Novel Ideas About Self Publishing

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Novel Ideas About Self Publishing

by Jess Moleman
(Madrid, Spain)

A Comet Appears by Jess Moleman

Self-publishing as a wall, a valuable wall

Hang around in an online community for a while, or ask strangers in the metro, and you will meet an endless number of people who are "working on a novel, but..."

So have I been, ever since my first short story got published at the age of eight. When after two unpublished manuscripts and thousands of little writing jobs, I decided to take my novel idea one step further, I met these people again. "So am I, but..."

The "but" is a wall; a wall I think the other people who wrote on this website know well. It's a thick armoured concrete wall. The wall goes by the name of writer's block, editing, rejection slips, marketing and millions of small excuses. Few know what is behind the wall, but they think it's the new Harry Potter, endless fame or a life in abundance. Fewer still try to get past the wall; the wall is a perfect place to give up.

I reckon getting published the traditional way sometimes will feel like head-butting through this thick armoured concrete wall. Self-publishing, then, is a trick to jump the wall unharmed. An easy trick, looked down upon?

I have worked with publishers and published books. I have discussed with designers about covers and typefaces. I have shaken my head in disbelief after seeing an editor's work. I have done publishing the traditional way (as copywriter, ghostwriter, whatever) and when I decided to take my third manuscript one step further, I knew I wasn't going to do it the traditional way.

Self-publishing, in my experience, is not jumping the wall. Self-publishing is lifting your head and enjoying the challenge of the wall. Self-publishing is embracing the wall and making it your friend.

I decided to do it all myself because my vision of what was behind the wall. There I saw a book I could be proud of and which was 100% mine. Not the new Harry Potter. My experiences with the traditional publishing world taught me all the concessions I should have made to get past the wall that way.

They're not bad concessions; publishers know what sells and they can make your book a bestseller. If, however, your motivation is not money but art -- l'art pour l'art -- it's not the way to go. I never cared about a bestseller; I cared about writing a book that would make some people feel they read something worthwhile.

That doesn't mean self-publishing, in my experience, is necessarily an easier way to get your book in print. Au contraire. Of course, if you don't care, write in Word and print as is, it's easy, but if you want the same quality (in appearance) as a traditionally published book, it means much work.

To stick to the parallel, with self-publishing it's up to you how thick the wall is. And like many self-publishing writers I decided to make my wall thick enough to protect any US Green Zone. When the wall is your friend, it doesn't matter how thick it is anyway. Another round of editing, another redesign, another proof-print, another meta-design of the outline when you thought you were done? it's only more time to spend with your friend.

The internet is full of wise words of experienced self-publishing writers who built and beat walls and I have spent countless nights reading their advice and experiences. This website is a beautiful example of a place to find strength and inspiration. To what they say I have little to add (so if you're facing a wall yourself, Google them!). All I would like to add, to all aspiring writers out there, is to face the wall with optimism and to make it as thick as possible. The thicker the wall, the better the result and the higher the reward.

So if you're thinking about self-publishing, or are "working on a novel, but", make the "but" your strength. Ask and look for help whenever you're stuck in the wall and enjoy the entire process. For me this worked and it caused (only 2 weeks after 'going live') a mailbox full of intense responses to A Comet Appears.

For this, I am truly in debt with many great POD authors, amongst others some who wrote on this website. In all humility I offer my sincere thanks and my services to support them and the community, to face any wall that might arise.

Thanks, Jess

(Feel free to download A Comet Appears for free from my website and to contact me if there is anything I can help you with.)

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Novel Ideas About Self Publishing

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Feb 08, 2009
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Author help
by: Steve B. (webmaster)

Here at Shared Self Publishing Experience, we endeavor to help authors as amazingly generous with their knowledge as Jess continues to be. So here's a link to Jess's squidoo lens, and here's another to his slideshare promotion. Check 'em out!

