ASMSG Scifi Fantasy Paranormal Emagazine May 2014 | Page 11

SFP Indie Issue 2

ADVICE #2: ADVERTISE

It really is a must if you want to sell to more than
family and a few people who stumble onto your
book. I was listening to a podcast and there was
a woman who worked for KOBO and she said
there were 300,000 e-books published last year.
Someone coming across your book without
advertising is like someone finding your
McDonald’s cup at the dump. It could happen
but…. I’ve been over 200,000 on Amazon sales
rankings. Even if you narrow that down by genre
how long would it take someone to cycle
through all those books ahead of you? So
whether you do a free promo or put your book
on sale or even just advertise its existence you
need to do so. I won’t go on about what sites are
the best, everyone has their favourites. I will say
the sites that allow you to advertise to your
specific audience are the best. If you write
paranormal fantasy you don’t want your
advertising in front of WWII buffs. If you write
romance you don’t want your advertisement to
be reaching out to the horror lover. You
wouldn’t advertise adult diapers at a teen dance.
Its a waste of money.

ADVICE #3: NETWORK

I don’t just mean with other authors. Being an
indie allows us to have a closer relationship with
our readers. I have become friends with a lot of
mine. Some have helped me sell my books.
Other authors help you on social media. Writing
rarely pays the big bucks. I find this part of the
job rewarding and fun. Its a perk that I enjoy. If
you dread being on twitter, hate facebook and
you don’t even want to talk about google +
promoting yourself just got a lot harder. I don’t
know of being on these pages can really sell a
large number of books, it never has for me. I can
say you get to sell yourself and when I stop using
these sites my sales go to nil.

ADVICE #4:
STICK WITH IT
ADVICE #1: WRITE

Seems like a big fat duh!, but you’ll
never have monetary success from
one book. You need to keep writing.
Write as much as you can. I don’t just
mean books. I mean anytime you
have a chance to write do so. Having
a website or a blog is a must. The
only way to get better at writing is to
write

The only way to communicate and
gain a bigger audience is to write. 1a)
listen to criticism.
It’s hard and sometimes painful but
listen to every critique of your work.
It doesn’t mean you have to take
their advice, but if you’re open to it,
you will improve.

I believe with my whole heart that this is a
marathon, not a sprint. You need all these other
things, but you also have to stick with it. I sell
more books every year. Every time I put out a
book or have a promotion more and more of my
books are out there. I’m building an audience
slowly but surely. Like anything else in life it
takes hard work, determination and talent. There
are exceptions to all rules, but all the authors I
know who are successful have succeeded
because they stuck to it and worked hard.

11 | P a g e