Author Janet Beasley: Hidden Earth
Series and JLB Creatives – founder
So you’ve decided to go Indie –
good for you!
Contrary to popular belief indie
publishing is becoming more and more widely accepted, and for some
good reasons.
Talented authors are bringing their
creative genius to the pages. They’re entertaining, educating, and
even inspiring with their self-published books. Fiction or
non-fiction, it makes no difference. Everything is getting out there.
New genres are being birthed
constantly. No more boundaries of having to make a book fit into a
certain mold just to be sellable. Now days you’ve got a good chance
at finding inventive categories such as paranormal romance suspense,
murder mystery magic, religious fantasy, crime romance comedy, and
anything else you want to throw together.
Target audiences are still prevalent
however series like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars
have brought delight to fans of all ages. This has brought about a
drastic change in marketing some novel series. You’ll hear upcoming
authors asking, do I market kids or adults? Do I market to boys or
girls, or men or women? It’s a tough choice to make, but you need
to start somewhere with one dedicated target audience. The great news
is, as a self-published author, if your category of choice is not
working well for you, you have the liberty to move on to the next in
a heart beat.
If you’re going to self-publish, do
it right. The most effective tools and services for indie authors are
simple and easy to obtain.
The most basic tools can be valuable.
You’ll need the program Word and be able to put your books into PDF
format. Whether you are going ebooks or paperbacks you’ll find,
across the gamut of self-publishing sites, you’ll most likely need
both.
If you are not comfortable formatting
and uploading your own book(s) by all means find someone to help you
– hired or not. Books that hold incorrect formatting are annoying
to every reader, and books that won’t upload for a number of
reasons can become the defeating end to an author who just may have
well been the next big thing.
Be sure your cover design catches the
eye. Again – if you’re a wiz with graphics, get to it and make
the coolest cover EVER! If not, not to worry there are book cover
design services out there that do outstanding work for a fee.
Hire a professional editor – I cannot
stress this point enough. If you put a book out there that has not
been professionally edited, you’re not going to build much of a fan
base. Sadly, even if your ebook is FREE or you offered it for 99
cents, readers will be put off by bad grammar, lousy punctuation,
poor sentence structure, and continual spelling mistakes.
Book trailers are not a must, but they
sure help. This is a digital, “I want to see it now” kind of
world. If you can get your fans excited through a media presentation
you’ll most likely begin to see more fans downloading your ebooks
or buying your paperbacks.
Marketing is probably the “worst”
of the entire process for many indie authors. Even if you love
marketing you will soon find that it is taking up much of your time.
If you’re not disciplined you will fail at bringing about more
books, miserably. Create a schedule of how much time you are going to
spend on marketing and stick to it. And if you’re writing more than
one book be sure to leave ample time to do what you love best…be an
author.
A platform is a must. Social media has
taken the lead on helping indie authors get the word out. It’s
great to meet and network with authors around the world through
Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, and more. But keep in mind you need to
be marketing to readers and not just authors.
Make certain if your books are on
Amazon you have an Author Bio Page. Here’s a handy link to keep for
when the time comes: https://authorcentral.amazon.com/
It will take you to Amazon’s Author Central. There is a wealth of
information there.
Your platform should also include a
website and a blog. Yup, more tasks to add to the list, but well
worth the effort. Websites don’t have to be fancy and elaborate.
Often times less is more. As far as your blog goes, make certain to
entertain, inform, and educate with your posts instead of
down-talking others, complaining, or involving defamation of
character to get back at perhaps someone who’s given you a bad
review or a publisher who rejected your work. Stay upbeat to stay
professional.
Overall, indie authors are becoming
accepted more and more. It’s a rewarding experience, but it is also
a lot of work that takes dedication, passion, and determination.
To be a success you can’t be afraid
of hard work or getting your feelings hurt, and you have to have a
professional presentation when it comes to your final product.
My advice to you? If you’ve got a
story to tell then tell it; someone out there is ready and waiting to
read it. Do it up right, keep at it, and you’ll most likely see
your fan base begin to grow.
Thanks for having me Liz. It was a
pleasure to be a guest on your blog.
JLB Creatives is a company created by
authors for authors. We excel in promotional guidance, social media,
facilitating, and literary events. To discover more I’d like to
personally invite you to visit http://www.JLBCreatives.Blogspot.com
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