Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "promotion"
Second Chances
I am delighted to announce that the Bloggers Unite group here on Goodreads have chosen my latest novel, 'Second Chances', for the November book club read.
Bloggers Unite
I have arranged a couple of special promotions on the price of the novel to coincide with this event.
If you buy the paperback book direct from Lulu you get 40% off the price:
Or for those of you who prefer ebooks, I have reduced the price of the kindle version to $1.99 in the US and £1.45 in the UK
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Bloggers Unite
I have arranged a couple of special promotions on the price of the novel to coincide with this event.
If you buy the paperback book direct from Lulu you get 40% off the price:
Or for those of you who prefer ebooks, I have reduced the price of the kindle version to $1.99 in the US and £1.45 in the UK
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Get great discounts on print books at Lulu.com!
Lulu.com is currently running a promotion where you can get 25% off any purchase until 6th January 2012 using the code ONEMORETHINGUK at the checkout.
I am only able to access the UK site so I am unsure whether there is a similar promotion for US customers, but I assume there must be. You just need to go to the Lulu.com homepage to check out the details of the discount code.
I also currently have a promotion running with up to 50% off my print books at Lulu, so if you use the special discount code you can get even more of a bargain!
Here's a link to my Lulu author page: Maria Savva -- Lulu Spotlight
Whilst you're there why not browse some other author pages. Here are some authors & books that I recommend:
Julie Elizabeth Powell -- Lulu Spotlight
Julie writes across the genres. She has written children's books, murder/mystery, fantasy, chick lit, short stories, poems. She is a very versatile writer and I enjoy her books immensely
Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick-- Lulu Spotlight
I can't say enough good things about Breathing into Stone, which is the only book I have read by this author. I love it! I am looking forward to reading his other books.
Alex Sumner-- Lulu Spotlight
I recently read The Magus, a murder/mystery with a paranormal twist. Definitely one of my favourite books of 2011. I am about to start the second book in the series.
Mark Rice-- Lulu Spotlight
Metallic Dreams is one of the best books I've ever read, I would highly recommend it; especially to music lovers and in particular rock/heavy metal fans.
Susan Helene Gottfried-- Lulu Spotlight
Susan Helene Gottfried writes rock n' roll fiction. After reading her short story Mannequin: A Short Story, I'm looking forward to reading her other work.
Bill See-- Lulu Spotlight
I would definitely recommend 33 Days: Touring In A Van. Sleeping On Floors. Chasing A Dream. by Bill See, former lead singer in '80s rock band Divine Weeks. It's an insightful memoir, and one of my favourite books of 2011.
Scott M Liddell-- Lulu Spotlight
Scott is a photographer, and in fact his photograph appears on the front cover of my novel Second Chances. When I contacted him to ask permission to use the photo, I discovered that he is also an author. I really enjoyed his novel The Beatle Man
Happy Reading!
I am only able to access the UK site so I am unsure whether there is a similar promotion for US customers, but I assume there must be. You just need to go to the Lulu.com homepage to check out the details of the discount code.
I also currently have a promotion running with up to 50% off my print books at Lulu, so if you use the special discount code you can get even more of a bargain!
Here's a link to my Lulu author page: Maria Savva -- Lulu Spotlight
Whilst you're there why not browse some other author pages. Here are some authors & books that I recommend:
Julie Elizabeth Powell -- Lulu Spotlight
Julie writes across the genres. She has written children's books, murder/mystery, fantasy, chick lit, short stories, poems. She is a very versatile writer and I enjoy her books immensely
Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick-- Lulu Spotlight
I can't say enough good things about Breathing into Stone, which is the only book I have read by this author. I love it! I am looking forward to reading his other books.
Alex Sumner-- Lulu Spotlight
I recently read The Magus, a murder/mystery with a paranormal twist. Definitely one of my favourite books of 2011. I am about to start the second book in the series.
Mark Rice-- Lulu Spotlight
Metallic Dreams is one of the best books I've ever read, I would highly recommend it; especially to music lovers and in particular rock/heavy metal fans.
Susan Helene Gottfried-- Lulu Spotlight
Susan Helene Gottfried writes rock n' roll fiction. After reading her short story Mannequin: A Short Story, I'm looking forward to reading her other work.
Bill See-- Lulu Spotlight
I would definitely recommend 33 Days: Touring In A Van. Sleeping On Floors. Chasing A Dream. by Bill See, former lead singer in '80s rock band Divine Weeks. It's an insightful memoir, and one of my favourite books of 2011.
Scott M Liddell-- Lulu Spotlight
Scott is a photographer, and in fact his photograph appears on the front cover of my novel Second Chances. When I contacted him to ask permission to use the photo, I discovered that he is also an author. I really enjoyed his novel The Beatle Man
Happy Reading!
A-Z of Self-publishing and writing tips: G
Welcome to the third instalment of my series, wherein I intend to pass on some of the things I have learnt on my publishing journey.
I'm hoping this series will be of use to aspiring authors as well as established Indie authors. Readers may also find the insights valuable, in order to gain some kind of idea of what the self-publishing journey entails. It's not an easy road to travel, which is why I think it's beneficial that we all assist each other and try to enlighten those who may not be familiar with all the ins and outs.
You will find the first two instalments here:
A-C: http://nutsandcrisps.wordpress.com/20...
D-F: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
I am only covering the letter G today as I have found many tips that start with this particular letter!
So, here we go:
G
Goodreads
I love Goodreads, and I'm not just saying that because I'm here. I discovered this invaluable website back in 2008 at the very beginning of my self-publishing journey and it has been a source of inspiration and assistance to me. I have met some of my best Indie author friends here. Back in 2008, when I was trying to find a way to promote my writing, I heard that a good way to get the word out was to have lots of reviews of your books. So I set about trying to find ways to obtain reviews. I contacted some Amazon reviewers, but then heard about something going on at Goodreads where authors would swap books and review each other's work. As I was out of work at the time, I had lots of time to read, so I thought this would be a good way to build up a following. While I would recommend book swaps as a way to get more reviews, I would also add a warning. There are some authors who will give you a high rating for your book in the hope that you will do the same. If you're like me, and only give honest opinions on books, you can run into some trouble. Some authors will be offended if you give them a less than glowing review of their book. So find out a bit about the author before you agree to swap books with them. Make sure you inform them from the start that you only give honest reviews. I had to start adding that to e-mails because of the unrealistic expectations I came across from less than professional authors. A good system is to agree that if you don't like the book you won't post a review. Then there won't be any backlash.
Anyway, back to why I love Goodreads. Through the book swaps, I discovered many great books and it made me realise that self-published fiction is just as good as the books you'll find on the best-seller shelves in shops. It opened up a whole new world of reading for me; up until that point, I'd been someone who was swayed by advertising to buy the books that were hyped up by publishing companies.
Some of the Indie authors I met on Goodreads way back in 2008 are still great friends and I enjoy their work immensely, for example, Julie Elizabeth Powell, and Quentin R. Bufogle.
