Self Publishing Your Books

Getting to 1,000 Oh my gosh, what a journey. Before you get to 1,000 followers, don't bother tweeting on your own page; no one will see it.  To start off, I casually set a goal for me to follow ten people per day. This goal was nowhere near good enough for me to take off, but at least I was growing slowly. Then COVID-19 happened and my husband returned from his military course. That's when I actually had time to push for my magical 1,000. Not only did I have time, but I enlisted my husband. Yes, I cheated... sorry guys. I swear, my Twitter tweets are 100% authentic these days. My point is; he and I searched for all #WritingCommunity, #fantasy, #YAfantasy, and similar tweets. We checked them out, followed everyone who responded on there, were personable, showed that we enjoyed their comments... we engaged with people around the world who wrote all kinds of genres of books, blogs, and papers. What really made me love Twitter that i could ask for help. T...

Here are some marketing tips to get you ahead of the game when you're promoting yourself as a published author. I've left the juiciest tip until the end. Read on. Pick a style. Do you use primary colours or do you use secondary or tertiary colours? Are your graphics dark, are they light? Are they faded or are they harsh? Are you modern or rustic? Have a look at my Instagram feed for an example: The answers for me are: tertiary colours, light graphics, faded, and rustic. Partially because that's my natural style, and doing something forced long-term isn't ideal. But partially because my books are set in a medieval setting, and old wood, rusty nails, and faded photos speak of the past. Edit these graphics from your phone. Get good at lowering and increasing your black point: it's what makes your images more harsh vs. more faded. Toggle the contrast and brightness to, again, make the image more harsh vs. more faded. Play with the shadows to add depth and int...

Well, here I am, one year after publishing my first book. What's changed? I'm going throw you the candy and then the broccoli in the next two paragraphs; hold onto your seatbelt. What makes me feel qualified for writing this blog is that, since publishing my book, I've gotten a full-time job in marketing. I've been getting on-on-one, customised advice from my colleagues. Since publishing my first book, Elemental Links, I've read dozens of blogs on how to market my book. In this blog, I'm putting that information together for you. As for the broccoli, my book hasn't taken off yet. The reviews are promising. One professional reviewer loved my sequel so much that she asked if she could let her thirteen-year-old son read it. Out of all the books she's read, she wanted to pass along mine. It was very flattering. However, publishing your book is a three-year haul. At least. Be prepared. I've given out hundreds of free copies of my books. Some blo...