Book Promotion 101

 Options. So. Many. Options.

After having successfully loading both my ebook and paperback files onto KDP, I decided to switch gears (plenty of time to get to uploading to IngramSpark), and read up on book promotion.

There is, as with every topic imaginable on any aspect of self-publishing, a wealth of information out there. I used one of the publishing guides offered through the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), specifically REACH MORE READERS and SELL MORE BOOKS/ALLis GUIDE TO BOOK PROMOTION as a base, and then branched out to other sources on the internet as well as YouTube.

YouTube is a terrific source of information, and I am grateful to all of the self-published authors who post videos on the process. What's heartening is that while everyone's experience is unique, there are core pieces of information that everyone seems to agree on as dependable. 

Since I am a complete unknown, and because I want to be able to chart exactly what impact any marketing or promotion activity has, I decided to start small and then branch out.

Everyone seems to agree that a professional review (Kirk's, Booklife, PW) is a good thing to have, something that lends credibility to your book, especially if it's positive. It costs $$, and there is NO guarantee that it will be good, and the editors doing the reviewing are going to call 'em as they see 'em.

I went ahead and submitted Four Dogs to Kirkus for a review. It will take seven to nine weeks, no problem for me since I'm not releasing my book until November 1st. We'll see how that turns out.

The second thing I did was set up a Giveaway on Goodreads, 100 ebooks between September 1 and October 1st. It seemed a good way to get some exposure, and Goodreads does all the heavy lifting. Unfortunately, only US readers are eligible, so I am exploring other avenues that have a wider geographic range.

If you are in the US, and are interested in participating, here's the link. The title is Four Dogs and a Small Town.

Good luck!

A continuation on the merits of hiring a book designer ...

It went well.

As promised, I received the completed files for my e-book and paperback right on time, August 24th. 

Everything looked good. One PDF, two JEPGS, and one EPUB, designed for an ebook and a paperback version (5 x 8).

Every piece of advice I read stated that when using both KDP and Instagram, two things were important. The first was to upload to KDP first. The second was to make sure that you don't check expanded distribution in KDP. Okay then.

There are so many ways to self publish, and my goal here is to learn the basics of the entire process. I expect to make mistakes as I go along, or, if not actual mistakes, just maybe learn that the way I've chosen to do this first book may or may not be the way to go in my next book. Either way, I can't claim a lack of information, it's ALL out there. I just have to figure out what works in me. I'll let you know how  situation goes.

Anyway, everything I read said that KDP is the easier interface, but expect to get error messages and if you do, PAY ATTENTION TO EVERY ONE. It was with some trepidation that I attempted to load my information for the ebook. I was pleasantly surprised when I had only four items come up as possible errors, and none of them were. KDP was questioning the spelling of four gibberish words, and that was it.

So, after looking at the preview, I approved the upload. Just like that.

I set the ebook up with a release date of 11/1. KDP offers pre-orders on e-books (not paperbacks), so I opted in for pre-orders. Then I went to my bare bones website (www.carolmaticbooks.com), and added another section with a preorder button that links to the book's site on Amazon. To my wonder (I will post another time on what was involved in getting and setting up a website, I haven't got the strength for it tonight).

After that, I uploaded the files for the paperback, which also went smoothly. I did an online preview, then ordered two ARC copies through my author site. They should arrive this Saturday. I'll let you know how that goes as well.

Here was my biggest problem so far in loading the two versions of the book.

Categories.

I spent a fair amount of time previous to reading up on KDP categories, how important they were, how to make sure that you chose the most appropriate ones. Other indie authors placed great emphasis on a book's standing in the chosen categories. I, personally, have never even looked at that information when ordering books, but, hey, maybe it is a factor. I'll learn as I go along.

The problem I had with selecting categories was this. Prior to actually loading my books information, I went through the KDP site and reviewed all the categories, so when the time came I would have my list on hand to load them. My problem was that KDP didn't (or I didn't understand something that I should have) offer me the same extensive list of categories. When I got to that section of the upload, it offered a greatly abbreviated list, which did not even include all the categories I wanted. I couldn't find any other way to input a category except by the drop down box, so I just went ahead and picked the closest of the offered bunch. I'm going to have to delve further into this, but in the meantime, there are what they are.

