I’ve learned so much about book marketing the last couple of months that I could probably write a whole new novel about the topic (and if the market wasn’t so saturated already, I might even consider it). Many indie authors will tell you they hate marketing and they would much prefer for someone else to do it on their behalf, but strangely enough, I’m actually really enjoying it. And that’s very weird coming from someone as introverted as I am (INTJ FTW!).
Enjoying it and being successful at it are two different things though. So far I’ve not had the greatest return on investment (time and money-wise), but what little traction I’ve gained I’m happy with. I know this is a long-term game and I’m ready to enjoy the journey.
Here are some of the things I’ve done and a few things I’m yet to do:
- I’ve revamped this website. If you’ve been here from the very beginning you’ll remember I had an awfully generic template that did nothing to showcase what my writing is about. I’m much happier with the site now and I can’t stop staring at that gorgeous main page image of Una the unicorn.
- I’ve created a landing page where potential readers can subscribe to my mailing list and receive a free novelette in return.
- I ran a month-long Facebook ad to send that link out into the world and it’s gained me 11 new subscribers. I was hoping for more, but hey, that’s 11 more than I had before.
- I’ve added the link to the landing page at the front and back of the stories that are already for sale.
- I’ve set up email automation to welcome new subscribers and hopefully get them to engage with me on a more personal level (currently only 3 mails deep, I probably still need to expand on this a bit, but we’ll see).
- I’m currently testing out the 30-day free trial on Instafreebie to see if I can gain more subscribers there, although I’ve heard that the quality of subscribers you get aren’t always good, so I’m not too worried about signing up for now.
- I want to register with Bookfunnel to help me streamline sending out the free story, beta reader and ARC copies.
- I’ve segmented my mailing list into beta readers and ARC readers, but I still need to invite an ARC team. I’m not too worried about that at this stage, because my awesome betas function as ARCs too (lucky girl).
- I’ve signed up for Reedsy’s “Ultimate Book Marketing Plan” course and need to work my way through that (Reedsy’s free courses have been invaluable and I highly recommend them to anyone starting out on the indie publishing journey). I’ve also read a few e-books on book marketing that have reiterated everything that I’d already learned from Reedsy courses.
- I also want to learn a little more about Amazon algorithms and see if it would be worthwhile trying out an Amazon advertisement.
- I somehow need to convince the few readers I have to leave reviews on either Amazon or Goodreads. Time to brainstorm.
- I want to find book review bloggers who are willing to review indie-published short stories and novelettes. These guys and gals are scarce as chicken teeth.
So, there you have some idea of what I’ve been doing behind the scenes lately. It’s been an incredibly interesting process and I learn something new every day.
Finally, I know that the best marketing tool for a book is the next book, so I’ve been squeezing in writing time whenever I can (although I still haven’t managed to get up at 5AM yet!). Watch this space…
Where are you on your indie author journey? Do you have any advice for me on how to get my work in front of more people and gain more subscribers? As a reader, what do you think I should do to market my books better?
