Indie and Self-Pub Book Corner discussion

Failing to plan how you will promote your book is a guarantee that you plan to fail in selling the book to customers. Unless you’re a dilettante, with only a superficial interest in writing, but like claiming to be an author, you wrote for a serious reason.
Lets face it, all those weeks and months of work weren’t just to see your name on a book jacket were they?
To ensure success, you MUST promote. Other than the stock method of book reviews, what are you doing to promote your books and ensure you make a profit?

I contacted the newspaper and they ran an article, which honestly only sold 2 books. I'm not sure what really works anymore.

That's true; I just don't know what sells books.

I think the market anymore is solely ebooks. With all the technology out there its hard to sell the paperbacks anymore or anything for that matter. Doing the giveaways on here is great, so is donating your book here and there to local charity events or contests as a prize for winning. Yes, its giving books away which directly costs you money, but its a write-off and promotion. :)

Kimberley wrote: "I think the market anymore is solely ebooks. With all the technology out there its hard to sell the paperbacks anymore or anything for that matter. Doing the giveaways on here is great, so is donat..."

Kimberley: If a particular marketing tool isn't working for you, then it should be discontinued. That's one of the reasons I include so many different methods in my EPPIE Award finalist book Self-Promotion for Authors.

Too many aspiring authors give away more in profit than they can reasonably expect to earn. Book promotion relies on diversity. One method sells two books here, another sells three books there, eventually it begins to build. But don't rely on any single method. Nor should you rest on your laurels after a spate of sales. Books have a finite window to maximize sales. In my book I write how the hardest part of authoring a book is the post-writing promotion.

I'm making sure my book is in bookstores, in libraries and book clubs as well as on-line. I gladly give talks to groups on the story behind the novel. People enjoy paperbacks AND e-books. I've now done two radio interviews and a TV interview. You have to go and sell the book, but you also don't spam. A pack of bookmarks can go a long way in starting up a conversation.

Good job. In my estimation you ARE trying to succeed. For others, you already know, the secret to successful promotion is to build momentum with a lot of different techniques and to keep the momentum building. Ideally for at least a six-weeks before the book's publication date and at least six months after or until your next book comes out. Also for those of you who don't know all the possibilities, I cover them at some length in my EPPIE Award finalist book, with commentary by a dozen successful authors on what works for them.

Gregory wrote: "go to www.write2publish.blogspot.com. The lady who runs the blog has a LOT of useful advice and tips."

But the tips seem restricted to Goodreads which is a microcosm of the many selling venues available. Gregory, you may want to consider my book Self-Promotion for Authors in either the trade paperback or EBook edition as a resource for what other successful authors are doing to promote their books.

You're welcome.

My biggest success has been through Goodreads and Facebook. I've found groups that cater to my genre and have become active in those groups. My sales have gone up the last three months in a row. As Larry said, if something isn't working, stop putting energy into it and try something else. Then once you find something that is producing results, build on that and search for other avenues along the same lines that will continue to promote you and your work.

That's true, but I really don't see much difference between that and being involved in multiple groups here on Goodreads.

Sherri wrote: "That's true, but I really don't see much difference between that and being involved in multiple groups here on Goodreads."

Sherri, to me, the difference is that Goodreads provides more "bang for the buck. While Facebook is hugely gossiping and chatting, everyone on Goodreads is focused on either some aspect of reading or writing. Speaking of which, that's the theme of my new website: Readin' n' Writin' at LarryMonizBooks.com

(Yes, it's deliberately misspelled. Almost guaranteed to get more attention that way - smile.)

That's true, Larry, if you are talking about Facebook in general, but I'm talking about joining Facebook groups that pimp books or specifically books of your genre. They are out there, and can be very good tools for authors if you can tap into them.

"pimp?" nasty connotation that. At least to a semi-retired publicist like myself. :-) Can you suggest some specific groups in the mystery, history or men's adventure genres? I've heard the suggestion before but failed to turn up anything worthwhile. Must be doing something wrong.

ESCape Into History: The Rebellion

I’ve just completed a labor of love that’s taken me more than 10 years to finish due to lack of a sufficient market and health issues.
Times have changed and far more people are now interested in history-based time-travel stories. My book, The Rebellion, slated to be the first in a time travel series: ESCape Into History will be available as an EBook and other formats by Thanksgiving, just in time for holiday gifting.
The series revolves around two former military Special Operators travel back in time to prevent occurrences that could alter the timeline of history.
The rebellion involves Frank Souza and Bob Ponte as they head off a Tory conspiracy to prevent completion of the Declaration of Independence. Will they succeed? Will history be altered? Available soon at better bookstores.

Go to the search box at the top of the page and type in Groups. That will bring up another page that will have a list over on the left hand side. Click on 'Groups'. Once the page reloads, a second search box below the original one, should appear. You can type in mystery books, adventure books, etc. and see what's out there. I'm a romance writer, so the groups I'm in wouldn't work for you. There seems to be a lot int he mystery category, so maybe you'll get lucky with one of those and find a match.

Thank you!! Apparently I missed the second box. Duh.

