HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOKS

MY ANSWER TO A NEW WRITER'S QUERY

I have a Facebook Creative Writing page, plus my general FB page. I'm also a member of a Writers Online page and two or three local community pages (in the UK).  I have a Twitter account, a Linked-In account, rarely used. I don't use Instagram or anything else. I do have a big email list, but I try not to over-use that, as I don't want to appear a pest! This blog is my favourite outlet.

Mainly I use Facebook when I have a new book published (13 so far, all with KDP and Amazon). I always post on FB when the latest is published. I have both Kindle and paperback versions for all but the first few books, and I've found that offering the Kindle version free for 3 days at the beginning is a good way to get yourself rated on Amazon. In return for a free copy I ask readers if they could spare time to write a review. The percentage who do this is quite small, but it all helps.

I think I've posted before that I do more publicity leading up to school holidays, Christmas etc, especially for my middle range children's fiction and for light holiday reading for adults.

The other thing I do a lot is to choose an interesting, funny or dramatic excerpt from one of the books and publish it on FB with some comments or request for opinions. This often generates some interest and sales. For example, one of my books has an offbeat version of Heaven, angels, etc, and I asked FB readers how they themselves viewed Heaven.

With KDP you can also purchase authors' copies half price. If I'm involved in, say, a Christmas Fair, or an event for writers or giving a talk, I take along a few to sell. Sales this way are usually small but it gets your name recognised. I'm also planning to offer some talks to local schools.

There are so many other ways. I'd love to give my time 100 per cent to the writing, but there ain't much point if you don't get people reading!

Finally, if you haven't yet reached the stage of marketing and selling, check out my book on HOW TO WRITE FICTION.