In the last post we (Alina and I) had a little fun and posted terrible advice about writing, publishing, and marketing (take a look here). We figured we should set the record straight.
- Sharing about your book is great! Have a short elevator pitch ready because people will ask about it. However, spamming the internet or yelling at people in public places will not find you readers, it will only annoy them.
- Your cover is arguably the most important piece of marketing. Potential readers will make a judgment almost instantly when they see it. They, without even thinking, decide if it vibes for them. Making your own cover is fine if it’s top notch. Think of it as a funnel: A ton of people will see your cover and some of them will decide to click. It’s the click that you need before they even read your blurb, check your price, see reviews, or read a few pages in your sample. But they all see the cover first and decide then if they are interested for a few more seconds or not. An unprofessional cover will scare away many before they even give the blurb a chance.
- Exclamation points should be used with extreme prejudice. I’ve heard people say no more than 3 in a book, if any at all. Convey those heightened emotions by ‘showing’ instead of ‘telling.’
- Seeking feedback can be scary, and doing it too early might muddy your vision for your book, but publishing without hearing from anyone is risky. You are likely blind to mistakes and plot holes. Having some early readers (alpha readers or writer friends) take a look can save you some reviews critical of plot and using editors/proofreaders/beta readers can help spot typos. Just because someone has taken an English class, doesn’t mean they will be a good editor. (P.S. Your first draft shouldn’t be amazing, it should be riddled with issues and mistakes. But you can’t edit a blank page, so you must first complete a terrible first draft.)
- Dialogue tags, phrases like “Anita said” help readers keep track of who’s talking. Using “said” alone helps the tag feel almost ‘invisible’ to readers. Adverbs sometimes stand out in a bad way, Martinique stated clearly. She shouted boldly. She said fiercely.
- A completed book represents so many hours of sweat and tears. (Hopefully no blood?) It holds a piece of you and it’s worth so so much. Truly. But pricing it at $99 is going to prevent readers from reading it. Take a look at books in your genre and hit the sweet spot on pricing. Keep in mind, books with hundreds of reviews (or authors with lots of well reviewed books) inspire confidence in a buyer and thus can command a higher price point. You may not be successful at selling $9.99 ebooks (yet!) but you will get there if you keep at it.
- Another pricing theory- many indie authors swear by the “FFIS” (free first in series). It can get your book into readers hands (the price isn’t a barrier when they won’t be out money if the book’s not for them), and if you wrote it with a good hook, they’ll just have to buy the second book.
Tip of the Week
Time to write an elevator pitch. Include the who, what, and why: your protagonist, what they must do, and why it’s important. The brief descriptions on Netflix are great examples. Search “elevator pitch” or “logline for book” to learn more.
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