Monday, April 16, 2018

Editing for Indies

When you start out writing you have the world at your fingertips. You, and you alone, decide what happens in your world and then you finish your book.

What comes next?

Your masterpiece is ready to face the world. Where do you begin? You do a little research and the whole process starts to snowball.

  • Do I need an editor?
  • What's a beta-reader?
  • Who will proofread my book?
  • How do I layout the book?
  • Are the digital and paperback formats the same?
  • Where can I find artwork or photographs for my book cover?
  • Who will do my book cover for me?
  • Where do I sell my book?
  • What's a blurb?
  • How do I even begin to market my book?

Answers

The answers to all these (and many more!) questions are to be found online. All the major online booksellers have excellent help pages and if you are prepared to wade through these, you will be able to get your masterpiece into your hands without having to spend a lot of money.

Marketing

After you have uploaded your masterpiece, you will most likely sit and watch the sales graphs - or as many new indie authors call them, the no-sales graphs - hoping that your book will suddenly take off and hit the bestseller lists.

What do you have to do to get the money to start rolling in?

  • Increase your book's visibility - social media, blogs, advertising
  • Tweak your book description - identify your readers and make sure your description fulfils their needs
  • Make sure your book cover is the best it can be
  • Research your tags to gain maximum exposure
  • Ensure that your book is in an appropriate category and sub-category
  • Ask for reviews
There are many other ways to help kick-start your book sales. Research - and lots of it - will help you get your marketing campaign up and running.

Keep up the marketing! There is so much competition out there that it is essential to keep coming up with fresh ideas.

It is possible to go it alone and if you are willing to put in the effort it can prove rewarding.

However,

If you find the process overwhelming and would like some help and advice drop me an email and I will be happy to talk to you about ways I can help - without breaking the bank!

Kim O'Shea

info@kimoshea.com






1 comment: