Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
III. Goodreads Readers
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What's the best way for Self-Pub Authors to get more readers?
I do read self-published authors. I just need to read a sample and be impressed by it. I read yours on your website and you're very good. I just ordered your book from Amazon.The key element was to bring yourself to my attention. If you hadn't posted, I wouldn't have to gone to your website and read that sample. Your cover is beautiful, by the way.
Hi ELPy, sounds like you've got a great cover and a great book, not to mention a new fan! It's hard for self-published authors to bring their books to the attention of readers. Goodreads is my favourite site but I'm also involved in lots of others, like booktalk.org, World Literary Café, Savvy Authors etc.
Thank you very much, I really appreciate your comments, your reply here, visiting my website, and your support in ordering my book. I hope you enjoy it and maybe even leave a review! :-DI do the same thing - read sample - that's what I love about the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon. Sometimes that's really all you need, a few pages, to determine whether or not that book is for you. I put samples on my website because I know that poetry isn't for everyone and that way people can "taste" my style of writing first, as you did. It seems a good thing to do and not just for poets but for all authors, especially SPAs.
This is a great example of visibility. Like people have said elsewhere in this group and the authors say in the guide I mentioned above, self-publishers have to wear many hats. If we aren't willing to get out there and make ourselves visible then no one will see us and our work. We're responsible for being seen.
Thanks again Shomeret! Happy Holidays.
Take care,
eLPy
Rita wrote: "Hi ELPy, sounds like you've got a great cover and a great book, not to mention a new fan! It's hard for self-published authors to bring their books to the attention of readers. Goodreads is my fa..."Hi Rita! Thanks for replying. Those sites are all new to me. I just recently found Shelfari, BookMooch and Book Crossing. I'm also on LibraryThing but I probably have to agree Goodreads is my favorite too. It's really amazing how many book and reading related sites are out there. Thanks for telling me about those I'll have to check them out. Just the other day on another thread someone brought up Writer's Cafe on KindleBoards.
Have you found being on these sites has helped you in terms of your books and getting the attention of readers? What about your website?
Recently on the super long thread about why don't more people read self-published books another member said that she likes to know more about authors and likes to see them communicating and interacting with people on sites like this (these aren't her exact words though). That was helpful to me because while I know posting and commenting makes you more visible and known to people in general, I didn't realize that there were people craving this. Then again, we all love to know more about musicians and actors and other artists. I guess that's part of taking ourselves more seriously when we determine ourselves to be writers.
Thanks!
Take care,
eLPy
eLPy wrote: "Rita wrote: "Hi ELPy, sounds like you've got a great cover and a great book, not to mention a new fan! It's hard for self-published authors to bring their books to the attention of readers. Goodr..."Since I see too much "buy my book" stuff on GoodReads, I actually publish more of my social content stuff on my blog where I interview authors (2014 is completely open for any authors interested in an interview. See http://peersofbeinan.wordpress.com/) and discuss the writing process mostly. In 2013 I ran several very expensive book giveaways with a review return of only about 5% and no generated sales.
So obviously for me, those outlets have not worked.
I too love that both Amazon and SmashWords offer book sampling. I think that is one of the best discovery tools out there -- as reader and author alike.
Book sampling does seem to work. Also putting free short stories out there has worked for me. It's a similar idea of letting readers get a taste for your writing before asking them to commit. Not an option all authors have though, particularly if they're just starting out with their first book.Giveaways I've not had any luck with. I ran one this year on Goodreads - 500 hits, no reviews, no sales. I reckon they're not targetted enough, people sign up to them who actually wouldn't even glance at the book otherwise.
I do think that those self publishers with a more professional outlook in general sell more. I'm not one of them by the way - firmly in the hobbyist camp myself!
I'm very hands off about promoting my books. Instead I tend to put myself out there, and interact with people, and if they warm to me, or are curious about me, there's links to the books on my profiles, whether that's Goodreads, Twitter or Facebook.The nice thing about my approach (for me) is that it does give me the option to step things up a gear and be a bit more salesy if and when I need to make a big splash (for example, last week I was pretty vocal about my second book being free to download via Select).
