If writing is your hobby, right on! You have joined a
league of others who use creative writing for pleasure, expressions of emotions
and sharing expressions of fear and pain. I’m willing to bet when you share
your writing with others you receive positive feedback. I encourage you not to
only continue writing, but share what you’ve written.
I say this because
reading is also done because it’s pleasurable and it helps to express emotions,
fear, pain and laughter.
If you’re thinking of turning your writing into a
business it means you’ve made the conscious decision to reach as many readers
as you can with your artistic creativity. Many find this path daunting, but it
doesn’t have to be. The reason most people fear becoming a published author is
because they fear failure or someone criticizing their efforts. Just remember
that you’re not going to please everyone. The key is finding the right target
for your genre.
Below I have created a list of things that I believe
may maximize your potential, but I don’t promise or guarantee any results. What
I’ve listed are my experiences, as well my point of views.
1. Do not set your goals too high in the
beginning. For example, if you don’t sell thousands of copies of your novel on
its release date, this is okay. The average Indie author makes $450 annually
from Amazon book sales. Others list Indie success as selling 2 books per day.
2. Be creative with marketing. Most Indies
use the same approach for promoting their work. Try and think outside the box
so that your promotion stands out from others.
3. Be prepared to work hard to market your
novels.
4. You MUST have a website. You can
even create one free on sites like Wix.com. Wix offers preformatted websites
that you can add or take away from and when you’re done your site can actually
look like you’ve paid someone a couple of grand to build it. I pay for the site
I use. I love it, because it’s easy to maintain. I can arrange it just how I
want it. Most of all, I love my site’s simplicity. Grand isn’t necessary. If
you don’t believe me, check out some well-known author sites. I’ve seen a
couple that were very simplistic.
5. You MUST have business cards. If you want
to be noticed, you have to do something to get someone’s attention. Vistaprint
and other online markets are available and inexpensive. Why are business cards
important? So I’m standing at the check-out at Chipotle and happen to look over
my shoulder. Six police officers are standing beside me, ready to pay for their
meals. I write crime fiction. I simply reached inside my purse, pulled out a
business card and told these gentlemen, “I need to interview you for a new
novel I’m writing.” I have a policeman, a sheriff and two ex-detectives
who answer any questions I have. It’s not easy getting a cop to do this. Trust
me. I’m sure these fellas checked me out first and having a professional
business card helped.
6. You MUST join social media sites:
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+ (just to name the
most common ones). The first time someone told me this, I rolled my eyes clear
to the back of my head. Who has time for social media when you have books to
write? You might not sell a lot of books on these sites, but know that they are
important. Social media is topping the charts as the reason people buy cell
phones, iPads, tablets, etc. Building a platform takes time. Some authors say
they don’t sell books via social media. It depends on your genre and how many
people you’re reaching with your tweets and posts. The idea of even having a
Pinterest account wasn’t appealing for me, because of my time constraints. But
I forced myself. I had the account for perhaps a year before I actually did
something with it. So one day I jumped on it and ended up pinning hundreds of
pins. Well, some of the pins were of Albania and how beautiful it is. Low. And.
Behold. I got more repins on these from a handful of Albanians who are on
Pinterest. They saw these pins and was perhaps wondering why a Black woman was
pinning about Albania! And there, they see it. My book is pinned and my MC has
the Albanian flag tattooed on his chest. I got a sale. Who would have thunk it?
The person liked the book so much, she bought ALL my books, contacted me on
Twitter AND went on my website to purchase an autographed copy so she could
send to a relative in ALBANIA. You gotta love when things like this happen.
7. Don’t forsake Twitter. This one is a
little more personal than the others, as you have perhaps noticed I didn’t
include ‘must.’ There’s a madness to Twitter that actually works. I will share
that madness at a later time. But for now, just know retweeting is a big issue.
8. You need more than one book to reach the
masses. Regardless if your one book is well-written and is perhaps the next
bestseller, think of it this way. If one was okay, McDonalds would have only
one type of burger, Taco Bell would offer only one type of taco, Pizza Hut
would offer cheese on pizza dough. Because of the variety these places offer, a
family of four can go to one of these places, order different things, and leave
satisfied. One of your readers doesn’t like your heroine? It’s okay. I have a
sexy hunk in another novel that will knock her socks off.
