Here you are! You’ve done it, you’ve finished your book. Maybe you have some final-touches left, but the hard part is over and you’ve completed your masterpiece! All those days spent researching and writing and fitting everything together perfectly are behind you. But your book isn’t really selling like you hoped it would… Why? Why aren’t people rushing to read your carefully crafted world or your precise report on that important matter?
Well, my fellow writer… It once struck me just as it will inevitably, at some point, strike you. So we might as well just get it out of the way: I hate to be the one to tell you, but nobody really gives a damn about you! You’re a new author nobody’s ever heard of. They skim past your great book cover in a mere instant simply because they don’t know your name. They ignore your catchy book title simply because they don’t trust their money with you. You’re an unknown, therefore you’re a risky choice. Yes, even for the price of a damn cup of coffee, they’ll cruise past your long hours of work without any kind of afterthought.
I know… it’s the brutal reality of indie authors, but it’s the reality nonetheless: big authors sell their books using their names, signed authors sell their books using their publisher’s name. But the rest of us, self-publishing authors, are left to fend for ourselves. I too once thought that writing a good book is the hard part. Now I know better, now I know that selling my work is actually the hardest part (by far).
But don’t give up! Not yet! Not when you can learn from my mistakes (and occasional successes)! Not when you’re so close… So here goes… Everything I’ve tried, everything I’ve done and everything I’ve learned over the years about marketing your book.