I know that the most effective form of promotion is word of mouth, and I'm hoping that taking the slow path will lead to people discovering my work in their own time and maybe mentioning it to mates. It... seems to be working. Just very slowly. Of course it doesn't help that I don't really work in a defined genre. From magical realism to horror to science-fiction to academic film criticism and back again, it's tricky to market your books directly when they're so diverse.
I think it's a lot harder to promote paperbacks than it is an ebook. A lot of readers appear to be wary of spending cash on unknown authors.I do sell more ebooks, and wonder if it is the price or reviews or both. But still very small numbers despite trying to promote.
I have yet to find a good effective way of getting my work out there...so I'm going to watch this thread with eagerness.
A friend advised me that they wanted to read my work so bad that they went to a local library and requested it. The library actually bought a paperback and he got to read it, and since the library owns it maybe more will enjoy it.
So far, three libraries have my book and I hope more will take it up and spread the word.
I dontated my books to my local libraries (giving back is good), but I know not everyone can, but you can request books for a nominal fee. (I would of course only do this if your product is perfect as there is no guarantee that the library will put it on their shelves. They could end up just selling it.)
Andrew wrote: "I'm very hands off about promoting my books. Instead I tend to put myself out there, and interact with people, and if they warm to me, or are curious about me, there's links to the books on my prof..."
I couldn't agree with you more. Although I work in sales, and I sometimes see good things happen when you push. I also prefer the much slower "word-of-mouth" approach.
I couldn't agree with you more. Although I work in sales, and I sometimes see good things happen when you push. I also prefer the much slower "word-of-mouth" approach.
I work in sales too, actually :) In fact that's one reason for the softly-softly approach, flogging my own stuff too actively would feel a bit too much like a busman's holiday ;)
Andrew wrote: "I work in sales too, actually :) In fact that's one reason for the softly-softly approach, flogging my own stuff too actively would feel a bit too much like a busman's holiday ;)"To be honest, I'm giving up and just hoping word of mouth spreads. I want people to read, but not so fussed about the money. I'd rather spend the time writing haha.
Yes, money is the last thing on my mind at this stage, which is probably just as well in my case ;)
Andrew wrote: "I'm very hands off about promoting my books. Instead I tend to put myself out there, and interact with people, and if they warm to me, or are curious about me, there's links to the books on my prof..."I'm basically doing the same thing, and I mentioned that on the other thread, where there was not much response to my suggestion.
I'm an active member on other forums that have nothing to do with writing or books, but there's a link in my signature that I write suspense fiction. My Wordpress stats tell me where visitors are coming from, and I get quite a lot of visitors through those channels.
If ten years of ad sales work have taught me anything, it's that people hate being sold to, or overtly marketed to. So I'd far rather people stumble across my stuff in their own good time, rather than get a reputation for being another desperate self-published author. I think you've got the right idea, Martyn, I hope it works for you too.
Andrew wrote: "If ten years of ad sales work have taught me anything, it's that people hate being sold to, or overtly marketed to. So I'd far rather people stumble across my stuff in their own good time, rather t..."I'm going this route...you get in trouble if people think you're trying to hock your book in these forums.
Andrew wrote: "If ten years of ad sales work have taught me anything, it's that people hate being sold to, or overtly marketed to. So I'd far rather people stumble across my stuff in their own good time, rather t..."That's really why I've stopped "buy my book" social media posts. I know a lot of authors feel that the only way to sell is to self promo all the time, but I think that backfires more than they think.
That's maybe why I gave a LOT of cards with my website, email, and facebook page information out on my holiday temp job (just ended) and simply talked to people one on one, showing them a paperback copy of my book as proof that one of their co-workers is a novelist.
To people in a little rural Pennsylvania city, that hit the coolness factor. One co-worker already wrote a nice review on my first book on Amazon for me.
But these are folks I know, who have met me in a context very different from the "buy my book" stuff.