Feb 08, 2009
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Book promotion update and experiences
by: Jess Moleman

As promised, an update about the success of different online marketing approaches. Am I able to write an update after a month? Well, yes-- surprisingly enough, the promo has really taken off in 2009 and I start to notice effects already.

One of the nicest things that happened the last month, is that a Dutch group (Silence is Sexy) whose song I added to the "recommended playlist" referred to my book from their website. This did not bring a lot of traffic, but it made me happy. I guess they are a good example of online marketing themselves, dropping lines everywhere they are mentioned (their CDs, like my book, are available for free download, which probably has made them more popular than they were).

This approach of giving away "extras" has not been as successful as I hoped (so far) but the little I did, brought visitors, downloads and attention. I will be focusing more on this in the future.

My book presentation which I placed on SlideShare received average attention (in fact, very little) and as far as I can see, no increase in traffic.

A limited, but steady source of traffic is my Squidoo lens.

Significant sources of traffic are book related websites, where I left links to my work.

Google does not bring a lot of visitors, as Steve predicted, due to the limited content on my website.

So, what numbers are we talking about? Traffic in January has increased about 400%, translating in 20-30 unique downloads a day. In January the number of downloads has doubled to almost 700 in total; the number of sales has doubled to 12 in total.

I noticed offline promotion for sales is way more effective. I have a list of some 30 people willing to buy my book, if I sign it. This will be happening next month, as I don't have the resources to buy such a large quantity at once.

A last thing that made me smile, related to promotion, is the international character this whole endeavour has. People from 60 different countries have downloaded the book and actual or future sales come from 10 different countries so far. As a happy citizen of the world, I cannot but enjoy numbers like this.

And as a last tip for all writers out there: don't write a book in English if you're living in a Spanish speaking country. My contacts within the local art scene are great and it would not have been the slightest problem to do book signings, presentations, whatever, if only my book were written in their native tongue;)

That's about it, I guess. Maybe I should add that the experience of self-publishing until now has brought me what I had hoped for, and more. I get thorough feedback on my writing, have met countless inspiring individuals, improved my "position" as artist and almost reached my quantitative objectives. Yes, it is fun.

Take care, Jess

Jan 05, 2009
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Free possibilities to do online marketing
by: Jess Moleman

Hello Steve and other readers,

I don't know how the dear Austrians will think about you saying that leaving them meant a return civilization:) I have to admit, though, that it felt like being far, far away from the 21st century and that's definitely inspirational.

Back to our discussion about online book marketing. I promised an overview of free online tools/services I have used or will use to draw attention to my book. As this overview is already quite extensive, I've posted it on my blog.

The overview is not yet complete (and will it ever be?) but already includes quite some services. Most of them you will know, but maybe other authors can use it as a source of inspiration.

I also encourage others to add to the list, so we can make a complete overview.

Finally (I feel like a teacher giving instructions), feel free to copy and paste the list to your own website, or use the information however you want to.

Although using many different services might give a shattered feeling to a marketing strategy, online it at least has one big advantage: every service provides links to your work! Steve will probably agree that the most important thing in online marketing is to get your website (or blog, whatever) as tightly connected to the world wide web as possible.

Webmaster's note: I agree precisely. In fact, I wrote this article: Weaving Yourself to the World Wide Web.

The coming weeks I'll be putting a lot of what Steve and I wrote about into action. After that, I will come back with my experiences, so we can all benefit from the do's and dont's.

To all of you, have an inspirational 2009 and make your dreams come true!

Jess

Dec 27, 2008
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Comets Can REappear!
by: Steve B. (webmaster)

Jess, excellent explanation of why you feel your writing is not very categorizable, and thus why Temporary Marketing is appropriate.

I won't dispute you. I will add this...

I don't imagine there will ever be a time when you won't want your internet presence working to promote A Comet Appears.

Know though that the virtual real estate staked out by your Comet presence can benefit your future writing. Links to a new presence of yours, or to your permanent presence, are one of the major currencies of the Web.

