Book marketing is not an easy process
During the last few years, frenzied Kindle ebook marketing has become rampant, as anyone who can spell their own name is jumping on the self-publishing bandwagon in search of the rich rewards this new pot of gold promises.
I think I have read more ‘Make Money Fast Kindle Marketing Schemes’ than I’ve had hot dinners and can only think that most who go in search of fast money from publishing on Kindle will become disappointed quite quickly.
The truth of the matter is that there is no fast money to be made from writing and publishing a book, and there never has been. Yes, one or two outliers have hit the news, but that is how it happens in life. A very small few of the millions who dream, get to become rich and famous. It’s always been the same ratio for actors, singers, musicians, entrepreneurs and yes, writers.
So if you are serious about writing and want to be recognised as an author, and not just another self-published Kindle ebook writer, maybe it’s time to step back a little from the marketing, giveaways, freebies, forums and ebook fairy tale success stories and build something far more substantial.
Building your reputation as an author takes a long time, but the rewards will equate to steady book sales that don’t need you to invest 24 hours every day trying to sell your latest or only ebook. If this marketing time was invested instead in building your author profile and your reputation, writing more books and getting better at doing so, sales will come to you, as opposed to you chasing them.
So what can you do to build your author reputation?
Firstly, always publish a paperback version of your book as this adds credibility to your writing and you have something tangible that you can sell, distribute or send away to media companies. Print on demand makes this easy and economical.
Use your blog wisely and not as a daily moaning, groaning and complaining about life outlet. Give readers of your blog a taste of your writing skills and imagination and keep to a predictable theme or topic.
A good idea is to guest post as often as you can and invite other authors to post on your blog. Author interviews are always popular, so why not do one each month?
Use social media judiciously and don’t fall into the trap of mixing your personal life with your business of being an author. Set up separate accounts to chat and keep in touch with family and friends.
Comment on other blogs regularly, but stay focussed and always be positive and on topic.
Have a well maintained and up to date website that tells your story as an author and of course list all your books and buy links.
Lastly, is to think like an author and not worry about how many ebooks you sold today. Sales will come if you can write a damn good book.
And this is the after last point. No matter how hard you try, you won’t make money trying to sell a bad book. So forget about the fast money and think about writing a very, very good book. That’s what good authors do.
” So forget about the fast money and think about writing a very, very good book”
In your case Derek, for me that has to be Louis. :)
I couldn’t agree more. There’s nothing more paralysing and fruitless than trying to figure how to boost your sales (which only means you’re watching your sales stats a bit too closely).
I think I do most of these things, Derek. I always publish a print edition. I have two (actually, three, counting my specialized conlanging blog) blogs that are not just there to promote my books – they contain all kinds of substantive material like book reviews, discussions of poetic form, grammatical topics, excerpts of some of my other writings,and my own philosophical ideas. In one of them I’ve introduced the topic of myth in literature. I’ve never been interviewed – I wouldn’t mind doing that – and I’ve never interviewed anybody, but I did just exchange interesting guest posts. I still do a lot of promotion, and I have made a lot of contacts, particularly within the conlanging community, since that forms an important part of my writing.
But I still can’t get much going in the way of sales. A growing number of people read my blogs, but they don’t buy the books. What’s not to like about a civilization of intelligent termites? Especially one with an epic fantasy feel to it – where a Champion and his Companions set out on a Quest and relive tales from myth and legend along the way. Where are the readers with imaginations these days, who want something more original than cliched vampires, zombies, and werewolves or standardized light romantic novels?