There are numerous decisions that every single author has to
face no matter what their genre or publishing preference may be. The Indie
author has their own unique set of decisions to make and questions that they
must answer themselves. There is not always someone around who can shoulder the
burden of the most basic of these decisions. Introducing your book to the
marketplace is perhaps one of the biggest challenges you will ever face no matter
what your level of author experience. From start to finish, it can be a lot of
hard work – well worth it in the end – but hard work nonetheless. In some
author’s opinions, pursuing marketing options is more difficult than actually
writing the book! There are literally hundreds of ways to promote your book and
we can narrow these down to some of the most basic essentials.
How and Where the
Indie Author should Spend Time and Money
It is very important to know exactly where to spend your
time, money and efforts when it comes to getting your book out there. In order
to accomplish this feat here are the basic areas you will want to address:
- Defining goals
- Identifying your audience
- Setting up a timeline
- Considering other PR questions
Defining Goals
Just like every arena, clear cut goals are essential to
success. You will want to ask yourself a couple of questions like why you
published your book to start with, what you are hoping to achieve and who you
want to reach with this information. Without a definitive goal, how will you
know when you have reached success? Realistically develop your personal goals
as an indie author if for no other reason than knowing when you have achieved
them.
Identifying Your
Audience
Authors need to be
aware of what their intended audience looks like. Not only does it help when
developing a manuscript, it also helps with marketing efforts. It is important
to place your finished book in a position to be found by those who have an
interest in the content. In order to reach your audience you need to know who
they are and where they hangout – both online and off.
Setting Up a Timeline
It’s not a good strategy to run a perpetual promotion. The
self-published author will need to decide when, where and how long a promotion will last. They may also want to use the staggering approach so that promotions build on each other. Major holidays, anniversaries, and major events are all
great occasions to use for a promotional campaign. Promotions can each be
unique entities and do not have to be the same for every book. It’s really up
to the author’s preferences and choice.
Considering Other PR Questions
There are tons of other questions that the self-published author may
have to face. How much time do you want to devote to marketing
efforts? Will that take away from writing your next book? How do you want to
handle reader reviews? Is it okay or ethical to use paid reviews? How important
do you think media coverage is? What do you want to call yourself: indie
author, self-published author or no title at all? Will this be your only book,
your last book, the first book in a series, or just your next book? Do you want
to reach out to an international audience and consider translating your works
into other languages using a company like Babelcube?
There are tons of questions that no one can answer but the
author and these only represent a few of them. But if you can answer these
general questions, you’ll be a long way toward developing a solid marketing
campaign.
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