Indie-authors publish their books on Amazon and many other sites without the help of agents. There are advantages such as receiving 70% royalty on the cover price of e-books. The huge disadvantage is many excellent books go unnoticed due to lack of adequate marketing. Writers are writers and often unskilled in selling themselves or their products.

Writing a book from beginning to end requires focus and endurance, often taking years if not decades. Finishing a manuscript is a great accomplishment but reaching the end of the first draft is the beginning of another huge time-consuming step. Numerous edits, rewrites, beta-reads and paying for professional editing finally brings the book to the point of publication. At that time, the author makes the decision to either indie-publish or begin writing query letters to agents if seeking traditional publishing.

First time authors find the years of writing a novel or non-fiction book to The End quickly realize those words really mean –  The Beginning of Marketing. Whether self-published or through a contract with a traditional publisher, advertising and marketing will take the author on a new journey. Unless you are a celebrity, large book tours are a thing of the past.  Marketing takes unexpected time and education unless you are already an expert in this field or can hire a publicist.

Some indie-authors are highly successful marketers, many on their internet sites providing webinars, others on self-designed and orchestrated book tours, or by participating in writer events. If you have a platform for sales, such as writing a self-help book in a field where you are an expert, you already have a following who will purchase your book.

If you have indie-published and are ready to market, there are hundreds of options that can take a tremendous amount of time. I have watched many webinars, talked with successful marketers and bought a stack of books on the topic. There is no easy way.

Below are a list of URLs as a starting point. I have not found a site that has everything, but I have used theses and found them helpful.

https://www.thebookdesigner.com/marketing-your-book/  – Blog with numerous articles of interest

https://www.Authorshout.com – Comprehensive information on publication, book cover design, book trailers and banners to use on Facebook and Twitter, and ads to purchase to feature your books.

There are numerous sites to feature free books: Kindle Nation Daily and Digital Book Today – two I have used.

Offering free books is a marketing technique to generate visibility to that title and other books on your sales page on Amazon. Writing reviews on Amazon on the books you read is helpful to the author. Some advertising sites such as BookBub require a certain number of reviews before they will run a book ad.

Thanks to everyone who downloaded my free books on Jan. 5 & 6

Authors of the Flathead will have a panel of authors present a Thursday evening class on this topic in the near future. Check out https://www.authorsoftheflathead.org. for our meeting schedule and topics.

Happy New Year and Happy Writing,

Betty