Shortly
after I published my first novel, Daughters
of Darkwana, on Kindle, I sat back, crossed my fingers, hoped for the best,
and soon realized that crossed fingers amounted to squat.
“If you
build it, they will come,” doesn’t fly. Write, rewrite (X1000), edit, publish,
and promote. Promote like crazy.
Many of
my fellow writers look down their noses at self-promotion, as if the activity
sits beneath them, a cheap, desperate activity. All those writers hold a
commonality: obscurity.
Let’s
start with the accusation of “cheap.” You bet your ass it’s cheap. You can now
accomplish for free what used to require your lifesavings, thanks to the age of
social media and cyber networking. Take advantage.
As a
self-published writer in cyberspace, you can’t kid yourself; you stand very “desperate.” Desperately promote.
Desperately take every opportunity. Desperately build your brand.
Those
aforementioned obscure writers claim that your writing ought to “speak for
itself.” It should. Polish your work before you promote it. However, your best work can’t shine in the
dark.
I suspect
that most of these writers who self-publish but fail to promote stand afraid to
do so. They doubt the quality of their work and second-guess the opportunity to
draw attention to it. Don’t follow those writers’ example.
Get a
Facebook account. Boldly state in your profile that you’ve written and
published your work. Tell people where to find it.
Invite people on Facebook to
become friends with you. Spin a wide web of influence, and remember to collect
information about others while you offer information about yourself.
Facebook
and Google + each offer separate pros and cons. Create accounts with both of
them. Use the benefits of both to endorse your work.
Start a
blog on Wordpress or Blogger. You may have noticed that I started several.
Start a
Twitter account and connect it to your Facebook account. Tweet constantly (yes,
constantly) about your blogs.
You blog
probably offers tools to promote your posts instantly on Facebook, Twitter, and
Google +. Use those tools.
Keep a
strict schedule for the release of your blogs. Advertise those release dates.
The best filmmakers in the world would not release their summer blockbuster
without some advance warning to their potential viewers.
The
blog-building site, Blogger, allows me to arrange ahead of time the release of
my blogs. That means I can write all my blogs over the weekend and time them to
surface at predetermined dates and times.
Don’t
forget to use LinkedIn and Aboutme.
Some
people (even with the best of intentions) will call all this promotion
shameless. It’s not. Nobody calls Coke shameless for its nonstop advertising,
and if they do, I don’t think Coke cares.
Some
people find it intrusive when someone they don't know attempts to “friend them”
on Facebook or Goggle +, but social media exists, above all else, as a means to
network, to extend your circle. Extend it. Find likeminded people and connect with them.
A self-published writer works as a sole proprietor. No two ways about
it.
Want your business to succeed? You must
promote it as if you run a constant political campaign. Ever notice how much those people market themselves?
I take every opportunity to promote my novels,
such as Daughters of Darkwana. I
promote Daughters of Darkwana
whenever I can. If I don’t discover an immediate opportunity to promote Daughters of Darkwana, I create an
opportunity to promote Daughters of
Darkwana and the other books in my Diaries
of Darkwana series.
That’s Daughters of Darkwana, available on
Kindle, and in two weeks, I plan to discuss a little more about the world of
Darkwana and the characters it contains.
(The Army reserves wants to borrow me for a bit next week, so no new posts after Friday, but I'll return on the 21st at martinwolt.blogspot.com with a new, short story)
See you then!
You can catch my novels, such as Daughters of Darkwana, on Kindle.
I publish my blogs as follows:
Short stories on Mondays and Thursdays at martinwolt.blogspot.com
A look at entertainment industries via feminist and queer theory, as well as other political filters on Tuesdays at Entertainmentmicroscope.blogspot.com
An inside look at my novel series, its creation, and the e-publishing process on Wednesdays at Darkwana.blogspot.com
Tips on improving your fiction writing Fridays at FictionFormula.blogspot.com
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