You Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em: Marketing & Advertising for the Indie Author, Part One

By: Heather Day Gilbert

I asked several authors to fill me in on advertising and marketing tips—in other words, share what's worth the money and what isn't. While each author had different experiences, we hope you can take away ideas that light your marketing "fire."

As we all know, indie publishing is FAR from one-size-fits-all (thank goodness!). However, I'm pretty certain all these authors would advise you to only take on as many of these marketing/advertising opportunities as you can handle, both financially and personally.

At the end of this two-part post, I'm going to link to each of the authors who participated. Thank you all so much for sharing some of your hard-earned wisdom with us!

      BOOK TRAILERS

Some authors had no noticeable sales spikes from their book trailers. But the overall recommendation was that if you do a trailer, make sure you share it pre-book release and make sure it's an accurate, yet short trailer. However, the advice was also offered to keep your budget small on trailers, since they're not the focus of your marketing process, just an addition to it.

      SOCIAL MEDIA

This was, by far and away, the method most authors recommended to get the word out on your books. This means you need to be established in various forms of social media. Points mentioned in this regard were:

—TWEET regularly. You can join tweet exchanges (this was news to me!) where you tweet for others and vice versa. Spammy tweets are not recommended, though, so try to keep your tweets more personal and don't litter the feed with them.

—Determine your twitter AUDIENCE. Heather Sunseri, author of Mindspeak and Mindseige, advises authors to be real, which means sharing tidbits about your life. But she also advises not to stray far from topics that would interest your target audience.

—You can also prepare book release or other tweets and share them with your followers, groups, or launch team. It's easy for them to copy/paste them (I'd recommend hashtagging for more specific notice).

—Line up blog interviews ahead of time. You never know which blogs will drive the most traffic to your book, so the more blogs you visit, the better. I personally had several purchases after appearing on an ABA Medieval site that has thousands of readers, but I also had several people put my novel on their To-Read list after I visited a fellow homeschooling mom's blog. Basically, figure out where your reader demographic congregates and request a guest post, interview, or review slot.

—Lock in book reviews ahead of release time (let early readers read your book). That way, when your book launches, some of the first reviews to hit Amazon and Goodreads will be from your early readers, who've had time to thoroughly review your book. Please realize, those initial Amazon reviews will stay in place as the first ones readers see.

And since a self-publishing launch doesn't have to happen all at once, continue asking review sites to review your book, even months after you launch. The beautiful thing about self-publishing is that we don't have to stop marketing our books—it's the "slow burn" effect, which I'm sure I've mentioned before and will continue to mention!

—Facebook was mentioned as a wonderful way to reach readers on a personal level. Initially, I avoided having a FB Author page, but it has been my best source of connecting quickly with my readers.

—Email lists/Newsletters are consistently touted as the best way to get the word out to readers who love your writing and will buy your books. MaryLu Tyndall, who's maintained a substantial e-mail list for many years, recommends placing an email signup in multiple locations (blog, FB, etc). MaryLu offers a book giveaway to new subscribers once monthly. She also recommends only sending email updates when you have something newsworthy to update, so you're not inundating your subscribers with unimportant emails.

      PUBLIC SPEAKING/BOOK SIGNINGS/TARGETED MENTIONS

—If you're comfortable with it, public speaking was mentioned as an effective way to increase your book's reach and sales. Libraries often love to have authors visit and field questions about their books (especially if your book is in their library! Make a point of donating and signing yours to your local library(ies) once you have softcovers.) 

—Book clubs and direct contact with your readers were also considered crucial, even if they didn't result in massive sales. The idea of giving back to your community, via signings and public speaking, was a driving factor for many authors. 

—Also, updating your alumni sites and contacting local papers are small but crucial steps to get the word out closer to home.

Next week we'll be talking more specifically about various paid and free ways to advertise.

For this and the second part of this series (March 20) I'll give shout-outs to all my contributing authors. Names below will link to their websites and book titles will link to their latest novels on Amazon:

Adam Blumer—The Tenth Plague
Carole Brown—The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman
Susie Finkbeiner—Paint Chips
Cynthia Hickey—Deadly Neighbors
Carla Laureano—Five Days in Skye
Terri Main—Fangs for the Memories
Amy Matayo—The Wedding Game
Wendy Paine Miller—The Disappearing Key
Staci Stallings—Deep in the Heart
Heather Sunseri—Mindsiege 
MaryLu Tyndall--The Ransom (releasing March 1, 2014)

***If you have any suggestions on advertising/marketing you've found effective, please let us know in the comments! Thank you.***

Heather Day Gilbert enjoys writing stories about authentic, believable marriages. Sixteen years of marriage to her sweet Yankee husband have given her some perspective, as well as ten years spent homeschooling. 

You can find Heather at her website, Heather Day Gilbert--Author, and at her Facebook Author Page, as well as Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Goodreads. Her Viking novel, God's Daughter, is an Amazon bestseller. You can find it on Amazon and Smashwords. She plans to release her contemporary Appalachian mystery, Miranda Warning, on West Virginia Day: June 20, 2014.