Your Author Platform Is Not Your Social Media Following – She Writes.
An awesome article on what an Author Platform is really all about. For those who don’t really get the ‘Author Platform’ thing or think it’s just about social media, this is a must-read!
Being an indie writer is about making connections, and the best connections are made generously, without ulterior motivation.
I have no vast network that I can rely on. I’m not even very social. I feel uncomfortable approaching new people (though I can do it) and this discomfort either causes me to clam up or babble my life story. Either way I regret my actions/dialogue afterwards. So when it comes to spreading the word to readers, I have two things to work with: myself and my fiction.
I’ve heard the arguments for and against free fiction. While I understand that writers deserve to make a living out of it, I think it’s unreasonable to guard creative work selfishly. There are times to give your work away for free, just like there are times to earn money from it.
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ome readers will take a leap of faith on a new author – and a lot of the time they’re already rewarded in advance for that by getting the book for free. Some readers will then give the writer feedback. I’ve got a little short story tucked away to give to those readers as a thank you. Some readers will purposefully buy the book after they’ve managed to get a legal copy for free. That’s nice. That’s them rewarding me. I let them and it’s most appreciated. Some readers will give mixed feedback (“I liked it but… “). I will always thank them because they took the time to write and have the courage to tell me the truth! That’s valuable information. Some readers – bless their hearts – will write me a book review, and quite frankly this is what I’m really after. I’m pretty obvious about it as I politely ask for a review at the back of the book. I don’t expect a review though, because I gave them the book gratis, I didn’t give them a ‘review copy’.
The fandom works first in reverse. Readers are the deities I make offerings to. If my offering is worthy, they’ll take it. My tribute table is small for now, as it only holds one book and a bunch of short stories, but I intend on growing it. Every comment about my book/stories that I receive makes me feel like the reader gods are listening, and that is all any true writer truly wants. Acknowledgement rewards me. I continue the rewards by offering back more free fiction. It sounds like a lovely cycle, doesn’t it? When I get some priced books tossed into that cycle, I’m not going to stop giving away the short fiction, because why would I end something I worked so hard to set up in the first place?
In previous posts I’ve mentioned deadlines (30 May launch), the genre the novel is in (Science Fantasy), my specific target readership (a woman in the 18-25 age bracket who enjoys light sci-fi and/or fantasy), the intended price of sale ($2.99) and some other ideas I’ve had that I might’ve already mentioned in passing. This post outlines the reasons behind my decisions.
I needed an official release date to use when promoting or discussing Femme. 30 May was close enough to plan for but also gives me a cushion of time to plan a marketing strategy. I’ve read many articles about indie-publishers being too quick to get their book to market without planning and miss out on opportunities to build their readership. As I’m normally a ‘jump in head-first’ kind of person, this was the kind of mistake I was likely to make. I know I will probably find more things to do for the next book that I haven’t done for this one, but I’ll try and catch as much as I can. I still intend on releasing a quality product and driving a quality campaign – something that’s not intense or pushy, but measured and targeting the right people. The more of the right audience I find now, the better the launch Femme will have.
Speaking of launches, I won’t have a costly physical one. I considered going to the local library and launching the book there, but I shall wait until I have some printed copies before I do that stuff. Launches work better for physical products and I think it will have a two-fold effect for me if I launch a printed edition with a digital edition already in place. Those who think $9-$10 (haven’t firmed up the printed copy price yet) is too expensive will be able to get a cheaper version on-line. Technically I will have two launches: the one without fanfare for the digital edition and then a little party for the physical edition. The decision on the launch was a business-oriented one; I want to see a return on investment. I am not looking to make money on the launch, but if I’m going to spend money, I at least want it to generate interest and hopefully bring some readers to me. I’ll also try and get an article in the local newspaper either before or after launch, as a human interest story.
This is actually too broad a genre and I’m trying to narrow it down more so readers can hone in on what they like best and find me. My tagline for Femme is: “A science fantasy with a touch of romance. A utopian world with a touch of slavery.” The best category for Femme is actually ‘metaphysical fantasy’ but I will classify it on Amazon under “Fantasy > New Adult/College Age” instead. Why? Because ‘metaphysical fantasy’ is a very new category that not everyone knows about (or the definition of), including readers who would enjoy reading this classification. I have seen different genres of Fantasy come and go but New Adult has stuck for some time now and that’s the age group of my characters. Since it fits well enough and I have a choice, I will angle for a category that everyone can identify.
This is possibly the first rule in advertising/marketing/selling. Who is going to buy your product? Of course my novel has appeal beyond this narrow scope, but there must be a starting point and it makes sense to begin with the group most likely to purchase the product. I’d rather give my attention to readers most likely to enjoy the story than put a lot of energy into a broader audience with more hit and miss results. I can always branch out, but it also helps me to define my product. If you don’t know who your reader is, who are you really writing for?
I’d initially wanted to release Femme for free (and I will, but only on my website and only for the first week, for friends/family and early supporters (like you!) to access), but I’ve since discovered that this attracts a different kind of reader and a different kind of attitude. Go figure. There are many people who download free books just because they’re free whether they are the genre they enjoy or not. A lot will be genuine; I personally only download free books that I am interested in the story of and intend to ‘pay’ for with reviews (once I finally get around to reading them). Imagine a reader who downloads my book just because it’s free but is mostly interested in action/adventure or thrillers. There’s not much action in my novel, I’m afraid. Imagine the review I’d earn from that reader; they’d be disappointed. I can’t control their opinion, but I can control who downloads my book or not, because only people who are interested in the story will spend the money.