Now, allow me to restate that rather horrid paragraph. Google judges a site largely on the basis of how many other sites link to it. That alone can be reason enough to sustain dated web real estate. Links to any new sites should always be added to your old sites.

(Read more. And more.)

Slideshare continues to sound fascinating. We anxiously await your return to civilization, hoping you'll elucidate us on that and the other free online services you make use of!

Dec 25, 2008
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Permanent marketing and internet tools
by: Jess Moleman

Steve, thanks again and I especially like your title "a writer forever". Permanent marketing, always a writer... let's go with my Xmas reply,

What you call Permanent Marketing is building your brand. It’s a well-known approach in for instance academics, where someone because the leading figure in a field by writing articles etc. focused on one subject. Especially for writers who want to write more than once and have a (limited) field, I highly recommend to follow your ideas.

Look at Seth Godin, who has gained such a following with his blog and (free) books that he has become one of the leading marketers in the world.

I reckon you are doing quite alright as well, with your website and permanent marketing. And there are countless other examples.

For me, I’d love to be able to work with such a big following (Seth calls them Tribes). Unfortunately, I don’t focus on a fixed field. A Comet Appears is about one subject, but the book I’m working on right now, focuses on something completely different. Therefore I go for temporary marketing (“temporary” meaning, 2 or 3 years) for the book, but I will try to do some permanent marketing for myself.

So far.

I fear that for some readers all the names and terminology we use starts to get a bit confusing. With your permission, when I return to civilization in somewhat over a week, I will make a list of all online (free) services I use and used to help me in the writing/marketing process. With your experience and addition (and maybe that of others?) we might create a useful, permanent resource for the self-publishing author.

Which leaves me with Slideshare. Slideshare is the YouTube of PowerPoint. As you know, I’m also a designer and my first step in most projects (including my book) is to put my ideas in images. I take my camera and walk around the street until I have found the images that represent my idea. With some design skills, you can turn this into a thematic (permanent) PPT that adds value to other people’s lives and draws visitors to your website. I have been successful with this, but I’m not sure everybody will.

I’ll be off now for a couple of days. Everybody: Feliz Navidad and a wonderful start of 2009!

Dec 23, 2008
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A writer forever
by: Steve B. (webmaster)

Jess, it's an exciting life you live!

Actually, to get my keyword demand (and supply) figures, I use a great proprietary system offered by my web host. But to get the quickie numbers I quoted to you, I used the Google AdWords Keyword Tool.

I've heard the contention before that a website focused on a particular market is more apt for non-fiction than fiction. After all, if one author has written a novel about assassinating a CEO, and the other a How-To on car repair, there's a much bigger market for the latter than the former.

fixingyourradiator.com will get much more traffic than maimIBMexecs.com

However...

If you're writing children's books, it makes sense to have a site about children's books. If you're writing for modern bohemians, it can make sense to write a site about things modern bohemians enjoy.

Perhaps hostels. I mean, imagine if you built a Web 2.0 site with modern bohemians discussing the best and worst hostels. Mightn't your book sell like mad on such a site?

I don't think I really disagree with a thing you've said, I just have my aforementioned bias toward the permanent. Authors have long been at the mercy of publishers who promote a book until the Return on Investment starts dropping.

End of book sales.

But we now live in an age when an intelligent author can create a steady and growing level of exposure to his work just by creating a well-conceived website.

My children's books site is getting 1000 visitors a day. Last year at this time, less than half that. Next year at this time, I expect double!

That turns book marketing on its head. The sooner one starts in on creating a permanent, self-sustaining (with search engine traffic) online presence, the bigger it should grow with time (and added content).

Translation: we live in an age where an author's book might be bigger when he's 50 than when he was 25.

If one has already severed the relationship with traditional publishers, they might as well go "all in" and commit to what I'll call Permanent Marketing.

Look at what we're doing here. We've already created more content on this page - for search engines to find - than many authors have on their entire self-titled sites. So this page is likely to get more traffic than those sites! Crazy, but that's how the web works.

