Indie Book Marketing: Resources
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Beginner's Information: Marketing Your Own Book
I'm an indie author and as such I've been learning about and researching how to market books directly to readers. I thought it would be nice to gather a lot of the resources that I'm using for my own books and share them with you.
Written a Book?
I'm in the same boat with you. I worked hard to write a book I was proud of and then I got stuck on the next part of the process. After sending queries to 200 agents and small publishers, and getting no response or rejections from them all, I was pretty discouraged. I kept getting similar comments: good writing, interesting premise, but we don't know who to market it to.
A couple of years ago I took the book that I had spent ten years writing and polishing and decided to find its audience on my own.
I never realized how fun and interesting marketing could be! I'm a quiet sort of person and I hate to annoy or bother anyone, so I was very nervous about the promotional side of indie publishing.
I'm not the expert on it, but I've read and searched and tried things out and I thought maybe you guys could really benefit from the research I've been doing. I hope you enjoy the resources here and will comment in the guest book if there are ones I'm missing!
A couple of years ago I took the book that I had spent ten years writing and polishing and decided to find its audience on my own.
I never realized how fun and interesting marketing could be! I'm a quiet sort of person and I hate to annoy or bother anyone, so I was very nervous about the promotional side of indie publishing.
I'm not the expert on it, but I've read and searched and tried things out and I thought maybe you guys could really benefit from the research I've been doing. I hope you enjoy the resources here and will comment in the guest book if there are ones I'm missing!
Table of Contents
Places to be Published
Ebooks are where it's at for the indie author, though there are some great options for print too.
Just make sure that you don't have all your eggs in one basket, as they say. The more sources that are selling your book, the better.
Kindle is an obvious choice, and Amazon makes it very easy to get a Kindle version out. Just go to the main page, scroll all the way down and click on "self publish with us." From there you can choose CreateSpace (for print books) and Kindle. Follow instructions.
Barnes and Noble lets you do the same through PubIt (though it's much harder to locate!)
Smashwords is a website you'll want to be aware of. They sell ebooks in a ton of different formats and the distribute to Sony and Apple iTunes.
I just found out about Overdrive, which is another ebook distributer.
Once you have your book up in all these places, you'll be getting sales from all these different sources! There's little telling which one will reach your audience best, so use them all.
Just make sure that you don't have all your eggs in one basket, as they say. The more sources that are selling your book, the better.
Kindle is an obvious choice, and Amazon makes it very easy to get a Kindle version out. Just go to the main page, scroll all the way down and click on "self publish with us." From there you can choose CreateSpace (for print books) and Kindle. Follow instructions.
Barnes and Noble lets you do the same through PubIt (though it's much harder to locate!)
Smashwords is a website you'll want to be aware of. They sell ebooks in a ton of different formats and the distribute to Sony and Apple iTunes.
I just found out about Overdrive, which is another ebook distributer.
Once you have your book up in all these places, you'll be getting sales from all these different sources! There's little telling which one will reach your audience best, so use them all.
Important!
There's lots of different ways to get information out about your book! Don't be overwhelmed. You don't have to try them all at once. Take your time to build genuine interest in your writing so you don't come across as a spammer and turn off potential fans.
Marketing Books
These are some of the books I've read and learned from
John Locke: an absolute star of the indie book world. Contrary to belief, pricing his book low is not what caused him to shoot ahead of the crowd
Kristen Lamb, We Are Not Alone: Great for beginners wondering what social media is all about and how to use it
Zoe Winters: Solid advice for every step of the way from another successful indie
Smashwords: FREE book of tips
Let's Get Digital: Very inspiring. First half is about why you should self-publish and the second half is interviews of many success stories.
No Money Marketing: A highly unusual book, mostly about how to market and spread promotional material in a virtual world like Second Life. A very interesting read just because it is so different!
Kristen Lamb, We Are Not Alone: Great for beginners wondering what social media is all about and how to use it
Zoe Winters: Solid advice for every step of the way from another successful indie
Smashwords: FREE book of tips
Let's Get Digital: Very inspiring. First half is about why you should self-publish and the second half is interviews of many success stories.
