Self-Publishers - Step Five - Market Your Story - Websites & Blogs

Hey,

I have been writing a step-by-step guide for getting your stories into (digital) print on my blog, but I thought it would be handy to have a primer for AWers who don’t know where to start with marketing their self-published stories, so I have copied an edited version of my blog post below. I’m no expert, but I thought some of the basic information would be helpful for beginners.

I’m sure lots of you guys have lots more experience doing this, and useful tips you can add below, so please feel free, and if there is anything incorrect here, let me know and I will go back and edit it.

My blog (and hence this post) is focussed on e-publishing only, so if any of the print experts want to chime in, please do so.

The links to the other steps I have posted here are in the first para below.

Dave

Step 5: Market Your Story Part 1, Websites & Blogs

So you have written your story, added your cover design, had your work edited, gone through the pain of formatting for the first time, and now everything is uploaded and available on all the various sales channels. Only problem is, nobody’s buying it.

Don’t worry, you haven’t told anybody about it yet. And, it takes time to build an audience. Even the runaway success stories took around six months to see some decent sales.

I am going to give you an overview of your marketing options. While spending money in this area is optional, and can bring you great results if done right, most of these marketing ideas will cost you nothing but time.

Today, I will deal with websites and blogs. Next time, Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Goodreads. After that, we will talk about review websites, giveaways, coupons, and mailing lists.

Website

There are two kinds of website: static or interactive.

A static website is like this one, which was designed for me by my web-designers. I asked them to set it up in 2009 before I started querying agents for my first novel, and it hasn't changed much since then.

The idea was that it would act as a kind of calling card, make me look professional, and help agents visualise my manuscript as a real novel for sale.

It has a brief description of my novel, thumbnail sketches of the various characters, some historical context, contact information, and readers can download the first chapter of my book.

It costs money to create websites like this (a few hundred dollars for a basic one), but it can be a useful tool. However, I would suggest only going down this road if you have a little extra budgeted for marketing. You can achieve many of the same effects with a free page.

A webpage like that is a static page. There is no interaction between the writer and the audience. Readers can’t post comments, and you can’t post updates without getting in touch with your web designer.

While a lot of people visited this page - and complimented me on it - the content never changes so there is no real reason for them ever to return. I have no opportunity to build a connection with my audience, and in the fast-moving world of the internet, a static page – however pretty – is soon forgotten.

Blogging

A blog is an interactive page, and can be a great way to connect with potential readers. If there is new content appearing all the time, they have reason to keep coming back. And best of all, it costs nothing. I recommend that every writer set up a blog.

I use WordPress, some prefer Blogger (or Typepad or LiveJournal); pick the one you are most comfortable with. I think WordPress looks the most professional, but Blogger has its plus points too, especially if you are overwhelmed with all the functionality of Wordpress.

One thing you should consider purchasing is your own domain name. It only costs around $12 a year (from sites like GoDaddy), and you can use that as the name for your blog instead of the generic Wordpress name like I have right now. If your domain name is taken, play with a few variations on your initials, your middle name, or by adding “writer” at the end - anything as long as it looks professional.

And while we are on the subject, if your email address is something like [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected], get a new one for business.

Layout

Your blog should be clean and easy-to-read. Light text on a dark background can look good, but it’s bad for extended reading. Keep garish colours to a minimum, and make sure any graphics you use are of good quality.

First-time visitors to your blog should be able to find the information they want quickly. You should also have tabs where they can share articles they like, and subscribe to your blog.

Make a note of other, popular blogs you enjoy. Try and replicate their layout.

Building an Audience

While there are over 2 billion web-users worldwide, there are a trillion unique URLs out there, and the number of individual webpages increases by several billion every day.

You should update your blog regularly (every day or two if you can); this will give people a reason to return. However, they won’t come back if they don’t like what they see in the first place. You must have something interesting to say because you are using up people’s most valuable resource: time.

So what do you write about? Well, whatever interests you, but do try and carve out some kind of niche. If you do it right, and people are coming back to your blog on a regular basis, then you have a captive audience you can sell your work to. Don’t underestimate the importance of this.

I was interested in all the fast-moving changes in the publishing industry, and I also wanted to document my own first steps into digital publishing, so doing a blog on that seemed like a natural fit.

However, if I was to be ultra self-critical, I would say that I am not really reaching out to my potential book-buying audience, i.e. readers.

A blog like this is great for interacting with other writers and self-publishers (and enjoyable), and I am learning a lot from it, but I don’t think it’s going to boost my sales that much.

This means that I will have to compensate for that in my other marketing efforts, but that’s fine. It's far better to blog about something you are interested in than to fake it to try and make it. Readers are smart, they will see through you.

For you, I would recommend trying to reach out to your readers. If you write cozy mysteries, you could have a fan site dissecting the classics, or a review of the latest releases. If you are writing a non-fiction book on baseball, you could host a discussion on the greatest players and the latest scandals.