Once you start thinking Permanent, wordpress starts dropping off your radar screen (imho).

Now, hey: we would all LOVE to hear more about what the heck you're talking about with Slideshare. (Your phrase "thousands of visitors," I know, is an attention-getter.)

Or maybe you could be persuaded to do a separate post about that???

Dec 23, 2008
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Re: brainstorming our "novel ideas"
by: Jess Moleman

Dear Steve: Thanks you for your truly novel ideas. While you wrote your reply, I exchanged Spain for Holland and in a day or two I'll be in the snowy mountains of Eastern Europe to disconnect from the world and write on my second novel, so forgive my late response by then. (Note to all staggering writers: snow has an inspiring effect).

I assume you use Google Trends to determine the most appropriate keywords for online marketing. That is a truly novel idea for me, didn't think of that, so I will be using it soon to choose good domainnames.

What I would like to add, today, is the choice between building your own website on a domain of your choice, or opting for services such as Wordpress.com.

A domain is a relatively cheap and powerful place to build a timeless source of information. The downside, imho, is that it requires quite some work and dedication to get it running. I think it's a good thing if you're writing non-fiction or have a strong focus in your fiction.

I am a relatively busy person, work on about 10 projects at a time. This leaves me very little space to add another project and dedicate enough time to it to make it a success. Therefore, I prefer to use existing services for the marketing of my book.

One benefit is that usually these services get a better score in search engines. To end up in the first selection of results, you need incoming links (as you have rightfully said more than once on this website). It takes time to build your "pagerank". If you can use a service that already has some pagerank, this helps you.

For instance, I will write my promotional blogs on Wordpress.com (although I'm perfectly able to design and launch a self-hosted Wordpress blog). Benefit: blogs on similar topics on the Wordpress platform will automatically start linking to you. Hence: extra traffic (if you bring quality).

For more durable information, I love to use Squidoo. Squidoo already attracts millions of visitors, so if you offer something interesting, the number of people who will visit your website increases.

If you are able to put your novel in images, website such as Flickr and Slideshare (presentations) are great options. I can build a decent PPT and on Slideshare that results in thousands of visitors, of which a part will be drawn to my own website and work. Flickr is harder, as the people who find you on Flickr are interested in photos. Some good shots of a bullfight some time ago, however, drew hundreds of visitors to my blog.

There are hundreds of these services you can use for free to attract attention. This can be to your book, or to your website on the subject. Important to realise, however, is that these visitors do not come by magic; you'll need to offer something.

I hope I added something to the brainstorm today. I truly enjoy thinking about it with a likeminded soul. Have a wonderful day and I'm looking forward to your thoughts on the subject.

With a sincere thanks, Jess

Dec 21, 2008
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brainstorming our "novel ideas"
by: Steve B. (webmaster)

Jess, actually, I too love doing the brainstorming out loud, right here, where others can benefit. So let the brainstorming commence! (Or continue.)

You're absolutely right about registering your own domain, and I've been negligent in not doing so myself. I should register it and have a redirect to my sites.

Duh! Gotta get on that.

But I'll stand by my contention that it's wasted effort to post serious content on such a site, at least until 1000s of people a month are actually searching for information on YOU.

Now, modern bohemian (or at least bohemian modern is actually a search term that gets used - about 880 times a month, with an upward trend.

880 is not a number I'd base a site on, but it's definitely worth using as a keyword repeatedly on a site.

"Cross cultural relationships" - I checked - fares worse. But get this...

"Long distance relationships" is pretty huge. 33K Google searches a month.

Could it be that

ridiculously-long-distance-relationships.com

or

culturally-long-distance-relationships.com

has your name written all over it?

Seriously: domain name alone would bring you some traffic. Is it possible that the people who Google "long distance relationships" look like your audience? If so, that might be a better location for your campaign.

To coin a phrase (not a particularly catchy one), "Campaigns are transitory, while content is forever."

You can drive traffic to your site with the marketing plan you have in mind, but the traffic you're going to love in the long term is traffic sent steadily by search engines as a reward for your content.