No Money Marketing: A highly unusual book, mostly about how to market and spread promotional material in a virtual world like Second Life. A very interesting read just because it is so different!
My Favorite Blogs
- Rachelle Gardner
- Blog of an agent who posts nearly every day with questions and concerns relevant to authors of all kinds.
- Write 2 Publish
- The business side of novel writing. I pretty much do everything Robin tells me to! :)
- The Other Side of the Story
- Posts on every aspect of writing, from planning to marketing
- David Gaughran
- A very knowledgeable indie author who asks the right questions and finds the answers.
- Think Like A Publisher
- Dean Wesley Smith has several articles about how to see yourself as a business
- Kristen Lamb
- Always good posts on social media and how to use it well
- Webbie Grrl
- Posts on marketing, tweeting, and branding for indie authors
- Market Your Book Blog
- I haven't read much of this one yet, but the title is very promising!
- Writer in Residence
- Tips for the whole publishing experience
- Girls with Pens
- A list of the posts tagged as marketing
- Novel Publicity
- Several articles on different ways to get attention for yourself and your book
- Lindsay Buroker
- An ebook author has posts about marketing
Books I haven't finished yet
These are books I've started or that look really good and I plan to read!
Helpful Articles
- Michael Hyatt
- The three keys to marketing fiction in the current environment
- Riyria
- Building a fan base one person at a time
- How to Market Your Book
- A collection of links to blog posts of various authors on the subject of book marketing
- Curiosity Quills
- A description of a successful "guerrilla writer" plan
- Create Space Blog
- Promoting your book by writing related articles
- Kindle-author.blogspot
- Ten authors give their suggestions and advice for marketing
- Fiction Factor
- "Novel ways to promote your novel."
- eBook Launch Strategy
- A detailed guide for a possible way to promote a new eBook
- Writer Unboxed
- A Checklist for Marketing your eBook
- Guerrilla Wordfare
- List of articles about SEO, which is something I am not too good at and trying to learn.
- M. Louisa Locke on Categories, Key Words, and Tags
- A very long and detailed article about maximizing your visibility when choosing the categories for your book on Amazon
- Grabbing attention on Twitter
- From hubze.com
- Writing a blurb
- Some tips for writing an enticing blurb from The Writing Bomb
Highly recommended by some of my indie author friends.
Cover Design
A good cover is critical! We may tell our kids not to judge books by their covers, but really we all do. You have very little time to make an impression on a potential reader, so your cover needs to look professional and intriguing (and also be appropriate to its genre)
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Tip
I knew I could never afford Photoshop and so I thought I couldn't make fancy, nice covers for my books. Then I found Gimp It's a program you download that is similar to Photoshop, but completely free!
Gimp
If you've never used a program like this before, it can take a while to get used to. I just started learning a couple months ago and it's been challenging! I've felt frustration, but I keep on trying.
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Tip
You can also useFlickr to edit photos, there is a free built-in editor called Picnic that is very easy to use (crop images, add text, some effects).
Book Cover Inspiration
Which do you like best?
How to Make a Book Trailer
Very simple directions. See more info about making book trailers at:
Making Of A Book Trailer-Day One
Book Trailer Manual
Make A Book Trailer, ehow
What Can You Do With A Book Trailer?
Where to Pimp Your Book Trailer
I'm not sure how useful book trailers are at the moment, but YouTube does get a lot of eyes. Perhaps I can learn from this article Five Tips to Use Book Trailers to Drive Sales
Maybe post it at this Facebook page: Book Trailer Matinee
Making Of A Book Trailer-Day One
Book Trailer Manual
Make A Book Trailer, ehow
What Can You Do With A Book Trailer?
