One of the things I really enjoy about being an indie author and editor who works with a lot of other indie authors is being able to share my experiences and knowledge about the biz with others. Case in point is something that occurred the other day. An old kayaking buddy of mine has written the first in a series of science fiction novels and wasn’t fully sold on which direction he wanted to take them: indie or traditional. We got on Skype and chatted about the gamut of things one needs to know and consider when making this decision, and he asked a question that tickled me pink on several levels. To paraphrase, he wanted to know if an author had more credibility to potential readers if they publish via print format, either in lieu of or along with an ebook.The question caught me completely off guard. Can you guess why?That’s right. Most of us have been book nerds for long enough now that we remember the days before ebooks when independent authors were (considered) the guileless, or worse, narcissistic, writer wannabes who used vanity press and print-on-demand services to publish their books. They were frowned upon and condescended because it was assumed that anyone who couldn’t get an agent or sell their books directly to a publishing house was simply not a good writer. And when they sidestepped the traditional route and printed their books on their own, they were considered delusional and even insufferable ego trippers.We’ve come so far, you know? The thousands upon thousands of talents who are now self-publishing are often no different than those early vanity/POD indies (in that many of us are actually quite good writers, just not easy fits into traditional publishing's mold). A few things have changed, true, such as the advent of ebooks, but the spirit of creativity and talent and skill that make a good writer has been among us all along, and now there is nothing to hold it back. The big picture has flipped, and having your books in print is no longer the route of the delusional but just another of the smart business practices of independent authorpeneurs.Most of the indies I know have achieved their success through publishing ebooks, but that doesn’t mean print books haven’t also contributed. So, back to my friend’s question: Do indie authors with print books also available seem more credible to your average reader? My gut says no, but I don’t know of any studies or anecdotal evidence to support this idea. When ebooks exploded, print quickly became a distant consideration that had little to do with most indies' rise to the top. The idea many of us had was to test the waters to see if there was a market for our books through the ebook channel, and if so, printing them became the next consideration. When I did my research, the overwhelming buzz from other indies I talked with who had achieved any success was that print books were still mostly just a fun thing to have but weren't their main income channel by a long shot. You could extrapolate that to mean that readers aren't even the tiniest bit concerned with/or interested in print books (enough to make them profitable), but again, I just don't know.So I want to throw it out to you all. What do you think? Now that indie publishing is a meaningful and permanent part of the overall publishing paradigm, and readers flock to us with nearly the same enthusiasm that was once only reserved for traditionally published novelists, do our major markets (readers) care about print books? Does it makes us seem more professional or credible if we have them? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.
Self-Publishing Paths: Week 6, Marketing & Promotion
Greetings and salutations, Blogoramans! Welcome to the final post in this guest series on self-publishing at mystery author and contracts lawyer Susan Spann's Spann of Time blog. In this final installment, I offer what words of advice I can about the marketing and promotion side of being a self-published author. I hope you glean some valuable information, and I wish you the utmost success in your writing and publishing endeavors!
You’ve done it. You have achieved a dream—maybe one that was lifelong, or perhaps more spur-of-the-moment, but an achievement to be commended for. Take a minute and think about that. Thousands of people want to write a novel. Of those, only hundreds begin, and of those, fewer still ever get beyond crafting a very long, wordy file that pulses in electronic bits on their computer or fades from ink to obscurity in a notebook. But not you—to paraphrase T. S. Elliot, you have turned blood into ink, and now you are ready to hurl it at the ravenous hordes of voracious and inkthirsty readers. Or, you know, sell it. Continue here.
Full Series Posts:Week 1: Research. An overview and comparison of the self- vs. traditional-publishing paradigms.Week 2: Business Plans. What an author needs to know to create and adhere to business plans and deadlines.Week 3: Distributing Your Novel. The general considerations regarding distribution sites.Week 4: Creating eBooks. Details to consider in regard to ebook creation, and why and how to do it.Week 5: Plan ahead to hire an editor, proofreader, and cover designer. At minimum, start looking six months before you plan to publish.
Self-Publishing Paths: Week 2, Business Plans
G'day Bloggorites. Please join me and mystery author Susan Spann at Spann of Time today where I discuss the ins and outs and steps to take for creating a self-published author's business plan. This post is the second in a series on all of the facets of self-publishing. Visit week 1's post on research and identifying your goals and intents here. Here's a short preview:
Being in independently published author is extremely time intensive. Knowing that going in is the first consideration you need to include when evaluating your trajectory and goals. Much as you may outline your novel—with plot arcs, story goals, and finale outcomes—think of your business plan as the outline to your writing career. The following are the three universal steps (as I see them) to accomplish this.1. Set realistic goals.The fact is, brand new unknown authors cannot expect to hit the publish button and sell hundreds of books overnight, even if they hire a publicist. The number one way people sell books is through word of mouth, and if your book hasn't yet been read by anyone, there's no one to spread the word on how fabulous it is. But that's okay, as indie fantasy author K. Scott Lewis describes it, becoming a success is a marathon, not a sprint. Continue.
