Self-Publishing, not easy

Jul 07, 2008
Rating

Be Aggressive!
by: Steve B.

Jan, thanks for a terrific post. I hope you'll allow me to say something...

I read a lot of stories from self published authors, and yours is one of the good ones. But I just want to give you a heads up that you come off as residing a little more on the "accepting" end of the spectrum when it comes to marketing yourself.

I find there are a lot of won't-take-no-for-an-answer authors prowling around this particular world. They GET the radio interviews, they GET the books where they need to be on the day they need to be there.

Now let me also say this: I don't think I'd be very good at being one of these people. But I sure as heck admire them!

Let's face it: the publicist and the assistant don't have your motivation. It's not their book!

I've read of authors on this site who establish a pay-for-results working relationship with their publicists. They advise not to go with a publicist who wants an upfront fee or a guarantee. They seek arrangements where they pay for results. If the publicist doesn't GET the interview, the publicist doesn't get paid!

Now THAT'S a motivated publicist.

All that being said, the Reviews page on your site leaves me with the impression that you and The Song Trilogy are doing just fine. But sometimes I find myself imagining myself as the author and wondering how I could do even better. I look at your site and some ideas spring to mind.

Apparently, you have some real familiarity with the world of which you write. I speak often of how the way to attract real website traffic (that is, traffic from the search engines, not just word of mouth traffic) is to build a site on a larger subject, one that includes the subject of your book. Let me give you a theoretical example.

Let's face it: celebrities and celebrity gossip are big these days. Your books are aimed squarely at a major segment of that audience.

Now imagine that you created a website meant to attract traffic on its own merits. It might be called

rock-and-roll-gossip.com

or

musicians-in-love.com

You get the idea. You might write about some of the legendary romances in the musical world. You might ask your visitors who should be going with whom.

Whatever your spin on it, you would provide "content" (lots of words) on this subject of wide interest. And because your book resides within this area of wide interest...

In all likelihood, a fair amount of your visitors would end up buying your book!

I don't know if that has any appeal to you, but that's how I advise independent authors to market their books on the internet. And I can't think of a better example of a set of books that could benefit.

Take a look at this. Where it says, "small business," read, "self published author." Where it says, "product," read, "book." See if it doesn't make some sense.

Just a thought!

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Jul 07, 2008
Rating

Submitted by: Steve B.

Title

Comment
Jan, thanks for a terrific post. I hope you'll allow me to say something... I read a lot of stories from self published authors, and yours is one of the good ones. But I just want to give you a heads up that you come off as residing a little more on the "accepting" end of the spectrum when it comes to marketing yourself. I find there are a lot of won't-take-no-for-an-answer authors prowling around this particular world. They GET the radio interviews, they GET the books where they need to be on the day they need to be there. Now let me also say this: I don't think I'd be very good at being one of these people. But I sure as heck admire them! Let's face it: the publicist and the assistant don't have your motivation. It's not their book! I've read of authors on this site who establish a pay-for-results working relationship with their publicists. They advise not to go with a publicist who wants an upfront fee or a guarantee. They seek arrangements where they pay for results. If the publicist doesn't GET the interview, the publicist doesn't get paid! Now THAT'S a motivated publicist. All that being said, the Reviews page on your site leaves me with the impression that you and The Song Trilogy are doing just fine. But sometimes I find myself imagining myself as the author and wondering how I could do even better. I look at your site and some ideas spring to mind. Apparently, you have some real familiarity with the world of which you write. I speak often of how the way to attract real website traffic (that is, traffic from the search engines, not just word of mouth traffic) is to build a site on a larger subject, one that includes the subject of your book. Let me give you a theoretical example. Let's face it: celebrities and celebrity gossip are big these days. Your books are aimed squarely at a major segment of that audience. Now imagine that you created a website meant to attract traffic on its own merits. It might be called rock-and-roll-gossip.com or musicians-in-love.com You get the idea. You might write about some of the legendary romances in the musical world. You might ask your visitors who should be going with whom. Whatever your spin on it, you would provide "content" (lots of words) on this subject of wide interest. And because your book resides within this area of wide interest... In all likelihood, a fair amount of your visitors would end up buying your book! I don't know if that has any appeal to you, but that's how I advise independent authors to market their books on the internet. And I can't think of a better example of a set of books that could benefit. Take a look at <A HREF="http://ctpm.sitesell.com/writingsuccess.html">this</A>. Where it says, "small business," read, "self published author." Where it says, "product," read, "book." See if it doesn't make some sense. Just a thought!

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Self-Publishing, not easy

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