Marketing Your Self-published Book - A brief Guide

Do you have a self-publishing plan?

You have published your very first book. You're ecstatic. You begin to daydream. 

You see the rave reviews that have been published about your work. 

You see yourself selling hundreds or thousands or millions of your books. 

You see your work on the various bestsellers' lists. 

You see yourself making your mark as renowned authors.

This is scenario 1 and it is a nice one. This may be the potential reality for you. But, you must not lose sight of other possible scenarios.

Scenario 2. You have modest sales, and you don’t make the bestsellers' lists, at least not immediately or maybe never.

Scenario 3. You will have few takers for your work, at least in the first few months or even years of publishing your first book, to your grave disappointment.

To maximise sales of your book, you must have a self-publishing plan. If you didn't have one before you published your book, it's never too late to make one.

Start with an action plan. That is, a course of action that you've devised and have committed yourself to following with respect to selling your book.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What are the objectives, both long and short term, that will guide my bookselling pursuit?

• What are the specific actions that I will take with respect to my writing and publishing?

• What are the resources that I possess, or will need to possess to ensure my self-publishing pursuit is a success?

Many questions to ask and answer. The answers to the above questions will be your guide on your self-publishing and book selling journey. The answers will give you an idea of other steps that you might need to take to realise your self-publishing goals. It is important that you use every affordable means at your disposal to promote your work to as many people as possible in your target audience.

So, researching the book market and what’s happening in your genre with respect to sales is key.

Note that publishing your first book is just the first step on this journey toward making an impact on readers and on the world of publishing.

But no matter how well or how poorly your first book does in terms of sales, if you believe that writing is something that you’ve been "called" to do, if writing is something that you enjoy doing, if you have some higher purpose for your foray into writing, you shouldn’t stop writing.

Start working on your second “masterpiece”. You have to continue to plug away at the computer or on whatever writing device that you use so that you can keep the appetites of the many or few fans of your work sated.

And if you did not have a marketing plan before you wrote your first book, follow the following guideline to help you ace the before and after process of self-publishing by marketing your book:

• Use social media and word of mouth to get the word out there, so people anticipate your work. It may just be through the "word of mouth" of the few fans that you initially gain that other potential readers will be attracted to your work so start there.

• Tap into the readership of writers who write books similar to yours. Follow them on social media and engage with their posts.

• Get beta readers, people who will read your draft and give honest feedback. Take this feedback and improve your work.

• Start a website and/or a blog and share titbits about your project…

Wishing you much success on your writing and self-publishing journey!

About the Author

Janette B. Fuller is a ghost writer and author of four books. 

When you are ready to write your story and/or after you have written your story, make contact with her at writingwisdomtree@gmail.com. She'll help you write your best story by helping you arrange your thoughts and/or edit your work. Check out her books here.