The saving grace here was that I got seven keyword/phrase entries to add, and I am happy with the ones I entered (you pick your own keywords), so we'll see.

Next step: learning all about ARCs .

I tried. It was not pretty.

 Book Design! 

The next step - after copy editing and cover design - was book design.

Do not attempt to do this at home.

Let me qualify the above statement. I should not have attempted to do this at home. 

At this point, I have my edited manuscript and cover art. Why not, I asked myself, see what I can do on my own? At least for the e-book. 

So, I spent some hours doing an extremely basic design that I intended to export as a PDF when finished. I never got that far, because one: I could never quite get the chapter headings to situate themselves identically for each chapter, and two: I was underwhelmed by the appearance of what I had so far.

Another very valid reason is that I simply, at this point, do not want to expend the time and mental energy required to learn additional software programs. Outside of writing - a fair amount of which I still do with handwritten notes - I have no desire to spend time on screens at all. Before I became a librarian, I worked in corporate cubical Purgatory, tied to screens all day, and I have no desire to relive the experience.

So, I hired a book designer. 

Again, I returned to Reedsy.com, but before I solicited quotes, I sent in a question about exactly what it was I needed. They replied within a day, explaining that since I already had the front cover art, I should start with interior book designers, and let them know that I wanted interior design, a wrap around cover for the paperback, and files ready to upload to both KDP and IngramSparks.

So that is what I did, and I'll have the results by August 24th.

I'll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime...

As I wrote in an earlier post, there is an absolute tsunami of information out there on self-publishing, and much of it is excellent. After some looking around, I recently joined The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) and I highly recommend that you check it out. In addition to well-organized information and resources, it also offers discounts for various self-publishing services. 

Since my next step will be joining and uploading my book to KDP and IngramSpark, I've been reading up on the process, as well as availing myself to YouTube videos - there are many, and can vary in quality - but on the whole, again, very helpful.

Actually, my next step is to finish filling out the ISBNs for my paperback and e-book versions. It will be interesting. 

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

 You can't tell a book by its cover, but you can get a general idea.

Amongst the plethora of YouTube videos I've watched regarding self-publishing (and thank you all, the information and perspectives were very helpful!) was a video regarding book cover designs. Here is the link if you're interested.

I am not a visual person, can't draw much more than a stick figure, and my ability to judge if a sofa will fit into a studio apartment is non-existent, but the points she made really drove it home for me. 

I just received my book cover from the designer - not through Reedsy, a personal connection - and I absolutely love it. The challenge will be if any potential readers will. I'll have to see what kind of reaction it gets from pre-release readers.

I am still formatting the manuscript and that will take me a few more days. I registered at Bowker, so I will be purchasing the ISBNs next week - still reading up on the necessary information - and researching ARCs . So everything is coming along.

Next post will cover registering for KDP and IngramSpark. 

In case you're considering skipping an editor . . .

 DON'T.

Reedsy defines five types of editing: editorial assessment, developmental editing, copy editing, proofreading, and fact-checking.

For my manuscript, I choose copy editing, defined by Reedsy as, "Line-level edits to refine voice, maintain consistency, and improve clarity."  Click here to see the full list and descriptions.

Reedsy recommends copy editing if you already have a strong story and are looking to improve your prose. Four Dogs and a Small Town, in my opinion, is a very strong story and I wasn't looking for improving my prose so much as I was looking for correct formatting, although I really appreciated the copy editor's suggestions.

Punctuation is not my strong point. I rely heavily - much too heavily - on ems, and I have an unfortunate tendency to type abbreviated words (unintentionally) that require some guesswork on the part of the reader (thr..does she mean the, or their, or through? Commence resorting to contextual clues.) I know this, and I wanted an experienced set of professional eyes scouring my manuscript that would see what was actually there, not what I thought was there.

