Self-Published my book and I have no idea WTH I'm doing.

alyssabcole · Mar 29, 2019

So I self-published one book when I was 17 (a mistake, but a necessary one to learning I guess, and it did wonders for my confidence at the time), and then self-published again when I was 18 (slightly better). I mostly just sold to friends and family, and that was fine for the time.

Now I'm 26, I have ambitions, and after nearly 8 years I self-published a new book a few days ago. I'm proud of it. I feel like it has some merit. Except...I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING. I feel like I'm spamming my Facebook page, my Facebook profile, my tumblr, and my twitter, even though I'm trying to keep it to just a couple posts a day. And I have a few ebooks sold, which is great and awesome! But I don't know what to do to get more. I'm trying to connect with twitter writers and things like that, and I'm sure marketing is more of a slow burn than an immediate turn-around, but I feel sad knowing that this book may just keep to those few sales and that's it.

I don't know why I'm posting this, really. I'm sure there's a bunch of posts about marketing and other people struggling and all that, and this post is irrelevant. But I guess I just needed a place to vent. So I'll send this into the void and maybe someone will commiserate.

Devil Ledbetter · Mar 30, 2019

Congratulations on publishing your books. Keep in mind that you have every right to write, publish and publicize your own work. Your fiction is worthy of the attention of your followers on social media. Just think: most of the social media we consume is in the form of memes and "clever" hot-takes that are shared and reshared by people who didn't even create them. You have put a new creative work into the world, and posting about it on social media is a great way to let people know about it.

indianroads · Mar 30, 2019

Congratulations on your new book!

I suggest creating an AUTHOR page on FB, that gives your personal life and author stuff some separation. I usually do one paid advertisement on FB when a new book is launched so that those that follow me know about it. Beyond that, I've found advertising on FB doesn't yield much. I do post interesting things from the news that relate to my writing on my FB author site, but don't pay to promote it.

Advertising on Amazon seems to be working better. People are already there looking for books, so getting mine in front of them while they're shopping seems to be a good idea.

Some have success promoting their books via a blog.

Beyond that - I'm an old guy, and so don't understand instagram or twitter, so I've stayed off them so far.

If all this seems random and crazy... that's because it is.

Good luck!

lizmonster · Mar 30, 2019

Make sure you have a web site. If someone googles your name, you want control over what comes up. It doesn't have to be elaborate - book cover images and purchase links is fine - but you can add a short bio or a blog if you want.

rwm4768 · Mar 30, 2019

You can try some low-budget AMS ads on Amazon. In general, the best advice on those is to know your audience. If you think readers of a certain author will enjoy your books, you use that author and their book titles as keywords for your ads.

Note: You are not allowed to do this with the book's general keywords, just with the AMS ad keywords.

Auteur · Mar 30, 2019

indianroads said:
Congratulations on your new book!

I suggest creating an AUTHOR page on FB, that gives your personal life and author stuff some separation. I usually do one paid advertisement on FB when a new book is launched so that those that follow me know about it. Beyond that, I've found advertising on FB doesn't yield much. I do post interesting things from the news that relate to my writing on my FB author site, but don't pay to promote it.

Advertising on Amazon seems to be working better. People are already there looking for books, so getting mine in front of them while they're shopping seems to be a good idea.

Some have success promoting their books via a blog.

Beyond that - I'm an old guy, and so don't understand instagram or twitter, so I've stayed off them so far.

If all this seems random and crazy... that's because it is.

Good luck!

There are too many social networking sites for me too keep up with. I'm an old guy, too. That may explain it.

Enlightened · Mar 30, 2019

I'd check your local public library for hard copy or digital ebooks on what to do next.... One, possible title may be:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0806538856/?tag=absowrit-20

Check the business section of ebooks on your public library's ebook page. Do not specify ebooks. Just search all pages of business books. More should show up and all will be ebooks, usually.

AW Admin · Mar 30, 2019

alyssabcole said:
I don't know why I'm posting this, really. I'm sure there's a bunch of posts about marketing and other people struggling and all that, and this post is irrelevant. But I guess I just needed a place to vent. So I'll send this into the void and maybe someone will commiserate.

Congratulations; two books is no small feat.

You might want to check out the Book Promotion Ideas and Advice forum especially this thread How to promote your book like an intelligent human being and not an SEO Dweeb and do see this forum: Announcements, Events and Book Promotion especially this thread How do I promote on Absolute Write with aplomb, and What's this deal about "engaging the community"?.

And again, congratulations on your books, and welcome to AW.

sandree · Mar 30, 2019

Since you are in Kindle Unlimited, you are allowed to do Free Book promotions on Amazon. You get 5 days of those per 90 days on KU. You can search for how to set that up and it shouldn’t be too hard. On the days that your book is free you want to promote that on your social media. And there are lots of Facebook groups and websites that list free kindle books. You can also pay to promote your free book days on a bunch of websites. Why give your book away for free? Because you are enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, if people who are subscribed download your book for free and read it, you will be paid for page reads. And it will help your Amazon ranking so more people will see your book. I did this recently and gave away 1800 books in two days. Now I’m seeing the page reads. (I did pay for a promo through Freebooksy). You can search for lists of sites to submit your free book to - both paid and free. There are tons of them and you could spend lots of time trying them out.

You can also join a review pool on Goodreads and have other authors review your book. Best of luck. I’m new to this too and it’s been an interesting journey so far.

alyssabcole · Mar 31, 2019

Wow, thank you all SO much. This is immensely encouraging. I've added my Facebook page in my signature, and I'm planning on running a free book promotion this week. AW Admin, I'll be checking out those links you provided.

sandree, do you have any recommendations on review pools on Goodreads? I just found Book Review Club.

Fallen · Apr 1, 2019

Do you keep an eye out for author takeovers on Facebook?

These take place in one author's group, where a lot of authors bunch together and 'takeover' that author's group. So you get a 30 minute slot amongst other authors to talk about you and your work, plus offer a giveaway, play some games with readers. To be honest, I like going to them just as a reader. They can be a lot of fun. Just keep an eye out for authors in your genre who are asking authors to sign up for an author takeover. We've got a lovely one on over the 6-7th of April (a Dark and Tabboo one), that a reviewing blog is hosting. They host them for authors too, especially if they are celebrating how long they've been reviewing. Either way, authors bring in their own fans to the takeovers and their readers most times stay around to see who else is there. It's about getting to know and interact with readers, and because it's a little more informal, you can play around with readers a little more too.

sandree · Apr 1, 2019

Alyssa, I have participated in the one you found and this one - https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/78683-review-group.

Self-Published my book and I have no idea WTH I'm doing.

alyssabcole

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

indianroads

Wherever I go, there I am.

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

rwm4768

practical experience, FTW

Auteur

Redacted

Enlightened

Always Learning

AW Admin

sandree

alyssabcole

Fallen

Stood at the coalface

sandree