I did want to get back to marketing and selling your self-published book. The last post pertaining to these topics was the categorization of your book within the market so that people can find your book ("Categories, part 2," Feb. 26, 2017). A final word is: remember that you can change these from time to time, and then take note if sales numbers are impacted immediately after changing the categories. It's probably best to do this for a few cycles just to see if there is a pattern.
With all the different social media outlets available to us, the problem lies in how much time it takes to sustain these outlets. ALL of them require you to be a consistent presence on the platform. Now, for some outlets like a 140-character limit for twitter or image posting on Instagram, this might be easier. But if you decide to blog, for example, be prepared for an investment of time.
I had a friend who did social media for her livelihood, and she said if you are not consistent with your postings, you may as well not do them at all. She also said do as many as you are likely to sustain. So if you can do 4 outlets, keep to that. Some outlets allow you to link up to others, as you'll see in my diagram, where my Mailchimp campaigns get automatically posted to my twitter feed and FB personal page, which I then share with my Centipede Dragon FB page.
I haven’t even begun to touch on the traditional ways to advertise and market, like talking to local libraries to carry your book and businesses for presentations, and newspapers to review your books. But those are avenues definitely worth exploring as you may be able to build community relationships that become key avenues of reaching an audience.
This is a very overwhelming part of the book business, and the only thing I can say (since I haven’t figured it out myself), is that you have to follow through with the goal/s you’ve set. For me, blogging seemed to be a way to "talk" to readers, to share more in depth the hurdles I have had to overcome, and those that have knocked me down. But it also has required a tremendous effort to think about how to tell this complex experience in a way that is not only interesting, but maybe even helpful to you in your own journeys.
Let me know if it's working, or not working, for you! Do I need to make my posts shorter? Do I sound too authoritative? I'd love the feedback!
With all the different social media outlets available to us, the problem lies in how much time it takes to sustain these outlets. ALL of them require you to be a consistent presence on the platform. Now, for some outlets like a 140-character limit for twitter or image posting on Instagram, this might be easier. But if you decide to blog, for example, be prepared for an investment of time.
I had a friend who did social media for her livelihood, and she said if you are not consistent with your postings, you may as well not do them at all. She also said do as many as you are likely to sustain. So if you can do 4 outlets, keep to that. Some outlets allow you to link up to others, as you'll see in my diagram, where my Mailchimp campaigns get automatically posted to my twitter feed and FB personal page, which I then share with my Centipede Dragon FB page.
I haven’t even begun to touch on the traditional ways to advertise and market, like talking to local libraries to carry your book and businesses for presentations, and newspapers to review your books. But those are avenues definitely worth exploring as you may be able to build community relationships that become key avenues of reaching an audience.
This is a very overwhelming part of the book business, and the only thing I can say (since I haven’t figured it out myself), is that you have to follow through with the goal/s you’ve set. For me, blogging seemed to be a way to "talk" to readers, to share more in depth the hurdles I have had to overcome, and those that have knocked me down. But it also has required a tremendous effort to think about how to tell this complex experience in a way that is not only interesting, but maybe even helpful to you in your own journeys.
Let me know if it's working, or not working, for you! Do I need to make my posts shorter? Do I sound too authoritative? I'd love the feedback!
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