We've talked about how you can increase your chances as a self published author. But we're not nearly enough so here we are with the second part!
Create Buzz Before Release:
Have you realised how famous books like A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber have been the talk of the social media town months before its release?
Learn from them and do the same.
Get as many people as possible to talk about it, even before the book is released. Make sure to hype it up, and get others to hype it up, too. In fact, build up the hype even before you finish the book.
How?
You can:
Collect Reviews from Early Readers:
Remember your alpha and beta readers? They can prove more valuable than just editors. Make sure to ask them to review your book before publishing.
Why the Reviews?
Platforms like Amazon and Goodreads won't push your book to the top for no reason. One of the things you can do so that these platforms will get your book to be seen by more people is to collect reviews.
That aside, readers also check the reviews and will judge the book accordingly.
The books that have no review at all are probably not worth a read, after all, no one even has anything to say about it.
What If They Posted a Bad Review?
Don't be afraid of bad reviews, because whilst it may hurt you to see a one star review along with a paragraph explaining why your book sucks, a mix of bad and good reviews make your book look more authentic.
After all, what book is loved by every reader on Earth?
NONE.
Look at the review section of your favourite famous books. You'll find plenty of good reviews and lots of bad ones as well.
But do the bad ones deter people from loving the book?
Nope!
Books with all 5 star reviews make people doubt the book because it looks fake, as if the author paid those people for the reviews. Instead, establish trust from readers by having a variety of reviews.
Now, how can you get more reviews?
The most common and easy way is to ↓
Get ARC Readers:*
(ARC: Advance reading copy. Advance review copy, advance reader's edition, advance copy, or a reader's edition is a free copy of a new book given by a publisher to booksellers, librarians, journalists, celebrities, or others, or as a contest or school prize, before the book is printed for mass distribution. ARC readers are those who read these copies.)
By getting these ARC readers, you can get their reviews and also generate buzz for your book as more people who read your book mean more people will talk about it.
How Can You Get ARC Readers?
Similar to alpha and beta readers, you can get them by announcing that you need ARC readers throughout your socials, or from author websites.
You can also approach some bookish influencers/reviewers yourself and ask them to be your ARC reader. Of course, do it kindly and respectfully. Check their linktree/website first if they have a form for ARC reading requests. If they don't, you can DM them. Keep your message short, to the point, and don't forget to sum up your book in as few words as possible. Remember also, that you may be rejected and don't take that personally because their schedule just may not allow them to do it. For a higher chance of 'yes sure's, you can stalk them beforehand and see if they seem to like the kind of story your book is or not.
Do they get your book for free?
Yes.
Won't that mean less people will buy your book then?
Darling, no.
A misconception I've heard from some of my indie author friends is that the more ARC copies you give means the less people will buy your book, which is of course, false. Unless you are living in a secluded space with only 10 people without the ability to interact with the rest of the world, then yeah, if you give 6 free copies you'll only have 4 who buy the book.
But there are 7 BILLIONS of us.
Giving ARCs will help you spread the news of your book to their friends, family, and in the case of content creators, their followers, who may take interest. Without sending those ARCs, those followers wouldn't know your book exists.
Do you know how many ARCs publishing houses usually give?
50-100.
Books by a moderately popular author may even have 5,000 ARCs.
With that many ARCs, most of Booktok and Bookstagram will be talking about said book. This gets more and more people interested in the book. At this point, it's like an ever growing rolling snowball. You invest a bit in ARC readers and the return will be ever growing!
Won't It Be Costly?
In the past, yes, Simply because you had to send a physical copy to all your ARC readers.
But now, you can simply send them the ebook file.
Make Hype Teams
When people have an event (like revealing their book covers for the first time), they want everyone to know of it. To do this, they usually assemble a hype team.
How do I do it?
Simply announce it on your social media or kindly approach some people if you have a specific person you'd love to hype you up.
What does the hype team do?
Hype you up, of course.
This can be in the form of posting about your said event in their social media, or any other way fit for the event.
How do you make people interested to join your hype team?
Give them treats! Everyone loves free gifts!
Examples:
Bonus scenes of your novel
Merchandise design of your book
A shoutout
Side story of your novel
Excerpts of the book
Be Your Own Cheerleader
Yes, go and hype yourself up because if you aren't hyping it up, who will?
At first, promoting yourself may seem awkward. Not to mention how many people view self promotions as disturbing and annoying, thus making most of us feel apprehensive towards promoting ourselves.
While that is true, self promotion will only be annoying if you do it in a boring, self centred way.
For example you DM someone something like these:
‘Hello, I just published my book and it'll mean the world to me if you can check it out.’
‘Hi, I'm a new indie author and I would be really happy if you can help me promote my book!’
‘Hi, I am Karen and I'm a romance drama writer who just published my debut novel a few weeks ago, can you check it out?’
No one will care if you approach them this way.
First of all, who are you?
Second of all, what is the book even about?
Third of all, I don't even like romance-drama, Karen.
Now please don't do self promos like the examples above, it's just annoying.