Where to Pimp Your Book Trailer
I'm not sure how useful book trailers are at the moment, but YouTube does get a lot of eyes. Perhaps I can learn from this article Five Tips to Use Book Trailers to Drive Sales
Maybe post it at this Facebook page: Book Trailer Matinee
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Tip
Free images and music...
www.morguefile.com/
www.flickr.com/creativecommons
www.pacdv.com/sounds/free-music.html
creativecommons.org/
(links not working at the moment, will try to fix)
You, Interviewed
Sites looking for author interviews
One of the strategies here is to get your name and information as far across the web as you can. Interviews of you on different sites is a great way to do that. It also lets readers see different sides of you as a person and feel more connected to you.
- Indie Book Lounge
- Author Interviews
- The Same Six Questions
- Andy Rane is doing this neat thing on his blog where he asks different authors all the same six questions.
- 1st Author Interviews
- Promote your book and give your reading audience a chance to get to know you!
- Indie ebooks
- This one is a paid service, something like $10/day or so for a month
- Kindle-author Tumblr
- "This blog features interviews with Kindle authors.
If interested, please email me with a link to your Kindle book and I'll send you some questions."
Twitter Search
#pubtip
Other good hashtags to check out on twitter: #WriteGoal, #NoveLines, #amwriting, #SampleSunday, #TwitterLit
Just found this tweeter: @KindleSurprise US & UK
"We'll be tweeting some of the most entertaining books available for the Kindle! Authors: Email book links to kindlesrp@gmail.com"
http://twitter.com/#!/KindleSurprise
Just found this tweeter: @KindleSurprise US & UK
"We'll be tweeting some of the most entertaining books available for the Kindle! Authors: Email book links to kindlesrp@gmail.com"
http://twitter.com/#!/KindleSurprise
Tip
Use a site like Bitly to shorten your URLs. What does that mean? Save space where you're limited, but also track how many clicks your link got by logging in at bitly
More Twitter Help
A tip for effective Twitter use:
"The key with Twitter, however, is you have to tweet in waves. Say, four (or more) tweets an hour for a five hour period. Half of these tweets should be a pitch for you or your book (whether direct or indirect), the other half should be useful information. If you don't tweet in waves you cannot have a strong presence and your message will be diluted. You will notice this because as soon as you begin tweeting in waves you are going to get more followers. "
-http://vanlowe.blogspot.com/2012/02/way-i-see-it-impressions.html
"The key with Twitter, however, is you have to tweet in waves. Say, four (or more) tweets an hour for a five hour period. Half of these tweets should be a pitch for you or your book (whether direct or indirect), the other half should be useful information. If you don't tweet in waves you cannot have a strong presence and your message will be diluted. You will notice this because as soon as you begin tweeting in waves you are going to get more followers. "
-http://vanlowe.blogspot.com/2012/02/way-i-see-it-impressions.html
A useful blog post of a friend...
- Lilliana Hart
- Twitter for writers
Amazon Spotlight
This one was highly recommended on #pubtip at Twitter
Publishing & Marketing Realities for the Emerging Author
Amazon Price: (as of 06/01/2012)
This one was highly recommended on #pubtip at Twitter
Facebook Fan Page
You should have one
Make a fan page for you as an author first, rather than making one for your book. Once you get good at it, you can make them for your books if you would like.To get started, go here: Create Page
You will be guided in the process of how to make a simple fan page that people can "like." You can manage this page from your regular profile (it will show up on the left side near the games, if you have any).
Then you can add interesting apps like GoodReads, Twitter, YouTube, Notes, Discussion Boards. You can connect your FB and Twitter so that you can just post to one and the information will show up on both.
You can see how I designed my fan page at Facebook/RuthMadisonDev
How to best utilize your fan page
Some of these links are for businesses in general, so you'll have to think about how they might apply to authors.
- iFrame welcome page
- I love having this on my page, it allows you to make an image that people who are not fans see (and you can use it to encourage them to click "like) and then once they become fans, it changes to a new image. The possibilities with this are endless!
- Apps at Facebook
- How to set up a welcome tab
- Metia
- Make your Facebook page posts count
- Jeff Bullas
- Tips to drive the engagement you have with your fans
- Amy Porterfield
- Are you asking the wrong questions on Facebook?
