you could also change your first book cover or inside info to advertise for your second one.

marketing is efficiently and effectively exposing your book to most number the people who'd be interesting in reading your book.

just to give an idea of the magnitude, one indie author says: "I...pitched 200 book bloggers...gave out hundreds of free copies in exchange for reviews" (ARCs, basically)

http://canadaam.ctvnews.ca/mobile/am-...

Alex G wrote: "Owen wrote: "from a pragmatic point of view, this argument is circular. how're you going to get credibility if you don't do marketing to get readers?."

The main way we get credibility by writing and by continuing to write. The biggest mistake new authors make is trying to market too much, too soon. Marketing efforts by new authors are weak -- because they lack credibility -- and counterproductive, when it's done in a way reader are not receptive.

The point that is being missed here is that we, as authors, do not have to do any marketing at all. Amazon does a vastly better job of marketing our work than we new indie authors can ever hope to. This is obvious from studying the sales history of new releases on Amazon.

Readers who read our work and spread news of it by word of mouth market our much more effectively than we can, because they have creditability with other readers, which we don't when we start out. But thru word of mouth (in it's various forms), we gain gain credibility, and then our marketing efforts become increasingly effective.

The threshold for "effective" is a personal choice, of course.

But it does no author any good to fall into the trap of thinking that if they don't market themselves, no one will find their book. This is simply not true. So no circular reasoning here.

A final note on the example above: we don't learn what "effective" marketing is by studying success stories, because -- as in the case mentioned -- a causal relationship cannot be established between what the author did and the commercial success she enjoyed. As a counterexample. I know of an author, once a member of this group, who enjoyed a similar level success, by doing nothing at all (beyond hitting the publish button).

That is not to say that the article above does not make good points -- it does, especially about word of mouth. But it is not a general recipe for success. At most, it is a recipe for enhancing success born of different reasons. Further, the author writes YA, which is particular, and while what she says about social media and ARCs may have some value for YA, that is not the case for others genres and ARC reviews in particular are damaging in some genres.

To discover what "effective" is, and is not, it is necessary to study what did not work, overall and within our particular market. Articles like the one cited can be beneficial when they inspire us, but they can also be damaging when they foster false hopes and steer us down nonproductive paths.

Hi Narayan,

I don't claim to know anything at all about marketing but I have to agree with Owen on this point in particular, "The biggest mistake new authors make is trying to market too much, too soon."
As a reader, one of my pet peeves is an author shoving their book down my throat and spamming me with self-promotion.

When I pick up a book to read, it is usually a title I've heard of through word of mouth.
Now that's the frustrating part because how the heck are people supposed to talk about it if they don't know about it right?
Of late, the titles I have read are from authors in this group. Why did I pick them up? Because through conversations on this chat I found something they said interesting enough to go read their samples. If I enjoyed their story I tell a friend or two or six.

If I can give you any advise it would be to just keep writing and trust that your work will get out there. Not very helpful I'm afraid but there it is :)

Good luck with your new release.

Thanks S.J.! That's exactly the kind of mindset I try to adhere to. It's actually very reassuring so, it's very helpful!

From the beginning I wanted to avoid focusing too much on social networking and marketing, especially after seeing so many indie authors tweeting or posting the same advertisement roughly five times in a day. It is irritating.

With my first novella, I immediately took to searching for reviewers and bloggers to aid me in spreading the word, it took a while but more and more that has proven much more effective, though not so much so that I'm seeing a satsifying increase in sales. Which is why right now, I'm continuing the process of searching for and bring attention to reviews and blog posts about my book(s).

I also realise that novellas don't tend to sell very well, after all there is an abundance of novels available for free and I will in the near future (after my Kindle Select period has ended), make both my novellas perma-free, but for now, I just want to spread the word that this new one is available.

Judging from what other authors which I've spoken to, have told me, I can only keep writing and place faith in organic marketing.

Thanks all!