Full Series Posts:Week 1: Research. An overview and comparison of the self- vs. traditional-publishing paradigms.Week 3: Distributing Your Novel. The general considerations regarding distribution sites.Week 4: Creating eBooks. Details to consider in regard to ebook creation, and why and how to do it.Week 5: Plan ahead to hire an editor, proofreader, and cover designer. At minimum, start looking six months before you plan to publish.Week 6: Marketing and Promotion.
The Domino's Pizza Approach: Promote Your Book in 30 Minutes or Less
For many indie authors, marketing and self-promotion, I think, can make our guts squirm like too many dyspeptic squid inside a fishbowl. For some it is merely daunting, for others it is a billboard-sized map without a legend or north arrow and written in a language we don’t speak. We all know there is a ton to do, but few of us have a game plan for how to do it, and even fewer of us have much desire to cut into our valuable and hard-fought-for writing time to actually make it happen.Remember when you were a kid and the only way to get through a horrible side dish that your parent prepared was by cutting it into the smallest bites possible so that you could swallow it without it ever touching your tongue? That is the same approach you can take to marketing and self-promotion. Small, digestible chunks that require minimal exposure.Below I have compiled a list of small bites for the discerning and finicky palettes of non-marketing-oriented writers. Putting in a half hour a day to tackle each is an easy and mostly painless strategy for plugging your books. I can’t guarantee you that each will net you the kind of exposure and sales you’re hoping for, but the aggregate of each day’s efforts will certainly get you farther down that path than the familiar comfort of procrastination.
List of Marketing and Promotion Tools for the Indie Author
Hone your elevator pitch.
Search for upcoming writer’s conferences to attend. I’ve participated and thoroughly enjoyed both the Willamette Writers Conference and the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference, but there are gads more. Conferences are a superb way of meeting like-minded people, making wonderful friends, and connecting with others in the industry from whom you can learn.
Write a template for making a book review request. Remember to customize this for each individual person you’ll make a request to. Here’s a good starting place on Stephanie Loree’s blog. And another article on Amazon.
Search for a book reviewer on Twitter, Wordpress, Blogger, or Amazon, then send them your request. Here are my Twitter lists of reviewers. List one. List two.
Enter a contest. Here are just a few. (Note: I’m not endorsing any of these as I’m not familiar with all of them. Just food for thought.)
The Kindle Book Review Best Indie Book Contest (my favorite because my first novel, Contract of Defiance, was a finalist last year, and my second, Contract of Betrayal, was just announced as a semi-finalist today).
A list from the San Francisco Book Review.
Step one: Join Unbound, Pubslush, or Kickstarter to raise money and hire a PR manager. Unbound and Pubslush are like Kickstarter, but for writers only.
Step two: Write/develop an Unbound pitch and/or Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for hiring a PR manager.
Enter your books (if they are science fiction), on ScifiKindle for some free social networking promotion.
Send a personal tweet on Twitter to fans of your genre. Make requests of your writer friends to tweet your book.
Create a letter to successful writers in your genre to request a book blurb/endorsement. Remember to customize this for each individual person you’ll send your request to.
Search for writers in your genre (if you don’t already have a list), and send them your personalized request.
Update your LinkedIn profile with your publications, and search the site for promotional groups to learn how others are doing it and gain/give support. Here’s my LinkedIn profile.
Make book cards/coupons to give away whenever the opportunity presents itself. Try Livrada, Greenerside Digital, or review this list at MediaBistro.
Join message boards of fans in your genre to engage and, when the time is right, introduce your books.
Update your blog with a new post about what you’re working on.
Create an email newsletter. Molly Greene has a few excellent posts about this on her blog. And here's another from author Steena Holmes on the Writers in the Storm blog.
Design a contest or giveaway that focuses on increasing your readership and find a date on your calendar to run it.
Invite writer friends to join a blog hop.
Suggest writing a guest post for someone else who's blog you follow or relates to your genre.
Submit a book to BookBub or StoryBundle.
Find out how to organize a book reading at your local library, bohemian coffee shop, or bookstore.
Create bookmarks or business cards to promote your book.
Search for Facebook groups where authors are free to plug their books, then plug yours. And create a Facebook page.
Join Goodreads and list your books.
And this is just for starters. Navigating the promo planet is tricky, but not impossible, and every small step forward will eventually lead you to your destination. If you’re also an indie author, please feel free to share your wisdom. What other methods and techniques have you tried? What’s worked and what hasn’t?Here's another great post on the subject over at David Gaughran's blog.