I am about to self-publish my first novel on Amazon. It's YA fiction, and I'll be pushing the button this Sunday. My head is swimming a little bit on promotion. I just posted something about it on Instagram and I was inundated with comments from people offering to promote it. Of course, they all cost $$$, so I am looking for suggestions on how to sift through the fat and the best way to go about promoting my new novel as an unknown author.
On Writing : About to self-publish by Brian Smith
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You can still do an IG promotion. I would recommend putting something together using Canva, which has lots of good free templates and is SUPER user-friendly, and then schedule a daily post for the first week (or month) of its release using Creator Studio, a program that allows your to schedule FB and IG posts for free.
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Wow. Congratulations. Sounds exciting!! I've found Twitter to be helpful to connect to other writers and promote my books. For your target group, TikTok may be helpful. I would definitely try different free things and post before I spend any money on promotion. Also agree that book readings/contacting local libraries can help. Good luck and wish you much success!
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I suggest book launches at local book stores and libraries. Have reading nights of samples from the book. I of course have never done one but that is what I imagine win help. Good luck and well done Brian. Congratulations.
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Hey Brian! I have a marketing background so I can give you a couple of tips if you want. Just sent you a connection request :)
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Congratulations on the book publish, it;s a great feeling. I do a lot of my own self-marketing and Kay is right, Canva is awesome for templates and a great platform for creating good graphics. I have taken the (potentially foolish) step of keeping most of my marketing myself as I was stung with a few "promote it through us" on IG and other platforms and got nothing in return. Those I have spoken to about it I've grilled to the point of wanting to know their data for likes etc and reach to see if it's worth it. I am still making my way through the swamp of marketing and learning as I go (not entirely sure I've got the magic formula yet) but I find I'm the most invested in my stories so will do them justice best. Feel free to look at my IG for some of the Canva-based and self-designed marketing posts and you'll see i'm not into thousands of likes but still getting engagement. Best of luck with it (IG handle tobey_alexander_author)
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Congrats on your debut! Here's a good blog with some tips on effective marketing tools that are mostly all free: https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-market-your-self-published-book-with-a-limited-budget-b18ef288e3ff
---Never be afraid to ask for reviews if you know someone read your book and loved it, and then be prepared to ask again. =)
---Connect with other authors in your genre for virtual events. See what local events are taking place, often smaller independently owned bookstores will host a local author signing or event.
---Keep learning and trying new things, there isn't a one-size-fits-all for success. =)
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To be perfectly honest I wouldn’t pay anyone from FB Instagram or Twitter a cent for promotion of my material. I would rather promote my own book. But I’m not really the type to self publish either. Why not do some promotional talks at nearby public libraries? My local one holds talks and book signings regularly.
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Brian Smith congratulations and I hope it's going great with the launch! I definitely find Instagram fun and enjoyable although I do get the feeling it is yet another component of the long game so yes if you can afford to get help with it that initial momentum would be good to have for the kickoff;
I have a personal IG account, an author account and one for my first novel, having multiple accounts can be a lot to manage depending if you are a planner in terms of content or more spontaneous,
I think you can provision the accounts to look cool at the outset and then add more posts weekly or daily according to what other media content you're able to develop as your rollout continues, hopefully with increasing momentum!
Thank you Daisy for sharing all this. So helpful to all of us!!!
I did approach an Indie Publisher a while back... They were interested in my work but when it came down to it, they said I'd have to do everything I was already doing - publicising, promoting, etc. I didn't see the point of giving them a share of anything for being a "middle man" when they weren't going to bring anything to enhance what I was already doing.
This is all so valuable! Thanks to everyone for taking the time to comment with your insights.
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Brian Smith
As far as book promotion services go, I was also inundated with offers. I looked at their promises to reach a large audience in the light of how many followers they had and how many likes/views they had for their various book promotions. Simple yes, but a good measure to go by.