Eyes on the Horizon: Thinking about Marketing
This morning I received an email from Reedsy Learning's Book Marketing 101 email curriculum that reinforced the common recommendation that writers start their marketing process well ahead of a self-published book's release. And almost all of the podcasts I've added lately are about marketing indie books. I'm well aware of the proper approach in general, but I'm a bit paralyzed by the planning. For two reasons:
What if I do it wrong?
This one is actually the easiest to wave off. Of course I'm going to do it wrong. I'll make mistakes, miss the mark, learn from the missteps, and keep going.What if it's too early?
This is the trickier one. This is where "What if I do it wrong" becomes "What if I'm doing it wrong if I do it too early?" and compounds. By my current plan, I'm about 7 months away from publishing book one, Flotsam. I expect it to be done at least a few months ahead of that, though. There are things I can do while it's unreleased, and things that I'm a little hobbled in doing until it's actually published. It's hard for me to say, "Hey come check me out, and subscribe, and and and!" when I have almost zero I can offer anyone as a reason why they should follow me, or subscribe to me, or or or. Pretty much all I have to offer right now is my process, and if someone doesn't know what the fruit of that labor will taste like, why should they care?If this smacks of Imposter Syndrome, you aren't far off the mark.Fact is, I do need to market before I have anything to sell. I need to build up enthusiasm. Build up an audience. Build up anticipation. Be savvy. Put my marketing hat on. I have a smattering of followers on twitter. A large handful of followers on YouTube. At this point these folks, while welcome and adored and appreciated, are not my target audience. I have to figure out how to get from here to there. Gotta have some friends to invite to my book's birthday party. Friends who want the kind of cake and party games I'll be serving up. This is where my thinking starts to get super cyclical. Not quite a downward spiral, but certainly enough to freeze me like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming MAC truck. Or at least to back-burner the process and go back to my comfort zone and tell myself I have time to figure it out later. But later is here. Later has arrived. Later has a roaring diesel engine and powerful air horns, and I'd better get moving before it smears me across the road. Here are some of the paths I'm considering:
Before Pre-Order Listing
- Once the proof edits are finalized, offer the first chapter for free in exchange for email sign-up.
- Run instafreebie promotion.
- Run Facebook ad campaign.
- Remind twitter/Facebook/Instagram followers to subscribe
Newsletter Topics, Pre-release
- Make sure people have read their free chapter (follow-ups). Ask for feedback.
- Cover process. Ask people to see their favorite space opera covers with characters.
- Cover process. Pickfu.com/self-made webform for picking thumbnails. (Does Pickfu promote polls? Might be a way to increase reach)
- Cover reveal. Thank people for their help.
- Pre-order announcement. Repeat as politely as possible as we get closer.
- Audible process information. Ask people if they have a favorite narrator. Remind about the pre-order.*/±
- Simultaneous to Twitter giveaway, run another for signed print copies
- Offer a limited number of ARC copies / Street team
- Ask subscribers to let their friends and audiences know about the book
Pre-Order period
- Set up eBook listing on KDP Select, $0.99 preorder
- Set up print book listings through CreateSpace and IngramSpark
- Send an announcement to the email list
- Submit Bargain pricing to Ereader News Today
- Submit book announcement to ALLi and Critters
- Find reviewers and offer ARCs.
- Prepare materials for Facebook ad campaign
- Prepare materials for Amazon targeted ad campaign
- Prepare materials for Ereader News Today± (need 7 reviews with 3.5 star ratings to qualify for Book of the Day campaign, among other things)
- Add pre-order banner to website, twitter, and Facebook
- Create Amazon Author page
- Run giveaway on Twitter for signed proof
- Provide print copies to my local libraries
Launch
- hold a launch party if my platform has grown enough to warrant it
- facebook live/youtube live party if my platform has grown enough to warrant it
- Website announcement / follow up posts on Tuesdays about how it's going
- newsletter announcement - maintain price at $0.99 for 72 hours / Kindle Unlimited. Remind readers to please review it if they haven't already.
- newsletter follow-up and thank you just before the first price increase to $1.99. discuss results if noteworthy. Request reviews and shares.
- newsletter follow-up and thank you just before the next price increase to $2.99. discuss results if noteworthy. Request reviews and shares.
- newsletter follow-up and thank you just before the next price increase to $3.99. discuss results if noteworthy. Request reviews and shares.
- newsletter follow-up and thank you just before the return to normal $7.99. discuss results if noteworthy. Request reviews and shares.
- (feel like I should mention the back matter of the book will refer people to Patreon and a free chapter from book 2 for joining email list)
Plateau-Busting
- Facebook Ad campaign to gather new readers
- Amazon targeted ad campaign
- Audible release launch - similar to above, plus give away audible copies via social media
Things I have no intention of doing
- Goodreads ARC giveaway - very little evidence of these making an impact, minimal reader engagement for authors
- Paying for reviews - no benefit, likely to end up deleted by Amazon
- Asking friends and family to buy my book - their reading history is unlikely to benefit my organic also-boughts. I have to hope they generally don't respond to the calls for subscribes and reviews because I probably can't exclude them from the announcements reliably.
- Book signings - at least for the time being. I can think of nothing more humiliating than standing alone in a bookstore for hours trying to make awkward eye contact with strangers
- Blog Tours - I don't have solid relationships with anyone in my genre
- Probably more things so obvious and preposterous they don't warrant talking about