Cruising through the many and varied Facebook writer’s groups I notice one recurring request. “Please, please help me to sell my book!” Most writers really just want to write and early on, buy into the dream of being rescued by a knight in shining armour, aka publisher armed with a hefty advance and a publicist side-kick.
The sooner a writer realises this is indeed nothing more than a pleasant dream and just gets on with the job of marketing and networking, the happier and more successful they will be.
Or sadly, they’ll give up and go back to whatever they were doing before, believing that their passion for writing was never meant to go any further, or worse, that they have been unfairly brutalised by the cruel and exclusive, book-buying world.
If you want a career as a writer, you have to approach marketing your writing as though it’s a new business you have started. And it can’t be an extension of yourself, you can’t be doing this for love, accolades or fame, even though one day those things may come if you keep writing.
I am not afraid to admit that I didn’t really understand the extent to which I was going to have to market my work. I had read years ago that I needed a ‘platform’ so I started a Facebook group that was loosely based on the subject I like to write on. When I published my novel I had more than 1600 followers, around 10% of whom took up my free ebook offer. This group has grown so much over the past 3 months since I clicked that magical publish button.
That group has grown to over two thousand members with a very active readership. Seems people can’t get enough of pretty pictures of Paris… Now to see if I can convert that passion into sales…
I have one novel out there on one platform, so naturally, my sales have been low, but I am also aware that until a few weeks ago, I still wanted to divide my focus between my artwork and writing. Since deciding in mid-May that I was going to switch my focus permanently to writing, I have come ahead in leaps and bounds. But still, my main challenge is, yes, you guessed it, MARKETING!
I know I can pay an expert to do some marketing stuff for me, and one day I will! But I feel while I am still working out exactly what it is that I am writing, I can afford to muddle along and take advantage of the sheer amount of free and inexpensive information that is out there on the web.
Each day I seem to have a bunch of tabs open at the top of my screen that I fully intend returning to at some stage. Here are just some of the awesome resources I have found and begun to use.
I follow Alexa’s page on Facebook http://writepublishsell.co/ and get some brilliant ideas and support and connect with other writers.
I’ve really enjoyed this blog. https://www.yourwriterplatform.com/promote-and-market-your-book/
Indie publishing services and information I want to learn more about…
https://justpublishingadvice.com/how-to-use-keywords-to-sell-more-kindle-ebooks/
This looks interesting, but I have to look into it. https://infostack.io/infostackwrite-publish-profit2-e/?affiliate=alexabigwarfe
This advertiser has been very active in the Facebook writer’s groups but I haven’t had time to check it out yet. https://vivapurpose.net/free-keyword-video-1
These guys look interesting too! http://www.paidauthor.com/
Quote of the day…
You must be logged in to post a comment.