But it doesn’t have to be that direct. If you have a blog on Italian recipes, your audience are going to be interested in the romance you've set in Sicily. If you write about celebrity gossip, chances are your readers will like that chick-lit book you’ve written.

And even if the subject of your blog is not related to your book in any way, if your readers enjoy your writing, they will check it out anyway.

One of the keys to building an audience is engagement. People don’t want someone to talk at them; if they wanted that they would turn on the radio or watch television. They want someone to talk with them.

Make sure the comments are open on all your posts, and that you respond to all comments promptly. Try and poise a question or two in your articles and invite discussion. It must be an interactive experience because that’s the advantage the web has.

If you look at the most popular blogs, the real action is often in the comments, and that’s what will keep people coming back.

Sommer Leigh has a handy online guide for those taking their first blog-steps. But if all of this is overwhelming, or if you have simply no interest in doing it, don’t worry, it’s not essential to success.

John Locke didn’t update his blog for four months, but that didn’t stop him going from selling very few books in November to shipping almost 700,000 by the end of March. It just means that you will have to compensate in other marketing areas. It’s your call.

But if you set up your blog right, you can combine interactive and static pages. This, for example is a static page on my blog, it rarely changes and acts as an anchor for the interactive content (the occasional haikus that I write). But there is no reason why I can't have static pages for more important things, incorporate more and more of them, and make them look nicer too.

Eventually, I envisage my blog having static pages for each e-book as it gets released. If you want to get really fancy, you can have a domain name for each book, so that if someone types in that web address it will automatically go to the static page in your blog that you have set up for that book.

Driving Traffic To Your Blog

It’s all very well having the best content in the world, but if no-one sees it in the first place, it’s kind of pointless. So how do you get people to come to your blog?

Get your name out there, but be tasteful. Find other writing blogs or blogs on your subject and engage with the readers through the comments. If someone sees something thoughtful or interesting, then they might check out your blog or even buy your book.

I set up a Gravatar/Open ID through Wordpress, so on most blogs my picture is beside the comment and my name is a clickable link to the blog.

However, if you can’t interact in a genuine way, you will be just like the guy at the party trying to sell insurance. There could be ten people in the room looking for a quote, but if all you talk about is insurance, they will quickly move on.

But, if you seem interesting or knowledgeable, and the subject comes up naturally, they will be far more likely to consider using your services. Be tactful. Nobody likes the hard sell. Nobody likes a spammer.

Writing Forums

I get a lot of traffic from various writing forums that I frequent. But be warned: while no-one read more than a writer, nothing pisses a writer off more than spam.

Be courteous, respectful, and restrict your marketing efforts to the appropriate sections of the forum. I’ve never checked out a writer’s work who was in my face with the promotion, constantly pushing their book, but I’ve checked out plenty from people I met on the site.

A tasteful link in your signature and genuine interaction will bring you far better results. The forum I frequent most (this one) is filled with writers of all levels, from beginners to old pros. I’ve learned more there than from any workshop or book about writing. And it’s fun passing along the little bits you learn too.

Most forums have an area where you can post brief updates from your blog. However, most of the clicks I get are when I am engaging on another topic altogether. Again, if people consider your contributions useful, they are far more likely to visit your blog.

If you are just at the party to blanket the place with business cards, you will be a turn-off. Be a good forum citizen, nobody likes the man with the megaphone.

Google

I am getting a growing amount of traffic from Google.

It takes a while for their search engine bots to find you and map your entire site, but there you can nudge them along by registering your blog with them.

One of the main factors in how high a site appears in the search results is linkage. If you link to popular sites and they link back, it can have a huge boost on your ranking.

The first step you should take is too put a sidebar on your blog (like I have on the right-hand side of mine), with links to the big sites/blogs in your subject area.

Then, when you comment on their site (and your name is an automatic link back to your site if you have set it up right), this creates pathways between your site and theirs. Google loves these pathways.

Once more, don’t be spammy. If you are going on to high traffic sites just to spread links around, it will backfire. Make thoughtful, genuine contributions. It will increase your Google rankings, and you could bring some readers back to your place.

Social Media

Another huge way to drive traffic both to your blogs and your Amazon listings is by clever use of Social Media. This post is already a lot longer than intended, so we will save that for next time. As always, please feel free to share any tips or tricks you have below, or to ask any questions you may have.

It’s easy to get distracted by all this stuff, but never forget the golden rule: keep writing! The most effective marketing tool – by far – is new work.

Hi Medievalist,

Thanks for the correction.

Instead of my incorrect and confusing static/dynamic dichotomy, what would you recommend to describe web pages that don't change that much (like landing pages for books) and ones that do (like blogs).

Interactive is good, but what would work on the other side for comparison?

Dave

Medievalist - I edited the post to say:

"Information is presented on websites in two ways: static or dynamic (I'm not talking about programming here, I'm talking about content)."

