Originally posted on Happy Indulgence Books.
I live in Hawaii, where spam is a really big thing. But by
spam I mean the mystery meat concoction that never seems to go bad and can be
eaten in dozens of creative ways. That’s NOT what I’m here to talk about today.
Jeann asked me to post my thoughts on the explosion of spam from Indie authors,
as well as my other thoughts on how upcoming Indie authors can start to build
their fan base THE RIGHT WAY.
I’m no Hugh Howey or Amanda Hocking, whose self-published
books exploded primarily by word of mouth. At first I had to fight for every
reader, for every review, for every new member of my fan group. It was a ton of
hard work, but, four years later, I’m really starting to see it pay off as I
approach 30,000 book sales across my backlist. So how have I built my career as
an Indie author?
Not with spam!
I’m starting with what NOT to do because doing the wrong
thing can give you a really bad reputation and get things off on the wrong
foot. What is spam? For Indie authors, it’s any unsolicited attempt to get
someone (a blogger, a random person, etc.) to read your book. Although you
might direct message 100 random people on Goodreads and 1 of them might thank
you profusely and say how much they loved your book and that they’ll be a
lifelong fan, the other 99 are likely to get pissed off and never even consider
your books in the future. They may even report you as a spammer. Spam. Is.
Annoying.
I get a ton of spam myself. I recently had an author who I’d
never met, never chatted with in even one Goodreads thread, send me a direct
Goodreads message asking me to become their fan on Goodreads and check out
their book. Umm, who are you again? That’s just not the way to do things. I
thanked them and gently gave them the advice to not spam other readers on
Goodreads as it will only hurt them in the long run. This particular author
never even replied back with an apology or a thank you for the advice. Not a
good start to a writing career.
I understand the temptation. I’ve been there. You finish
your book, a labor of love that you poured countless hours and your heart and
soul into…and all you want to do is share it, right? Of course! But there’s a
right and wrong way to do it. Here are my basic Dos and Don’ts:
DON’TS
What NOT to do is every bit as important as what to do. Here
are my top 3 DON’TS:
1) DON’T contact bloggers and ask them to read and review
your book if their review policies specifically state they don’t read Indie
books, your genre of book, or anything else specific to your book. Each and
every blogger has THE RIGHT to set their own policies and read what they want.
It’s not our place as authors to argue with them or judge them for the
decisions they make for their blogs. I recently read a shocking blog post that basically called out bloggers as being in the wrong
for not reviewing Indie novels. That’s ridiculous. There are thousands of Indie
novels out there and a lot of them are poorly edited, so I understand why some
bloggers would decide not to review them. Regardless, it’s THEIR choice. So
leave them alone and focus on the bloggers who might be interested in your
book.
True story: In my
early days as a published author, I did this a few times and the result was
NEVER positive. Learn from my mistakes!
2) DON’T contact random strangers on Goodreads, Facebook,
Twitter, or any other site and ask them to read your book. It doesn’t matter if
you’re willing to offer them a free book, don’t do it. It’s the equivalent of
shoving a coupon in someone’s face as they walk past on the sidewalk. It leaves
a bad taste in the reader’s mouth and will generally make them run as far away
from your books as possible.
True story: Although
I’ve never done this one, I’ve been targeted in this manner many times and it’s
not a great feeling. Just don’t do it!
3) DON’T post about your book on message boards or in
Goodreads groups until you’ve read and understood the group rules. Some boards
or groups will have explicit rules against spamming, or they’ll have folders
set up specifically for authors to get the word out about their books.
True story: I
*stupidly* did this a few times early in my career, both on Goodreads and
kboards. NOT GOOD. I got in trouble all times by a site administrator. Please,
please, please learn from my idiocy!
DOS
If you’re scratching your head now and wondering how you’re
supposed to build a fan base without doing everything I mentioned above, don’t
worry! There are PLENTY of awesome ways you can attract new readers to your
books. Trust me, I’ve tried them, tested them, and had significant success
using them. Here are my top 3 DOS:
1) DO contact bloggers if their review policies state they
accept books by Indie authors and books within the genres you write. These are
the bloggers you should be focusing on. Maybe they’re small, maybe they’re big,
but it doesn’t matter. You have to start somewhere, and even a blog with 10
members is a great place to find new readers. Provide any information the
blogger requests and offer a free review copy. If they aren’t currently
accepting review submissions, see if they’re interested in anything else, like
a guest post, interview, or giveaway of your books/swag. ***Finally, if you are
fortunate enough to convince a blogger to read and review your book, accept
their review regardless of whether it’s positive or negative or in between.
