ANZ Authors discussion

I struggle with self-promoting and I don't mean putting myself out there or talking to interviewers and fans. What I mean is pushing myself on others. I really hate it, though I love talking to anyone who wants to talk to me. The following on my books seems to be quite organic in that it seems to be growing all on its own with fans promoting me and sharing their love of my work without my interference. It's very gratifying the way it is occurring, if very slow. Any advice, hints or tips to help me? I'm so new to all of this.

I think the organic growth is the strongest type - people naturally put a lot more store in friend-and-family type recommendations. It's the sign of a good product, too. :-) I only remember to recommend the exceptional ones!

My original promo method was fairly simple - a permanent freebie! *grin* Add forum participation and the occasional 'new book out now!' post where I think people will be interested, and... you've kinda got my promo strategy. *shrug*

There's a lot more that I could be doing, but I honestly believe that word-of-mouth is the most important thing to be fuelling. For that to happen, I simply need:
- a book that's easy for people to discover and get hold of
- something in that book which makes it stand out and be worthy of comment
- easy access to my non-free books in a similar vein

That last point is the most pain-in-the-neckish at the moment - I'm waiting for my latest ebook (sequel to the freebie) to be distributed to several retailers. Then, in the next few months, I'll get an idea of how well my marketing strategy actually works. :-)

I absolutely agree on the organic growth method. I quit Myspace early this year because the only comments I ever received were from people exhorting me to head over to their site and check out their new songs/books/artworks and tell them what I thought. So I voted with my feet...or fingers, really.

Use a bit of tease, and a bit of honey, but avoid the sledgehammer. Those who shout may get the instant attention, but once they've finished shouting, what's left? Shout louder? It's far better when you give people enough to fascinate them and allow them to chase you.

One of my methods is to create book promo trailers. Just short videos I post on Youtube for my books and for those of friends. They seem to help. One of those friends ended up as the number 2 best-seller for her category on Amazon for a few days. Her methods also included doing "blog world tours" and some radio interviews (in the US). She also organised book-signings throughout her home town (Las Vegas). These are all tried-and-true methods to create awareness, but there's a fine line between saying "Hi, I'm here" and "Hey! Buy my damn book, foo'!"

Thanks for the advice. It's nice to be able to share these things with others who understand. Being on the opposite side of things to the fans is hard because I was always the fan and I know that they think very differently to authors...at least, I know that now that I am an author myself. Still feels weird to say that though.

Hi. I'm a newbie to this group. I'm Nicola, 28. I was born in England but moved to Adelaide, SA three and a half years ago to be with my Aussie fiance.

I launched my writing career just a few months ago and so far have had 2 ebooks published by Wicked Nights Publishing.

I also find self-promotion hard and get stuck for marketing ideas. Not knowing many people here yet doesn't help, but I let all my friends and family abroad know about my new releases.

At present I do the following:

* Website

* Facebook (fanpage)

* Twitter

* Blog (google blogger)

* Goodreads (basic account)

* Manic Readers (basic account)

* Savvy Authors (premium membership)

* Book Trailers on YouTube (and my other sites)

* Flyers put up at library, local shops, my partner's workplace (am looking into new places to display at present

* Email to all my hotmail contacts for each new release

* Send enquiries for reviews to suitable book blogs (something new I've started for my second release)

* Produce a regular magazine via Issuu with all my writing news and promote on all my other web pages

* Joining groups and discussions

* Guest blogging (did my first one last week)


It's a lot of work - more than writing the book - but I hope it will pay off in the long term. My first ebook release got as high as number 5 on the OmniLit best seller list (it's still in the top ten) and it is top of the Thriller list. My latest ebook only came out 7 days ago, so I need to wait and see how that one goes..

Hope that might give some of you some new ideas. Best wishes

Nicola
http://www.nickijmarkus.org.uk

Hi, I'm only new to all this as well. Since Joanne wrote her comment in Nov she's would have been at this a lot longer than I have. I don't do as much as Nicki, but I do facebook and I have my own blogpage. I'm on here and Manic Readers. I'm also on my publishers yahoo group so I can talk to other authors and we kind of get on each other's blogpages and do interviews and such. I haven't had anyone one mine yet, but I'm intending to do something in April. If anyone of you would like to friend me, either on here or facebook that would be great so I can let you know when I'm going to start guest blogging. I write m/m erotic romance just in case you didn't know. You can check out my blogpage on www.pennybrandon.blogspot.com I certainly recommend getting something like that.

Penny

Oh, by the way. I grew up in England and moved to Australia in my early 20's with my kids and husband and despite a quick return to Ireland I am still here.

Hey all, there is a really good promotional opportunity through Cryselle and her blog here: http://crysellescraziness.blogspot.com.

Crys posts a prompt pic once a week and asks for flash fiction of 100-1000 words. Once you write the fic, Cryselle posts it with a book cover, links and any news from you.

Nerine x.

I started a Page on Facebook, not because I wanted to advertise it, but because I wanted to be able to talk about my book without all my friends saying "There she goes again!" I invited the ones I thought might be interested to 'Like' and then they could decide if they wanted to or not. That way I'm not annoying anyone who hasn't chosen to be annoyed!

Joanne wrote: "I struggle with self-promoting and I don't mean putting myself out there or talking to interviewers and fans. What I mean is pushing myself on others. I really hate it, though I love talking to a..."

I agree with you, I feel the same way. It's hard when you can't afford to promote yourself and have to do it the facebook and twitter way. I feel guilty at times for having to advertise through those means. But, I also have a blog and think that works well. I also think Goodreads is a fantastic place.

And guest blogging works.

Well I've guess blogged today with Nicki Markus

http://www.nickijmarkus.com/2013/11/g...

David Menon

Sorceror (Detective Superintendent Jeff Barton #1