I’ve been reading a lot of threads and forums lately dealing
with the topic of marketing your book. It seems there are a lot of “newbies”
out there in this relatively virgin explosion of indie publishing and many can’t
understand why their book isn’t selling. When asked if they market and promote
their books most say yes, but complain that they have limited time, maybe a few
hours a week.
These authors wonder why they have little or no sales. Well,
here’s a hard truth. To be a successful indie author you have to market your
books as much if not more than you spend time writing them. It takes a lot of
work to get noticed in a publishing sea that now includes a million new
published books yearly. Competition to get readers’ attention is ten times
harder than it was just three years ago. But it is not impossible.
With the internet, the exhaustive task of promoting is now
accessible to even the most introverted writer. No longer must writers sit in
nearly empty bookstores peddling their signed wares or go out on long book tours
just to get a little recognition, that recognition can now be achieved at home.
It can be done. You can get noticed. But it ain’t easy.
Internet marketing does sell books. I’m living proof. A
complete unknown two years ago, since then I’ve sold thousands of books to
absolute strangers. I also spend an average of two hours a day marketing. It’s
tough to find the time, believe me, but I do it. I used to pay for sponsorships
with mediocre results and placed samples of my books on all those hundreds of author
sites that promise tons of exposure. They worked to some degree, but not worth
the hours of drudgery downloading in comparison to sales. Then I discovered the
secret to gaining an audience.
Blindly spamming and pushing your book over and over on
social media only turns readers off. You come off seeming desperate for anyone
to buy your book. The proper way to promote is to build a readership through
online book discussions and joining groups. Respond when a reader emails you. Get
involved in discussions other than about your own work. Get people interested in
you by being interesting online. Your audience will grow in time. It will! Yes,
marketing on the internet will sell your book, but you have to do it properly.
And have patience, if you can tell a great story the readers will find out
about you.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog:
ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
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