Belle's writing tips.

WRITER? NEVER GIVE UP


As a writer of cross genre books it seemed a good idea to look at what I do to try and sell my books as a sole internet venture. I appreciate immediately that many of you wish to publish traditionally and with promotions, book signings and so forth and there are many many sites dedicated to this art. I know nothing about it. I may eventually go down the road of face to face publicity but I have considerable time constraints on. I have a full time job, little time and what time I do have is dedicated to writing.


The experiment is to see if I can reach any level of success without the traditional approach. The first piece of advice I received was to read a number of books that have been recommended to me. so I will pass on the tips in the blog, I have been given as to who to read. Th greatest of them all for me is John Locke,How I sold a Million books in 5 months, it simply works. We are not yet at the giddy heights of Locke yet but we certainly love his no nonsense tips.


I also incorporate an old adage I heard from a business man who spoke at a graduation to the graduates. BE NICE, BE CONFIDENT AND BE POSITIVE. I add to that advice given to me by one of the most senior executives in the film business I know. NEVER GIVE UP!


So you may ask what are my credentials. they are nothing compared to Locke or Jon Konrath, simply this, I posted my first book in December 2011 it is now early April 2012. during which time books on our Shardpubs.blogspot.com have pipped into the top 100 psychological thrillers on kindle and have nearly 2'000 free downloads and sold over 150 paid books. Modest you may say. there are many who has sold far more. But, my only criteria for publishing was would I make a single sous?


I for one am proud of the achievement, for no publisher would ever touch my books.  Had it not been for the internet I would have never have sold a single one. Furthermore, I have not done a single interview or personal appearance yet.


In four months, I have transformed my knowledge, gained hundreds of contacts and found myself steeped in world otherwise denied me. Three months ago I did not know a single writer, had no internet savvy and social networking was something other people did. So I am happy to begin to share my journey.


DO NOT UNDER ESTIMATE THE AMOUNT OF TIME THIS IS GOING TO TAKE YOUR JOURNEY MIGHT TAKE A LIFE TIME AND YOU MAY NOT MAKE A SINGLE CENT. DOES IT MATTER? WELL YOU HAVE TO DECIDE WHAT YOU'RE IN THIS FOR.


So first things first. My very first step on this journey was to contact successful indie writers in my genre via author pages on Amazon and through discussion with the authors on the public pages asking for advice on how to market my book. As they were already successful I knew the advice would be top drawer.


Access to authors is quite easy as they usually have blogs or author pages. In addition I also if I felt it was OK to follow them on twitter, no pressure, no question, just the odd retweet and occasionally they would follow me back and that means they like me and would answer the odd question rarely put.


So I therefore amassed a mine of valuable information regarding success without, and I stress without, making a nuisance of myself. Result, I was introduced to Locke's book.


MARKETING MARKETING MARKETING CREATE,YOUR OWN PERSONAL MBA.


Quite reserved, dont like attention? Then social media is for you. Unlike other forms of interaction the sky's the limit with social media. Infact there is so much of it you may be tempted to spend all your time on it.


Essential to your success is getting a blog or website. This is your opportunity to allow your personality to shine. Not waffle mind but well thought out posts promoting your product. YES YOUR BOOK IS YOUR PRODUCT.


You may not feel lke a salesman, even regard it is lowly but you must get with the times if you are an indie publisher. I use http://www.blogger.com/ however there are lots of others you can find on the net WORDPRESS, TUMBLR Etc. I JUST GOOGLED THE TOP TEN.


I like Blogger as I can connect to Google and automatically have the site 'PLUS ONED' to the Google search engine increasing my reach.


A couple of points, check out top blogs they are usually simple. Do not stuff your blog. Our WHATISATWEET.BLOGSPOT.COM which looks at twitter trends had 15,000 hits from various channels and is as simple as can be.