As a content creator who has met with many self promoters before, I always tell my people that self-promoting to me is fine, but don't do it in a boring manner. I would be happy to hype you up anytime BUT—first give me a reason to hype you up.
Everyone hates boring self promos. But we encourage creative self promos.
Here's what you can do instead:
Make fan edits kind of posts and reels about your book
Share facts/quotes/excerpts about the book
Stalk your ideal readers and genuinely engage with them
Hype other people up
“MG, just give us a clear way to self promote please, not just prompts like those.”
Sure. You can:
Upload your book on Goodreads and fill in the quotes section with your awesome quotes.
DM @rewritethestarsreview a short info about your book and ask them to include your book in their next issue. Rewrite the Stars Review chooses several indie authors for every issue they publish, then promoting them in the special ‘Authors Spotlight’ section and also throughout their social media.
Follow me on Tiktok @melifluousgelatoo.writes and take inspiration from my posts to make your own! (of course, do credit me for the idea)
Hype Up Your Old Releases Again:
If you're an indie author with multiple books published, do not let your old releases collect dust in the background while you pour all your love to the new releases.
You can revisit your published book and hype them up again!
How?
You can:
Publish your old release with a new cover
Give discounts or giveaways
Make special packages
Sell merchandise
Publish your old release with a new cover.
Notice how famous books tend to have a lot of different covers?
Yes, while it helps you hype back up your old release and make another chance for new people to know your book, it can also make your existing fans want to buy it again!
Give Discounts and Giveaways:
People like discounts and giveaways, and you can also hype your old book up this way. For giveaways, you can give the book itself, or special bonuses.
As for discounts, here's some ideas you can use:
A certain event special's discount (example: discount in honour of the new years, your birthday, or the date the book is first published.)
Discount for the lucky ones who made it in time. Hold a huge discount for only a short moment (say, an hour or two. Or a day.)
You can also make it more fun and design some games for it! For example, you can give a riddle related to the book and those who can answer it can get a special discount.
Make special packages.
If you analyse the marketing techniques of traditionally published authors, you will realise that they often sell special packages.
Traditionally published authors usually include merchandise from the book such as bookmarks or art prints. Some even contain tissues as a sign that you'll definitely be weeping after you read the book! These special packages not only appeal to those who haven't bought the book yet but also to your existing fans.
Sell Merchandise:
I've been mentioning merchandise very often throughout this blog and that just emphasises the importance of them.
What kind of merchandise can you have for your book?
Here's a long list ↓
Bookmarks
Character art
Mugs
Phone/laptop wallpaper
Scarf
Keychain
Pins
T-shirt
Cap/hats
Totebag
Phone case
Page overlay
Water bottle
And many more!
Do You Design the Merch Yourself?
You can do it if you want or you can also work together with a graphic designer to bring those merchandise out! This will help a lot especially if you don't have a clear vision of what your merchandise will look like.
What About Print and Delivery?
Some authors choose to handle all these themselves and if you think you can do it, sure, do it! However, do keep in mind that you will still invest some money even if you decide to do it all alone and also, a lot of effort is needed. Not to mention that it's easy to mess up if you're not familiar with the process.
To ease this process, you can have the help of merch-based websites like RedBubble that will provide help on printing and delivery.
Some graphic designers (like me), provide a bundle option for you to have us take care of it all (design, printing, & delivery). So you can just get our report and your share of the profit.
Of course, you'll still have a say on the progress!
How to find these graphic designers?
Usually, your book cover designer will have an add on option of merchandise.
Other graphic designers and artists who are dwelling in the bookish area are also inclined to accept a merchandise design request.
If you would like a recommendation for a graphic designer, check out Prose to Print @prosetoprint on Instagram!
It is a bookish merchandise focused business made by authors for authors, and co-owned by me. They sell book related merchandise and also accept merchandise design requests. You can have them help you in the process of printing and delivery and even have your merchandise sold through their website, reaching their existing audience! An additional advantage of them is that they keep their prices affordable for all, making them a very great solution for many self-published authors.
The cons are that they have strict rules on what kind of design they're willing to take.
They will deny your request if it is considered not safe for work (NSFW) or controversial. So do ensure that you're not making a problematic request!
Do Not Rush:
Lastly, you have to remember that no one can make a masterpiece overnight.
With people pressuring teenagers to succeed faster, writers are pressured to publish their books faster. As a result, too many books waste their potential. Rushing to the end goal is not being efficient in using your time.
So stop pressuring yourself so much.
Especially for all the teenage writers out there, remember that you don't have to publish your debut novel at 13. You can, of course, if you want. But don't publish a book just because of the pressure.
Here’s some advice: Write a lot, learn more, write more.
—
And after over two thousand words, you've reached the end of this blog.
Thank you very much, I hope these tips help and if you want to know more, do read our other blogs! You're also welcome to DM me anytime (@melifluousgelatoo.writes) if you have any questions or things to discuss, or if you just want to be friends with me lol.
If you're looking for book cover or merchandise designs then do check out my designing account @mgsdesiigns
Love,
MG.
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