I made this for an event recently, it was a handout – decided to post it here in case it’s helpful…
#1 Write a book people want to read.
#2 Connect with influencers or other authors in your genre/topic. Review their books. Share their stuff. Comment on their posts. Get noticed.
#3 Set up a website that catches emails. Run a rafflecopter or giveaway with something only your ideal readers would love; promote on Facebook. Also do guest posting/blogging. Grow your list quickly.
#4 Make a prequel or standalone short that you can give away. Give it away on your website; also publish it on Amazon. This is your “loss leader” – in the back it will offer something of more value to get people to sign up to your list.
ROUTE ONE
- Send the book out to reviewers; beacons in your field, authorities, other authors (hopefully they know who you are by now). Ask them for a review or blurb. Ask 100 people; you might get 10. Don’t be afraid to ask big, you’ll be surprised who says yes.
- Put the blurbs all over your book and landing page/Amazon page.
- Launch the book and promote it with guest posts and content – be everywhere the first week.
- Build a “Dream Team” of promoters who will hep you promote your book, offer them big prizes for who can sell the most.
- Offer package prizes for people who buy in bulk (if you have a print book as well).
- If you have a big platform, you can do this.
- If you don’t have a big platform yet: quote a bunch of people in your book, then let them know you’ve quoted them and ask them to help share it.
ROUTE TWO
- Make an ebook only. Price it at free; use ebook booster or other promo sites to get it everywhere. Get 10,000 downloads. Ask for reviews in the back of the book.
- After the book has a 20+ or more reviews, price it at 99cents. Hit the #1 slot in the free and paid section of your category. You can raise the price up to $3.99, but you’ll be sacrificing sales (I like to leave it cheap until I have 100 reviews – then make a print book and ‘updated edition’).
I plan to write and publish 100 books this year
I’ll be building resources to help indie authors publish and market their books, such as a “21 Day Bestselling Author Platform” course, and genre-specific book marketing guides (I’ve already added a few of them to www.marketingforwriters.com; I’ll announce those more formally once I’ve got more genres completed.)
Let me know if I can help you finish or market your book!
I’m a philosophy dropout with a PhD in Literature. I covet a cabin full of cats, where I can write fantasy novels to pay for my cake addiction. Sometimes I live in castles.
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