Goodreads also has this blog facility, which I have found very handy as a tool to spread the word about my books. There are also many groups you can join where you can interact with readers and writers. In general, I have found the groups and forums on Goodreads to be more Indie-friendly than for example the Amazon forums. I am almost afraid to post anything on the Amazon forums because readers there seem to hate self-published authors... It's odd that people who claim to love reading and hang out on those forums can also hurl such abuse at creators of fiction. I have seen many an author criticised for mentioning his or her own book on those forums, and can only say that it offends my very soul to see that sort of behaviour. I can understand to some extent, the hate of spammy authors who will post links to their books everywhere without participating in any discussions, but the sort of abuse of authors I've witnessed on those forums is akin to bullying and seems to have its root in an innate hate for Indie authors that obviously stems from ignorance, and the unfounded belief that all self-published books are somehow inferior to those published by a mainstream publisher.
Sorry, I have strayed from the point again.
Other things I have found useful on Goodreads are the giveaway, recommend, and events functions. You can advertise a giveaway of a copy of your book, and as there are plenty of readers on this site, there are often thousands of entries. This generates interest in the books, as people are likely to add the book to their to-read list.
The 'recommend' link next to every book title is great, because you can recommend books you have read to your followers and thus help promote good books.
The 'events' link is great too as you can use it to let readers know about any upcoming book signings, KDP Free promotions etc.
To conclude, I would say that being a member of Goodreads has definitely been worthwhile for me and I'd recommend it to all Indie authors. When you join you'll be given a reader profile page, but can apply for an Author Page quite easily by following the links. Author pages are useful to have because as well as having a blog attached to them, there is also a section where you can add excerpts from your writing, so that readers can get an idea of your style.
Grammar
If you are thinking of self-publishing your own work it is important that you have a good grasp of grammar. If you don't, there are many books that you can buy to help you learn the rules. An editor is also a useful resource if you're not confident with your knowledge of grammar. It's very important for your prose to be grammatically correct (and I am aware that there are conflicting grammar rules that often make this an arduous task). The only instance where you can be excused for not following grammatical rules is within dialogue. Everyday speech is hardly ever grammatically correct, and I think good writing should reflect this. However, another warning here: don't make your dialogue so authentic to a particular district or country that your reader is left unable to understand it! I once read a book that was supposed to be written so that it reflected a particular slang, and I only got through about 16 pages before giving up. What's the point publishing a book that no one can understand? Our aim should be to have as large a readership as possible, so don't alienate your readers. It is still possible to write authentic dialogue without making it illegible. An example of this, is Scottish author Mark Rice whose stories are based in Scotland and the character dialogue is authentic but still easy to understand.
The main point about grammar that I want to make is that when a book is written as near as possible to correct grammar as you can get it, it will be so much easier for the reader to read. And clarity is what we should all be aiming for when we are writing. You don't want a reader to have to stop and think after reading each sentence trying to work out what you actually meant by that.
Giveaways
Many authors say they don't like giving away their books because they have worked so hard writing them. It is very true that authors work very hard on their books.
But my view is that you are shooting yourself in the foot if you don't give some books away. Every book you give away is an advertisement.
As mentioned above, Goodreads allows you to set up book giveaways. You can then use the giveaway as a marketing tool, and a way for more people to find out about your book. After all, everyone loves getting something for free. The success of the Amazon KDP Select programme is testament to that.
Other places you can set up giveaways are LibraryThing.com, Rafflecopter, and even when you're invited for an interview by a blogger or another author, you should also offer to give away a book or two. I have personally found the Goodreads giveaways a great way to promote a book.
On BestsellerBound Recommends (the new blog from Darcia Helle, myself, and J. Michael Radcliffe), we can set up a giveaway for Indie authors. Check out the submissions page for details!
I'm hoping this series will be of use to aspiring authors as well as established Indie authors. Readers may also find the insights valuable, in order to gain some kind of idea of what the self-publishing journey entails. It's not an easy road to travel, which is why I think it's beneficial that we all assist each other and try to enlighten those who may not be familiar with all the ins and outs.
You will find the first two instalments here:
A-C: http://nutsandcrisps.wordpress.com/20...
D-F: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
I am only covering the letter G today as I have found many tips that start with this particular letter!
So, here we go:
G
Goodreads
I love Goodreads, and I'm not just saying that because I'm here. I discovered this invaluable website back in 2008 at the very beginning of my self-publishing journey and it has been a source of inspiration and assistance to me. I have met some of my best Indie author friends here. Back in 2008, when I was trying to find a way to promote my writing, I heard that a good way to get the word out was to have lots of reviews of your books. So I set about trying to find ways to obtain reviews. I contacted some Amazon reviewers, but then heard about something going on at Goodreads where authors would swap books and review each other's work. As I was out of work at the time, I had lots of time to read, so I thought this would be a good way to build up a following. While I would recommend book swaps as a way to get more reviews, I would also add a warning. There are some authors who will give you a high rating for your book in the hope that you will do the same. If you're like me, and only give honest opinions on books, you can run into some trouble. Some authors will be offended if you give them a less than glowing review of their book. So find out a bit about the author before you agree to swap books with them. Make sure you inform them from the start that you only give honest reviews. I had to start adding that to e-mails because of the unrealistic expectations I came across from less than professional authors. A good system is to agree that if you don't like the book you won't post a review. Then there won't be any backlash.
Anyway, back to why I love Goodreads. Through the book swaps, I discovered many great books and it made me realise that self-published fiction is just as good as the books you'll find on the best-seller shelves in shops. It opened up a whole new world of reading for me; up until that point, I'd been someone who was swayed by advertising to buy the books that were hyped up by publishing companies.
Some of the Indie authors I met on Goodreads way back in 2008 are still great friends and I enjoy their work immensely, for example, Julie Elizabeth Powell, and Quentin R. Bufogle.
Goodreads also has this blog facility, which I have found very handy as a tool to spread the word about my books. There are also many groups you can join where you can interact with readers and writers. In general, I have found the groups and forums on Goodreads to be more Indie-friendly than for example the Amazon forums. I am almost afraid to post anything on the Amazon forums because readers there seem to hate self-published authors... It's odd that people who claim to love reading and hang out on those forums can also hurl such abuse at creators of fiction. I have seen many an author criticised for mentioning his or her own book on those forums, and can only say that it offends my very soul to see that sort of behaviour. I can understand to some extent, the hate of spammy authors who will post links to their books everywhere without participating in any discussions, but the sort of abuse of authors I've witnessed on those forums is akin to bullying and seems to have its root in an innate hate for Indie authors that obviously stems from ignorance, and the unfounded belief that all self-published books are somehow inferior to those published by a mainstream publisher.
Sorry, I have strayed from the point again.
Other things I have found useful on Goodreads are the giveaway, recommend, and events functions. You can advertise a giveaway of a copy of your book, and as there are plenty of readers on this site, there are often thousands of entries. This generates interest in the books, as people are likely to add the book to their to-read list.
The 'recommend' link next to every book title is great, because you can recommend books you have read to your followers and thus help promote good books.
The 'events' link is great too as you can use it to let readers know about any upcoming book signings, KDP Free promotions etc.
To conclude, I would say that being a member of Goodreads has definitely been worthwhile for me and I'd recommend it to all Indie authors. When you join you'll be given a reader profile page, but can apply for an Author Page quite easily by following the links. Author pages are useful to have because as well as having a blog attached to them, there is also a section where you can add excerpts from your writing, so that readers can get an idea of your style.
