Self-Publication Part 3 // Managing Marketing Myself

Welcome back to my self-publication series! Here's part one and part two in case you missed them ;) Today I'm covering how I market my book. It's an acquired talent and even harder as a self-published author, because it's all on you.

Ah, marketing. It's a beast. The trick with marketing is that it doesn't happen on it's own. Someone has to be behind the scenes pulling the strings. When you're self-published, you don't have a company doing any marketing for you. This is definitely a downside to self-publishing. However, I have managed so far and this is how!

 Obviously social media is a huge part of marketing. This really used to intimidate me, but I had to get over it. I have basically every account I'm going to now. (Instagram joined the ranks this week.) I've found that just giving updates on my writerly life keeps people engaged with who I am and what I'm doing. Share the little moments. It helps people relate and reminds them that (1) oh look she published that didn't she and (2) obviously people are enjoying this so I should go grab a copy.

And share the huge moments, too. When Martin Hospitality was up for awards and I was running a sale, I totally barraged people with that on all of my sites. I've found that to avoid doing so obnoxiously, I did it once or twice everywhere. (There's bound to be some overlap.) Be your honest self even in the blatant self-promotion posts.

Asking a question can often get people to engage you better. Even when I don't get on social media and engage with other people, I always make sure I interact with the people who choose to interact with me. That alone is a great start :)

That's basically how it works for me. I haven't gotten the consistency thing down to a tee yet.
 I tie all the accounts I have together by having a consistent bio and profile picture on each, so people easily know that I'm the same person. And you wonder why don't change my pictures much? :P

I use MailChimp to send out a monthly newsletter. It takes a lot of time, but it's totally free. I do this in place of monthly wrap-up posts, making it a little more official and writerly, but still giving a glimpse into my life. It's important to be personable!! You can't really force that, but I feel like I don't share much of my life with you guys on here :( So definitely subscribe to the newsletter in the sidebar ;) ➡ See, self-promotion's easy

I'm not sure I do it totally right, but I draft my post under "template" and then just have to send out a "campaign" and apply that template. Voila, my newsletter goes out to my entire list of 30 something readers. For the next post, I just replace the content under my newsletter template and do it again.

For the special sale and such I did a new template and customized it for a sale look. Next sale or whatever, I'll just swap out the info and send it again. It's been a nice tool so far and apparently most people open them and click on the links. A few lovelies even reply! <3 and="" are="" details="" get="" great="" insider="" newsletters="" p="" so="" yeah="" you="">

I obviously have a blog which is the main place where I attract new readers that I bond with. Honestly most of my internet friends have come through this blog!! *sniff*

I don't do a whole lot of blatant promotion on here, but that's okay. You guys get the neat stuff. I've shared the mock cover, first chapter, final cover, release date, blog tour, where to buy it, blah blah blah. And you all still put up with me! ;) Because it's not a part of everything I do, but you all know it's a huge part of me. That's the ideal balance, honestly.

And that's because I do try to share me on this blog. I have no character limits here and am dedicated to showing up every Saturday at least. I'm getting the hang of dropping links in everything I post though. This isn't always beneficial just to me, but linking to other posts I've done and such is a really awesome thing to do. People only click if they want to :) But I'd rather them hear it from me than Google it, and they would too since it's right here.

This is honestly the. most. helpful. form of marketing there is. And it relies on people reading and enjoying your book. I have older couples at my church who have bought it for their family members and recommend it to their friends, particularly our mutual friends who haven't bought it yet.

Getting that little push from people who aren't me is really great! Hearing firsthand from a reader that a book was awesome is the main thing that causes me to read a book for sure.

You obviously can't force people to talk about your book, but you can 

• reach out to review websites (such as Just Commonly & Homeschooled Authors)
• share the positive feedback people give you
• ask people to leave you reviews

As far as doing things on a more personal level locally, I have done three things so far (woohoo):

• stsocked my book in the local Christian bookstore
• had two book signings downtown
• participated in a local church's book club for MH

These have all been great ways to connect to some new readers who are now fellow enthusiasts spreading the word for me. More details on them in my newsletters ;)

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Any specific questions? That was a lot to cover and I want to make sure it enlightened you! For an additional resource, check out the social media posts I've been doing on Teen Authors Journal:

• writerly uses for platforms
• rookie mistakes to avoid
• time-saving tips

Next week I'll be answering some more specific questions I've received that haven't made it into the posts and hopefully providing you with a simple self-publishing checklist as well.

Until then, have a fantastic Easter Weekend!