For an independent author, online marketing is the most challenging part of the publishing process. I took the plunge into Indie publishing a little over two months ago, and I've since learned that writing the book was the easiest part! Formatting and uploading to Smashwords, Amazon's Kindle Publishing and Barnes and Noble Pubit was a somewhat manageable endeavor (even though I'm technically impaired). But online marketing is a totally different animal!I'm still learning the ropes of online marketing, and lucky for me, my husband, a small business owner, thrives on it. Today I'd like to share a few things I've stumbled upon on my own, as well as information my husband has provided.
Let's just take a quick look at the basics. If you're serious about independently publishing and getting your author platform in place, establish a website and or blog. When I first explored developing an author platform, I created a blog here on Blogger for free. I've since turned my blog into a website, since I can create pages in Blogger. Another great site for creating your own free blog/website is Wordpress.
In addition to creating author pages on Amazon, Facebook and Goodreads, and joining Twitter, Shelfari and Library Thing, there are numerous blogs out there to help Indie authors promote their work by offering boatloads of free advice. Several books are available too, that are reasonably priced and well worth the cost in helping you build your career. Although not technically online resources, the books I've included help you develop your online marketing techniques. If you haven't already, visit the links below, and up your marketing knowledge by utilizing these seven resources!
BLOGS
1. The Creative Penn - Joanna Penn provides great information to help you write, publish and sell your book. She is an author, blogger, speaker and business consultant. This site is aimed at people who are interested in writing, publishing of all different kinds and Internet marketing/promotion for their books (in print/ebook or audio format).
2. Book Cover Cafe - Anthony Puttee is a book marketing professional who works with writers and authors. Having worked in the publishing industry for over 6 years alongside other professionals in the industry such as publishers, editors, book cover designers and marketing experts, you’ll see that he's passionate about crafting quality books and marketing strategies that work.
3. Marketing Tips - Tony Eldridge is the author of the Twitter tools marketing book, Conducting Effective Twitter Contests which helps people find targeted Twitter followers. He also shares his book marketing tips with fellow authors through his blog and through his free video marketing tips for authors.
4. Guerrilla Marketing - Jay Conrad Levinson offers great advice to market any business. His mission is for businesses to achieve conventional goals using unconventional methods by leveraging energy instead of money. For example, buzz marketing (word of mouth) and social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
BOOKS
5. How I Sold a Million eBooks in Five Months - Entrepreneur John Locke reveals the marketing system he created to sell more than 1,100,000 eBooks in five months. Well worth the Kindle price of $2.99!
6. Dollars and Sense: The Definitive Guide to Self Publishing Success - A step-by-step guide to increasing royalties for beginners and professionals. Divided into three sections; Producing a Sales-Friendly, Professional eBook, Leveraging Your Social Media Platform, and Selling Smarter, Not Harder, Dollars & Sense walks authors through the process of writing and selling their eBooks. A steal on Amazon Kindle at $.99! I recommend that you read this before you self publish.
SEO
7. Using SEO, Search Engine Optimization, will draw people to your site. According to Wikipedia, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users.
The more people that visit your site, the greater your visibility. Downloading an SEO tool, such as Wordtracker SEO Blogger (free) will help you better understand what SEO is and how to use it effectively.
In the next post, I'll use an example of SEO.
Best of luck in your self publishing endeavors! Are you an Indie? If so, please share any helpful information you've discovered as an Indie author!
Thanks for visiting!
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