In Part One I wrote about why you probably shouldn’t hire too many people to help you produce your indie books. In this part I’ll talk about marketing on a modest budget.
I am not a best-selling author. Far from it. So I don’t have any tips for success. What I can tell you, though, is what makes sense from the standpoint of paying for services and what does not.
The first thing that comes up when talking about money and marketing is paying for ads: Amazon ads; Facebook ads; BookBub ads; and ads in general. While sometimes ads work, both Amazon and Facebook adjust their algorithms constantly. What worked once might not work a second or third time. Often the point of this is to get advertisers to spend more money on ads.
Aside from that, there’s a deeper question every indie author has to ask themselves when it comes to ads: have you bought a book by seeing an ad? Indies should ask that same question about other paid marketing efforts, too.
I know for me the answer is no. I look for book recommendations from friends. An ad won’t persuade me, but a friend’s enthusiasm for a book can. While some authors have some sales success from ads, I believe that money would be better spent for a service that you need to publish your books.
Or buying more books.
A better solution might be to spend time and not money on free promotions. Join the right sort of blog tour. Talk about your book on your social media. Start an email newsletter. If you’re lucky enough, agree to a podcast invite if it covers books and writing. Those can get word out about your book without breaking your bank account.
Two approaches that have popped up in the last few years are promotion “book boxes” and selling signed books from your website. The latter is fairly straightforward as to how it works. As for the former, a “book box” will have a signed copy of the book (sometimes a hardback), along with bookmarks, stickers, and other goodies related to the book. Giveaways for book boxes can generate a lot of interest in a book.
The downside to these approaches are the long-term expenses. The main cost will be in ordering print books and shipping those books. If you’re only releasing a book a year it will take time for those expenses to get high. However, if you start releasing three or more books a year the costs will hit you pretty soon. There’s also the fact that you’ll need more and more space devoted to storing your inventory. That also rings true for selling signed books from your website.
Inventory considerations will also come up if you pursue book events. Book signings are the most common events. Science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors can do genre conventions as well. But for events not only will you need space to store books, handouts, and signs, you’ll also need boxes to carry all that material around in. Nor does that take into account the additional expenses of travel such as food and gas. Unless you’re already selling goods and know how to manage your inventory, I feel it’s best to stay local and not do too many events.
So, aside from the free promotional ideas, what can you do to get work of your book out into the world?
The answer that I like, and the one I see from indie authors who have been at this since the early days, is to write and publish more books.
Think about the genre you write in. How many sub-genres are in it? How many tropes are part of that genre? How much of your setting do you explore in your book? How many potential main and side characters could there be in your setting?
Really, the more books you write, the more choices you’ll offer potential readers. You can bring in other genres as side-plots. You can explore the world you’ve created, or experiment with other worlds. You can test yourself and try a different genre. Every one of these attempts is another book. Every book is another chance to hook a reader.
Not every book you write will be for everyone. That includes any fans you gain. That said, the more books you have available the wider your net to catch readers will be. Maybe some readers will like most of your books. Some might only like one. Yet every time you publish a new book, you’re widening your net. You’re widening your reach.
Your releases market your books.
I hope this two-parter was helpful.
Writing Update: As I mentioned last week I’m back to writing. I have five chapters of the new book done. I’m planning on making more progress this week.
Find all of my books here. Thanks for reading!