When it comes to indie publishing, there’s a great many
things you can do to market your book. I’m not going to try to tackle them all here
in this post, but I am going to offer one suggestion that has worked for me. It’s
a unique way to grow a newsletter following.
The word “newsletter” alone can put me off, since I have had
companies spam me with unwanted newsletter info in the past, and they made it
very hard to get off the list, but when it comes down to it, a newsletter about
your next book, or a newsletter about a sale on your whole library, addressed
to the right people, can turn into a very helpful and awesome heads-up for readers
interested in you as an author.
The problem then is, how do you get people on your
newsletter list that are genuinely interested in your work who aren’t going to
be annoyed at a few newsletters from you each year? Here’s what I did:
At the back of my last book, I had a section titled “About
the Author” or something to that effect. In it, is a one or two short paragraph
sequence about me, about my books, books in the series, etc. But at the end of
all that is this bit:
I’d love to hear back
from you! You’ve listened to me page after page, and I’d appreciate your
thoughts on the book, questions about the series, or if you have questions
about writing and publishing. You can contact me at paulwroteyoder@gmail.com. I’ll let
you know when my next book is coming out once you’re on my contacts list. So
even if you don’t have much to say, send me an email just saying “Hi, and
thanks for the read,” if you want a heads up from me on my next title.
Yup, this is what you think it is—it’s an opportunity for
the readers to connect with me about the story, and a chance for me to put them
on my
newsletter list. It’s a positive all around for both the reader and the
author. If I could email any given author of a book I enjoyed and get a response
back from them, that’d be something.
It takes time to reply to all the responses as an author,
but worth it! Who doesn’t like to hear good things about their work? And as for
the criticisms—well, there aren’t too many of those, but when they do come,
they’re usually helpful tips to keep in mind going forward.
You may wonder if sending them newsletters after that initial
contact might be seen as spam, but the key here is to not overdo it. I
currently only send out letters to my reader’s list every time I have a book
published, or when something big happens with some of my past books, like
getting an eBook printed, or a huge discount for all of my books. The point is
to keep your contact sparse, only nudging them when there’s something big to
report. That’s how I do it anyways, and it’s been working well for me so far.
I hope this tip helps you and your publishing effort! I know
most authors feel overwhelmed when they finally finish a book and realize how
much marketing is ahead of them. Just know you’re not alone. Keep at it and you'll do fine! :)
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