Hi, I self published my first YA fantasy book a few months ago on Amazon and enrolled in KDP select. So far I haven't seen any real benefit from Amazon's exclusivity in terms of visibility or book sales. I have run a couple of free promotions which generated a couple of hundred sales in total, but no reviews unfortunately. I can't speak for other self published authors who are enrolled in the KDP select programme, but I am now wondering whether it may improve my book's visibility if I were to place it on other book sites such as ibooks ,Smashwords etc.However,I echo what Andrew said about taking the slower, harder path rather than the 'in your face' self promotion as to be honest its just not me,and I feel people will very quickly get fed up of this blatant type of marketing and more likely to ignore it. I would also prefer that people got know me through social media sites such as Goodreads, Twitter and Pinterest, although sometimes it feels that my feed is taken up more with marketing spam rather than people's genuine interests and thoughts. Maybe that's just me.
What is more important to me as an unknown self published author is validation from readers that they like what you have written, although at the moment finding it difficult to get my work noticed or reviewed yet. As a busy mum, my time is precious enough and I feel I have spent more time getting sucked into marketing my book these last 2 months than actually writing,so instead I plan to focus on getting on with writing the next books in my trilogy in the hope that in the future readers may be more willing to read my first book if there are others in the series. And what will be, will be.
This is some really good feedback! I have self-published two books so far this year...a contemporary romance and the first book of a paranormal romance trilogy...and hope to release two more within the next couple months and it's becoming frustrating to figure out the best way to market to readers.I am following everyone's suggestions as well as some that I picked up at a writer's group I belong to. But I have to say that the woman who did the marketing presentation at our group made the comment that promoting and gaining readership is not like a sprint...it's more like a marathon.
I've done a lot of read to review giveaways but have not really seen any reviews from this method. I know that as a reader, I count on the reviews as well as the previews when I am going to buy a book by an author that is not familiar to me.
My biggest frustration is it seems that I am spending more time on marketing when I'd much rather be writing!
Hi WJHaving tried both KDP and Smashwords myself I'd recommend ditching the Amazon exclusivity. All that got me was a couple of hundred free giveaways, which was nice, but never ticked over into anything after the giveaway was done.
Not that the Smashwords editions are runway bestsellers mind, but the more sales outlets you have the higher the chance of reaching people. If you're patient with them they do post it out to ibooks, B&N etc too, so you might only need to load your book in two places (Smashwords and Amazon) to reach most of the market.
There are those who swear by loading separately to each platform, but since I'm not really marketing a release date I wasn't sure it mattered. Maybe I'm just lazy!
L.L. wrote: "Hi WJHaving tried both KDP and Smashwords myself I'd recommend ditching the Amazon exclusivity. All that got me was a couple of hundred free giveaways, which was nice, but never ticked over into ..."
Thanks for your feedback,that's good to know. I have another couple of months left before I can come out of KDP, but that's definitely worth considering.
I gave up on KDP exclusivity...saw no improvement in sales at all. Never had a book borrowed in the library either.It's your choice, but it may be because fantasy is saturated by free works.
Worst thing they could have done is not set up a vetting team to actually check content meets strict criteria...but I forgot Amazon don't do anything easily. They don't push updates without harrassment from the author.
I've not really had the same results. I'm still struggling to get sales but that's because my marketing attempts are unfocused and I'm working on that. I would expect zero sales from people just browsing Amazon Kindle offerings. I've gotten a handful of library checkouts. I've actually had no trouble pushing updates--I just resubmit the content and send Amazon an email and they notify people who have the book already so they can get the updated version.My one concern though is that by doing the exclusivity I might be missing on out spontaneous purchases by Nook users or iBooks users. I'm wrestling with that still.
And I really, really dislike the idea of "vetting" content. Agents and traditional publishing houses have done that for years and still we see books that suck getting published. All this would do is create yet another gatepost for authors that want to publish.
If you expect zero sales from people just browsing Amazon Kindle, I'm a little unsure why you'd expect spontaneous sales from Nook or iBooks users.
The market is saturated to be fair.Nook, XinXii, Kobo, Google Books/Play have alll failed to deliver any sales for me.
