Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
II. Publishing & Marketing Tips
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Looking for advice and tips from authors
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L. wrote: "Hello everyone. My name is Lily and I'm a new author. I published my first book last month. I've had some sales from friends/family but not from many 3rd party outsiders. I'm trying to generate buz..."Hey Lily,
First off, you don't have to put your whole book for sale on Smashwords. I've had 20+ downloads of the preview of my novel, and 30+ sales so yes, it does work. I've had no problems with the site, but my publisher does manage the nitty-gritty parts.
Blogging - I actually really enjoy blogging. I only got into it grudgingly, but it's a great way to get to know your readers. I've done giveaways of my own book for more likes/follows and it links to my Twitter and FB accounts, so that's two less sites for me to update. Also, it's a great way to get to know other authors. Having a blog gives you a wide score - you can advertise other peoples books, do swaps of interviews/cover reveals with other authors.
In fact, right now, I've got 3 exchanges ongoing. Another author put an interview with me on her blog, I'm doing the same with her on mine. I'm also doing a 2 day cover reveal/review for one other author and a swap of cover reveals with a third. As for what site to use, the most popular are Blogger and WordPress - they're both free! And you can personalise them. Or, like you say, you can just use a Goodreads blog and post links to it on your other pages, but that's a bit more work to do, whereas WordPress does an auto link with FB and Twitter so you don't have to.
I actually have 70 followes so far (only been doing it a few months) and they're all really loyal. One thing to remember - don't just advertise. I do blogs on my favourite song lyrics, pictures that I've taken, world events, writing tips etc. It's especially great to give your viewers an insight into you and your writing. I also post excerpts of writing I'm currently working on to see what kind of response it's going to get. For me, blogging has only been positive.
Reviewers - I've sent people on Goodreads private messages asking for them to review my book. The goal is to know your audience. So if you're a crime writer, you check out the crime groups, pick the most popular/vocal/longest member and then PM them, asking if they're interested. I also do this on FB and Twitter. I've also advertised on my blog before, so anywhere you can, it's worth giving it a shot.
Another good way to find reviewers - find books similar to yours, in genre or style and then check out the top reviewers for that book. PM that reviewer about interest and also, leave messages on groups, in the appropriate places, asking for reviewers. You never know who you'll find :)
Going to PM you now. :)
Elaine wrote: "L. wrote: "Hello everyone. My name is Lily and I'm a new author. I published my first book last month. I've had some sales from friends/family but not from many 3rd party outsiders. I'm trying to g..."I'll be sure to reply to your PM. Thanks for the helpful advice I'm definitely going to follow through with Smashwords. I never thought of the idea of downloading free previews and I really like that idea. Thank you! :D
L. wrote: "Elaine wrote: "L. wrote: "Hello everyone. My name is Lily and I'm a new author. I published my first book last month. I've had some sales from friends/family but not from many 3rd party outsiders. ...":) No problem. It's good because people can save you to their Library, without buying the book right away, and it's there for when they're ready. And you can 'favourite' authors.
Elaine pretty well covered everything, Lily, so I don't have a lot to offer. I will say that I have not found Smashwords that helpful in promoting books. They are a good avenue for getting a book out electronically, but it is still up to the author to get the book noticed by readers. In addition to looking for groups of reviewers, you might look for groups of readers that you can join. Do be careful, though, not to come in like a proverbial salesperson with books under your arm. Make friends and be social and let the interest in you and your books develop in time.
Elaine wrote: "L. wrote: "Elaine wrote: "L. wrote: "Hello everyone. My name is Lily and I'm a new author. I published my first book last month. I've had some sales from friends/family but not from many 3rd party ..."Thank you for the helpful advice, Maryann :) I've joined some groups on goodreads but I haven't committed to them. I'll go back over and find a niche to connect myself to people. Appreciate the comment :)
Hi, Lily. I agree with L. that Smashwords isn't the least bit helpful in promoting books, but they do offer something wonderful: coupons authors can generate to give their books away, and it doesn't cost a cent. Compare that with Amazon, which lets you give your books as a gift, but you have to pay full price for the privilege of doing so. You can send the coupon code Smashwords generates to anyone you want, post it on your website, etc.
L. wrote: "Hello everyone. My name is Lily and I'm a new author. I published my first book last month. I've had some sales from friends/family but not from many 3rd party outsiders. I'm trying to generate buz..."I cannot say enough good about Smashwords as a distribution system, but they are NOT a promotional site. That's still up to you.
Hi, and grats on getting your book published. I would disagree slightly with PM people asking for reviews. Some people would object to that it some of the conversations here are anything to go by. There are a few groups here who do read and review.
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/5...
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/5...
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/9...
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/6... might be a good place to start.
Some sites let you promote more openly some don't so be sure to read the guidelines. Get your books on the Listopias here and some groups such as the Indie group let you nominate for book of the month.
I use facebook as well, again there are tons of groups there to net work, promote and hang about in. Ditto Google plus. One good group is authors helping authors on fb.
www.authorsDb is free and will, I believe, promote to twitter and AskDavid.com is an affiliate site of Amazon and will let you promote and will also promote to twitter, although it might take a while.
Smashwords is....fickle. The meatgrinder is unforgiving and tricky but SW will put you in Barnes and Noble, Kobo, apple etc.
