Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Hello, Just self-published my first book, a memoir. It's quite a chore finding the best ways to make it known. Any suggestions appreciated!

Marketing as a self-published author is hard.
Get yours a Kindle Unlimited account and look for books on the subject. Some of them have good points.
How was your KDP experience?
I learned early on I could keep updating to keep my book in the best shape possible. Don't think you have to publish once. If you find issues, correct them and update them.
Good luck.
MK

Diane wrote: "Hello, Just self-published my first book, a memoir. It's quite a chore finding the best ways to make it known. Any suggestions appreciated!"

Congratulations Diane - always a huge event to get a book out the door. I published my first book in November, so I am learning along with you. I'm learning that this community can help. Best of luck!

MK wrote: "
How was your KDP experience?
"

KDP was not too hard. Ingram Spark was a little more complicated and they did communicate by email. But essentially you're on your own with marketing unless you pay.

Congratulations, Diane! There are a lot of ways to market your book. I started an open mic night, which I've now taken online, but I write fiction, which is a slightly different kettle of fish. And the pandemic isn't exactly helpful to us authors. But you can have an online book launch on one of the social media platforms, you can join groups and book clubs, and you can become part of the Goodreads community to spread the word. Good luck!

Hi Dianne, congratulations! I am planning on self publishing with Ingramspark, could you please give me a little insight to the challenges you faced? Cheers TIA Noni

Hi Dianne,

Congratulations first of all on your book. I am also learning about this side of things. Unfortunately what I am realising is that you will have to pay a lot for advertisements.

Recently I did a post on Instagram where I am doing a special lockdown offer on my recent poetry book where is it currently £4.50. A few people have bought the book currently. I paid Instagram about £20 to push the promotion which the post has gotten some more likes and has gotten me a few more followers. But it is a consistent battle. And I haven't checked to see if anyone else has bought the book yet on my book reports.

Even if you have a publisher, they won't pay out for advertising because they have a big fan based and just won't have budget to spend £200 advertising in a magazine for every author. So try local/independent magazines for advertising spaces as well which is what I did for my published children's book, they have given it a decent run for the price, a long with the usual likes and shares from friends and family. Also I would recommend Writing Magazine as they can put it on their website for free for all the members/readers to look at, email to ask about their advertising spaces and possibly Writers Forum too. There is also the Prairie Book Review Magazine, where they have a paid review service (that doesn't mean you auto get a review but it means it will pay for someone's time to for it to actually get read), so you have a review you can use on blogs sites etc and it will go on their social media pages too. Hope that helps!

Alexandra wrote: "Hi Dianne,

Congratulations first of all on your book. I am also learning about this side of things. Unfortunately what I am realising is that you will have to pay a lot for advertisements.

Rece..."
Thanks, Dianne

Noni wrote: "Hi Dianne, congratulations! I am planning on self publishing with Ingramspark, could you please give me a little insight to the challenges you faced? Cheers TIA Noni"

Review options carefully at http://ingramspark.com

If you follow their wants it's very easy, and they will answer your questions. And their distribution is vast. If you happen to have your book on KDP check if you've checked "extended distribution ", if so go in and uncheck it a few days before you do IngramSpark. You will wind up with 2 different isbns. Which seems to be ok.

Hello, I am a new author who just published my first nonfiction memoir type book about my breast cancer journey. The book is titled What Dumbass Doctors Tell You A Patient's Perspective. It is available in both physical form and in ebook format. Here is the link https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08XWP...

Hello!

Congratulations on your new book!
I've recently started a group on goodreads.com called Authors' Review Exchange. The idea is to match authors with similar books who need reviews. They meet there to exchange books and goodreads.com reviews to get them onto the boards -- so to speak.

I hope that you will join us!

Michael J. Scharen
michaelsbookcorner.com

I just self published my first memoir and handling all the marketing and sales of the print version. Anyone have any marketing ideas other than social media?

Mark wrote: "I just self published my first memoir and handling all the marketing and sales of the print version. Anyone have any marketing ideas other than social media?"

Hi Mark. Congratulations on publishing your memoir. Interesting that I attended a workshop yesterday on writing memoirs. I've now moved this idea from my list of dreams to my list of goals. I also write thrillers and I think the marketing is not much different. I contacted libraries and found this a good source of sales. Book clubs are another opportunity. Good luck.

Greetings Mark and Nora. I hope you are meeting your goals and prosperous in your endeavors. I’d like to mention there are certain podcasts that are great opportunities to market your craft and brand. May I also offer my services as an indie writer and publisher, as well? I can get a book trailer for you and even offer the usual marketing tools (social media) as a management resource. Please visit my website jsbusinesstogether.biz for more information. I am also an indie/self-published author. Be well friends. MKD

Hello all, it was nice reading how there’s so many of you publishing your own books. I also recently published a book and would love for you to review it. We can exchange copies and review each others’ works. Feel free to send me a message.

Marketing indeed is tough, but from what I’ve read, reviews are a big plus.

Saad wrote: "Hello all, it was nice reading how there’s so many of you publishing your own books. I also recently published a book and would love for you to review it. We can exchange copies and review each oth..."

Hi Saad,

Tell me more about how this would work please. Diane

Guy wrote: "Diane wrote: "Hello, Just self-published my first book, a memoir. It's quite a chore finding the best ways to make it known. Any suggestions appreciated!"

Congratulations Diane - always a huge eve..."

I think there are many of us in the same boat, and the advice on the net can be bewildering and the type of book you have written will make a difference to what works. i think it is a case of plugging away and trying to get noticed rather than sell books..but that is just my perspective.

Hi Diane,

I worked on building my friends on FB and Instagram. I have a speaking engagement at a book club and a signing at a gallery late spring. I currently have a print book going here. Wishing you good luck! Diane