- Open Forum
- Top 5 things to have on your page
- NonProfit Facebook Guy
- Lots of great information
- Social Media Examiner
- Learn what apps are out there and get ideas about how to use them
- Ask John Kremer
- 31 ways to promote your Facebook page
How To Create a Facebook Fan Page
Advice for authors
How to set up your Facebook fan page for your book using the Static FBML app without needing to know FBML coding. This will save you time and money for book marketing or author branding.
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How Authors Can Use Facebook To Sell Books
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Review Sites
A few I've come across
Getting reviews for your books will be critical. Word of mouth is the number one way that people decide to buy books. These are some that I plan to submit a book to later this year. You'll want to make sure that the ones you submit to read your genre. Reviews from people who are not in your target audience are likely to be harsh!
- Step by Step Self Publishing
- A long list of a ton of review sites
- Bitten by Paranormal Romance
- Here at Bitten by Paranormal Romance (BBPR), we believe in paranormal Happy Ever After! We don't do the sparkle vampires
- Scorching Book Reviews
- For books with heat
- Bookin It
- Where readers and authors come together
- Kindle Book Reviews
- Great Authors. Great Book. Great Reviews
- Books and Pals
- Reviews and more from the world of the Kindle
- Book Rooster
- "BookRooster.com is a community of passionate readers who receive free copies of new Kindle books to read and review."
Apparently this is a paid service, which I'm not wild about, and there's been some criticism of them: http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,74950.0.html - Papyrus
- Specifically for indie books, and they make sure to add that they will not be bought! This is great. Paying for reviews is a terrible idea for an indie author, it gets you into extremely shady moral territory and readers will turn on you if they find out you've paid for a review (whether the review was supposed to be impartial or not)
- Writer's Resource Directory
- A long list of book reviewer websites
- Simon-Royle
- A list of blogs that review indie books
- Step by Step Self Publishing
- A list of reviewers and information about reviews for indie authors
Where People Look for Books
Websites where it's good to have a presence
- Good Reads
- A site where people can list all the books they have read and the books they want to read, as well as rate the books. You can claim your author page here and add a photo, bio, and videos.
- Library Thing
- Same idea as GoodReads
- Shelfari
- A virtual bookshelf. Similar to the other two, but graphically prettier!
- Book Bundlz
- An online bookclub
- MobileRead Forum
- I haven't signed up here yet, but someone recommended it. It looks like a good place to talk about reading and get to know people who like to read ebooks (not a place to do a lot of overt selling)
Giveaways
When free can make you money
Several indie authors I know have done really well with giveaways. Some websites are set up to do random giveaways for you. At GoodReads you can give away physical copies of your book, on LibraryThing you can give away ecopies (which can be completely free to you if you have your book up at Smashwords; there you can generate a coupon for a free book and send that to the winners).
Lots of people will probably sign up. Those who didn't win might add your book anyway, having now been exposed to it. Those that do win might leave you reviews or tell their friends what a great book it is.
More information:
LibraryThing Giveaway Info (David Gaughran)
Discounts and more (David Gaughran)
Free Book Friday
A tip I just came across:
"With giveaways, shorter is always better. My giveaways usually last 5-7 days. Here's why. The first day of your giveaway you're included in a "recently listed" posting done by Goodreads. The last two days of your giveaway you are going to be included in a "closing soon," posting. If you schedule your giveaway for five days that means three out of the five are high visibility days where Goodreads is promoting you. "
-http://vanlowe.blogspot.com/2012/02/way-i-see-it-impressions.html
Lots of people will probably sign up. Those who didn't win might add your book anyway, having now been exposed to it. Those that do win might leave you reviews or tell their friends what a great book it is.