Although Kobo have admitted there is an error on their dashboard so I have no idea if I have sales or not.
J.D. wrote: "I've not really had the same results. I'm still struggling to get sales but that's because my marketing attempts are unfocused and I'm working on that. I would expect zero sales from people just br..."Apple vet anything, hasn't harmed them. I do know they do, they spotted a misaligned title in one of my books and wouldn't publish till I fixed it.
Twitter is one of the worst places for endless "buy my book" tweets and all it does is turn me off, so I don't want to go down that route myself. I agree that it's a marathon and needs time to build up slowly. Be on as many sales platforms as possible and use social media to get your name out there without endless self-promotion. Have a polished website and provide interesting blog posts. The main thing, though, is to write high quality books, free from typos and spelling mistakes, with professionally designed covers. The self-publishing industry has unfortunately gained a reputation for short and shoddy 'books' that are badly written. I think that's the main pitfall to avoid. If you're good, and willing to put in the time to market yourself, the results will follow.
Maggie wrote: "Twitter is one of the worst places for endless "buy my book" tweets and all it does is turn me off, so I don't want to go down that route myself. I agree that it's a marathon and needs time to buil..."The only followers you normally get on Twitter is fellow authors hoping they'll Retweet them. Follow you for a week while you reciprocate, then unfollow you.
Quality, quality, quality is what counts. Have a crappy cover image and you're toast. Practically no-one will buy.
My own cover went through 21 iterations till I was happy.
Harrison wrote: "Maggie wrote: "Twitter is one of the worst places for endless "buy my book" tweets and all it does is turn me off, so I don't want to go down that route myself. I agree that it's a marathon and nee..."What a shame you've both had such a bad experience with Twitter. It depends how you use it. I have hundreds of followers who aren't other writers, indeed most of my regular readers were initially to be found there, but you have to follow THEM, first, and interact -at least when you begin to use the site. I agree that many writers just use it for regurgitated tweets about their books, usually by app only, but these are those ones who have little success and say 'Twitter doesn't work'. They make the mistake of thinking that all it is, is a free advertising opportunity. If you use Twitter as you would any other social networking site, you may see a difference; 'social' being the operative word! Also, it's a wonderful place for networking, getting your blog read more widely, finding other opportunities for promotion aside from tweeting, and also writing about things other than YOUR BOOKS!
Terry wrote: "Harrison wrote: "Maggie wrote: "Twitter is one of the worst places for endless "buy my book" tweets and all it does is turn me off, so I don't want to go down that route myself. I agree that it's a..."I probably gave the impression that I don't use Twitter, which isn't correct. I do use it, but I'm careful not to bang on about my books all the time. It's more fun to use Twitter as it's meant to be used, for people to interact. I find interesting things to retweet and reply to and enjoy building connections that way. Less sales patter, more fun. :-)
I think the thing with cover images is not to let your ambition exceed your reach. My short story collection's cover is a photo of a pint of beer and a writing notebook. I took it in a pub garden with my phone - it wasn't even a particularly good phone.From my point of view, the best thing about doing the cover this way was that I got to drink the beer afterwards.
But weirdly, people seem to quite like it, in a way which they certainly wouldn't if I'd attempted to do some horrible illustration of one of the stories, or something like that.
For my film thesis, I just went straight to Amazon's cover design software. Partly out of curiosity, but mostly because I knew I didn't want to waste my time scouring the Internet for a relevant royalty free image (and I certainly didn't want to negotiate using an image from one of Godard's films).
That's the downfall for a lot of writers. Not willing to put in the time to invest or ensure their product is a tight as possible. Do yourself a favour and get a decent cover, format your book correctly and fork out for an editor. You owe it to yourself.
If your cover image doesn't appeal. They won't buy. If it's full of errors, spelling or otherwise they won't review or recommend.
Get yourself on www.deviantart.com. Beg an artist to use their work. I did, twice. I paid for the third image.
Personally I like to draw my own covers... which is not the most popular view and also not what I'd recommend to drive sales! Strange to recommend doing something that I don't do myself, but that's life sometimes.
