Chapter 11 - After the last word

Writing a book isn't the hard part, you have the idea, you let the words flow and then, then the hard work begins.  

If you are an independent author, like me, you are everything, writer, publisher, marketing, sales etc.  There is no-one else unless you are lucky enough to have a budget to pay for certain services, you are on your own. 

The success of your book is based solely on what you can do to raise its profile, get word out there and with any luck entice the reader to buy.  

If you have done the basics to get this far, the plotting out of the idea, the writing of the book, proof reading, formatting and cover design then your on your way, but it doesn't stop there it's time to work on the marketing and promotion of your work.  

So as an independent how am I going to do this; 

Fellow bloggers  - Reviews and Interviews
  • There are a wealth of talented book bloggers out there who will review your book and work with you.  If the time scales for release don't match up with theirs there are those who will host guest posts on their blogs or do an interview to assist with promotion 
Twitter Campaigns 

  • I keep my social media accounts consistent in terms of name and branding.  Twitter is great way to communicate with readers, potential readers, authors, publishers etc.  Using hash tags to catch the attention of those who don't follow you but may be your target audience.  

  • While I tweet about my latest projects, I don't flood my account with promotions, I include posts on what I do when I'm not writing - I know as a twitter user I don't constantly want to be bombarded with sales pitches, I get bored with it and switch off - I want to be engaged so I need to be engaging. 


Facebook

  • As with twitter I keep my branding consistent and find a balance of posts, from advertising my blog, to advertising my books, to general life posts.  

  • I don't pay for advertising on Facebook, I haven't budgeted for it and having spoken to other authors and bloggers, I'm not sure right now it's the right investment.  


Pinterest -

  • I love Pinterest, I can loose hours on there.  It's also a great tool for creating vision boards. I have one for each of my books.  I include pictures of actors I think could play my characters, places in the novel and so on.  It gives readers an insight in to my vision and also gives them the opportunity to post images that they associate with the book which I can learn from.  


G+ 
  • As with Facebook I post in a consistent manner to my profile and to groups which my books and I link into. 

Goodreads 

  • I have an author page, with all my work listed and I am open to questions from readers and other writers.  


This is just the social media side of things, there are other marketing routes and developments I'm still working on and I'm always open to suggestions and advice from others who've trodden this path before me. 


The Poppy Garden will be available in Kindle formats on the 11 November 2016 from amazon





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