I know I’m turning people away by putting a price tag on it, and I thought 99c would be enough to dissuade the freebie hunters, but apparently not. 99c is only considered a good price when it’s on special for that. There is a stigma that attaches to books that are sold very cheaply. Surprisingly, it’s not a good strategy for a debut author. Now, if I’m going to be selling this book for more than 99c, the next best price is $2.99 to sell it cheaply but with a price-tag that most people can justify spending on a book that they find interesting. Another bonus is that $2.99 starts attracting a 70% return from Amazon, as opposed to 30% return. Yes, this was the main decider for me between my three choices: 1.99, 2.99 and 3.99. I thought getting close to $4 was too high for an unknown author, and also for the amount of words I’m selling. Quality words, in my not-so-humble opinion and personally I would prefer 70K words with a better, sharper story than 100K words with boring bits. My target reader agrees with me.
I’m currently in the process of building my own website, so that I have a landing pad for my readers to go. From there I will build a database of people interested in hearing about my work. The reason why I want my own email database is because I can talk directly to my readers without a middleman. WordPress is wonderful but it might disappear tomorrow and I’ll have lost everything. Connections are superficial here also because of privacy laws, which is GREAT, but doesn’t help me connect with people. I’m talking to a faceless tribe of followers. I love you guys, but right now you’re numbered subscribers, and I dislike that anonymous feeling of talking to myself. It makes sense to build on my own land, to form connections directly – people can unsubscribe, yes, but the channel of communication is still direct. They’ll be able to email me and write to a physical address if they want to. Their information is still secure (thanks MailChimp!), but we can still talk to one another.
I can’t launch this website (even though it’s ready) because I need to upload my short story files that I’m giving away for free. Which begs the question…
There are multiple reasons. First and foremost, I enjoy writing them (though two of them have grown into novellas, naughty things!). Secondly, I can turn one over in a day (up to 2K words) and polish it within a week. Beats waiting three months for a book, right? So while I’m working on the bigger projects like novellas and novels, my readers will still have reason to stick around and hang with me. I have to give something in return for such loyalty. I wouldn’t keep checking a website that fails to change for weeks, months, years. Yes, I’ll buy books from my favourite authors, but the websites I visit have a couple of things in common – they have something on them that I’m interested in and they’re constantly updated. I want to do that for my readers: give them what they like and I’ll get back the satisfaction that my words are being read. Thirdly, the stories will funnel readers towards the relevant books, so they’ll also be a marketing tool. If the best way to promote your book is to write another book, then the short stories can be the trail of breadcrumbs along the way. It’ll also later help my readers decide which book in my range they want to read first. My plan is to release two books a year so I should have a decent range in 3-5 years.
Thanks for reading, and writers… keep on writing.
Controversy can be a great marketing tool, or a divisive way to get your book mentioned for free by journalists who want a story that sells. If your book is picked up in this manner, even negatively, it can actually be a boon for you. Think of the negative press that the Twilight series and 50 Shades of Grey have received (though I’ve read neither I certainly know a lot about them). It lends credibility to the phrase: “There is no such thing as bad publicity.” This is a quote often credited to P.T. Barnum (from the well-known Barnum and Bailey circus), but nothing has surfaced to prove he said it. However it has been well documented that Oscar Wilde said: “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” This quote strikes closer to the core for me. The Twilight series and 50 Shades of Grey both received different kinds of negative reviews about their writing – not something either author wanted, but the controversy was more prominent for the latter due to the subject matter, and it was this controversy that elevated sales to epic proportion.
I recently attended a seminar about Publishers and Literary Agents, and what they did for their clients – as well as how to become their clients. Considering my current series of books contains something that I foresee as controversial (unintentionally), during question time I brought it up. Both the publisher and the literary agent both declared they didn’t really care about whether the book was potentially controversial. This was not a decision maker for them! The biggest factor is the target demographic – would it appeal widely enough to the target audience? I was surprised that the idea of a book with potential for being controversial wasn’t a main consideration. Of course this was the opinion of only two people, and other publishers or agents might disagree, but I thought all of them would have a strong opinion one way or the other. I’d assumed they’d either love the idea of controversy or hate it. It was recommended to me by both of them not to change anything I was doing because the controversial matter in my book was unrelated to the story arc. If the story itself was written well and could appeal on a commercial platform, the conversation about the controversial part of it could come later, once I’d garnered interest in the project.
Something else I knew but also had confirmed; publishers are not in their business for the money, much like writers. We don’t write to make millions. If we were motivated by money, we would not be writers, we would be entrepreneurs or property investors or any other kind of business-related field (or professional field through academia, such as doctor, lawyer, and so forth). We write because we want to, because we have to. Today I read an article by Rob Garbin, where he discusses the matter of controversial topics coupled with the idea of publishers being “money hungry”. While I understand his point – one that was well-made amid candid self-analysis – I have a different perspective. Publishers aren’t going to reject a controversial tale because it might upset their readers because they target specific readers – it’s about understanding your target market. People like you, for instance; if you’re interested in writing it, there must be people like you that are interested in reading it, so identify your own demographic. Don’t be concerned about the remainder of the public, who prefer to be like the people in this cartoon panel. Publishers are trying to do the same thing writers are – to put our words in the hands of the readers. They’re on our side.
Is it enough to be well-written, well-thought, well-researched to be well-received? In a perfect world, sure, but we don’t live in a bubble. We have to make our stories interesting. We have to craft each word and waste none. We have to think about who we are writing for, because if we don’t think about our readers, they won’t think about us.
Strange Writer 