More information:
LibraryThing Giveaway Info (David Gaughran)
Discounts and more (David Gaughran)
Free Book Friday
A tip I just came across:
"With giveaways, shorter is always better. My giveaways usually last 5-7 days. Here's why. The first day of your giveaway you're included in a "recently listed" posting done by Goodreads. The last two days of your giveaway you are going to be included in a "closing soon," posting. If you schedule your giveaway for five days that means three out of the five are high visibility days where Goodreads is promoting you. "
-http://vanlowe.blogspot.com/2012/02/way-i-see-it-impressions.html
Tip
Reviews can be great or they can be devestating. When a reader leaves you a rating on Amazon, or B+N, or GoodReads, resist the urge to respond! Whether it's a good review or a bad one, when you jump in the conversation it looks unprofessional. Also, defensiveness on your part can turn readers off.
Contests
There are many contests for books that were published in the most recent calender year. These can be a great way to get some legitimacy, a literal seal of approval, and the promotional tool of being able to call your book "award winning."
Other Neat Things
- Cloud:Flood
- This is a really fun tool that allows you to request people to Twitter something of your choosing and, once they do, they will be able to access free content that you've created. Great way to get people Tweeting on your behalf! You could offer a free story, for example, to those who Tweet a link to your author webpage.
- Bloggerdise
- This is really neat! You make a profile and then you put up an offer. If you're an author, you can offer your book for review (and a few friends have seen lots of offers) or you can make an offer as a blogger if you're looking for guest posts on your blog.
- Bewitching Book Tours
- A company that has, I'm told, a very reasonable cost for organizing a blog tour
- How to Organize a Blog Tour
- Don't pay someone else to set up a virtual book tour for you, this article tells you how to do it yourself
- Story Casting
- Such a fun thing! You pick the actors and actresses that you would want to star in a movie made of your favorite book (or the one you've written). The people who run the site love to get authors there to cast their own books and they're very nice to work with.
- Writer's Guide to Publishing: Categorizing
- Using categories to your advantage in the Kindle store
- What Should I Read Next
- A database of books that offers suggestions sort-of how Pandora does. Still looking into how to get my books listed
- The Reader's Guide
- A new site, interested in having indie as well as traditional authors, they spotlight Kindle books
- Project Wonderful
- An advertising system that I'm thinking about trying
- Pic Badges
- Create a little badge to advertise your book. It will attach to your Facebook profile picture and your friends can also wear your badge.
I'm not sure of the value of these, I tried one and it didn't seem to do much. - Indie Snippets
- Authors submit bite-sized passages from anywhere within their stories to give readers a flavor of what to expect.
- Book Hitch
- You can put in a listing for your book here (there's free and premium). I'm not sure what kind of traffic it gets, but I put my book in.
- Biblio Scribe
- Book press releases. If you have one, you can list it here.
- Pixel of Ink
- Several friends have said that this is one of the best places to pay for advertising of a book.
Tip
What is a blog tour? You can contact people (perhaps other indie authors) who have blogs and ask about doing guest posts, interviews of yourself, and other fun content. Plan for your content to be on a different blog each day for a week. It's touring for the digital age!
For Fun
Silly author themed stuff
Featured Lenses: Other Pages You May Find Helpful
Good Luck!
I hope you found some useful information! I love learning and I find all this book promotion stuff really interesting. I'd love to hear about your ideas, tips, or success stories!
Take care,
Ruth
Take care,
Ruth
More About Me
For my step-by-step journey into indie authorship...
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Add Your Ideas and Tips...
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azD40x
Jan 28, 2012 @ 12:21 pm | delete
- Good source. Might refer to author that getting service from my book cover design service about your lens. INFORMATIVE!
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madinvestment
Nov 5, 2011 @ 11:16 pm | delete
- Thank you for taking the time to publish this lens and for sharing it with us fellow squids.
Its a fantastic lens. One squid thumbs up vote given!
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RuthMadison
Nov 25, 2011 @ 7:34 am | delete
- Thank you! :D
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MaxReily
Sep 23, 2011 @ 3:32 pm | delete
- This is a wonderfully helpful lens! Thanks for all of this great information, and this excellent lens! I'm bookmarking it, because I plan to come back often!
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RuthMadison
Sep 23, 2011 @ 3:41 pm | delete
- Thanks! I update it every time I find something new to try :D
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There isn't enough fiction out there with characters who have disabilities. Ruth Madison aims to fix that.
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