subject: Phantom [print this page] So you've just finished your bookSo you've just finished your book. After dozens of rejections you've said screw it and made the decision to self-publish. I personally believe that the future of both books and music will be in self-publishing.
The most important thing you need to know if you're going to self-publish is how to market. Some publishers offer marketing options to assist you. Some of them are worth it, if you're trying to reach certain audiences that you don't have connections to. Others are things you can do yourself for free, like setting up a presence in social media. The first time I self-published my book back 2005, I didn't know anything about marketing or even how important it was to successful product. Now after years of schooling, and a master's in entertainment business, I not only understand the value of marketing, I know how to do it successfully. I'll share some tips in this article.
For starters, I've just mentioned social media. Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter are great places to start your marketing. Create Facebook pages for your book and set up your Twitter to shadow your work. Your updates and tweets should keep your readers in the loop about your book and future books. This is where you advertise. I also suggest making sure your personal Facebook profile professionally reflects you as a writer. Another thing you should do is create a blog. Unlike your Facebook and Twitter, your blog posts should go more in-depth about you. Your blog isn't for advertising like your Facebook and Twitter; it's for connecting with your audience. It's for them to get to know the real you and interact through comments and questions.
Your presence on social media is what keeps you close to your audience, but of course you'll need to get people over to your sites. This is when the long and tedious work begins. First of all it's okay that you tell your friends and family about your social sites and keep them up to date, but unless one of them is a valuable asset that will drive traffic to your product, I don't suggest advertising to them too much unless you like to waste time. First identify your target audience, then build a presence in their domains. Sign up for discussion forums and blogs relating to the content of your work or genre. Post a bit on the forums and reply to other posts. This is will allow them to get to know you as a writer. These discussion forums are a great place to advertise, but tread softly. Some sites don't like people to advertise and if they catch it, you'll be banned. For those sites I suggest building up a familiarity with the people there, reducing your chances of getting banned. A trick to use is to post as someone else who has just read your book. Don't bring it out right away; bring it out as a post that relates to your book, in a "by the way" type of statement. Many people won't care much about your book unless they hear good things from other readers.
Now here's a little trick I picked up from one of my grad school instructors, Kimberly Craft. She's a successful author whose book "Infamous Lady: The True Story of Elizabeth Bathory" that sold hundreds of thousands of copies, self- published and self-marketed. One very good method of marketing that she did was to research other authors in her genre who were more established. She did her research on the authors, read their blogs, and then reached out. She didn't immediately ask for their help, but she offered to help them. She always said, "The first step of winning their favor is to give a gift." For example she read the blog of another author who also wrote a book on Countess Bathory and she noticed that he kept mentioning how he wished he could get his hands on the original notes that were brought up in the actual court case of Countess Bathory. Well, luckily, when Kim was writing her book she had got her hands on all of the original documents and translated them, so she was able to send him PDFs. After that he wanted to help her out, so he posted information about her book on his site and where to get it, which brought in thousands of loyal readers. So network with other authors and always bring a gift.
Of course I have dozens more suggestions and ways to easily market without spending a dime, so if you'd like to know more about this subject or other subjects relating to writing or self-publishing just follow my blog at my website, http://www.phantomuniverse.com, and don't hesitate to ask questions. Just fill out a contact form on the site with your question and I'll send you the answer at my earliest convenience, or I may post a blog about it.
