I know it’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted but…writing suddenly seems easier than publishing. Writer’s block even sounds good. Any writer going through the publishing process with Amazon (KDP, CreateSpace or both) and Smashwords knows exactly what I mean. Page Breaks. Typeface. Blocking. Table of Contents. Front Matter. All tedious and time consuming! But the end is near. My proof is on it’s way (again – already made corrections to the first one). As a preview, here’s the final cover (which I love!!):
Now that I’m only days away from my publishing date, it’s time to turn my mind to the matter of marketing. (Again, I’m not getting nearly enough actual writing done). At this point, I’m aware that social media and guest posting are excellent options. Reviews are also important. Although I can’t yet vouch for any of this information, here are a few sites that might be useful:
GalleyCat – Free Sites to Promote Your eBook
Squidoo: Five Websites Where You Can Promote Your eBook
Smashwords Book Marketing Guide Update
Some of the various sites out there say the same thing. Create a blog (duh!). Use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Some are slightly different. One said to attach the link to purchasing your book to every e-mail you send out right under your name. To your child’s teacher, to the customer service department at ?? (name a company, any company), to, well, everyone you have any contact with. This has some merit – if you don’t want all your future e-mails spammed by your family and friends. Self-promotion seems like a must, but being realistic about how and where you do it also seems important.
So, while I’m waiting for my final proof and publication date, it’s time to develop a marketing plan.
What do you think works best?
Selling my book is the main thing that terrifies me about self-publishing. I’m rubbish at selling myself and live in dread of becoming one of those annoying people who try to sell their book to the postman. I’ve decided that, for my first novel, it’s going to be more about understanding the process of self-publishing as I know the book could be better.
However, in her post Links Galore, Annie Cardi has included a link to a great post on how to prepare for a book launch. The link to the post is below and seems to be good advice.
http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/how-to-prepare-for-book-launch.html
Selling terrifies me, too. I’ve never had a career in sales or marketing so…won’t be easy. Thanks so much for the link. I’ll check it out and continue adding more sources to my blog as I find them. When do you expect to publish?
I’ve set up several endeavours that have all failed because I was too scared to sell myself! I had hoped to publish this August but I decided to write a Young Adult book for the Mxlexia competition (deadline is Monday) so I’ve been working on both projects at the same time. Needless to say neither is ready! Besides, I’ve just read a great book on revision and want to take my novel apart now before publishing it!!
I completely understand. I had planned to publish earlier, too but real-life events got in the way. At least I’m finally almost there. Best of luck to you in the competition!