And while a blog may be forever, it puts itself forth as of the moment, and the search engines disrespect it accordingly. Content on a blog practically labels itself "dated as of tomorrow." I question strongly whether the wordpress blog is the place to direct all your marketing to. My vote is for a traditional site with a keyword-savvy domain name you own!

I like your 4-point online marketing plan a lot. Just don't let permanency get lost in the mix.

(Webmaster's note: For anyone reading along, this is the starting point for a lot of my strongly held opinions on this subject!)

Dec 20, 2008
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Re: Branding the book
by: Jess Moleman

Steve, thanks (again) for your reply. Earlier you wrote you thought you might like me. Well, the feeling is mutual. Internet made the world a small place, but kind of forgot to make the actual distances shorter.

Anyway, back to our by now rather constructive "discussion". I completely agree with your views, again. I don't know if this forum is the most appropriate place to continue our "open brainstorm", but I'd love to do so. I reckon it could carry quite some useful advice for POD authors looking at the possibilities of online marketing.

First a point of "no!" I think no writer should neglect registering their own name as domain. If you're a hit, someone else will. Then it's too much like letting someone else answer your phone (with unknown intentions).

But that domain is not the place to use as online marketing tool. I see it more as a business card. Visitors will have to come from other places. So, how to get these valuable prospects where you want them (your website, your store)? (And without spending too much money?)

Here are my thoughts for A Comet Appears. I'm curious what you think, and I hope this will inspire other writers.

As you rightfully said, first you have to determine your market and your market's interests. My market is the "modern bohemian", people who look beyond the country limits and enjoy other cultures, other ways of thinking, but also the problems and pitfalls this lifestyle brings.

One of them (and a central theme in the book) is the difficulties of cross cultural relationships. So, at this moment a free Wordpress.com blog is in the make that addresses this subject. This blog will be written by, Yes, the protagonist of my book. The style and contents of the blog are in line with the actual book and there will be a direct link between them.

The blog works in two directions: attract new readers and offer existing readers something extra.

Likewise, there will be YouTube videos, photos, blogs about other (but to the book related) subjects... It's a lot of work to put it all out there and only time will tell if it has any success, but who knows?

If you allow me to summarize for other visitors of your website:
1) Determine your market and your market's main interests
2) See how your book answers these interests
3) Offer the answers in a creative way online
4) Trigger readers who find your answers to want more (your book)

It's thrilling to work on this, not knowing where it will bring me. I'm lucky to know a lot of people, so I can count on a steady number of readers, but I hope it grows beyond this group.

Steve, thank you for all the time you spend on helping strangers. There is little more valuable in life and I am sure you will be rewarded for it, one way or another.

Dec 20, 2008
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branding the book
by: Steve B. (webmaster)

Jess, thanks again for the kind words.

It sounds like you have a plan. Without knowing the details, here's the one problem I see (and I'm wondering if your marketer/branding friend, let's call him Brandon Marks, would agree).

No matter what exciting things you do on the site, it's still going to be jessmoleman.com.

Just because nearly every author does it doesn't mean it's right. Your domain name leaves you PERFECTLY positioned to attract much of the search engine interest in Jess Moleman...

...but not much else.

I'm probably the least famous famous person you're ever likely to meet. Google reports a grand total of 91 people search for me in a given month.

My other site's bio page comes up #1 in Google's rankings. (That site is about children's books.)

Takeaway: a PAGE written and owned by you can easily rank #1 in a search for you. That means the extra "oomph" you get from having your domain named after you...

...is completely wasted.

I hope everyone reads that: in a properly structured site, you can OWN your own Google ranking (if your name isn't a common one) with a PAGE.

So why name your site after yourself? Name your site after something that can bring in still MORE traffic!

82 people have clicked into my kids books site so far this month through my bio page.

Over 19,000 have come from elsewhere.