9. You MUST have your work edited. Guys, I
have no problems with beta readers, but let me share with you how many times
I’ve read novels published after beta readers have approved them. Far too many
and some of the errors I found actually made my already large eyes bug out even
more. Nope, nope, nope. Get an editor. Two of my full-length novels have gone
through editing THREE times. Sometimes it’s not your editor’s fault when errors
are still found. Sometimes those errors are caused by you fixing an area they
brought to your attention only for you to create another error in the process.
It takes time, but it’s necessary. If you don’t believe me, jump on Amazon and
pull up ten Indie author novel reviews and I promise you that at least nine or
all of them will have poor editing listed in the review.
10. Waiting for readers to discover you isn’t
going to happen. You must have a marketing strategy. Some may work. Some may
not, but let me throw this at you. My biggest sale days are usually Friday –
Monday, with the exception of Saturday. People are not home on Saturday when
the weather is nice, which means they’re not online to purchase your novel. I
did a promotion on Black Friday and lost my ass! Why? Everyone was out
shopping. I will never do that again. I did a promotion for Valentines and used
my novel that had the most red in its cover. The novel jumped all over Amazon’s
bestseller’s list in three countries from that promotion. I have more promotion
tips that I will offer later.
11. You WILL receive a one star review on
Amazon. Don’t take it personal. “Gone Girl” has more than two thousand one star
reviews. That didn’t stop it from being made into a movie. Listen to what the
reader is saying and if it doesn’t apply, don’t take it personal. Someone gave
me one star for The Blood Feud. His words were something like, ‘reads like a 25
cent cheap porn comic.’ Low. And. Behold. A reader who obviously thought that
25 cent cheap porn comics were interesting bought my book then sent me an email
and said he bought it because of the review. Yes, he enjoyed it. I wrote him
back and said, ‘If you liked that one, try Plain Dealing.’ He sent a tweet
showing that he purchased that book as well.
12. Sometimes people have no plans of buying
your book, but you can talk them into it. Engage with readers. Converse. I jump
all over the Goodreads postings, offering my opinion on the books I’ve read.
Never say, ‘Buy my book.’ Just talk. Let them know you’re an author. Blend in.
Let them see how creative you are in your speaking. Be professional. Never slam
others. You can actually pitch your book without people realizing it. The trick
is not to make it obvious. The intention is to pique their interest so that
they ask about your work. Will you get a sale every time? No, but it happens a
few times and I got great feedback from the readers.
13. Don’t focus on authors to buy your books.
If your FB and Twitter accounts have only authors as followers, you are
preaching to the choir. They want you to buy THIER book and not the other way
around. It takes time to build a following of readers. Encourage fans to join
you on FB, Twitter and other sites. Word of mouth is the best publicity.
14. If your book isn’t visible, no one knows
to buy it. Add your books to as many online eBook sites as possible. When
you’re having a promotion, ask the site to list you on their first page.
Sometimes there’s a small fee involved. Sometimes not. Ask the site to share
with you how much traffic they receive. If it’s a good number, pay the fee and
pray for the best. This has worked well for me.
15. Attend book festivals and book signings,
but don’t attend either until you are well prepared. I can go on and on about
how to prepare, but James Moushon has already posted some great advice on this
subject. And trust me. James knows what he’s talking about. http://bit.ly/1BNLyyV
16. If you decide to do a free giveaway know
in advance how to maximize it for the best results. Doing free giveaways and
promotions are great tools to use if you want more readers to discover you. I
recommend that you hold off doing a free give away or low price promotion until
you have as many books available as you possibly can. I ran my first promotion
after I had three books published. The promotion was for three days. I sold
more than one thousand books on the last day of that promotion alone. I
wouldn’t have reached this number if I only had one novel. I also recommend
that you spend (approximately $100.00) on online promotional services who list
your books on multiple websites. This means on the days of your promotion, the
cover of your book is listed on the front page of online eBook sites. They are
clearly visible. No searching the catalog is involved. A great cover and catchy
title will most definitely get you more clicks.
17. Your cover is just as important as your
novel’s content. You can purchase book cover designs for as little as $5 on
Fiverrr. I used Fiverrr for my eBook cover for Dali’s Fantasy. It’s a flash
fiction piece that I sell for $.99, so I didn’t want to spend a great deal of
money on the cover. A good cover will cost you anywhere from $50.00 - $500.
