Waddup, waddup.
My first week of marketing Master is officially over. And boy-oh-boy was it… uneventful. That’s not to say I didn’t learn a tremendous amount.
Doing anything new requires an enormous amount of patience and persistence. I spoke to a friend of mine about working construction projects with him, as he is a tremendously successful independent contractor. He explained to me that though he is willing, taking me along with him would most likely result in a financial loss. A project that would normally take him fifteen minutes would take me four hours or more. Now that I’m branching out into a field I have zero experience in, I understand exactly what he means.
One of the most effective ways to generate buzz for a book you plan on releasing is to release it shortly after a novella. Because I don’t have a novella, I’ve decided to take some of the short stories I’ve written on here and self-publish them in a timely manner leading up to the Nov. 20th release date for Master. Even though these stories have already been written, I will have to purchase ISBNs, e-book covers, and a membership with a program called Merchant Words (this program allows you to view the keywords consumers most often search on engines such as Amazon).
Along with releasing numerous short stories leading up to the release of Master, it’s imperative I rack up a number of bloggers to provide reviews during that same week. Unfortunately, I have yet to contact any potential reviewers. This is largely because review bloggers are bombarded for their services, by traditional and indie authors alike. The biggest obstacle we indie authors face is separating ourselves from the pack – let’s be honest, a group that accepts anybody is bound to have its share of hopeful hacks…. And I’m hoping to hack my way out, but until then, I’m one of them!
I’m happy that a plan is coming together, regardless of how behind schedule I currently am. After-all, we learn from taking taking action and making decisions. The only way to avoid the pangs of reality is to forever avoid it.
Posted below is a list of websites that I’ve found extremely helpful for marketing my e-book. I suggest for any and all authors to take advantage of the information they have to offer.
- Thomas M. Watt
- Lindsay BurokerThis independent author has experienced so much success from her Dragon Blood series she opted to debut a new novel under a pseudo-name, just for kicks. This post details how she will start from scratch.
- Scott BrittonThis guy is as business as (non-fiction) writers get. Not only does the above link give you a firsthand account of how he marketed his e-book to #1 on Amazons bestseller list, but it also provides a link to Merchant Words for a %50 discount.
- Goodreads Reviewer GroupIt won’t take much research for any author to discover the primary way to drive downloads and sales is to accumulate (good) reviews. Here you will find active readers who are dying to sink their teeth into the next great novel.
- 90 sites to advertise your book
- 46 top websites to promote your book for FREE
- Info about the Copyright page
- Official ISBN purchasing page
- A pot of indie-author GOLD
Thomas M. Watt 