Is this enough? Or should I just not use those terms altogether?

Hi Medievalist,

Thanks for the tips - very useful - I wasn't 100% sure on context links vs blogroll links so I didn't say anything.

The idea was to create a complete step-by-step guide for self-publishers who are considering e-publishing, drawing together lots of information found here and elsewhere in one handy spot. I have already written posts on writing your story, editing, cover design, and formatting.

At the end of this post, I do mention that the next one will be on social media. I agree with your suggested approach that the blog be the central hub. Before they connect a blog with facebook, twitter, and the rest, they should have the blog set up first, and set up right.

Thanks for the info on cite tags too, I didn't know that at all.

I'll change the "dynamic" references to avoid any confusion.

Dave

Hey Old Hack,

I don't understand your reaction.

Old Hack said:

(Also, self-publishing is NOT automatically the same as e-publishing, as has already been pointed out elsewhere.)

Click to expand...

My sentence was quite clear. I said "self-publishers who want to e-publish". Those words were deliberate. It's referring to those who are self-publishing who don't want to do a print version. I am NOT saying self-publishing and e-publishing are the same.

Old Hack said:

Dave, I know your intentions are good: but the truth is there isn't a one-size-fits-all route into self publishing, and so it's impossible to create one.

Click to expand...

I know there is no one-size-fits-all route into self-publishing but there are certain things a writer will have to do if they stand any chance of success. To avoid confusion, in the following, I am talking about a writer who has to decided to self-publish, but only digitally.

* Write the best story they can write, get good feedback, listen to it, learn from it, apply it at the self-editing stage.

* Hire a professional cover designer

* Hire a professional editor

* Learn how to format your book to professional standards or hire someone who can.

* Let people know your book is there.

That's what these five posts have covered. I think everyone agrees on those basics. I think it's sound advice to say to any writer who has decided to self-publish or is considering self-publishing, that they will need to do all of these things if they want to have any chance of success. It's not a one-size-fits-all policy, it's common sense.

If nothing else, it will give them an idea of the amount of work ahead of them.

Old Hack said:

Rather than starting these threads with an essay of your own, you might be better off starting threads with a post full of links to existing discussions here and elsewhere, where these things have already been thrashed out; and pointing to other threads where the various pros and cons have been explored.

Click to expand...

You may be right, but some people like information presented in different ways. Some like a list of links they can work their way through one-by-one, others might prefer a more general article-type post to give them a brief overview.

Surely there is room for both.

In any event, if no-one finds it useful or interesting, it will die a natural death by slipping off the first page, then the next, into obscurity.

Like all other threads.

Dave

I should also point out that information changes very quickly, especially in the areas of e-publishing and self-publishing.

Things can be completely different from one month to the next.

I think it's good to keep things as fresh as possible, there's more chance of the information being accurate if it is up to date.

And anyway, the whole point of this wasn't to write an "essay", it was to provide information that others would find useful, and hopefully generate a discussion on the points therein (rather than whether it was correct or not to write it).

If I had something like these series of posts when I was starting out, I would have found it very handy indeed. Even if all the information is elsewhere, it's useful to have it collated in one place, rather than me just posting up 20 links - only part of which may be relevant.

And by the time you get around to explaining what all the links are, which bits of the link are appropriate, which are out of date, what has changed, you are left with something that is pretty unreadable, and it's double the work to produce.

Dave

Hi Medievalist,

I don't see how the copyright notice on my website is relevant, but thanks for pointing that out. I didn't write that copyright notice on my website, my webmaster did. I hadn't noticed it. I will ask him to change it. The "2009" part is relevant however, it hasn't changed much since then. This site only contains a description of my book and my sample chapter. That's all the copyright notice refers to. Not anyone else's work.

My blog is on another site, I don't have a copyright notice on that.

And, the only time I have ever spoken about copyright on my blog was in the comments and I prefaced that by saying, "I don't know enough about copyright to talk about it, but here is a link to the basic concepts."

I haven't self-published my work, yet. The first story is being uploaded tonight. I have made this clear all over my blog (and in this forum). The start of every post on my blog on this topic says, "I’ll be doing each step with you, learning as you do, because I’ve never done this before either."

I think it's quite clear that I am not presenting myself as an authority, quite the opposite. In fact, the whole point is that I am learning with people as they go. Sometimes, it is easier to understand someone who as it the same level as you than someone who has 20 years of experience.

I also made it quite clear at the top of this post when I said "I am no expert" right there in the first paragraph. Then at the start of the second paragraph I said, "I’m sure lots of you guys have lots more experience doing this, and useful tips you can add below, so please feel free, and if there is anything incorrect here, let me know and I will go back and edit it."

Hardly presenting myself as an authority.

On this post, on my blog, and everywhere else on this forum, I have never tried to play up my level of experience, I have always been completely open about how much experience I have and where I am in my publishing journey.

Dave

Hi jnfr,

I hope that isn't true.

Dave