How to Self-Publish.
A Free Campaign Plan.
I find any kind of self-promotion uncomfortable. So, how do you get over that without having a personality transplant, and what can be done? Hope a publisher snaps you up as the next best thing? (dreamy-head) or give up?
Once bitten by the bug of being a writer, I’m afraid your probably super-glued to the creative pen forever. It becomes part of us, and I don’t think it is always just a burning desire to get published, but a burning need to write… and maybe that is the key to getting over self-doubt. Just write. Be yourself.
Think about all those hours you have spent on the computer writing, researching and editing, or lying awake at night thinking, or waking up in the middle of night to think; while those around wonder what planet you have moved to. For me, writing can sometimes feel like the chest-burster scene in the film ‘Alien’
‘Google Quickie’ on self-promotion as an author:
As a professional writer I also do everything I can to encourage the sale of my writing. And that includes selling me. If you neglect the business side of writing (i.e. promotion and marketing) you will lose, because someone else isn’t neglecting it. (1). That made me think.
And today’s reader doesn’t buy things because the author pushed them. As a reader, I want a book to pull me. It is virtually impossible to get your blog seen or your book discovered. (2). That made me weep.
Reading bad reviews makes me feel horrible, and reading good reviews makes me feel creepy and embarrassed. The recipe seems to be GREAT BOOK + HARD WORK + TIME + LUCK. (2). I think that gave me Hope.
So, without the Willy Wonka gold-ticket of a publishing agent or any kind of available budget, I sniffed out a cunning plan to be my own marketer and promotor. It’s called… overcoming your embarrassment and fear of looking ridiculous, AKA:
A Cost You Nothing Campaign Plan.
Some pick and mix advertising platforms to choose from:
Digital campaign: Self-publish on Amazon. Advertise and promote book on social media: elevator pitch, tag lines, pictures, posters, book trailer, include any reviews and testimonials (writers or readers). Join and follow writing groups, publishers, agents and magasines on social media. Drive traffic to blog, website and Amazon book. Contact local radio for interview. Podcasts. Emails. Do Interview or be interviewed. Post videos and trailers: film, talking, picture. Find websites, forums and chat sites: anything related to your themes. Run a competition. Have an interactive website.
Non-Digital Campaign: Local, national, free newspapers, magazines, comics: provide an article or excerpt from book. Press or photo opportunities. Book launch in book-shops, universities, libraries. Local organisations. Local book clubs and writing groups. Creative outlets like a poetry evening. My Campaign Plan.
My Six Week Plan.
Week One. Make Sparkle.
Elevator Pitch. Look at Amazon for best examples: This novel is about the East End of London in the 1960’s. Influenced by the stories and memories of real characters, it has the humour of Only Fools and Horses, more twists than an East End soap and the heat of a gangster movie when things get out of hand… this fast-paced book takes you on a journey through crime, love, loyalties, hate, and revenge. It is a true East End London melting pot of winners and losers.
Tag line. Research a killer few words: Funny and Fearless.
Identify Themes of your work. East End of London. Crime. Pubs. Greyhound Racing. Gambling. Horse Breeders. Markets and Costermongers. 1960’s Fashion and Nostalgia. Gangsters. Boxing. Prison. Love and betrayal. Gardening. Fishing. Perfume.
Identify websites and organisations that Match Themes. CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), Greyhound racing (Walthamstow Memories), The Pearly Kings and Queens, local Classic Car rallies, retro women’s fashion. Send out some feelers on social media… It’s coming…
Week Two and Three. Get Ready.
Research and self-publish on Amazon (3). Ensure website and blog are ready. Get marketing material together: Photos of East End pub and places in the 1960’s. Poster. Free small articles about themes in my book and characters. Samples from the novel, teasers.
Week Four and Five. Make contact.
Post on social media and websites, be professional and polite. Get people and organisations interested. Send out free articles to local paper, free papers, East End papers and magazines. Organise radio interview with my old friends from the East End — memories. Contact local library for book launch of ‘local author’. Get press involved. Develop reader participation (“you can be part of this too”) to share their nostalgic memories of the East End, and put on the website and blog. Set up a competition- best 500-word memoirs of the East End in the 1960’s- free vouchers and included in my next book.
Week Six. Review
Review web traffic and areas that generated most interest through sales, analytics and feedback. Post on social media about the community generated, feedback and the campaign journey. Do Pod casts. Generate automated emails. Consider how to upgrade campaign and keep the ball rolling.
Week Seven. Recharge.
Sleep as much as possible. Drink tea as much as possible. Chill on sofa as much as possible.
Week 8. To infinity and beyond.
Begin writing again, contact publishers, agents or companies… you are a serious contender now. Research new markets. Make new contacts. Expand your horizons.
Advertising is a shop window. What does yours look like…?
Hidden? Abandoned? Ready for business?
Make your writing proud!
1. https://www.awn.com/blog/why-do-many-writers-artists-hate-self-promotion
2. https://www.whimsydark.com/blog/2015/4/13/please-shut-up-why-self-promotion-as-an-author-doesnt-work
