Friday 10 June 2011

The Hard Work Begins

You've formatted your book into multiple versions. You've uploaded them to the various sites, had them checked and approved and they're appearing on the sites as available to buy.

Now, you just sit back and watch the sales accumulate, a glass of wine at your side. Simple, eh?

Uh, no.

For me, this is the hardest bit. It's one thing to lock yourself away in a dark corner, lit only by the glow of your laptop screen, churning out the words of your masterpiece. It's another to go out there, stand up tall and say "My book is available! Please buy it!"

Well, OK, you could just go and stand on your doorstep and should that out to our street but it's probably not going to generate many sales.

Talking about yourself and your book is hard for everybody. I've heard many authors complain about this, but at least if you're traditionally published, you know that your publisher will do at least some of the work for you.

As a self-published author, you're on your own.

So, go out there. Shout about it. Tell all your Twitter friends, shout about it on your blog, mention it on FaceBook. And that's just the start.

You need to get the buzz going. You need to reach the people who don't follow you on Twitter, who never read your blog and who haven't become your friend on FaceBook. You need to reach those people who have never heard of you, for whom you are just another unknown, self-published author.

So, how do you do that?

At the time of writing, I don't have the answers (I'm writing this on Sunday 5th). Maybe by the time this is posted I'll have a better idea...

Catherine Ryan Howard's book does give some tips... I'll let you know if I have any success in implementing any of those.

2 comments:

  1. This phase is certainly the hardest for me. I might be able to help you out, though. I don't have many followers on my blog (again, this marketing thing is hard), but you're welcome to do a guest blog post there about your book - perhaps your reason for going the self-publishing route, or the hurdle that is self-promotion, or something - and you might pick up a couple of extra eyes and minds.

    I think you have my email. Let me know if this works for you.

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