It’s their opinion and you should never argue about a review or ask them to
take it down.
True story: With my
debut series I contacted more than 100 bloggers who said they accepted Indie
submissions in my genre, and guess what? I got more than 50 bloggers to accept a
free ebook! More than 90% of them posted positive reviews for the book. This
was a HUGE step in the right direction. By building up credibility with
bloggers, I now regularly have more than 70 bloggers participate in my book
launches. BLOGGERS ARE THE TRUE HEROES OF INDIE AUTHORS!
2) DO giveaway free books. I know it’s hard to give away all
your hard work for free, but at the beginning no one knows who you are or
whether you can write worth a damn. They’re scared of paying money for
something that might be poorly edited and that they’ll put down after only a
few chapters. The most important thing, however, is giving away books the right
way. Here are a few options:
A) Read for Reviews on Goodreads-
Many Goodreads groups manage Read to Review programs in which you can provide
free ebooks to their participating members in exchange for honest reviews. I’ve
given away hundreds of books this way and have loved interacting with members
and thanking them for their reviews. It’s one of THE BEST ways to connect with
readers.
True
story: With my most successful novel, The Moon Dwellers, I’ve participated in
more than 15 Read To Reviews on Goodreads, in which I’ve given away more than
200 books. I now have more than 6,000 ratings on Goodreads, something that
gives me credibility.
B) KDP Select free days- If your
books are enrolled in KDP Select on Amazon, you can make your book free for a
set number of days every so often. However, just making your book free on
Amazon isn’t enough. You have to really plan how to promote it. There are a
number of sites that will help you promote your free book days, some cost
nothing and others can be quite expensive. In most cases, you get what you pay
for. BookBub is extremely expensive but is THE BEST by far, well worth the
cost. Others are less expensive, like Book Gorilla, the Fussy Librarian, and
Kindle Tips and Tricks, but they won’t get nearly the results of BookBub. The
only issue with BookBub is that they’re quite choosy on which books they
promote. Build up your reviews before submitting to them. Plan your attack!
True
story: I’ve done Amazon free days for two of my books (The Moon Dwellers and
Fire Country), and achieved 57,000 downloads in six days. The sequels started
selling like hotcakes and it had a huge impact on my career. I used BookBub and
at least 10 other sites to promote the events.
C) Blog giveaways- Remember all
those bloggers you’ve been contacting and building relationships with? Ask them
if they’d be interested in a giveaway. You can giveaway your ebooks and even
throw in other prizes, like Amazon gift cards or bookmarks to sweeten the deal.
Request that they use Rafflecopter to run the giveaway and that participants
gain entry points by Liking your Facebook page, Following your blog, or
Following you on Twitter.
True
story: I NEVER turn down a chance to giveaway ebooks on a blog. I’ve
participated in dozens of blogger giveaways and have never had a bad
experience.
3) DO become part of the book community. This has been
really important for me. Goodreads is the main site I use, but there are other
sites too. Try them all and focus on the one you feel most comfortable with.
Don’t think of it as a place to promote your books—think of it as a fun place
that you as a reader like to spend time. Spend an hour or so (or more) a day on
the site, interacting with other readers, talking about books you love (NOT
your own books!), and giving/accepting recommendations.
True story 1: On
numerous occasions I’ve had Goodreads members contact me and say we’ve been
friends on Goodreads for more than a year and they never knew I was an author.
They viewed this as a positive thing, as I wasn’t constantly trying to get them
to buy/read my books. Because of that, they’d decided to give my books a try,
all without me ever asking them! I thank them for their support and usually
offer them a free ebook.
True story 2: Because
I made so many friends on Goodreads, I managed to set up a Goodreads Fan group
that now has more than 2,500 members. It’s my sanctuary where I can really and
truly get to know my readers and connect with them on a personal level,
something that goes a long way these days.
A special thanks to Jeann for the awesome topic and a huge shout out to all the Indie authors out there! I wish you all
the best and hope you have long and enjoyable writing careers!
