shadowkat | (no subject)

So, I asked my brother for marketing advice on my book.

His response?

" If you don't have a following, I think it's unlikely that your book is going to do well, so either figure out how to get a bunch of people to buy it, or start building a following today.”

This is obviously the trickiest, having thousands of contacts to promote it to directly. If you don’t have them find someone who does (do you know Oprah?). Essentially public relations - traditional reviews or social media recommendations - to get the word out. Otherwise it’s buying traffic through Google adwords.

Well, I suppose I have this blog. Although I don't know if I have a following or not.
It's hard to tell. According to my profile, 199 people have friended me. But half of those have either left LJ, are dead (seriously, they are dead, gone from this world),
or not really following it.

Also, of the group that is following - would you buy my book? I don't know. I have to admit I was surprised anyone read my Buffy meta.

Threaded | Flat

Just read the summary you posted earlier and yeah, I'd buy that...

I might, since I enjoy your posts.

Someone once said that publishing a collection of poetry is "like dropping a rose petal into the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo". In my experience, that very much applies to self-publishing as well; if (and obviously that's a big "if") the goal is to sell a lot of books, and you don't have a pre-existing audience large enough to do that, then you really need to know who your target audience is and how to market yourself to them through social media, word-of-mouth, Goodreads giveaways, etc etc etc; that's pretty much a full-time job for those who succeed at it. For every self-publishing success, there's a lot of books that only sell in the single digits because the authors thought all they needed to do was put 50,000 words up on Amazon and wait for the checks to start coming in. That said, there's obviously something to be said for the feeling of having published a book you're proud of, regardless of whether it's a bestseller or not. I know I wish you the best of luck!

I'd probably buy your book. Sounds entertaining!

(Also, I am in the process of writing a book myself. Although unlike you I have not chosen a subject I am mostly familiar with. I need to do So. Much. Research. /o\)

Anyway, have been meaning to say congratulations, and good luck!