Goodreads, Kindleboards (e-reader specific, not just Kindle), ChristianWriters.com (if you are a Christian or write for that audience) facebook but Larry is right about the fluffy aspect. A facebook ad seems to work better for us, because your friends are not usually your customers and other writers' facebook sites are well-meaning but tend to get choked with fellow self-promoters and little or no reader traffic, as do many of these groups on the forums I listed above. Starting new threads on these forums is helpful to rise above the crowd, as long as you are not spamming or in the wrong place. Kindleboards is pretty strict about that, and all forums expect you to converse, be helpful, friendly, and participate, not just promote. We also have a blog, with links to our books, and have done interviews and guest-blogging. If your books are linked from your blog, make sure your blog can be found at Technorati, StumbledUpon, Digg, and other blog search engines. You can Tweet also, and I have actually found that helpful, though I resisted it for a long time.

Has anyone had success finding bloggers that will review self-published works? Finding review bloggers is the hardest thing for me, but I think it's a powerful way to get positive press for your novel.

Clinton wrote: "Has anyone had success finding bloggers that will review self-published works? Finding review bloggers is the hardest thing for me, but I think it's a powerful way to get positive press for your no..."

Clinton, try WoMen's Literary Cafe. They have reviewers and a good system of scheduling. They will also tweet and promote your book on IndieKindle! I am new there, but it seems like they are very good and come highly recommended. (And no, it isn't just for Women.)

Mary! I will check that out. Thanks for the lead.

Jeana wrote: "That's true; I just don't know what sells books."

I'm with you Jeana, it's so hard to know what works best in promotion and marketing. I do book readings which I really enjoy, and book signings of course. One problem I find with self publishing, it's so hard to get the books in the shops. My dream would be to see someone pick my book of a shelf and buy it. Wow! that would be awesome, but hardly likely.

Mary wrote: "Goodreads, Kindleboards (e-reader specific, not just Kindle), ChristianWriters.com (if you are a Christian or write for that audience) facebook but Larry is right about the fluffy aspect. A faceboo..."
Hi Mary, I tweet, but have never found it particularly helpful. But I continue to do it. We can't afford to close any possible doorway.

Clinton wrote: "Has anyone had success finding bloggers that will review self-published works? Finding review bloggers is the hardest thing for me, but I think it's a powerful way to get positive press for your no..."


I have. I found the best way to approach book bloggers was to write them a personal email explaining that I understand that they may not want to review self-published work because of poor past experiences, but I hope they will consider my book. Here are some reasons why I believe the reading experience is different from many other self-published works; here is the history of how I came to self-publish my book (hint: I didn't just jump into it; this book was represented by two different agents before I self-pubbed); and here are some reviews from readers so the blogger can see that this is, by and large, a good reading experience.

It has worked well for me.

I think making a personal approach is the best way to overcome the repulsion so many readers have to self-published works.

I recently got five or six bloggers to agree to review my debut novel. They were very generous. It took some research but I found a large list of bloggers who like to review self-published works.

Wow, a lot of useful info here. I wish I knew some to offer lol I'm basically trying to do dip my quill in a variety of different virtual inkwells, from blog reviews to author review swaps to FB groups to tag swaps...I dunno. After a while you begin to feel as if there aren't enough hours in the day within which to juggle it all.

My book 96 Rocks was reviewed on 2 blog talk radio shows. Here they are below. You can contact me with any questions. Both promote indie authors.

Ron Hummer

Conversations with Cyrus - 15 minutes http://www.blogtalkradio.com/middayco...

Interview with Lovely Whitemore 1 hour Forward 26 minutes and you can here my interview.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indie-au...

I've had very little luck promoting my books. The first two have sold some copies (both ebook and paperback), but not many. I did the KDP Select for both with the free giveaways and thousands got downloaded. When that ended, I went back to nearly nothing. Seems like people just wanted the free books. My third book, which I just released has only sold one ebook copy. This one I have been promoting even more because I want to donate 50% of my proceeds to an organization. I thought that would make it more palatable for people to buy, knowing that some of the money they spent is going to a good cause. Apparently, not. I use Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads as they are free and I have a non-existent budget. I also have a blog on my website that I utilize, but I don't get a lot of traffic. People expressed interest in the third book because of the donation aspect, but that's about it. They say it's great that I'm doing such a thing, but I have no sales to show for it. I don't know if it's the genre that I write that doesn't get as much interest as others or the way I'm promoting. This particular book I won't do giveaways for because it will defeat the purpose of what I'm trying to do. If I give away thousands of ebooks and get the same minimal results as the first two, then it serves no purpose.

I've recently connected with a publicist who gets paid on commission, so if I don't make money, she doesn't make money. I have no idea if this strategy will work or not, but at least it's something.

Beyond that, I keep writing more books and doing the usual...

Don't really know what else to try, frankly. It's frustrating.

I am finding places where I can announce my book, keeping an updated blog, and facebook page. I am also engaging in great groups like this one and growing (slowly) a twitter following.

I want to show any potential readers that I am out there, and accessable.

My fiance just got his first book published by an independent publisher (Sweatshoppe Publications), and marketing takes a lot of time, creativity, and energy.

We have the usual things: Twitter, Blog, Website, Facebook Author Page, Goodreads Author Page.

We also pass out business cards with the book cover and all of the contact info. We are using the connections we have.

It really seems to me that getting bloggers and book reviewers to sponsor your book and write reviews is key here. We are in the middle of that as well. It's tough and takes so much time. We are just hoping that it all pays off in the end...