Hi Harrison, I think unless your book has a high ranking and are generating a lot of sales KDP select doesn't do anything to get your book seen. You are probably right that the market is saturated with fantasy. I wrote my novel quite a few years ago from an idea that had been rattling around my brain for a while and before fantasy really took off in a big way.I had suffered the usual standard rejection letters from traditional publishers, where it went to the bottom of the slush pile and pretty sure it was never read. I put it away thinking that I was kidding myself that I could ever get published, but it kept nagging away at the back of my mind. It was only a year ago I decided to rewrite it after the self publishing market exploded and with some trepidation decided to put my book out there. Late to the party as usual, typical!
Formatting and editing hasn't been a problem for me thus far. The stories in my first book were 90% reprints from previous publications, so they had all been edited professionally. The thesis was not only edited but also peer-reviewed as part of my degree.Book 3, whatever it ends up being, will be polished within an inch of its life, though.
Covers are important (and mine might have been a smartphone photo, but the rest of the cover took rather more effort), but they become a little less so when you're dealing with non-fiction. It's a different ball game. Having an Amazon-generated or even a plain cover isn't going to affect the sales of a book with a title like "An Examination of the Depiction of Violence in the Early Films of Jean-Luc Godard (1960-1967)"
I'm not speaking of you specifically Andrew. I'm talking to the wider audience.
I personally have become fans of some unknown writers through their offering book copies in exchange for reviews in various groups. When I find one that's really good, I try to find as many converts as I can. I've recommended a certain book so many times this year, if that author knew she would be sending me a commission check. LOL Considering I'm not the fangirl type, my friends trust my endorsement.
You know, as both a reader and a writer, I have yet to find the "magic formula" for this on either end. As a reader, I simply look for a synopsis or blurb that captures my attention. As a writer, I've found that author interviews and blog hops help, but the availability of those is limited. I try to reach out to readers through places like Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter, but you have to sell yourself more than your work on these forums. I really don't know. I'd love to find out!
What would make you more likely to read a self-published book if you don't already? What would help to draw you in? Do you want to know up front that the book is self-published or just read and maybe never know or find out later?Well since you asked and this is a question I see often lately and I see so many people going at it all wrong and wasting their energy and making the same sort of mistakes, I am going to jump in with my thoughts as a reader.
Adding a book to my wishlist happens only two ways for me. It's very easy (on the surface). I have auto-buy authors whose books are added as they release new work. Newbies? Well, I need an interest in the plot and genre and, most importantly, a recommendation and/or review (negative or positive) from one of my reading friends/reviewers whose opinion I trust. And, yes, I have purchased many a book based on a negative review. I often enjoy things that drive others nuts and vice-versa. This is now how I purchase almost ALL of my books. I'm reading something right now that I never would've read if 2-3 GR friends hadn't been talking about it on my feed. I've purchased most of my books (that weren't review copies) in the past few years based on a review or comment that caught my attention written by a GR or blogger friend. The GR Forums have coerced me into reading/buying books too, so check those out and participate with your reader hat on. Horror Aficionados made me read "The Summer I died" and "That Which Should Not Be" - two books I very much enjoyed but never would've heard of otherwise. It doesn't matter to me if the book is small press, self-published or something I can buy at Walmart. Promo, excerpts, emails, and (especially) generic, gushy five star reviews from people I don't know and all that stuff just doesn't work for me because I have been burned too many times that way and my reading time is limited.
What does suck me in occasionally is a free short (but complete!) story/novella that introduces characters I may want to follow or introduces to me a writer whose style works for me. I've found several new favorites this way. I usually hear about these from my friends too.
