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This is the second part of the Indie Author Tips duet. This morning I discussed formatting, which is rather simple. This afternoon I speak of marketing, which is a terrifying challenge. If you’re an out-going person and have a skill for sales then you have a better chance than others. Again, it helps to make friends with other indie authors and talk shop.
Let’s get right into it and show the tips:
- Social Media!!! Use blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google+, Pinterest, Goodreads, and anything else that I’m forgetting. Connect up as many of these as you can. Though, I’d avoid the Twitter to Facebook combo if you have easily irritated friends. My method has been to use my blog as a central hub for posting and sending things to the other. I joined various Indie Author Promo groups on Facebook and make a morning and night advertising pitch on them. I also try to post a Tweet about my books once every 3-4 hours.
- Find and use various advertising sites. I could list them here, but I’ll put a link to the list that I maintain. Each page has various services. GO HERE!
- Hunt down author interviews and guest blogs. A trick to the guest blogs is to offer a guest blog trade. You write one for them and they write one for you.
- Create bookmarks, stickers, and business cards that you can hand out. If you can find an event to set up a table with physical copies of your books then these other items can be used too. Keychains might be handy as well and it doesn’t hurt to invest in a banner.
- Pinterest usage is interesting. Make a pin of your book’s Amazon and Goodreads pages. Try to do the same for other authors and hope the effort is returned. A lot of what you will do at the beginning is about reciprocation.
- Twitter is an important tool. Remember to use your hashtags (# words) that will draw people to your book. For example, I use #fantasy, #kindle, #magic, #adventure, and others. You can Tweet from two areas: your Amazon page to get that @Amazon connection and Twitter itself with a tiny url. I suggest using both throughout the day.
- BE A HUMAN! I see confusion, so let me explain. Use your blog and social media to connect with people. Blog about your experiences, talk about future projects, and just be approachable. Try to make some interactive blogs like character interviews, asking for feedback, or contests. People will be more interested in your stories if you’re more than the name on a book cover. Even better, you’ll make some friends.
- Blog tours and cover reveals can help with future releases. To help get support, offer to be part of these for other authors.
- Never respond to a negative review. This is hard to learn and accept because many times you’ll want to defend yourself and your work. Vent to a friend or write about it somewhere else. This falls under this because you need to develop a reputation and brand.
- If you get yourself onto an Amazon Top 100 List, it will help your sales. Include this information on your daily social media posts, but don’t give specific numbers. Just say you’re on the list because you might be at a different number by the time someone checks it. I suggest avoiding this if you’re in the 90’s because those can slip very quickly.
Legends of Windemere 
Excellent advice Charles, thank you. 🙂
I am on most things including Goodreads and Google + but I really don’t have a scooby how they work!
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Just hook them to your blog and you should be fine. Goodreads is a little different though. The giveaway option is useful.
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I have Goodreads linked to my blog but not Google +. No idea how to do that, a visit to my dashboard is in order methinks! 🙂
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Yup. They have a list of sites you can connect your posts to. Very useful.
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Reblogged this on Jade's Jungle and commented:
A really helpful post from Charles. Outlines all the things we should be doing. He is definitely one of the success stories on here, so follow his lead!
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Reblogged. Great advice about Pinterest. I have an account but couldn’t figure out what to do with it. Thanks!
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It’s an odd one of the social media family. I still have no idea what I’m really doing.
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You’re ahead of the game compared to me. I just look at it all and all of a sudden my brain goes to goo and then I go cry in a corner completely useless the rest of the day 😀
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Most of the sites you don’t have to do much with. Set up your page and connect it to your blog. That way your blog posts appear on it automatically. You don’t have to go back to it more than once a week to see if you have any new followers. Out of social media, I really only check Twitter and Facebook once a day.
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Reblogged this on Time to Write.
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Great advice. 🙂
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Thanks. 🙂
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Great advice. You should also make friends with mega bloggers like Charles Yallowitz.
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And ultra mega bloggers like Ionia Martin. The power of the squirrels is strong in the publishing world.
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Squirrel power is full of nuts.
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Yummy! I love cashews.
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wear the tutu and wrestle a bear and I’ll throw you a jug of cashews
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Don’t have a tutu, but my son has a large koala bear doll. He’s allergic to nuts, so he can’t stand in for me.
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I love you Charles. i had to bookmark your marketing sites page. i am trying my best to get more exposure, so i am looking at things like novelspot, ereadernewstoday, bookgorilla and others.
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You should set up a Twitter account to connect to your blog and made daily tweets that send people to your Amazon page. It helps out.
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Everybody keeps telling me that but I feel so over extended as it is. I am just now going through the blogs I get emails on and culling out most all of them except about a dozen to twenty that I want instant posts on. The rest I’ll have to read on the reader as I can find the time.
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Good luck with playing catch up. Those are never fun.
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I feel the same as you in a way, and because of that I am well behind. I have a massive fear that I am annoying people to a certain extent.
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It does seem like twitter is a spam platform and I so hate spam. The meat and the ad mail 🙂
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Even as I use twitter (and I get neglectful at times) I feel as though it is a one sided conversation and I most definitely thought it was more for interaction to go along with marketing.
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I thought so too, but it seems like a shallow form of interaction because of the 140 character limit. I’ll be giving it a real test on the 30th if I can get the Twubs chat up and running.
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Excellent advice, Charles. Great, informative post.
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Thanks. Hope it helps a lot of people. So, when are you going to write a book and publish? 😉
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How do you know that I haven’t? I am a man of mystery, you know, and there are so many names available in the world 😉
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True. Though how do I know you didn’t and wish to make me think you did? Unless you thought I would think that you thought to do so.
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So ultimately you are still in the dark, I guess.
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Eh, I’m always in the dark. Alone with my preciousssss.
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The pic is priceless, Charles 😉
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Thanks. It made me laugh, so I had to use it.
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