Sandy

Doing it as an indie goes against the reader’s idea of modesty, and blowing your own horn.

Very tricky to navigate.

I try to send people to Amazon to see for themselves (Look Inside feature) and see what the reviewers have said. I don’t have a lot of takers – people tend to forget something they promised to do as soon as the promisee is no longer in front of them.

And in-person recommendations – from me or someone else – are on hold a lot during a pandemic. Before that, about 35-40 people in my new retirement community read my novel – I doubt more than a couple of those were sales (I donated a copy to our library). And I doubt anyone of them beyond the single friend who invited me to her book club in her apartment recommended it. People just don’t!

Traction is very hard to get. Finishing the second novel in the trilogy should help some.

Enthusiasm and passion will take you far.

Sandy

Thank you, Alex. You’re a brave introvert! You’ve probably discovered by now that after you do it once and discover the sky doesn’t fall in, it’s easier to do it the next time, and the time after that, and so on.

Regarding this comment: [I offer to sign copies that I sell privately – despite the apparent egoism of such a thing.] That’s not ego. That’s “best practice.” That’s really the only reason to buy directly from the author — to get that signature at the front of the book. It’s very smart of you.

Keep at it, and please come back. Thanks for sharing.

Sandy

But having taken this huge, scary self-publishing decision, it didn’t take me long to realize that the writing and then production of the book was the easy part. Now comes the marketing – and the time when I’d really like to have the selling and distribution resources of a trad publishing house firmly behind me. And, yes, I now know I’m in this situation for the long haul – for as long as I want my book to sell.

So while I’d rather be working on the final edits/production of the sequel (and I’m itching to make a start on the third book in the sequence), I’m also in parallel making plans for every self-promotional event I can think of. It’s a historical novel set in the medieval period (telling the story of the real King Richard III), so I’m booking stalls at every appropriate medieval festival; it’s a book aimed primarily at children aged 10 and up, so I’m making overtures to local schools about author visits and to libraries; I’m attending events at my first literature festival next week to meet and network with local authors and hand out some leaflets (maybe even sell a copy or two). I offer to sign copies that I sell privately – despite the apparent egoism of such a thing. I post all my (amazingly good) reviews on Facebook and Twitter – and have received some fabulous (and let’s face it, ego-boosting feedback on there. These are all things I wouldn’t have dreamed of a couple of years ago.

It’s tough for an introvert to do this, but I’m getting there – and reading your piece reassures me it’s the right sort of thing to do, despite initial misgivings. And, who knows, in a year or two, it may all seem no stranger than breathing to me too.

Yep. I give the same advice. The one many of the people I work with seem to dislike the most is Twitter, which is just fine, because it’s more effective for relationship-building, networking, and positioning, all big picture strategies that don’t contribute to book sales quickly. I tell them to ditch it if they hate it and find another tactic they might enjoy that will help them reach their audience. The key, though, is that what they do helps them connect with the right people and that they learn how to execute the chose tactic well.

Sandy