Looking at this from a reader's POV it seems that now is a difficult time for a newbie writer. I say this because as a reader I am overwhelmed with choices and there are only so many hours in a day. I want to spend those hours reading something I will at least enjoy, if not love. If I were an author and my book were perfected and critiqued by unbiased sources I would then approach real readers who interact with people (not the Harriet Klausner's of the world) who have big voices and a following on the internet who read in my particular genre and I would offer them a book in exchange for an honest review. You'll have to give a few away to get the ball rolling. Most readers do not write reviews. I have many real life friends who read a book a day and have never written a review. It's sad but it's true. I wouldn't waste time giving away books for free on Amazon or here on GR (especially here!) expecting a real review. Most people who win those things just want a free book. I know this probably isn't easy if you have been focused on your work and haven't been involved in social media but I believe it is super important at this point in time. More-so if your book is only available online as a download. Spend 30 mins or more a day and visit blogs, poke around Booklikes and GR and find your target audience. Look up books that are somewhat similar to yours. Read the reviews, find the reviewers who review them and who have a little following. Email them but be polite and professional. If you don't hear back leave it be and look elsewhere. Don't blast people with multiple requests and don't take it personally if you don't hear anything back. Many are swamped with review requests. Don't waste your time approaching/marketing to readers/bloggers who will have no interest in your book. I receive at least two unsolicited PDF file free books in my email each week that I wouldn't read even if I had all the free time the world. I received one just this morning. Political books, hard sci-fi, history, religious books? I never, ever read those. If the author/publicist spent 2 minutes reading my profile they'd realize they were wasting their time because I don't read that stuff and neither do my friends. Those kinds of generic posts spammed to tons of reviewers with book attached annoy the heck out of me now and I delete them . . . Please don't do that and if someone is giving you that kind of advice run away! Then after contacting interested readers/bloggers/reviewers I'd let word of mouth take it from there. And I'd keep trying and poking around the internet if I believed in my work and wasn't getting any takers. However, if I did get takers and most of the reviews were all negative I'd probably go back to my room and silently weep and then get to work on a better book. What I wouldn't do is go online and complain about it and/or comment with anything but a "thank you for your time". These things blow up and blow up fast.
I don't know how much of a help this is but as a sometime blogger, sometime reviewer and a reader who buys a lot of books (most of them online), there you have it.
Oh also check out Indie Reviewers for a decent listing of blogs sorted by genre.
Hope this helps someone a little.
Andrew wrote: "If you expect zero sales from people just browsing Amazon Kindle, I'm a little unsure why you'd expect spontaneous sales from Nook or iBooks users."Let me clarify. I don't expect that people will find my book by browsing the Kindle store. I'm expecting that they will find it by some aspect of the marketing I do, including word of mouth. If I make it available on Nook and iBooks then more people will have the right device to be able to read it. My assertion is based only on my own personal experience: I rarely find anything on Amazon by just browsing the virtual shelves. I have to know what I'm looking for to a degree. This is one of the pitfalls of online bookselling.
Harrison wrote: "J.D. wrote: "I've not really had the same results. I'm still struggling to get sales but that's because my marketing attempts are unfocused and I'm working on that. I would expect zero sales from p..."Again, to clarify, I was assuming the poster I was responding to was talking about quality of book, not just formatting issues. If he meant just formatting then I retract that part of my post :) I'm appreciative for any formatting feedback but I don't want some "star chamber" at Amazon deciding my book just isn't good enough...
A few more things:I don't use Twitter or Facebook for book recommendations. Covers are very important to me. A cheesy cover gives me the impression that the work inside may not be all that great. If I'm on the fence about reviewing a book and the cover is godawful I'll give it a pass more often than not. However, a cheesy cover won't keep me away from buying a book recommended by a trusted friend.
BarkLessWagMore wrote: "What would make you more likely to read a self-published book if you don't already? What would help to draw you in? Do you want to know up front that the book is self-published or just read and may..."This is precisely the sort of thing we writers need to know. It is fine for some troll of an author to say "get rid of the mistakes and you will sell more" but to be frank that is just so much verbose fluff! What any writer needs is visibility and a lot of us have no idea how to use social media because we never learned that at school! (The era of talk and chalk may have produced some great writers but they do not understand internet promotion)
I too get fed up with being offered free books in my DM box when I follow a fellow writer on twitter. I hate DMs with a vengeance and usually just delete them. I feel singled out with DMs whereas a general tweet on my timeline MIGHT get me interested.