Grammar
If you are thinking of self-publishing your own work it is important that you have a good grasp of grammar. If you don't, there are many books that you can buy to help you learn the rules. An editor is also a useful resource if you're not confident with your knowledge of grammar. It's very important for your prose to be grammatically correct (and I am aware that there are conflicting grammar rules that often make this an arduous task). The only instance where you can be excused for not following grammatical rules is within dialogue. Everyday speech is hardly ever grammatically correct, and I think good writing should reflect this. However, another warning here: don't make your dialogue so authentic to a particular district or country that your reader is left unable to understand it! I once read a book that was supposed to be written so that it reflected a particular slang, and I only got through about 16 pages before giving up. What's the point publishing a book that no one can understand? Our aim should be to have as large a readership as possible, so don't alienate your readers. It is still possible to write authentic dialogue without making it illegible. An example of this, is Scottish author Mark Rice whose stories are based in Scotland and the character dialogue is authentic but still easy to understand.
The main point about grammar that I want to make is that when a book is written as near as possible to correct grammar as you can get it, it will be so much easier for the reader to read. And clarity is what we should all be aiming for when we are writing. You don't want a reader to have to stop and think after reading each sentence trying to work out what you actually meant by that.
Giveaways
Many authors say they don't like giving away their books because they have worked so hard writing them. It is very true that authors work very hard on their books.
But my view is that you are shooting yourself in the foot if you don't give some books away. Every book you give away is an advertisement.
As mentioned above, Goodreads allows you to set up book giveaways. You can then use the giveaway as a marketing tool, and a way for more people to find out about your book. After all, everyone loves getting something for free. The success of the Amazon KDP Select programme is testament to that.
Other places you can set up giveaways are LibraryThing.com, Rafflecopter, and even when you're invited for an interview by a blogger or another author, you should also offer to give away a book or two. I have personally found the Goodreads giveaways a great way to promote a book.
On BestsellerBound Recommends (the new blog from Darcia Helle, myself, and J. Michael Radcliffe), we can set up a giveaway for Indie authors. Check out the submissions page for details!
Coincidences - last chance to get it free for Kindle users! 23rd-25th September 2012, and some other great free books you should check out this weekend!
Coincidences will be available free on all the worldwide Amazon sites from Sunday 23rd September - Tuesday 25th September 2012!
This will be the last chance for all you Kindle users to download the book for free. After this promo I will be taking the book out of the KDP Select Programme so I can make it more widely available e.g. for Nook, Kobo etc.
I'd be really grateful if all of you could let your friends know about the promotion. Even if you've already downloaded the book, you can still help by tweeting the links on the free days, and posting a link on your Facebook pages.
Thank you all for your continued support!
While I'm on the subject of free downloads, it just so happens that there are a couple of other great books you can download for no pennies this weekend!
From Friday 21st September - Sunday 23rd September 2012, make sure you are ready to download two of the best books I've read recently:
Sign of the Times by Susan Buchanan
and
You Wish... by Terry Tyler
Both books are fabulous and must reads.
Here are all the links you'll need:
Coincidences:
Amazon .com http://www.amazon.com/Coincidences-eb...
Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coincidences-...
Amazon France http://www.amazon.fr/Coincidences-ebo...
Amazon Germany http://www.amazon.de/Coincidences-ebo...
Amazon Italy http://www.amazon.it/Coincidences-ebo...
Amazon Spain http://www.amazon.es/Coincidences-ebo...
You Wish...
Amazon .com http://www.amazon.com/You-Wish-ebook/...
Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Wish-eboo...
Amazon France http://www.amazon.fr/You-Wish-ebook/d...
Amazon Germany http://www.amazon.de/You-Wish-ebook/d...
Amazon Italy http://www.amazon.it/You-Wish-ebook/d...
Amazon Spain http://www.amazon.es/You-Wish-ebook/d...
Sign of the Times
Amazon .com http://www.amazon.com/Sign-of-the-Tim...
Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sign-of-the-T...
Amazon France http://www.amazon.fr/Sign-of-the-Time...
Amazon Germany http://www.amazon.de/Sign-of-the-Time...
Amazon Italy http://www.amazon.it/Sign-of-the-Time...
Amazon Spain http://www.amazon.es/Sign-of-the-Time...
Happy downloading!!
This will be the last chance for all you Kindle users to download the book for free. After this promo I will be taking the book out of the KDP Select Programme so I can make it more widely available e.g. for Nook, Kobo etc.
I'd be really grateful if all of you could let your friends know about the promotion. Even if you've already downloaded the book, you can still help by tweeting the links on the free days, and posting a link on your Facebook pages.
Thank you all for your continued support!
While I'm on the subject of free downloads, it just so happens that there are a couple of other great books you can download for no pennies this weekend!
From Friday 21st September - Sunday 23rd September 2012, make sure you are ready to download two of the best books I've read recently:
Sign of the Times by Susan Buchanan
and
You Wish... by Terry Tyler
Both books are fabulous and must reads.
Here are all the links you'll need:
Coincidences:
Amazon .com http://www.amazon.com/Coincidences-eb...
Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coincidences-...
Amazon France http://www.amazon.fr/Coincidences-ebo...
Amazon Germany http://www.amazon.de/Coincidences-ebo...
Amazon Italy http://www.amazon.it/Coincidences-ebo...
Amazon Spain http://www.amazon.es/Coincidences-ebo...
You Wish...
Amazon .com http://www.amazon.com/You-Wish-ebook/...
Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Wish-eboo...
Amazon France http://www.amazon.fr/You-Wish-ebook/d...
Amazon Germany http://www.amazon.de/You-Wish-ebook/d...
Amazon Italy http://www.amazon.it/You-Wish-ebook/d...
Amazon Spain http://www.amazon.es/You-Wish-ebook/d...
Sign of the Times
Amazon .com http://www.amazon.com/Sign-of-the-Tim...
Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sign-of-the-T...
Amazon France http://www.amazon.fr/Sign-of-the-Time...
Amazon Germany http://www.amazon.de/Sign-of-the-Time...
Amazon Italy http://www.amazon.it/Sign-of-the-Time...
Amazon Spain http://www.amazon.es/Sign-of-the-Time...
Happy downloading!!
A-Z of Self-publishing and writing tips: N-P
I'm continuing my series with a few more self-publishing and writing tips that I hope you'll find handy.
N:
Names
One thing that is very common for writers when they first start out, is the need to use capital letters for everything. I've done it, and I've read lots of books by debut novelists that have the same issue.
You only need to use a capital letter at the start of a proper name, place name, or the brand name for something, or for a title. Obviously you use capital letters for days of the week, months of the year etc., but I find the most common errors are to do with misuse with words like mum and dad, aunt and uncle -- with these types of words you only need a capital letter where it's being used as a name. A few examples to hopefully make this clearer:
Where you don't need a capital letter:
Rachel's mum was doing the ironing.
Greg's dad was watching television.
My uncle came to visit.
The queen was in the parlour.
The king was in his counting house.
I went to university with him.
I have an appointment with the doctor.
Where a capital letter is needed:
"Are you doing the ironing, Mum?" asked Rachel. (Notice the word 'mum' is being used as a name.)
"What's on TV, Dad?"
"Thanks for visiting, Uncle Bob."
The ruler of the land was Queen Elizabeth.
For fifty years, King Henry had ruled.
