Unlike me, Susan has a track record in marketing and put all that knowledge and experience to good use by creating a buzz for her book
I caught up with her recently, in a cafe overlooking a
windswept harbour, where she attempted to enlighten me about the joys of being
a successful self-published author.
I had my peppermint tea in one hand, a forkful of chocolate brownie in the other, my notepad on the table and ears pricked up. Who says men can't multi-task?!
What made you choose to go with Kindle from the
beginning?
To be truthful at the time I didn’t realise there were so many
platforms for epublishing but I think I chose the right one as I’m not sure
there are many souls in this world who haven’t bought something from Amazon at
some time or another.
Which has been the best social media tool for you?
Twitter wins it hands down on this one.
When I first published The Chapel in the Woods I told all my friends on Facebook who were
extremely loyal and downloaded it and some even read it and reviewed it
favourably. I quickly realised
that once my personal connections had been exhausted I wasn’t going to sell very
many. If no one knows about your
product they can’t buy it! I was no social media fanatic and had seen no use
for Twitter previously but as soon as I started gaining new followers and
following the example of other
authors the books began to sell and the reviews came rolling in.
At what stage did you put your marketing plan into
action, and would you change it for future books?
I put it in action really rather late. Next time I will start creating a buzz
about the new one as soon as I have completed the first draft. Now that I have established a worldwide
readership I have a significant number of customers who are eager to read the
next one and provide reviews early on.
Can you explain the logic of the Kindle giveaways? Call
me stupid, but I don't see how giving away books can encourage people to then
buy them.
When you self-publish with Kindle you are initially an
unknown entity. Your book appears
on the Amazon rankings to begin with quite high up, CITW came in at 4,000 in
Fiction; which may seem terribly low but out of half a million novels that’s
actually not bad*. If you don’t
sell many your ranking quickly slips.
Let’s face it we’re all a bit lazy and when we open our Kindles/e-readers
to browse for something to read we will look at the top 20 or 40 most of the
time but often won’t go any further.
Kindle has both a free chart and a paid chart which appear side by side
when you open your device or view on the website. If your novel is languishing at the bottom no one will know
it’s there. We all like a freebie
and giving it away for a set time period, two days in my case, will send it up
the free chart and hopefully to the first page for the world to see.
What's your progress with your current work-in-progress,
The Weather Gods?
I am still in the research and plotting phase for The
Weather Gods. It is important for
me to learn something new when I write a novel. CITW taught me about life in the Dark Ages in both England
and the feudal Loire Valley and the struggles of the resistance and SOE Agents
in the 2nd World War.
The Weather Gods is opening up a whole new raft of knowledge for me;
from meteorology to celtic mythology. Writing has given me the opportunity to
be an eternal student, for which I feel blessed.
I mentioned that your marketing approach has really
worked for you so, without giving away all your secrets, what were some of your
goals and the results?
I heard that the average sales for a first novel are around
300 – 500 in a 12 month period; I decided to set my target at the top end. CITW smashed this target in just 2 days
after the free promotion ended.
Having reached #3 in the Free Fiction chart within 40 hours, it hit #2
in Amazon’s paid UK Spy Stories category by the fourth paid day.
In your opinion - and this is a biggie - is it possible
for a part-time cynic with maybe half an hour a day to make a difference to the
success of a new ebook? I ask because my own self-pubbed fantasy, Covenant,
should be out soon. All tips gratefully received!
Absolutely! The
best advice I can give is to start networking on Twitter and find the people
who will be delighted to read your book, review it and tell their friends. There is a very supportive network of
self-published authors on Twitter who are more than happy to read and spread
the word about your work.
One of
the biggest pleasures I have discovered is reading other indie authors’ work in
all kinds of genres that I would almost certainly never have picked up off a
bookshop shelf. I have discovered
a plethora of talented writers that have unexpectedly extended my range of
personal taste in fiction.
Now that The Chapel in the Woods has begun to make a name
for itself as an ebook, have you considered making the move to paperback as
well?
Yes, I have begun the formatting process for a paperback
edition for all those who are reluctant to indulge in the current e-reader
frenzy and I hope to release it in time for Christmas.
Links please!
So what is your experience of self-publishing ebooks?
Have you formed the same conclusions as Susan, or did you take a different path?
* Blimey!
