I've Finally Decided to Focus on Self-Publishing- Where Do I Go From Here?

Earthling said:

I've been building social media for two years under my author name. I have around 6,000 Twitter followers and several hundred for my blog.

My book became available for preorder a few months ago and, as far as I can tell, my social media following has resulted in about 20 sales. From what I gather, my experience is far from unusual. I mean, how many books have I bought based on seeing an author tweet, post on Facebook, or blog? I can think of exactly one. And I'm connected to thousands of authors through social media.

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This sort of thing can vary a lot. Last year, a particular author quote-tweeted my pinned tweet, which had pre-order links to my first book under this pen name.

I got 120 pre-orders in 24 hours on Amazon. Before that, I'd had maybe 20 pre-orders.

I think a lot of people know me because of Twitter, and I have about 2000 followers, so not a ton. I am often able to correlate spikes in sales on KDP to tweets. I think a lot of my readers first heard about me because of Twitter.

It can depend on a lot of things.

But for me, Twitter has probably been the best at selling my books, and I don't pay anything.

When I ask on Twitter about who might be interested in my climate fiction, it's my climate tweeps who hold their hands up. Less the writerly tweeps. I think that makes sense.

Daniel--your posts and threads have been helpful to me. Thanks for starting them.

1. Focus on a genre where self-pub does well.
2. Write a 3 book novel series before publishing that fits well in that genre.
3. Get outside, unbiased feedback on those books to make sure they're up to snuff for the genre.
4. Get your books edited. (This could be as grueling as developmental edit or as breezy as a proofread depending on #3.)
5. Set up a basic (as in wordpress.com freebie is fine) Web site with a nice landing page about you and your books.
6. Set up an email list on Mailerlite or Mailchimp
7. Create a short prequel/side-store from your series as a "reader magnet" and give it away to mailing list subscribers.
8. Mention your mailing list on your web site and in your book front/back matter.
9. Publish your books simultaneously or in quick succession (using preorders so later books are always available.)
10. Party like it's 1999.

LJD said:

This sort of thing can vary a lot. Last year, a particular author quote-tweeted my pinned tweet, which had pre-order links to my first book under this pen name.

I got 120 pre-orders in 24 hours on Amazon. Before that, I'd had maybe 20 pre-orders.

I think a lot of people know me because of Twitter, and I have about 2000 followers, so not a ton. I am often able to correlate spikes in sales on KDP to tweets. I think a lot of my readers first heard about me because of Twitter.

It can depend on a lot of things.

But for me, Twitter has probably been the best at selling my books, and I don't pay anything.

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Spending years building up a presence that might result in a hundred pre-orders is probably not a good use of time, though.

Earthling said:

Spending years building up a presence that might result in a hundred pre-orders is probably not a good use of time, though.

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The time I spend on social media isn't time I could spend writing. It's time when I'm not focused enough to do much else. The benefits of social media aren't only about the sales you might make by directly plugging your book. It's about making connections, keeping an eye on the industry, and all the rest. And it can all be done having a tea break, because it's not that intensive.

Polenth said:

The time I spend on social media isn't time I could spend writing. It's time when I'm not focused enough to do much else. The benefits of social media aren't only about the sales you might make by directly plugging your book. It's about making connections, keeping an eye on the industry, and all the rest. And it can all be done having a tea break, because it's not that intensive.

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Yes, that's why I do it, too. But I get the impression from the OP he is going to be treating this as part of his writing job/duties, in which case I'd say his time would be better spent creating more books.

From my experience and what I've read on forums like this the one thing that sells most of our books are our other books. Social media might get you a few percent of sales IF ANY.

A website is absolutely essential for anyone who wants to be a pro, but it will sell only a few books. Instead it's a central place that only you control where you can interact with your readers. They will sell your books for you if you treat them respectfully and quickly.

The site does not have to be elaborate. Simple, easy to use, discreetly attractive is as good as fancier ones. Start a site on WordPress as soon as you become serious about being a pro. But START SMALL. It takes time to master the art as well as the tech side of a site. Start it BEFORE you need it.

TAKE BABY STEPS to evolve the site. Publish SHORT posts every week or two, no oftener. About stuff you LOVE and which will find their way into your fiction. If you're engaged in that stuff you will likely easily find stuff to write about such as upcoming events, books, movies, and so on that your readers might not know about.

And don't get impatient. Writing as a profession is a long game. In fact, you're probably condemned to it. Face it. You likely can no more NOT write than you can NOT breathe. Welcome to the Hellhouse.

I'm not sure if you need to spend $200/year on a website. A simple Wordpress site with a domain name is waaay less than that, and honestly you could get a free site that would do the trick. I pay for a domain name and code my own sites because I'm an extreme DIY guy... but it's not a practical thing at all. Simplify this part of the process and get a simple blog site with a theme that can accommodate your list of books/products.

1. Get feedback to make sure your book is actually fun/engaging to read.
2. Get an editor. Hire an editor to make sure the book is great.
3. Either get a great cover artist (at least a few hundred dollars!), or design a really simple cover. Cheap Art makes your book look cheap. A simple design can be classy and inexpensive! A great cover-artist can draw people in, but when it fails it fails HARD.
4. Get reviews. Give copies to bloggers and reviewers who will talk about the book.
5. Do conventions / live events / interviews. Keep doing it to get good at it.