Hannah Gleghorn Design does all of my covers. I discovered her work while
browsing for books and loved the cover of the one I was thinking of purchasing.
I think she has fantastic pricing, especially compared to other designers I
have come across. Her website is http://hannahgleghorn.com/. Be sure to read
my next helpful tip.
18. Test the waters before you try it. Before
contracting with someone to edit your book or design your cover, ask them for
samples. With all of my editors, I send them as many pages as they allow. They
return them with their changes. Usually you can sense how well an editor is
this way, and you’ll be surprised how much editing your work needs before it
can be published. Not with Hannah, but with other book designers, I also had
them send me a sample of how they saw my cover. Don’t settle. This is your work
– your baby. If you’re not satisfied, express the changes you want made and I’m
sure your designer will do all they can to assist you.
19. Choose your editor wisely. I completed
the second installment of my series and my editor was already busy working on a
different novel of mine. To kill two birds with one stone, I shopped online for
a second editor. I sent out my sample and LOVED the work that was returned to
me, so I thought, ‘go for it!’ Low. And. Behold. Three weeks was the deadline.
Every time I jumped on Facebook, there was my secondary editor posting
thousands of posts. I couldn’t believe the amount of time she was spending
online when she had a deadline to meet in three weeks. Still, I gave her the
benefit of the doubt. Two weeks in, I emailed her and discovered she hadn’t
even STARTED editing. I cancelled the contract and contacted my primary editor
and explained my situation. I had already paid for promotions and had a release
date. Jerry Shaw worked his magic and edited two of my novels back to back,
allowing me to meet my deadline. You don’t have to use any of the people I
mention, but for those who want to check Jerry out his email is geraldwilliamshaw@gmail.com. I find his
pricing extraordinarily reasonable.
20. If you’re thinking of using a vanity
press to publish your work, please, for all that’s Holy, check them out. A vanity
press, vanity publisher or subsidy publisher is a term to describe a publishing
house in which authors pay to have their books published. It’s what Indie
authors are all about, right? I know authors who see their books selling and
have yet to receive a single royalty check. All of them had signed contracts
with the same vanity press. Do your research. When I’m researching a company
online, I key in their name and add ‘bad reviews’ at the end. This has saved me
from making what could have been some bad decisions.
Shelley Young
Author Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Historical, Mainstream, Erotica
Website: Shelley Young - Amazon International Bestselling Author
Twitter: @dardiandreshaj
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Google+: Check Out Google+
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
Amazon Author Profile
Author Description:
Shelley Young is an Amazon International Bestseller in crime, romance and suspense. Compared often as a mash-up of two of the best thriller and erotica authors, her thriller, suspense and mystery novels have been downloaded from Canada to Australia in eBook form. A book club favorite, each of her novels were nominated as best Indie book of 2014 in its genre. The author of the Dardian Dreshaj novels, who fans have dubbed its leading character as 'a man all men dream of being and all women want to love,' she's also a writer of mystery, as well as historical. Look for her historical series scheduled to be released in 2016 and two more crime thrillers scheduled for release in the first part of 2015.
Dardian Dreshaj has lived twelve years solely during the night. A handsome, Albanian immigrant who loves as passionately as he kills, he IS the highest paid contract killer in America.
Bad doctor, good nurse is a lethal combination. For Dr. Andreus Solomon Tell, who has a temperament as dark as his well-kept secret, it's no wonder women are falling head-over-heels dead in the small town of Plain Dealing where he lives. Is he a murderer? Can he be tamed? Is his persuasive mannerism potent enough to fool everyone around him?
If you enjoy novels of crime, investigations and a touch of heat levels four and five erotica, novels with characters you can't help falling for and cheering for them every step of the way, you'll love the writings of this author. She currently resides in So California with her family.
Shelley's Book List
Shelley Young is the author of the
Dardian Dreshaj novels and a publishing industry blogger. This post was
re-posted with permission from Shelley Young by the eBook Author Corner, a book
industry blog.
Follow James Moushon at:
Follow Me on Twitter: @jimhbs
Or EMAIL at: james.moushon@gmail.com
View my website: James Moushon – Mystery Writer
Or visit my blog: The eBook Author Corner
Take a look at my Author’s blog: HBS Author’s Spotlight
And the HBS Mystery Readers’s Circle
Check out the Jonathon Stone Mystery Novels:
