I had a conversation with a new author the other day, and one of the things we talked about was marketing. There are many ways to market your work. The trick at first is to pick one or two, work on those, and gradually figure out what works for you, and what doesn’t, rather than trying out everything everywhere all at once. If you do the latter, and something works, you’re stuck doing them all! Also, if it doesn’t work, you aren’t sure why.
Buying ads isn’t the best strategy when you are starting out and only have a single book, or short stories. What you can do, though, is to build up your readership organically. If you are publishing more than one thing (and you really, really should be) make your readers aware that if they follow you on Amazon, they will be notified when you have a new release. You should have a blog, website, or newsletter (and all three can be had for free if you have no budget, and only later upgraded to a higher-cost option if you like) to stay in touch with new readers and to attract readers, outside of the retailers. Pick one, not all at once: blog, website (which can be one and the same) or newsletter. Word of mouth is slow, but sure.
If you have a way to reach out to your readers and potential readers, don’t be afraid to ask them questions. People like answering questions. Don’t do things like asking for reviews too often, but do make sure you ask periodically, reminding readers that they are important to you and your writing. Don’t be afraid to ask if they will follow you through the retailer (I assume other stores than Amazon offer this). Or, even at your blog/substack/newsletter. If you do have a blog and want more participation in comments, ask questions of the readers (maybe not ‘beans or no beans in chili?’ unless you want a flame war!) that aren’t related to your writing, and then participate in the comments with them. You’re building a relationship with people on the other side of screens, and it’s something that comes naturally to humans. Just keep in mind they are people who, like you, don’t like to have pushy sales in their face all the time. Give them interesting content, don’t make it all writing, all the time.
Need more followers at the blog? Well, on Substack I’m finding that interacting with other ‘stacks, particularly on Notes, is helping people find me and me find people. Just like the early days of the blogosphere, it’s a community of like-minded folks if you’re using it properly. Linking and sharing each other grows both your audiences, and remember, the rising tide lifts all boats. Also, be polite and professional in your comments and interactions. Trolls are rarely amusing and attractive, whatever they may think. Social media is of limited use, these days. I find that groups are better than the main timeline of Facebook, but that’s not saying much, to be honest. X/twitter is even more throttled. I’ve been focusing on content on Substack, and finding it rewarding, but I enjoy writing essays (like this one, yes, although full disclosure I’m pre-caffeinated).
Consider being multi-media. When I was doing the read-aloud children’s books on Youtube my stats there went way up, and I suspect if I could manage the time to do that more like my blog, covering a broad range of topics, it would be a good audience. If I had audiobooks available (which is a work in progress) I would definitely be doing more there. Podcasts work as well, I think. Again, consistency is key. Yes, content marketing takes time, time you could be spending writing. Here is the thing, though, if you schedule posts, after spending a couple of hours a week creating the content you are going to post, it’s not that much in the grand scheme of things. If you are going to make writing your business, you must budget into your time marketing or you won’t have the sales to support the business. It’s the creative’s paradox.
So ask. Ask things like: where did you hear about me or my book? How did you find your way to my blog?
Write that down. Compile the data. Then, you can start to find the story the data is telling you about the people who make up your audience when you put out a book or a blog post (and those may be two different audiences!)
What do you think, dear readers?
Mad Genius Club 
11 responses to “Asking for It”
A lovely synopsis of what we tell new authors we meet at events. The marketing is by far the hardest part of the writing business! God knows we’re not very good at it.
I’d add, only do the social media you like enough to do anyway. If you hate Instagram or TikTok (I’d never do TikTok even if I had the time no matter what enthusiasts claim), you won’t do it or you’ll do it very badly or you’ll be so intermittent, it won’t matter that you’re there.
If you do social media and someone takes the time to comment, acknowledge their presence. That is, don’t ask questions of your audience if you’re going to ignore them when they do.
Be consistent. Make posts in advance. Schedule a batch. And, most important, hashtag properly. If you don’t hashtag on Instagram, no one who doesn’t already follow you will ever find you.
We have a newsletter, three websites of which only one is more than a placeholder, Instagram, and a Facebook account that Bill sometimes pays attention to. That’s more than enough!