Don't be discouraged by this, but, upon receiving my edited manuscript, I have over 5,000 Comments & Changes. Granted, all but 62 of those were corrections to punctuation and spacing, but still. 

My editors suggestion that I address the content comments first, and then do a mass Accept on the others, was a very good one, and one that I will follow on my next manuscript. But, since this is my first rodeo, I was determined to review every single change so I could get an idea of where my weaknesses were most prominent and then work on them in the future. 

Apparently, I have difficulty in the use of towards versus toward. The rule (I looked it up) for usage is stated that both mean exactly the same thing, but toward is the preferred American usage, and towards is the preferred British usage. What can I say, I read a lot of British authors.

As far as the editorial comments, I found most of them helpful in terms of clarification for the reader. I knew what I meant, but I needed to spell it out in more detail in the manuscript so the reader would also know what I meant. When you work on the same story for a while, all the time accepting/rejecting possible ways and means to the final outcome, it's easy (at least in my case) to forget what I ultimately included or discarded along the way. That other pair of eyes, the ones with no preconceptions, will pick those Huh? moments out right away.

Right now, after finishing my review, I'm working with a graphic artist on the cover. I will be going back and fine-tooth combing the manuscript again, this time more for appearance before I attempt to load it onto a publishing platform. 

While waiting on the cover, I am reviewing categories for both KDP and IngramSpark, and will be purchasing ISBNs in the coming week.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Once Upon a Time...

I have been writing almost as long as I have been reading.

I have been reading a very long time.

Off the top of my head, eight books, numerous short stories, and a multitude of reports, essays, summaries, training manuals, all and sundry fascinating compositions.

About twenty years ago, I decided to try to sell my writing.  I even had an agent once, a little over ten years ago, from a well-established NYC agency, Folio Literary, but she quit the business after about a year and a half and that was that.

I tried the traditional route for a long time. I kept writing when I could, and submitting. Every book I submitted received full requests, but no offers. Except the last book.

On the last book, I received zero requests.

I took it as a sign.

If I want to publish my books, I'm going to have to do it myself.

I was never interested in self-publishing. It's a business, and I know enough people in business for themselves and see the amount of effort it takes to run one, effort not always equaling success. Plus, traditional publishers have a wealth of experienced and professional people that devote themselves to the non-writing aspects of creating a book. Now, I have to do all those one-thousand, seven-hundred, and twenty-two tasks myself. 

Time to get organized.

So, I have embarked on a journey that has an overwhelming amount of how-to information, and I will proceed as I always do, one step at a time. If you were catagorizing people between hares and tortoises, I am the tortoise. Slow and steady. Never mind winning the race, I just want to get to the finish line.

The first step is to actually write a manuscript. No problem there, I have a number to choose from, in additional to outlines for several more. The logical step might be to focus on the manuscript that snagged me an agent in the first place, but I am not going with logic here. Two reasons.

The first reason is that I have decided to turn that particular story into a three part series, the second of which I am writing now. The story in a nutshell involves librarians (you'll need to expand your conceptions of the profession considerably in the city of Anna Julia, Illinois) who save humanity. I personally believe that librarians do this every day, one person at a time, but I might be a bit biased on that point.

The second reason is that I really loved my last book. It's a bit more of a conventional story, titled Four Dogs and a Small Town, which, incredibly enough, tells the tale of four dogs in a small town and how they assist their various humans in the year 1965. In a small town. In Pennsylvania, although I never actually named the town. Use your imagination.

So, as my first step, was to find an editor. This blog is not a how-to manual, since at this point I don't know how-to, I am learning as I go along. I went to Reedsy.com, where I typed in a summary of my book, what I was looking to have done, submitted a form, and received quotes from several vetted editors. I picked one that felt right, and two days ago I received my edited copy. Now it's up to me to go through the manuscript and accept or reject (or consider) the changes.

I am working on that step now.

I'll let you know how it goes in my next post.