THE OTHER 4 TIPS FOR AUTHORS: Tips many may practice, but won’t admit to doing.
The internet is overflowing with marketing and sales tips for independent authors. Some of it is daunting when you read an indie’s blog about how he or she used social media and SEO to boost sales by 4,000 to 6,000 a day. Or downloads exceeding 100 000! My client, Paul Pilkington, for whom I have had the honor of doing 5 covers so far, has a trilogy out that has now exceeded 2 MILLION downloads! In his case, his books are GOOD. His fan base built itself. But each author is unique however.
Another client, Kim Hornsby, released her book on Amazon. Sales and downloads could have been better. So we did a cover redesign, she placed her book in the KINDLE SELECT program and overnight it went to #15 in Kindle Free, #4 in Romantic Suspense and #1 in Ghosts. She had over 7,000 downloads in about 12 hours! Plus, she works VERY hard at her promotions.
So, here we’re not going to discuss ‘normal’ marketing tips for writers. There are MORE than enough out there and I am sure you need fresh thoughts rather than strategies alone. Let’s look at THE OTHER 4 TIPS for authors, tips many may practice, but won’t admit to doing 🙂
1. Talk about your book to EVERYONE.
Even the grocer. Dog walker. Random dude or girl at gym. Guy in the beer queue behind you. Every single author client I have has told me how they sold books just by showing off a new cover design to some random person or family member, who then tell other people, who then tell more people. WOM: word of mouth. STILL one of the most powerful marketing tools. So yes – blab! Mention you’re an author to EVERYONE you meet. Drop your book’s name, and -> get the person’s email address so that you can email them the link for your book’s release, and the book after that 🙂
2. Speaking of beer… Combine your book with product.
This happens in the big commercial world every day where brands and stars merge to sell and promote. If you have a friend who is into craft brewing, or has a beauty salon, an art gallery, or custom clothes, coffee shop or whatever the product or service may be – why not combine promotions with them? The awesome thing about independent publishing is – THERE ARE NO CONTRACTS that bind you w.r.t marketing! In return you can name their brand in your book, or promote them on your advertising pages. Whatever the deal – cross promotion is awesome. Other blogs say authors should promote authors. Great. But many then promote authors to authors. You want READERS. My author client, Dan H. Kind, his book features beer. A lot! While designing his cover – I DRANK CRAFT BEER and loved it! My one friend is a craft brewer, and guess what – he downloaded Dan’s book. Just because of beer 😉
3. DO give your social pages swag.
Yes OK so we said no normal marketing talk. This isn’t normal marketing talk though. It’s superficial but important. Before you pay for the Facebook ad campaigns, make sure your Facebook and Twitter page headers are congruent with either you as author, or the book(s) you are promoting. Avoid using low res images or images that have NOTHING to do with your book or you. More and more authors are now paying that extra $20 to get 2 Facebook banner variants, and a Twitter header. It looks GOOD. It looks professional. It adds to your marketing campaign and cover reveal. And yes, let’s say it – it is indie swag and we love it ‘cos we can!
4. Authors…for creative sanity:
DO get out the house when you can. Go sit in a coffee shop. A bar. A park. Somewhere where you can tap into yourself and wherever that creative gift core of yours is located. I think, we authors need to be more selfish sometimes. Yes. I said it. We need to be more selfish with our time and space. Because we are the storytellers that make people buy Kindles, download books, go into book shops and have something to keep them entertained with new worlds and characters. Too often indies put their writing time aside for ‘social’ purposes or expectations. So let this be the devil’s advocate in saying: go to your favourite coffee shop. Disappear for an hour. Or two. And WRITE! It’s your gift, and your right to write.
Thank you for reading, and happy writing!
Jeanine Henning
Twitter: @JenVinci
JH Illustration 