Hi everyone. Wow, the time has flown since we opened this blog. As you all know, we are a new publishing company so we are constantly adding and upgrading to new ways of doing things. We decided a blog was a necessity, so now that we have some sort of routine down its time for some consistent blog posts. We are constantly learning more and more about the publishing industry as we go along, and I would like to share things we have learned and what we have seen work for others to help you all out who follow this blog.
For this first post I am going to talk a little bit about the difficulties of marketing and gaining exposure for your newly published book. Most people think the hard part is writing the book, once that is done it is easy sailing. Just put the book for sale and away you go to be the next J.K. Rowling. As many first time authors have discovered, the adventure of being a successful author has just begun. We as the publisher are instrumental in making sure that the only thing that stands out about your book is the attention grabbing cover, and formatting that looks so good it blends in behind the story, allowing the reader to fully immerse themselves without distraction. We also play a large part in the marketing side of things by providing readers information about the author, the book, and where they can get it.
That being said, the #1 best marketing tool to sell a book is the author. Nobody knows your work or is more passionate about your work than you. Writing a book is a huge accomplishment. Once complete, get the word out to as many social media groups as possible. Talk to other authors in your genre, share information, get reviews, and make as many people aware of your book as possible.
One important thing to remember is that just because your book is for sale, unless a huge amount of advertising has been put into your book ahead of time, do not expect large sales right off the bat. Gaining a following takes time and the best thing to do is stay positive and keep plugging away at getting your work to as many readers as possible.
I am going to go ahead and cut this short to save more to talk about tomorrow. In the meantime, make sure to check out the websites and blogs of our contributors to the right.
Great post! Unfortunately, the famous Field of Dreams quote, "If you build it, he will come" doesn't hold true for writing and selling books. There are over one million ebooks on Amazon - hat's a lot of books! As an unknown author it's very easy to drown in the sea of titles. Unless you have a huge network of friends, family and associates willing to push your book hard, marketing and promotion is necessary to sell books. It takes time, energy and yes, money. I think every author should have some type of a monthly promo budget to work with. Of course there are free avenues too, guest blogs and social media outlets are great but have a limited reach. No matter what type of promo you decide to use, consistency and persistence is key.
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