So I guess, Jess, what I'm asking you to think about as you plan that marketing campaign is whether it's best done on jessmoleman.com. It's likely to result in lots of inbound links - the currency by which sites are judged by Google - but you'll be giving that credibility to a site which is already topped out on searches for its subject matter.

(Google Jess Moleman and you're already numero uno. See?)

Think about whether there isn't a larger niche you could "own" that would bring you likely readers. That's where your perfect domain name lies.

Okay, I'm done beating this dead horse. I just hate seeing wasted effort!

Dec 19, 2008
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Re: I need more stars!
by: Jess Moleman

Dear Steve: Thanks for the honest and in-depth reply. You say some true words there, concerning a more complete and coherent marketing strategy. When I decided on self-publishing, I made a promise with myself not to be another Indie author who fails on marketing. Almost a month after the initial release, I still have no marketing plan.

Or, yes, I do have a marketing plan. The thing is, it's an old-fashioned marketing plan. A tried and safe marketing plan I used often to promote tried and safe products, activities or projects. It's a plan managers love, and others with a traditional mindset. It's not a plan suited for the adventure of self-publishing.

As you may have seen, I licensed my book under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. This license allows others to build upon the work. For instance, to write a short story based on it themselves. Together with a brilliant marketer (although he prefers the name "branding") I'm brainstorming about a marketing approach such as you hint at. Hopefully, in a couple of months, I can say this has been a success.

The first thing you'll be noticing are "extras" that will appear shortly on the website, but also on other places around the internet. After that, who knows?

I truly enjoyed reading your feedback. I think the way in which you encourage authors like me deserves a little round of applause. Thank you very much.

To your reference about life being a journey I would like to add, "a good life is going from mistake to mistake with a smile on your face". I don't know who said it originally, but for me (and I think every serious Indie writer) it is a recognizable adage.

This publishing stuff is a hell of a ride, but damn it's a nice one. Great to be part of this.

Take care, Jess

Dec 19, 2008
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I need more stars!
by: Steve B. (webmaster)

Jess, what a terrific post. Encouraging and, oddly, soothing. I think I'm going to bookmark it under "when in need of attitude adjustment."

I recommend others do as well.

I love what you say about the wall. Rather analogous to that time-worn (but apt) cliche about life being the journey, not the destination.

I enjoyed your website as well. Your tone remains the same. I feel myself in the presence of someone I would like, an individual, someone who knows how to put precisely the right words down at a given moment.

I like that you're giving free downloads of the complete book away, realizing that your most likely buyer is someone who's already begun enjoying the book.

In that way, I think you're situating yourself well in the e-day we live in, when we can't expect everyone who treats themselves to our art to place money in our pockets. (Ask anyone in the music business!) You're building relationships that can blossom into commerce.

But you know what? I found myself wishing there were much more of your site. I found myself wishing that your online presence were less, well, fragmented.

There's your site, your blog, your Lulu page, your scribd pages and your twitter presence. One has to do a lot of flitting about to get a full dose of you. If I had any more Windows open I'd have to wear sunglasses!

Have you ever thought about taking the same kind of control of your online presence that you did with A Comet?

I stumbled upon Mr. Beller's Neighborhood the other day.

What a brilliant site. Here's a guy who's a highly successful author, and he has the de rigeur self-named site at thomasbeller.com.

But he also has Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, and THAT'S where the traffic comes from. The guy writes about New York (in part at least), so he's created a site featuring New York fiction. By other writers.

Because the site is huge, it attracts huge traffic (from both readers and contributors). When those visitors show up, even if they weren't looking for Beller, they find him. And now they can buy his books.

It struck me that a similar strategy might be a good fit for you. You clearly have a generous nature and a real interest in others, as well as a sense of the particular niche your novel occupies "Less Than Zero for the low-cost airline generation."

Imagine that the traffic a website full of content for that generation might attract for your own work.

As you know, it's easy to get on the web, but it takes a real strategy to get noticed. You sound like you have the energy and forethought to do something still more considered than your current approach.

I hope you don't mind me saying so!

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