You’re a new writer, you’ve got a book or two or three, and you want more sales than you have, more readers than are reading, or more love than’s currently coming your way.
What do you do?
How do you do that?
If you don't know who you're writing for, why should I buy your book? If you don't know your target audience, how can you know what cover you should have, what genre, what categories and what keywords?
Other people know those, they're called the Top 100 and they’ll kick the shit out of you. They are kicking the shit out of you. Why? Because they view this as a business and you don’t – it’s that simple.
Hobbyist.
There, I’ve insulted you – how does it feel? Are you looking for the nearest dress to run under, the nearest shoulder to cry on?
Michael Douglas said that if you want a friend in this town, get a dog. He might have been talking in and about Wall Street, if you will, but the same applies to self-publishing.
It is you and those keys and that damn white, flickering screen.
But it’s more than that. It’s marketing and platform and covers and on and on.
Oh, you can convince yourself that the cover your cousin Donny made is good, but how’s it convincing those buyers an Amazon?
You can be happy with 10 sales a month, you can be happy with 100 or 1,000…but is it enough, is it ever enough?
These are things to think about. There's a lot of other people that know how to get a book out and make it relatively successful, and they’re way ahead of you. How are you going to beat them?
Asking for advice is more than most do, and going to writer forums and beta readers and places like that can help. Friendly and not so friendly blogs can help. If you can find that you've already learned more than many who've been pissing in the wind for weeks or months.
Now how do you translate that knowledge into direct action that results in sales?
That's a good question, and some ideas have been bandied about on this site, like doing eBook blog tours and direct marketing email sites and Facebook advertising and all kinds of other stuff.
The money stuff.
If you’ve got no money, you can’t do no advertising, and then you’ll get no readers. Ho-hum, nice try pal, hope you enjoyed your stint in self-publishing.
The battle lines are being drawn, mainly because the scraps falling from the table have gotten a lot fewer. Look for changes coming to self-publishing, and be prepared to deal with them.
What do you do?
- First I’d take a cold, hard look at yourself and your products and what it is you have out there now;
- Next I’d look at your Top 100 so you know what it is everyone that’s rubbing your ass into the dirt is doing correctly;
- Finally I’d come up with some kind of game plan so you can get out of the rut you’re in now and get into the fast lane those successful authors are already in.
How do you do that?
If you don't know who you're writing for, why should I buy your book? If you don't know your target audience, how can you know what cover you should have, what genre, what categories and what keywords?
Other people know those, they're called the Top 100 and they’ll kick the shit out of you. They are kicking the shit out of you. Why? Because they view this as a business and you don’t – it’s that simple.
Hobbyist.
There, I’ve insulted you – how does it feel? Are you looking for the nearest dress to run under, the nearest shoulder to cry on?
Michael Douglas said that if you want a friend in this town, get a dog. He might have been talking in and about Wall Street, if you will, but the same applies to self-publishing.
It is you and those keys and that damn white, flickering screen.
But it’s more than that. It’s marketing and platform and covers and on and on.
Oh, you can convince yourself that the cover your cousin Donny made is good, but how’s it convincing those buyers an Amazon?
You can be happy with 10 sales a month, you can be happy with 100 or 1,000…but is it enough, is it ever enough?
These are things to think about. There's a lot of other people that know how to get a book out and make it relatively successful, and they’re way ahead of you. How are you going to beat them?
Asking for advice is more than most do, and going to writer forums and beta readers and places like that can help. Friendly and not so friendly blogs can help. If you can find that you've already learned more than many who've been pissing in the wind for weeks or months.
Now how do you translate that knowledge into direct action that results in sales?
That's a good question, and some ideas have been bandied about on this site, like doing eBook blog tours and direct marketing email sites and Facebook advertising and all kinds of other stuff.
The money stuff.
If you’ve got no money, you can’t do no advertising, and then you’ll get no readers. Ho-hum, nice try pal, hope you enjoyed your stint in self-publishing.
The battle lines are being drawn, mainly because the scraps falling from the table have gotten a lot fewer. Look for changes coming to self-publishing, and be prepared to deal with them.
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