As for reviews I don't lament the lack of them on my new book because I know that most reviews come from mutual backscratching groups, not readers. I have been invited to such groups on facebook myself and I don't play, so no reviews. I guess that means you will never get to read my novel, but at least I get to keep my integrity!
The list of blogs may be a genuinely helpful resource and I shall check it out.
Thank you!
My approach to being successful as a book writer and publisher is to *look* like a professional writer and publisher. That for me meant registering a DBA name with my city and state and starting up a publishing company, complete with website and email host. I've approached bloggers with review requests with some success, and found that giveaways also have some success. I have my own blog where I feature indie writers in weekly interviews, do book reviews, and write about general topics that interest me. I do post what I consider to be important announcements or developments in my writing but try not to inundate the blog with those kinds of posts. I also try to limit my Tweets. Covers are extremely important. I admit that my short story covers are just so-so, but that's because they're my loss leaders, just up there to gather in people to look at my books. My novels receive commissioned artwork from artists on deviantart.com. I have some graphic design training so I do the lettering myself, but as I continue to earn more, I plan to hire that out as well.
I rarely promote these days on Goodreads, but just interact with readers in the reader forums and as a writer in the writer groups.
I buy books on print and ebook formatting, use a writer's critique group as well as beta readers, and editors. My work tends to be pretty clean as I'm a tech writer by day and qualified editor as well.
But I agree. The best promotion is having a quality product and quality interactions.
If you're in a popular genre, blog tours are also great. I did a blog tour to reveal the cover of my next novel coming out in 2014 and generated over 100 Twitter followers, 115 "To Read" additions on Goodreads, and 600 entries to win ARCs in print and eBook form.
The next thing I'm looking at is creating book marks to leave in coffee shops and try to stir up more interest in the print versions. I'm also going to send sell sheets/media kits to the local bookstores.
Laurel wrote: "That's really why I've stopped "buy my book" social media posts. I know a lot of authors feel that the only way to sell is to self promo all the time, but I think that backfires more than they think."Part of the problem with social media stuff like twitter is that everyone is trying so desperately (and helping each other) that they don't seem to have noticed that they are mostly retweeting each other round and round in circles, and it's very likely that nobody is actually reading anything that they tweet! I've gone that route to an extent just as a 'getting the name out there' kind of thing, but I think people often overestimate its power in terms of sales these days. It can sell some books, of course, but the chances of something 'going viral' to the point where lots of people want to buy it is tiny, and getting smaller and smaller the more people try to use that approach. It's really now lost its effectiveness, I think.
Word of mouth is still the biggest thing for an unknown or self-published author, I suspect, and although social media can raise awareness to an extent, I suspect that there's no substitute for the time-consuming business of engaging with people in places like this (and, horror of horrors, out there in the 'real world'!). Even then, people need to be aware that many of the social places online for authors and book promotion are populated almost entirely by other authors, who are mostly also trying to sell rather than buy!
It's almost not like you are trying to sell 'a product' as an author as such, because in effect YOU are the product. It's not like trying to sell some nifty new gadget, or something revolutionary, because there are so many books out there to choose from.
You need to get people to want to try your version instead of the others. Simply making a book itself attractive and then marketing it isn't enough, I don't think. You need to 'market' yourself, but not by simply ramming advertising down people's throats. People react badly to that kind of thing. You need to engage with them as people and hope that they then decide you seem interesting enough for them to explore what it is you have written.
Of course, you have to be aware that most readers just aren't bothering with places like this, or with trying to engage with unknown authors. 'Marketing' yourself and engaging with people has its limits, and increasing sales inevitably has to be a painstakingly slow process of gradually building up awareness and a fan base, almost person by person. I suspect that too many people still go into it thinking that they can write a book, self-publish, post a few adverts that they know go to tens of thousands of people on twitter or whatever, and that will sell loads of copies. It won't - you have to be in it for the long haul, and you still have to do the legwork of the years of 'touring in the back of an old van' before you can 'play the big festivals', so to speak.