I went to Middlesex University.
My appointment is with Doctor Green."
Another one is God. You always use capital G for God because it is a name, assuming you are using it for the one and only God. If you are talking of multiple gods, you don't need a capital letter. Again, when you're talking of the one and only God, you would also use capital letters when referring to Him, and use He and His, when you are talking about Him.
Hopefully, I haven't thoroughly confused you now.
NaNoWriMo
I have never actually taken part in this, but have been told by fellow writers that it's an excellent way to kickstart a new project, especially if you tend to procrastinate.
It means: National Novel Writing Month, and the idea is to write a complete novel in a month. Some people (amazingly) do manage to do this. Others don't, but those that don't finish often say that they are pleased they took part as they now have the beginning of a novel and can continue to work on it. I am not an expert of NaNoWriMo, so I can't really add any more to this, except, here's a link to the website where you can find out more about it. It takes place every November:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
Networking
One of the most important things you can do as a self-published writer is network with fellow writers, readers, and people involved in the book-publishing industry in some way.
I have mentioned the forum, Bestsellerbound.com, where I am lucky enough to have met many supportive and talented independent writers. The great thing about having a support network is that you can get help when you need it, and two heads are better than one when it comes to finding ways to promote.
Find a writers group that you are happy with, and stay connected.
Twitter is also a great place to meet other writers, I have found (writers tend to follow fellow writers). I've also signed up to the World Literary Cafe Twitter Follows, here: http://www.worldlitcafe.com/, where you follow other Twitter users and they follow back. A good way to build a following, and network with other writers.
O:
Okay and OK
Many writers seem to be very confused about this word. I find variations, including ok, Ok, Okay... they are all wrong (except the last one if it's at the beginning of a sentence and needs the capital O.)
The only two correct ways of writing OK are:
OK and okay
OK????
P:
Podcasts
Increasingly, authors are using podcast interviews as a way to promote their work.
Two internet podcasts that I have appeared on are Tweep Nation, and Blue Bonnets, Bagpipes & Books.
I am still quite reluctant to agree to do podcast interviews, because I always get very nervous. However, if you like that sort of thing, I'd recommend the two podcasts listed above. There are many more similar opportunities if you search around the Internet.
Promotion
What are the best ways to promote? That is the million dollar question. I am not sure that there is a way to promote your books to make sure you get sales. The nearest I've got to success was when I did the last KDP Select free promotion of my book Coincidences. There is no doubt that the Amazon KDP Select programme increases the visibility of books on the Amazon website. However, I have found that the only way to be sure of lots of downloads is to promote using the free days. i.e. give your books away. I had about 14,000 downloads in my last free promotion. For about a month after the promotion the book was selling well, but it appears to have died down. I think because there are so many books on Amazon, and so many being given away free each day, in order for your book to be noticed it has to be quite high up in the bestselling lists. The free promotion goes some way to helping this, but after the promotion dies down, sales do too. The benefit of giving away so many free books though, is that when people read your book, if they like it, they will go on to buy more of your books. So, I suppose if you only have one book, I wouldn't recommend the KDP Select free promotion as a great way to advertise, but most writers have more than one book in them.
Even if you don't want to be part of the KDP Select programme, you can get your book listed free on Amazon. Author Darcia Helle has had great success from giving away one of her books free on Amazon, she continues to offer her first novel, Enemies and Playmates, free on Amazon and sales of her other books have taken off because of that. Again, this is only an option for those authors who have one or more books. The way to get your book listed free on Amazon without joining the KDP Select programme, is by listing it free on another site, e.g. Smashwords or Barnes and Noble, and then going to your book's page on Amazon and reporting the free book, by clicking the link that says: 'Tell us about a lower price'. There is no guarantee that Amazon will match the free price, but if you ask some of your readers and fellow authors to help out with reporting the free book to Amazon, there is more of a chance this will happen.
Proofreaders
I think I have already mentioned the importance of good proofreaders when preparing your book for publishing, when I was talking about Editing, in an earlier post in this series.
I will quickly mention it again, as it is so important. I would recommend that you have at least a handful of good proofreaders to check over your work for grammatical and typographical errors. There are things that your spellchecker won't pick up. For instance, where you use a word that sounds like another word e.g. their and there, it's a very common mistake to use the wrong one, not because you don't know the difference, but because the brain is a strange thing... You could accidentally have written "is" instead of "if", for example, or "of" instead of "off", "to" instead of "too". These are some of the most common mistakes I've noticed in writing. Proofreaders can often notice these things. One proofreader wouldn't notice all of them. I have found that when using 6 or 7 proofreaders they tend to find different errors, often completely missing those found by the other proofreaders, so I would never rely on just one person to check through the finished manuscript.
This leads me on to the next point I want to make:
Perfection
Although we must all strive for perfection in our writing, over the years, I have learnt that it is almost impossible to achieve it and you should not be too hard on yourself. Try to make sure that your book is error free; use an editor; proofreaders, and beta readers. Read it through yourself a few times, but realise that even after you've done all of this there will likely be 2 or 3 (if not more) typos. As a reader, I can forgive these, and I'm sure most readers can. What you don't want to produce is a book with a typo on every page, or every other page... that will frustrate your readers.
Pinterest
I'm going to quickly mention Pinterest. I have an account there and I know it's catching on, because there are P signs alongside the Google+ and FB and Twitter signs on many websites, so you can share things that you like to Pinterest.
On Pinterest, the idea is simple, you create 'Boards' containing things that you have found that are of interest on the Internet. For writers, you can use it to list your books, and links to your websites. There are also Boards that you can join where you can add your books, for example, I have joined a board called 'The World of Indie Authors' and there are links to books by many different authors.
I hope you have found some of the above helpful.
To see the other posts in this series, please follow the links below:
A-C: http://nutsandcrisps.wordpress.com/20...
D-F: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
G: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
H-J: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
K-M: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
N:
Names
One thing that is very common for writers when they first start out, is the need to use capital letters for everything. I've done it, and I've read lots of books by debut novelists that have the same issue.
You only need to use a capital letter at the start of a proper name, place name, or the brand name for something, or for a title. Obviously you use capital letters for days of the week, months of the year etc., but I find the most common errors are to do with misuse with words like mum and dad, aunt and uncle -- with these types of words you only need a capital letter where it's being used as a name. A few examples to hopefully make this clearer:
Where you don't need a capital letter:
Rachel's mum was doing the ironing.
Greg's dad was watching television.
My uncle came to visit.
The queen was in the parlour.
The king was in his counting house.
I went to university with him.
I have an appointment with the doctor.
Where a capital letter is needed:
"Are you doing the ironing, Mum?" asked Rachel. (Notice the word 'mum' is being used as a name.)
"What's on TV, Dad?"
"Thanks for visiting, Uncle Bob."
The ruler of the land was Queen Elizabeth.
For fifty years, King Henry had ruled.
I went to Middlesex University.
My appointment is with Doctor Green."
Another one is God. You always use capital G for God because it is a name, assuming you are using it for the one and only God. If you are talking of multiple gods, you don't need a capital letter. Again, when you're talking of the one and only God, you would also use capital letters when referring to Him, and use He and His, when you are talking about Him.
Hopefully, I haven't thoroughly confused you now.
