These be the things that are easier said than done. A lot of it depends on your own judgement, sometimes or most of the time, gut feeling… depending on your experience. It’s all subjective. Depends on a ton of factors.
I say written works, not books, because as writers… books are not the only output we have.
Someone said it’s easier to earn money through writing articles than writing a book and selling it. They’re not entirely wrong. Which is why… your written works should be diverse as well. Don’t simply write books, there be blogs, reading apps, articles, journals, essays, reviews… the list goes on.
The principle is pretty much the same in business. You don’t invest all your money in one project. You put a portion in a number of projects. Was it Warren Buffet who said it? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
If the basket falls, the eggs break. It all goes to waste.
You don’t simply self-publish your book on Amazon, do nothing, and expect it to sell well. Writing versus marketing, marketing is the mastermind behind sales. You can write crap and still sell well depending on your marketing. It’s not good for long-term because the market would realize how shitty the output really is. On the other hand, you can write the greatest story of all time and not sell a single copy because… you suck at marketing.
I do. Unfortunately. But then again, I haven’t gotten serious yet. I’m learning a few things one at a time. My current focus is in writing.
So, what the heck am I going to discuss here? These be the pitfalls you don’t want to do, as experienced by yours truly.
Facebook Ads. Only if you understand targeted marketing and you know exactly the key words you’d be using to make sure the ads would appear in front of your desired audience.
Amazon Ads. There are a lot of factors to consider on Amazon ads. Some says it works well if your books have at least 20 reviews already. So, better work on that first before diving into this. Also, metadata on your books. Rethink your title, subtitle, book description and your keywords. Optimize everything.
Reader Magnets. Freebies. I’ve tried this one, but not as effective as I thought. You have your list, but most of them (readers) have a ton of sources where they explore different authors. You’re one fish in the sea, not the fisher.
Book promotions. I’d say most of these would work well if you’re an established author and people have heard of you before. For newbie authors, it wouldn’t be an effective option. And it’s costly.
Book tour/Blog tours. One way of book promotion, and will work effectively if you have a reader base, even if it’s only fifty readers, that’s good enough. You don’t want to do a book promo/tour without an audience. That would be the equivalent of a movie flop.
Author Page/Website. If you’re publishing on Amazon, be sure to have an Author page and include all the links where your potential readers can find you. Build that website. Put out content. It’s not just your books, or background stories. Give out snippets.
As of now, I’m starting to realize that building a readership through popular free-to-read-stories websites, like Wattpad or Inkitt among others would be a better option as starting point.
Why is that? You would want to venture into self-publishing with at least a small reader base. These be the people who enjoyed your writing and stories and would want to support you. They may not buy your books, but they could be your hype-team, ARC-team, beta-readers…
I’m an introvert. You can say I’m a true introvert. I find marketing difficult because I don’t have the energy to “interact” or “socialize” with other people. Even if it’s just Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter… I don’t do much. I simply scroll, press like or retweet, reply to few, post my own… Most days, I just want to be left alone and do my own thing. I’m stubborn that way as well.
For people like me, I think the best bet is to start with reading apps. I’ll talk more about it later on.
What’s next? Let’s review reading apps. These are starting to proliferate. I see a lot of ads on Facebook and Instagram about them. The companies mostly come from Singapore.
Thanks. Enjoy reading. Enjoy writing. 💙
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