In my opinion, the best way for a self-published author to find readers is to write a damn good story. That is number one. A polished and edited story earns an A+. A professional, eye-catching cover and enticing blurb also go a long way to lure in the reader. Many new writers out there are in too much of a hurry to take the necessary time to produce a high-quality product. On average, it takes nearly two years for a traditional publisher to produce a new writer's work. Self-publishers need to be willing to invest a little more on their works--after all, we wouldn't think of sending our children off to school in the snow with no shoes now, would we?I tend to read more e-books by self-published writers. It's more cost-effective. If I don't care for the book, I'm not out much money. If I truly enjoy the book, if a paperback is available, I will purchase it.
I have noticed so many people saying KDP Select isn't worth it, and yet in the month I have been using it I have a very healthy number of borrows recorded. Every time someone borrows your book on select, they have tied themselves to your product for a whole month and can't read another for free. In some ways that income is more secure than an actual sale. Of course if they REALLY like it and want to read it again, you may get a paperback or regular Kindle sale out of it too because they can't borrow next month's book without returning yours. I have to agree that the free book privilege of KDP is pretty much a waste of time though.
KDP Select works for some and not for others. I never had a single borrow, but following a free giveaway (which had plenty of advertising on the free download websites), I had a healthy spike in sales for a while. I'm considering putting one or two titles back on it, but others sell consistently on BN, so I wouldn't put all of them on there.
Lisa wrote: "As for reviews I don't lament the lack of them on my new book because I know that most reviews come from mutual backscratching groups, not readers. I have been invited to such groups on facebook myself and I don't play, so no reviews. I guess that means you will never get to read my novel, but at least I get to keep my integrity! "This is very true and most of us readers can sniff those reviews out a mile away. The key is finding real readers (not sycophants) willing to take a chance and review your book and spread the word and I know that is much easier said than done but there are readers out there willing to do so if approached the right way. When I'm passionate about a book I tell everyone who will listen.
Goodreads Authors/Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
The Cougar (other topics)A Phantasy And Other Prose Poems (other topics)
The Prophecy (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Lisa Marie Gabriel (other topics)Lisa Marie Gabriel (other topics)
So, to readers: What would make you more likely to read a self-published book if you don't already? What would help to draw you in? Do you want to know up front that the book is self-published or just read and maybe never know or find out later?
How about writers: What have you done right? Did you use an editor? How'd you make your cover? Do you make it known up front that YOU published the book? Do your readers that know you self-published every make a comment in regards to that fact?
These are just some questions to hopefully get the conversation going.
I will reply to that last question. One of the people who received my poetry book in a giveaway said she really liked the look and feel of it; she said it was a lot more professional than some self-published books she's gotten. I designed the cover using photos I took and told the printer I wanted it to be matte. I know myself how nice and soft a matte cover feels and as trivial as it may sound that matters. People want to feel good about what they're holding and a nice texture is a good place to start.
Some people view self-publishing as being akin to printing something off your personal printer and I think some people produce work that looks like just that. I believe we, self-publishers, have to take ourselves more seriously in this venture and get away from seeing ourselves as "just me" printing my stories/poems. Go to your local bookstore and look at books in your genre. Examine their covers, ask yourself what you like about them and what you don't like about them. Make note of the trends in covers; do most of them have people, places or things on the cover? Are they animated? What's common? What stands out? If you're not artistically inclined to create your own cover maybe there's someone in your family or circle of friends who's talented and would be willing to help bring your vision to life. That's a good way to save yourself some money.
I know for myself covers are very important, after all they are your first impression. If the cover looks cheap and it's self-published, that's going to make people worry, it makes me worry when I see it.
Another suggestion I have is pick up "The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing" by Marilyn Ross and Sue Collier. I have it and I'm VERY glad I bought it. It's full of lots of good advice and resources. They talk about everything from the technical aspects of putting your book together to using social networking to market your book. It's a great guide really.
Take care!
eLPy
author of "That Which Lives Within"
www.littlefacepublications.com