Early Retirement Extreme Forums

As stated in my journal, I am in the process of writing a book that I will be self publishing in a few months. I know that there are many self-published ( and even trad. published) writers on here so I was wondering if people had good marketing strategies, tips, advice etc.

I'm researching the marketing aspect of the process now so anything related would be helpful...thanks!

What's your hook? How many email list/Facebook contacts/etc do you have who will buy your book?

I assume you're doing it through Amazon Kindle or similar. There are different strategies depending on your market. Marketing a non-fiction investment book will be different from marketing a sci-fi trilogy, etc. So a little more detail on the project might not hurt.

I'm by no means an expert and will probably be taking more from this thread than I can contribute (at least I hope to), but here are some thoughts and strategies I've picked up, more or less in order of priority:

1. Volume is the best marketing strategy. Keep writing. The more often your name appears in the "new releases" section, the more audience exposure.
2. Start a mailing list. Put the list in the back of your books so readers can join. Use the list to inform readers of new releases.
3. Try to get reviews on the book. Friends and family help, professional/critical reviews would be even better. There are blogs and publications tailored to different markets and genres that specialize in reviews. Reach out to them.
4. Write up a press release in local or internet newspapers, magazines, etc. A lot of these publications are starved for content and will be happy to include a blurb on your book or perhaps even interview you.
5. TIE--start a blog/website, and do freelance writing on the internet. There are hundreds of places to submit articles on various subjects online. You can then put your little blurb at the end of each article: "Theanimal is an expert at blank and the author of Such and Such (link). Click here to visit his blog or here to join the mailing list for new releases!" (You get the picture.) Bonus, you can reuse the content on your blog.
6. Use freebies and pricing to your advantage. Especially if you're writing a series, make the first book or your older books in general cheap (or free) to try to hook readers.
7. Keep a social media presence. This is the least effective and important IMO, but you can use Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.com to establish an online presence.

That's all I can think of.

Go here for some tips:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/

You've got a large natural audience in those who have taken a NOLS course and want to relive the life-changing experience. NOLS has their magazine The Leader. You could edit a few of your stories into articles and submit them for publication.

http://www.nols.edu/alumni/leader/

Once you have a pile of books to sell, set up a table at any local event that will have you for free or cheap. Have some good props that will attract people. When someone asks you a question, write it down (after they leave, of course) and write up the perfect answer for the question. Eventually you'll have a series of well thought out sound-bite answers that entice people but leave them wanting more. Do this a few dozen times to practice the answers and you'll be ready for interviews. We did it the other way around and learned while doing interviews... not good.

Thanks for the advice so far. My book is in the non-fiction adventure category. it's about my experience living and travelling in the Alaskan wilderness this past summer, on a NOLS course (see journal for more info).

As of now I was planning on going through createspace and releasing it both online as well as a physical book. Volume is not likely to be large short term, although I just started the process of creating an 8 month ultimate adventure, taking place 2 years from now, that would likely result in another book as well as a documentary.

@Ego- yes, I see NOLS as my biggest advertising tool at the moment. I have contacted them about submitting an article and they were interested but after discussing with my parents, I've decided to hold off until the book is complete.

After you publish it, ask your network of peons -- err, surrogates -- here to review it and mention it elsewhere. If you are really nice to us, I bet we wouldn't mind.

@Dragline-that would be great! I'd really appreciate that.

If anyone's interested, I found this free guide from Archway Publishers. Seems like some good info...http://www.archwaypublishing.com/upload ... -Guide.pdf

@theanimal - that's awesome. how did you start writing your book? I would also want to learn to write and publish my own book.

Well my mom's boyfriend asked me to write about my stories if I ever got the chance so one day I started writing and sent it to him and my mom. They both loved it, forwarded it to a bunch of people who also ended up loving it so I continued writing. I guess it kind of happened by chance but I'm glad it did. It was (and is) something I really enjoyed doing and I hope to write another one soon...I have a few ideas.

i am also very interested in this topic AND i'm interested in your book!! i would be happy to read an early copy and submit reviews! just PM when it's ready. good luck and share what you learn.

Ditto zarathustra. I love reading and am always willing to do reviews, either publicly or privately. Just let me know.

Wow, thanks zarathustra and GandK. It will probably be a few months but I'll let everyone know.

It's actually SUPER easy to write and publish especially with kindle and the like. I have a package of stuff on Fiverr that basically GIVES YOU the entire process.

In a nutshell, I put in some instructional videos, some templates, and some free resources that you may find interesting.

Check it out.

Know in advance that yes, Fiverr rules stipulate the $5 charge, but also know that I am throwing in literally EVERY product offering I have on Fiverr for free if this is something that helps you.

Me giving away everything else for free that I have on there (after the one-time $5) is my idea of a thank you gift.

Hope this helps and hope I don't come off as too "sales-y"

Any tips on how to start and use a mailing list? I was looking at MailChimp, but they only allow up to 2000 subscribers, and apparently they require you to submit a physical mailing address which they include in the footer of any email--not happening.

My first novel is coming out at the end of January, so I'm getting a little more serious about this marketing business. I'd be very happy to give out some early beta copies to anyone interested in reviewing.

Anna, at http://www.waldeneffect.org/, has become quite a writer. She started with homesteading topics and has recently branched into fiction.

Her Blog, has a search function and she often discusses marketing her books. It would be insightful to read those posts

I use mailchimp. You can use any address for the footer.

Yeah, I learned that per U.S. anti-spam laws, every email newsletter has to have a physical address attached--so it's not just MailChimp. I put up the $50 for a PO Box. Now I've got my mailing list set up.

I'm now looking for places to get reviews--either professional/editorial or Amazon/Goodreads customer reviews. Anyone have any tips on this phase? Again, my project is a thriller/horror novel coming out in paperback and eBook at the end of the month.

(And of course, if anyone here is willing to write a review in exchange for a free copy, PM me. )

@SW - I find that about 1% of all buyers leave a review on amazon. About 0.5% leave one on goodreads.com so make sure your book is listed there too. I've talked to other authors and it seems that these percentages are fairly accurate, so now you know what to expect.

Popular methods involve hiring virtual assistants from India to write reviews; having people compete for an iPhone by writing reviews; giving away advance copies in return for a review; asking friends and family; and simply begging for them in general. However, each of these methods are frowned upon by other review-readers as gaming the system to varying degrees. You definitely don't want to be known for it. Because of this, cynics tend to disregard reviews that appeared <30 days after publication, reviewers who only ever wrote one review, and reviews written in large numbers on a single day.

Before you release it send a free copy to all your friends and ask them to leave a review on Amazon if they like it. About a quarter of them will, IME. Reviews are important in Amazons algorithm. Definitely wait until you have a few of them to do your launch promo.

It violates amazons TOS to pay for reviews or do the giveaway raffles for reviews.

At the end of your book be like, "thanks so much for reading! If you like my book, leaving a review will help other readers find it. Click here to go leave a review."

Goodreads has a section where authors do giveaway promos. I dunno, I never really got into it.