A fantastic book on blogging and making it work is http://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-Out-While-You-ebook/dp/B004TNHQWE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1333181260&sr=8-2 GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN. It is much wider than blogs but shows the power of blogging


With THREE strategically placed blogs we have quadrupled our sales AS COMPLETE NOVICES WHY??


'BECAUSE ON THE BLOG WE CAN ADVERTISE OUR BOOK WITH WIDGETS


DRAW INTEREST SELL OUR OWN BOOKS FOR 100% royalty. (We are working on this)


SELL OTHER STUFF AND MULTIPLY REVENUE OPPORTUNITIES


SET UP SHOPS WITH PAY PAL


GET YOR BLOG REGISTERED WITH SEARCH ENGINES AND AS ADVISED BY ONE OF OUR EXPERIENCED FRIENDS, REGISTER WITH NETWORKED BLOGS.


THIS SUBJECT IS HUGE AND BELLE AND DEC NEED TO GO SHOPPING AND THEN I NEED TO WRITE. LOVE BELLE MARSH


DEVASTATED.
I was devastated that I lost my blog post on social media so this is another attempt.


If you write a book there is no doubt that sooner or later you will want to sell it. It is therefore imperative that you understand social media no matter how much of a greenhorn you are. Writers are by nature solitary, you will now have to do a back flip into socialising in a big way. WHY? Because essentially writing sales are driven by interest in genre and you will need to find you customers and build your loyalty driven fan base. Social media is easy to use and friendly. You will make mistakes. I do not worry about that. The most important thing is just getting on with interacting. There is masses of material written about algorithms and social optimisation. It is a science in it's own right, but whilst you are learning about it, the most important thing is AUTHENTICITY. interact with social media as a real person whether you have a pen name or not. A very good book on the subject is Toby Neal's BUILDING AN AUTHOR PLATFORM THAT CAN LAUNCH ANYTHING which explains how to use TWITTER to build a solid fan base. I agree with a lot of what she says, although, I also think that you can never be too sure who your fan base is going to be. Personally, I try not to be not be too narrow in your pan for friends. Toby lists hers on twitter so that she can post to friends by their interests. i have yet to try this.


Currently I am simply adding friends who I think might have something in common with me. Remember that even if you are an introvert, social media allows you to relate without necessarily ever even seeing your associates face to face. The relationship can still be authentic. I personally find TWITTER and FACEBOOK the easiest for me. But social media is all about personality, try them all out and then identify what suits you and what doesn't. Also what suits you now may not suit you later.


Recently facebook has become quite rigid as a business application for networking needs, in my view. I do not like the new format. It does not allow the selectivity of twitter or Myspace, it means that most of my friends are writers and they are unlikely to be long term buyers. Much as I value them and need them for advice. I personally use facebook now for relating and learning about my subject and twitter for marketing. However, I have not even begun to scrape the surface of BRANCH OUT, Facebooks new business connections site or explored much of the other resources such as paid advertising. It may be that in that field Facebook wins out. (more about advertising in later blogs)


Don't forget some people swear by DIGG, STUMBLE UPON, DELICIOUS, EMYSPACE AND BEBO, GOOGLE, YAHOO, FRIENDS to name a few.


Do not forget international social networks. If your book is about Australia, try to find social sites dedicated to that, if your book is of local interest, find local networks to interact in.


Regard your book as real estate it can go up and down in value, be popular tomorrow and not today. The world of e books makes the world of writing so much more flexible.


DON'T LIKE YOUR BOOK. change it and relaunch it. Don't like the price, experiment with changing it. Don't like your publishing platform change it. You can do whatever you like.


Two things, spammers are rife, have good internet security, use TWIT CLEANER to clear out spam and practice common sense. You can be authentic without posting your life history. Be safe.

My book HOXTON KIRBY VAMPIRE INVESTIGATORS is on the icon click on it to go straight to Amazon or click on the bar Buy our Books. Hope you will give it a go. Belle.