NaNoWriMo
I have never actually taken part in this, but have been told by fellow writers that it's an excellent way to kickstart a new project, especially if you tend to procrastinate.
It means: National Novel Writing Month, and the idea is to write a complete novel in a month. Some people (amazingly) do manage to do this. Others don't, but those that don't finish often say that they are pleased they took part as they now have the beginning of a novel and can continue to work on it. I am not an expert of NaNoWriMo, so I can't really add any more to this, except, here's a link to the website where you can find out more about it. It takes place every November:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
Networking
One of the most important things you can do as a self-published writer is network with fellow writers, readers, and people involved in the book-publishing industry in some way.
I have mentioned the forum, Bestsellerbound.com, where I am lucky enough to have met many supportive and talented independent writers. The great thing about having a support network is that you can get help when you need it, and two heads are better than one when it comes to finding ways to promote.
Find a writers group that you are happy with, and stay connected.
Twitter is also a great place to meet other writers, I have found (writers tend to follow fellow writers). I've also signed up to the World Literary Cafe Twitter Follows, here: http://www.worldlitcafe.com/, where you follow other Twitter users and they follow back. A good way to build a following, and network with other writers.
O:
Okay and OK
Many writers seem to be very confused about this word. I find variations, including ok, Ok, Okay... they are all wrong (except the last one if it's at the beginning of a sentence and needs the capital O.)
The only two correct ways of writing OK are:
OK and okay
OK????
P:
Podcasts
Increasingly, authors are using podcast interviews as a way to promote their work.
Two internet podcasts that I have appeared on are Tweep Nation, and Blue Bonnets, Bagpipes & Books.
I am still quite reluctant to agree to do podcast interviews, because I always get very nervous. However, if you like that sort of thing, I'd recommend the two podcasts listed above. There are many more similar opportunities if you search around the Internet.
Promotion
What are the best ways to promote? That is the million dollar question. I am not sure that there is a way to promote your books to make sure you get sales. The nearest I've got to success was when I did the last KDP Select free promotion of my book Coincidences. There is no doubt that the Amazon KDP Select programme increases the visibility of books on the Amazon website. However, I have found that the only way to be sure of lots of downloads is to promote using the free days. i.e. give your books away. I had about 14,000 downloads in my last free promotion. For about a month after the promotion the book was selling well, but it appears to have died down. I think because there are so many books on Amazon, and so many being given away free each day, in order for your book to be noticed it has to be quite high up in the bestselling lists. The free promotion goes some way to helping this, but after the promotion dies down, sales do too. The benefit of giving away so many free books though, is that when people read your book, if they like it, they will go on to buy more of your books. So, I suppose if you only have one book, I wouldn't recommend the KDP Select free promotion as a great way to advertise, but most writers have more than one book in them.
Even if you don't want to be part of the KDP Select programme, you can get your book listed free on Amazon. Author Darcia Helle has had great success from giving away one of her books free on Amazon, she continues to offer her first novel, Enemies and Playmates, free on Amazon and sales of her other books have taken off because of that. Again, this is only an option for those authors who have one or more books. The way to get your book listed free on Amazon without joining the KDP Select programme, is by listing it free on another site, e.g. Smashwords or Barnes and Noble, and then going to your book's page on Amazon and reporting the free book, by clicking the link that says: 'Tell us about a lower price'. There is no guarantee that Amazon will match the free price, but if you ask some of your readers and fellow authors to help out with reporting the free book to Amazon, there is more of a chance this will happen.
Proofreaders
I think I have already mentioned the importance of good proofreaders when preparing your book for publishing, when I was talking about Editing, in an earlier post in this series.
I will quickly mention it again, as it is so important. I would recommend that you have at least a handful of good proofreaders to check over your work for grammatical and typographical errors. There are things that your spellchecker won't pick up. For instance, where you use a word that sounds like another word e.g. their and there, it's a very common mistake to use the wrong one, not because you don't know the difference, but because the brain is a strange thing... You could accidentally have written "is" instead of "if", for example, or "of" instead of "off", "to" instead of "too". These are some of the most common mistakes I've noticed in writing. Proofreaders can often notice these things. One proofreader wouldn't notice all of them. I have found that when using 6 or 7 proofreaders they tend to find different errors, often completely missing those found by the other proofreaders, so I would never rely on just one person to check through the finished manuscript.
This leads me on to the next point I want to make:
Perfection
Although we must all strive for perfection in our writing, over the years, I have learnt that it is almost impossible to achieve it and you should not be too hard on yourself. Try to make sure that your book is error free; use an editor; proofreaders, and beta readers. Read it through yourself a few times, but realise that even after you've done all of this there will likely be 2 or 3 (if not more) typos. As a reader, I can forgive these, and I'm sure most readers can. What you don't want to produce is a book with a typo on every page, or every other page... that will frustrate your readers.
I'm going to quickly mention Pinterest. I have an account there and I know it's catching on, because there are P signs alongside the Google+ and FB and Twitter signs on many websites, so you can share things that you like to Pinterest.
On Pinterest, the idea is simple, you create 'Boards' containing things that you have found that are of interest on the Internet. For writers, you can use it to list your books, and links to your websites. There are also Boards that you can join where you can add your books, for example, I have joined a board called 'The World of Indie Authors' and there are links to books by many different authors.
I hope you have found some of the above helpful.
To see the other posts in this series, please follow the links below:
A-C: http://nutsandcrisps.wordpress.com/20...
D-F: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
G: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
H-J: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
K-M: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Second Chances - special promotion
My novel, Second Chances, is being promoted on EReader News Today's website as a Bargain Book: http://ereadernewstoday.com/kindle-da...
The price is 99 cents or 77p for Kindle.
Remember, you can read Kindle books on your iPhone, iPad, smartphone, PC, or Mac, when you download the free apps from Amazon.
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Second-Chances-...
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Chance...
The price is 99 cents or 77p for Kindle.
Remember, you can read Kindle books on your iPhone, iPad, smartphone, PC, or Mac, when you download the free apps from Amazon.
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Second-Chances-...
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Chance...
A-Z of Self-publishing and writing tips: T
I'm only covering the letter T today, because I found that I almost wrote a novella about how to use Twitter! (see below). There are also a few other things beginning with T mentioned.
T
Twitter:
I have found Twitter to be an invaluable resource for promoting my books. I know that some people hate it. I don't claim to be an expert, but in the past couple of years I have built up just over 12,000 followers. I'm not sure if that's a good number or not, but it seems like a decent amount to me. I haven't bought any followers from anywhere either; these are just people who follow me and I follow most of them back.
I think Twitter works best when you follow a few rules:
1. Always follow people back when they follow you (unless they are spammers or some other kind of lunatic).
2. Thank people for RTs (re-Tweets) when you can, or alternatively you can RT something that they have Tweeted. RTs are always welcomed, as these help with promotion.
3. Interact with your followers. By this, I mean, if someone asks you something, you should respond to them (again, provided that they are not a spammer or a lunatic).
4. To build up your following to begin with you need to follow people. This may seem obvious to most people, but there seem to be those who think that people will just follow them. If you're Lady Gaga, or someone like that, you would be right to think that you don't really need to follow people to have them follow you; otherwise, I think you should make some effort, or you'll be left with hardly any followers and Tweeting to yourself.