The worst thing you can do (and I’ve seen this) is chasing after marketing fads instead of writing more books. Becoming a wonder on TikTok and good luck with that means nothing if you’ve only got 4 novellas to sell.
Best of luck to us all finding our audiences!
I’d never do TikTok even if I had the time no matter what enthusiasts claim
Nor would I. I feel like any mention of TikTok should include the fact that it is Chinese Spyware. Admittedly, I’ve heard that BookTok works better than just about any other social media marketing, but joining it still means that you’ve essentially signed up to spy for the ChiComs.
I have to wonder about how successful BookTok is because it seems you only hear about the success stories and not the thousands of authors trying and failing.
And yeah, sign up for Chinese spyware? I don’t think so.
Word of mouth has become the leading sales tool for indie writers, in my opinion. I started with books, then a blog, and have tried social media (no ad campaigns there, yet, though). I’ve also done a few hand sales, but I always feel a little guilty because the cost of my books in print seems terribly high to me. (Then I look at what some of the TradPubs are charging for a hard-back novella or short story …)
I can’t do anything with me on camera, so no BookTok or the like, at least for now. I think, too, BookTok success depends on who your readership is. If you write for younger readers (YA), then it would make excellent sense to aim for marketing there. If you write stories that resonate with older readers, you might do better spending time on things elsewhere. YMMV, and I am the worst marketing person at MGC, so you are warned. 🙂
And yet you have an avid fanbase, who shares your books at the drop of a hat (I’ve seen it, I’ve done it).
Also, you can do video content without being on-camera. I’m not personally going to do booktok, but I already have a youtube channel I’ve got going, so I will likely play more with that. The read-alouds were all audio behind illustrations and people liked them.
The issue with word of mouth is that someone’s mouth has to start it. When you’re a rank beginner, saying, “I’ll leave it to my fans to spread the word,” doesn’t work, because you have to get fans to start with.
Yes. My first books did not sell well, because I was new and in a huge sea (mil-sci-fi). It took time, which fortunately I had. Peter Grant was a blogger first, and when he published his first fiction, his blog-readers bought it, then spread the word. Larry C. had posted bits and pieces, and was known from gun fora, then released MHI and the rest is history.
And the best way to market keeps changing, which doesn’t help!
The problem that I have with marketing is that I hate being marketed to so much. I’m on a few authors’ mailing lists, but I delete all of those emails unopened. I attended one zoom session on marketing, and the suggestions offered there ran the gamut from, “If you did this to me, I’d have to think long and hard about how much I really wanted your product and if it was worth doing business” to, “If you did this, I wouldn’t care how much I wanted to buy your product; I’d run far away, find some substitute for what you were selling, and never do business in your vicinity again.” Heck, I even have a real-life friend whose emails I hesitate to open, because half the time she’s trying to sell me something.
Given all that, it makes it hard for me to do things like that with my own work; I keep thinking, “Somewhere out there, there’s another Zsuzsa who might like your books, but you’re annoying her.”
I’ve thought a bit about how it is that I find new books. Word of mouth, obviously, but that has the problem I mentioned in response to TXRed. I used to wander around libraries and bookstores and look for things that look interesting, but (a) I can’t do that as an Indie, and (b) It has a pretty low success rate these days anyway. Otherwise, I guess Sarah Hoyt’s promo posts, but I already do that, so I don’t know what more I can do.
Ultimately, I think the conclusion I’ve come to is that, if I were a reader, I would be unlikely to find an author like me.
Let me turn it around on you. How do you find books to read? You mentioned wandering around bookstores – is that still how you find books?
Think about how you choose to buy anything at all. What brought you to that decision? Yes, likely most of it was ‘I needed it.’ but why that product? Why not another one?
I am not a writer, but a reader. I do check on Sarah promos posts and then read a sample . If it seems ok I will buy on kindle . If that was good I will buy another book by same author. Some series I have got to maybe the fourth book and found it has got to syrupy, predictable and no longer do I want to read . I read just about anything.
Some authors like Lois McMaster Bujold are must buys. However the last Vorkiverse book was not something I want to read twice. It felt a betrayal of the characters . I guess she wanted to end the series. I have enjoyed her Penric and Desdemona series so much.
So word of mouth is very good Promos posts are good.
Lynn, thank you! This is valuable input, very seriously.