If you are with create space they will put the book on Kindle (if it isn't although it didn't come up in a search or you could put it there yourself. Amazon is likely to be a bigger seller than the others, or at least is for me.
You can't have the book in anywhere other than Amazon if you opt for KDP select but that does get you the ability to use the 5 freebie days a quarter- so your book will be free but it does generate a potential reader base (or not depending on who you ask). Some people - myself included have seen an uptick in sales for a short tome after. You do need to promote the freebie days yourself though. If you want to be on Amazon and also other venues then you can sign up to KDP and don't tick the select box. You don't get the freebie or borrows but you can put the book elsewhere.
Smashwords tokens have been mentioned.
Blog-wise I use wordpress and if I can use it anyone can:) I do author interviews and so do loads of people so that is a good way of getting your name out.
I assume this is a fantasy book - mythic scribes is useful too, nice folks and lots of really good advice. They have a GR presence as well.
Alexandra wrote: "Hi, and grats on getting your book published. I would disagree slightly with PM people asking for reviews. Some people would object to that it some of the conversations here are anything to go by..."
Thank you for the links to the groups, I'll definitely check them out. Do you know how I can get onto the goodreads listopia?
I'll study over the posts that have been made. Thank you for commenting and sharing, I very much appreciate it!
L. wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "Hi, and grats on getting your book published. I would disagree slightly with PM people asking for reviews. Some people would object to that it some of the conversations here are..."
Hey Lily. You can access Listopia from the Explore drop down menu at the top of the Goodreads pages. It's second down. Then all you need to do is find the appropriate list for your book, and vote for your book. It doesn't need to be in the established list, just click 'Add books to this list' and you can access your own bookcase or search all of Goodreads. Then just click 'vote for this book'. I did this for my book and the ones written by other authors under my publisher. It's simple and only takes a little while. Plus, you can add your book to as many Listopia lists as you want. Once they're there, other people might see your book and vote for it too, or they might read it. :)
Hello L,Others haven't mentioned it, or maybe I missed it, but on top of twitter, blogging and other social media, if you live in or near a city with local cable TV, get an interview. You can also approach the local library(ies)to do talks and set up a signing at a local book store. I have done or in the the process of doing all these things and have sold many books in person. I released my first book in April and in just over two months have sold about 125 hard copies, and another 25 on line. Working it the old fashion way puts a face to a novel and people still appreciate that (especially if your a local artist)
Elaine wrote: "L. wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "Hi, and grats on getting your book published. I would disagree slightly with PM people asking for reviews. Some people would object to that it some of the conversatio..."
Thank you for the instructions, that was very helpful and I really appreciate it! :)
D.L. wrote: "Hello L,Others haven't mentioned it, or maybe I missed it, but on top of twitter, blogging and other social media, if you live in or near a city with local cable TV, get an interview. You can also..."
I've heard of doing that but never looked into it further. Thanks for bringing that point up and congratulations for all the books you sold! I'll definitely look into that further as well :)
I did an arts festival and, on top of selling many copies of my book, a local newspaper picked up a copy and wants to do an interview. Again, it isn't as large an audience as the www but those who read the newspaper are more likely to take notice of an article in the paper than the millions who 'skim' past blogs or tweets. And again people like to support local.
I'm not a big fan of Smashwords. I found their formatting requirements confusing. Even after following them to the letter, they said there were errors, so I finally just took my work down. I never received sales through them anyway.One thing I can suggest is to have business cards made. Family members tend to brag about having an author in the fold, so they will probably hand some out for you.
Another option is to ask small, privately owned stores that carry many different products including books. Ask them if they would be willing to carry a few of yours. It's a small start, but you'll get more than just family and close friends buying your book. Eventually, word of mouth will get you more sales.
Also, join different author pages on Facebook as well as pages for your particular genre. There is plenty of advice to be had there. Just beware of other authors who try to belittle you for not doing things like paying exorbitant amounts of money for things that aren't in your budget. I have encountered some that claim if you don't spend money on this, that, and everything else, you really don't care about the craft and shouldn't publish. Don't fall for that bunk. The fact that you are looking for advice shows that you care.
Good luck!
Hey L,The idea behind what your book is about is interesting. Have you tried looking into sites that could possible tie into the element and genre of your book? You could have a really good fanbase, I'm sure if you found the right place and people readers would eat that up.
Smashwords-- I've seen some people use this program to make eBook versions available. I'm interested in using it. For the authors who have chosen to go with smashwords, did it help you generate buzz about your book? Did you have any problems with the site?
Blogging-- this is a big one for me. For one thing, I don't know what site to blog on. The eventual goal for me is to create my own website domain but until then I'd like to blog. I honestly don't know what site to use. There's blogspot, wordpress, and the goodreads.com blogging option. Am I better off using all three at the same time to blog? And for those authors who do blog, do you find it helpful for a fanbase?
Reviewers-- I've gone on theindieview.com and sent out a few review requests to indie reviewers but I have yet to hear a response. Where can I find readers on goodreads to review my book?
Thanks for reading and any answers you have to help me. I know that generating a fan base for a book takes time and effort and I wanna be sure that I'm putting in all the effort I can :) If any of you are interested in reading my book in exchange for a review, here's the link to it.
Shinobi 7: Trials of a Warrior
Please private message me if you're interested. Have a great day!
~L.