5. Use the hashtags. This does come with a warning though. For example there is #FF for Follow Friday, where you list people who you follow, that you would recommend to others. For writers there is #WW Writer Wednesday, where you recommend writers that you follow.
The WARNING is this: Twitter is on the lookout of for spammers. They seem to be unable to get rid of real spammers, (you know, the ones who send you DMs that say 'have you seen this pic of you lol,' or 'someone is saying real bad things about you in this blog' with a dodgy link), but Twitter does hone in on people who mention lots of other Twitter names in their tweets, or people who use the reply function often.
My account was recently suspended because I did a lot of #FF mentions on one particular day. I was informed that the reason my account was suspended was that I used the 'mention' and 'reply' functions too much. I did eventually manage to get my account back, but it was very annoying.
So, #FF and #WW are a good way to get more followers and to keep your followers, as long as you don't overdo things. Try to vary your tweets on days when you're doing these types of mentions so that your account won't look like a spammer's account.
6. Trending topics are a good way to get your account noticed. What I mean by this is that on the left hand side of the page you'll see the list of popular topics on twitter i.e. those that lots of people are tweeting about. If you can join in with one of those topics, you should see that you gain a few more followers. For example, I recently joined in on one that was #SongsThatMakeMeCry and noticed that I got quite a few new followers on that day. Whether it was a coincidence or not, I can't be sure.
7. If you have something that you want to promote on a particular day and need help with RTs, I find it is a good idea to RT other Twitter users on your Twitter feed randomly, i.e. those that you wouldn't usually RT, and this will usually result in those people Tweeting something for you.
8. Something that is off-putting is where someone is always Tweeting about their own stuff and not about anything else. Unless you are very famous, this tactic will not work, and will result in you losing followers.
9. You can use justunfollow.com to find out who unfollowed you, and who is not following you back. This enables you to unfollow them. A word of warning here though. Twitter also doesn't like people who follow a lot of people on one particular day, or unfollow a lot of people on one day as this could be seen as the action of a bot. Be careful, and try to limit the following and unfollowing, and spread it out a bit.
10. You can use Hootsuite.com to schedule Tweets to go out from your Twitter account at times when you won't be able to Tweet e.g. when you are sleeping or working. There is a free version which I use sometimes, and find it particularly useful when I have a special promotion going on so that I can reach all time zones. There's also a version you can pay for that does other things, like clean your house for you (just checking that you are still concentrating!). No, actually, I don't know what the paid-for version does, but it probably allows you to schedule more Tweets in advance and other such stuff. You can find out on the website.
11. There are ways of getting more followers by joining certain groups. For example, there are groups here on Goodreads where you can list your Twitter name and others will follow you back. I have also joined the World Literary Cafe's Twitter Follows group. Here's a link where you can leave your Twitter name to be followed by others, and you then follow them back: http://www.worldliterarycafe.com/cont...
12. The aim on Twitter is build up a following so that when you Tweet about your work it will reach a wider audience. Where you RT other people's Tweets they are more likely to Tweet yours, so you reach an even wider audience each time you tweet.
13. Tweet about things you enjoy and you will find like-minded people to connect with, which makes the whole Twitter experience all that more interesting.
14. There are daily or weekly papers that you can set up to automatically tweet from your Twitter account, where you help promote other Twitter accounts. This will result in more RTs for your own work, and it helps to keep your account active when you're away from the Internet for a while because the paper will Tweet from your account daily or weekly, depending on your settings. Go here, and log in with your Twitter account to set up your paper: https://paper.li/ - It only takes a few minutes and it will post the paper to your account automatically (as long as you request that in the settings), so once you've set it up, you don't need to do anything else to maintain it.
15. BookBuzzr on Freado.com allows you to set up tweets that link to samples of your writing. These will be tweeted daily or weekly, depending on your preference.
16. A hashtag that is useful for writers for promotion is #SampleSunday, where each Sunday you can provide a link to a sample chapter of your work. Other authors who take part in this will RT that for you.
If anyone else has any Twitter tips, please feel free to list them in the comments section below.
Triberr
I am quickly mentioning this only because I know that some of my indie author friends swear by it. I haven't worked out how it works, but if you have time, it might be worth having a look into. http://triberr.com/
Tumblr
I have a Tumblr.com account but don't use it often as there are just too many networking sites to keep up with. It is quite a popular site, though, and is another way you can spread the word about your work. You can also blog from that site. It's similar to Twitter in that you follow other users and they follow you back, but there is not a restriction as to the amount of words you use. You can post videos and photos there too.
Time
Time management is very important as a self-published author. When you self-publish, you do your own promotion, and most of your own editing, so this can lead to very little time to do much else, especially as most of us also have full time day jobs.
It's important to make sure you have time for the things that are important in your writing life. I haven't come across the secret formula for creating more time, but if somebody else does, please let me know.
Try to find a balance that works for you and find ways to organise your time so that you don't work around the clock and burn out.
I would suggest finding one or two networking sites that work for you and devoting the promotion time to those sites. Have a realistic schedule for your blog, maybe run a series, like this one that I am doing, so that you have something that people might want to keep up with and will follow the blog, so you don't have to worry about losing followers if you're away from the blog for a few days or weeks.
If you find that you don't have enough time to write, think about what you could do less of to make more time. For example, I have had to cut down the amount of book reviews I do so that I can keep up with my own writing. Having said that, it's important to keep reading other people's work because the more you read the better your own writing will be. Reading is great for fuelling our imagination.
One way to make more time, is to use an editor for your novels, so that you spend less time having to read and re-read your own work.
It's all trial and error, but find the balance that works for you, and concentrate your time there. It's more productive to have one good blog where you can promote and keep your readers up to date, than to have multiple blogs and lessen the impact of those because you don't have time to promote them.
Networking with other writers helps with time management because you can have a support network. Usually other authors will help to promote your books if you do the same for them; so at times when you're not around on the Internet the chances are someone else will be tweeting something about your work.
Also, as mentioned above, apps like Hootsuite are great for helping with time management because you can schedule promotion for when you're not around. Wordpress blogs have a similar scheduling system, so you can set up posts days or weeks in advance.
I have to say, I find managing my time one of the most challenging things about being an indie author. If anyone else has any tips, please leave them in the comments section below.
Trailers
Book Trailers. Just like Twitter (and Marmite) some people love them and some people hate them.
Personally, I think anything that can positively add to your book marketing campaign is a good thing. I like book trailers. I can't say that I've ever bought a book because of a book trailer, but maybe I might have found out about a book because of a book trailer. So it all adds to promotion and exposure for your book.
I make my own book trailers, and you can find them on my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MariaSavv...
One of our Bestsellerbound.com members, Magnolia Belle, makes book trailers.
Here's a promotional video for the book trailers she makes: http://youtu.be/RUGFeenMKcs
She made a couple of trailers for our Bestsellerbound Anthologies. Here's a link to one of them: http://youtu.be/kIWsIIKyobI
I've recently found out about an innovative company, Red 14 Films, that makes cinematic book trailers. They believe that book trailers are a great marketing tool. Here's a link to their website where you can view some of the trailers they have made: http://red14films.com/
Also, at the moment they're running a contest where you can win a free 30 second cinematic book trailer. You just have to subscribe to their website to enter. There'll be a raffle in March to choose the winner.
Targeting your readership
I think one of the most important things for any writer is to find a target readership and focus on promoting to that group. It's harder for writers (like me) who write in many different genres, but if you only write in one genre, you can use this tactic effectively to find a following.
There are many different websites that promote one type of book; for example, some sites only promote romance, others are set up to promote science fiction, etc. You should use Google to find such websites and blogs and try to get your books listed.
I'm going to promote my crime fiction novel, Haunted, on a website this week Fantastic Books Publishing. They are doing a spotlight on Crime Fiction on the 28th February 2013, so it will be interesting to see what result that achieves in terms of book sales.
Targeting a specific audience does work. For example, I recently promoted my novel, Second Chances, on EReader News Today (ENT), in their 'Bargain Books' promotion. They have a huge following of readers who are looking for bargain e-books; so I lowered the price of the book to 99 cents and it was promoted on the site for a couple of days (ENT takes 25% of your total royalties for sales over the 2 day promotion). The result was 140 sales overnight, and another 50 sales since the promotion ended. Okay, the royalties on 99 cents (given that you only get 35% of that from Amazon) is not great, but the exposure is a good way to find a new readership. Here's a link if any authors want to try it: http://ereadernewstoday.com/bargain-k...
Similarly, for a short term boost to sales, and to make your book more widely available to an audience who might not otherwise try it, the Amazon KDP Select free promotion days can be good.
I hope you'll find these tips helpful!
T
Twitter:
I have found Twitter to be an invaluable resource for promoting my books. I know that some people hate it. I don't claim to be an expert, but in the past couple of years I have built up just over 12,000 followers. I'm not sure if that's a good number or not, but it seems like a decent amount to me. I haven't bought any followers from anywhere either; these are just people who follow me and I follow most of them back.
I think Twitter works best when you follow a few rules:
1. Always follow people back when they follow you (unless they are spammers or some other kind of lunatic).
2. Thank people for RTs (re-Tweets) when you can, or alternatively you can RT something that they have Tweeted. RTs are always welcomed, as these help with promotion.
3. Interact with your followers. By this, I mean, if someone asks you something, you should respond to them (again, provided that they are not a spammer or a lunatic).
4. To build up your following to begin with you need to follow people. This may seem obvious to most people, but there seem to be those who think that people will just follow them. If you're Lady Gaga, or someone like that, you would be right to think that you don't really need to follow people to have them follow you; otherwise, I think you should make some effort, or you'll be left with hardly any followers and Tweeting to yourself.
5. Use the hashtags. This does come with a warning though. For example there is #FF for Follow Friday, where you list people who you follow, that you would recommend to others. For writers there is #WW Writer Wednesday, where you recommend writers that you follow.
The WARNING is this: Twitter is on the lookout of for spammers. They seem to be unable to get rid of real spammers, (you know, the ones who send you DMs that say 'have you seen this pic of you lol,' or 'someone is saying real bad things about you in this blog' with a dodgy link), but Twitter does hone in on people who mention lots of other Twitter names in their tweets, or people who use the reply function often.
My account was recently suspended because I did a lot of #FF mentions on one particular day. I was informed that the reason my account was suspended was that I used the 'mention' and 'reply' functions too much. I did eventually manage to get my account back, but it was very annoying.
So, #FF and #WW are a good way to get more followers and to keep your followers, as long as you don't overdo things. Try to vary your tweets on days when you're doing these types of mentions so that your account won't look like a spammer's account.
6. Trending topics are a good way to get your account noticed. What I mean by this is that on the left hand side of the page you'll see the list of popular topics on twitter i.e. those that lots of people are tweeting about. If you can join in with one of those topics, you should see that you gain a few more followers. For example, I recently joined in on one that was #SongsThatMakeMeCry and noticed that I got quite a few new followers on that day. Whether it was a coincidence or not, I can't be sure.
7. If you have something that you want to promote on a particular day and need help with RTs, I find it is a good idea to RT other Twitter users on your Twitter feed randomly, i.e. those that you wouldn't usually RT, and this will usually result in those people Tweeting something for you.
8. Something that is off-putting is where someone is always Tweeting about their own stuff and not about anything else. Unless you are very famous, this tactic will not work, and will result in you losing followers.
9. You can use justunfollow.com to find out who unfollowed you, and who is not following you back. This enables you to unfollow them. A word of warning here though. Twitter also doesn't like people who follow a lot of people on one particular day, or unfollow a lot of people on one day as this could be seen as the action of a bot. Be careful, and try to limit the following and unfollowing, and spread it out a bit.
10. You can use Hootsuite.com to schedule Tweets to go out from your Twitter account at times when you won't be able to Tweet e.g. when you are sleeping or working. There is a free version which I use sometimes, and find it particularly useful when I have a special promotion going on so that I can reach all time zones. There's also a version you can pay for that does other things, like clean your house for you (just checking that you are still concentrating!). No, actually, I don't know what the paid-for version does, but it probably allows you to schedule more Tweets in advance and other such stuff. You can find out on the website.
11. There are ways of getting more followers by joining certain groups. For example, there are groups here on Goodreads where you can list your Twitter name and others will follow you back. I have also joined the World Literary Cafe's Twitter Follows group. Here's a link where you can leave your Twitter name to be followed by others, and you then follow them back: http://www.worldliterarycafe.com/cont...
12. The aim on Twitter is build up a following so that when you Tweet about your work it will reach a wider audience. Where you RT other people's Tweets they are more likely to Tweet yours, so you reach an even wider audience each time you tweet.
13. Tweet about things you enjoy and you will find like-minded people to connect with, which makes the whole Twitter experience all that more interesting.
14. There are daily or weekly papers that you can set up to automatically tweet from your Twitter account, where you help promote other Twitter accounts. This will result in more RTs for your own work, and it helps to keep your account active when you're away from the Internet for a while because the paper will Tweet from your account daily or weekly, depending on your settings. Go here, and log in with your Twitter account to set up your paper: https://paper.li/ - It only takes a few minutes and it will post the paper to your account automatically (as long as you request that in the settings), so once you've set it up, you don't need to do anything else to maintain it.
15. BookBuzzr on Freado.com allows you to set up tweets that link to samples of your writing. These will be tweeted daily or weekly, depending on your preference.
16. A hashtag that is useful for writers for promotion is #SampleSunday, where each Sunday you can provide a link to a sample chapter of your work. Other authors who take part in this will RT that for you.
If anyone else has any Twitter tips, please feel free to list them in the comments section below.
Triberr
I am quickly mentioning this only because I know that some of my indie author friends swear by it. I haven't worked out how it works, but if you have time, it might be worth having a look into. http://triberr.com/
Tumblr
I have a Tumblr.com account but don't use it often as there are just too many networking sites to keep up with. It is quite a popular site, though, and is another way you can spread the word about your work. You can also blog from that site. It's similar to Twitter in that you follow other users and they follow you back, but there is not a restriction as to the amount of words you use. You can post videos and photos there too.
Time
Time management is very important as a self-published author. When you self-publish, you do your own promotion, and most of your own editing, so this can lead to very little time to do much else, especially as most of us also have full time day jobs.
It's important to make sure you have time for the things that are important in your writing life. I haven't come across the secret formula for creating more time, but if somebody else does, please let me know.
Try to find a balance that works for you and find ways to organise your time so that you don't work around the clock and burn out.
I would suggest finding one or two networking sites that work for you and devoting the promotion time to those sites. Have a realistic schedule for your blog, maybe run a series, like this one that I am doing, so that you have something that people might want to keep up with and will follow the blog, so you don't have to worry about losing followers if you're away from the blog for a few days or weeks.
If you find that you don't have enough time to write, think about what you could do less of to make more time. For example, I have had to cut down the amount of book reviews I do so that I can keep up with my own writing. Having said that, it's important to keep reading other people's work because the more you read the better your own writing will be. Reading is great for fuelling our imagination.
One way to make more time, is to use an editor for your novels, so that you spend less time having to read and re-read your own work.
It's all trial and error, but find the balance that works for you, and concentrate your time there. It's more productive to have one good blog where you can promote and keep your readers up to date, than to have multiple blogs and lessen the impact of those because you don't have time to promote them.
Networking with other writers helps with time management because you can have a support network. Usually other authors will help to promote your books if you do the same for them; so at times when you're not around on the Internet the chances are someone else will be tweeting something about your work.
Also, as mentioned above, apps like Hootsuite are great for helping with time management because you can schedule promotion for when you're not around. Wordpress blogs have a similar scheduling system, so you can set up posts days or weeks in advance.
I have to say, I find managing my time one of the most challenging things about being an indie author. If anyone else has any tips, please leave them in the comments section below.
Trailers
Book Trailers. Just like Twitter (and Marmite) some people love them and some people hate them.
Personally, I think anything that can positively add to your book marketing campaign is a good thing. I like book trailers. I can't say that I've ever bought a book because of a book trailer, but maybe I might have found out about a book because of a book trailer. So it all adds to promotion and exposure for your book.
I make my own book trailers, and you can find them on my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MariaSavv...
One of our Bestsellerbound.com members, Magnolia Belle, makes book trailers.
Here's a promotional video for the book trailers she makes: http://youtu.be/RUGFeenMKcs
She made a couple of trailers for our Bestsellerbound Anthologies. Here's a link to one of them: http://youtu.be/kIWsIIKyobI
I've recently found out about an innovative company, Red 14 Films, that makes cinematic book trailers. They believe that book trailers are a great marketing tool. Here's a link to their website where you can view some of the trailers they have made: http://red14films.com/
Also, at the moment they're running a contest where you can win a free 30 second cinematic book trailer. You just have to subscribe to their website to enter. There'll be a raffle in March to choose the winner.
Targeting your readership
I think one of the most important things for any writer is to find a target readership and focus on promoting to that group. It's harder for writers (like me) who write in many different genres, but if you only write in one genre, you can use this tactic effectively to find a following.
There are many different websites that promote one type of book; for example, some sites only promote romance, others are set up to promote science fiction, etc. You should use Google to find such websites and blogs and try to get your books listed.
I'm going to promote my crime fiction novel, Haunted, on a website this week Fantastic Books Publishing. They are doing a spotlight on Crime Fiction on the 28th February 2013, so it will be interesting to see what result that achieves in terms of book sales.
Targeting a specific audience does work. For example, I recently promoted my novel, Second Chances, on EReader News Today (ENT), in their 'Bargain Books' promotion. They have a huge following of readers who are looking for bargain e-books; so I lowered the price of the book to 99 cents and it was promoted on the site for a couple of days (ENT takes 25% of your total royalties for sales over the 2 day promotion). The result was 140 sales overnight, and another 50 sales since the promotion ended. Okay, the royalties on 99 cents (given that you only get 35% of that from Amazon) is not great, but the exposure is a good way to find a new readership. Here's a link if any authors want to try it: http://ereadernewstoday.com/bargain-k...
Similarly, for a short term boost to sales, and to make your book more widely available to an audience who might not otherwise try it, the Amazon KDP Select free promotion days can be good.
I hope you'll find these tips helpful!
Want a free copy of Love and Loyalty (and Other Tales)?
My short story collection, Love and Loyalty, is one of 6 free books you can get when you buy Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, by Stacy Juba for just 99 cents!
You can read all about Stacy's promotion for her book here: http://stacyjuba.com/blog/2013/03/05/...
As detailed in Stacy's blog, if you've already read Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, there's no need to buy anything to get the 6 freebies; all you have to do is follow the instructions to claim the books.
Twenty-Five Years Ago Today is a great mystery novel, I'd highly recommend it.
In my collection, Love and Loyalty (and Other Tales), you'll 15 find mixed genre short stories. It includes: The Artist, a story about a struggling artist and the woman who tries to save him, where things are not all they seem; Love and Loyalty, about the highs and lows of relationships, and speed-dating; The Perfect Life, a poignant tale about a lonely woman; and Ordinary Lives, a story about a writers' circle.
You can read all about Stacy's promotion for her book here: http://stacyjuba.com/blog/2013/03/05/...
As detailed in Stacy's blog, if you've already read Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, there's no need to buy anything to get the 6 freebies; all you have to do is follow the instructions to claim the books.
Twenty-Five Years Ago Today is a great mystery novel, I'd highly recommend it.
In my collection, Love and Loyalty (and Other Tales), you'll 15 find mixed genre short stories. It includes: The Artist, a story about a struggling artist and the woman who tries to save him, where things are not all they seem; Love and Loyalty, about the highs and lows of relationships, and speed-dating; The Perfect Life, a poignant tale about a lonely woman; and Ordinary Lives, a story about a writers' circle.
The Dream - on sale for 99 cents
I'm doing a special promotion for my fantasy novel, The Dream. Today, you can get a copy for just 99 cents/77p for Kindle.
Here's a link to Ereader News Today's website where you can find other bargain and free books: http://ereadernewstoday.com/kindle-da...
Lynne cannot shake her feelings of dread; her dreams tell her she is making a terrible mistake, she must not marry Adam. But, how can she believe the dream? Lynne and Adam have shared their lives for three years now. She is certain she loves him.
It is not that love, which her dream warns against.
It doesn't matter that she loves this man she will soon marry. If she marries him, the voice in her dream says her soul mate will die. Her true love will perish.
Here's a link to Ereader News Today's website where you can find other bargain and free books: http://ereadernewstoday.com/kindle-da...
Lynne cannot shake her feelings of dread; her dreams tell her she is making a terrible mistake, she must not marry Adam. But, how can she believe the dream? Lynne and Adam have shared their lives for three years now. She is certain she loves him.
It is not that love, which her dream warns against.
It doesn't matter that she loves this man she will soon marry. If she marries him, the voice in her dream says her soul mate will die. Her true love will perish.
Get "The Spider" FREE on Kindle until 20th November!
To celebrate the release of the sequel, "Evil Never Dies", I am making "The Spider" available to download FREE on Kindle until Friday 20th November.
The Spider
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
Evil Never Dies
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evil-Never-D...
Amazon: US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L71D9MC/
Add "The Spider" to your shelf: The Spider
Add "Evil Never Dies" to your shelf: Evil Never Dies
The Spider
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
Evil Never Dies
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evil-Never-D...
Amazon: US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L71D9MC/
Add "The Spider" to your shelf: The Spider
Add "Evil Never Dies" to your shelf: Evil Never Dies
