My Publishing Strategy

TLDR: Since publishing my first book 5 months ago, I’ve tried some promotions. Some worked, some didn’t. I’ve codified the best bits of strategy and advice below. But wrap it all in one giant “in my opinion/in my experience” asterisk.

I will be up front and say: I don’t have all the answers.

Even if I did, they would only be based on my experience with my book, so only truly applicable to me (and A Bloody Business).

But knowing that there will be a few folks who, even with that grain of salt, are in a similar boat and thus might be interested in my lessons learned—combined with my own desire to set this to paper—I will proceed.

And I will attempt to keep the tangents and sidebars to a minimum or it will be far too long for anyone on Vocal to have any interest in reading it. Thus helping no one.

My Overall Approach

I walked into this project with some experience. I’ve published short stories in magazines and anthologies.

One of the biggest perks is that I understood publishing rights. So I knew no traditional publisher would take my novel when 80% of it was available on Vocal for free. Thus, I didn’t even bother with the slush piles.

From the start, I knew I’d be self-publishing.

Sure, I could have told Vocal to delete all those posts, but I don’t consider that ethical. And since two of those stories were Runner Ups, I’d much rather keep those badges on my profile page.

And since I knew I’d be self-publishing, I appreciated from the start the uphill battle I’d be fighting if I wanted this book to see any kind of life beyond my immediate circle of friends and family.

Quality, Quality, Quality

Some of you will take offense at this notion, but whether you believe it, it’s a long-held assumption among the public that anything self-published is “poor quality.”

People only have so much time and money to spend on books. On anything, really. So, while we all know there are no guarantees, we want to be as confident as possible that we’re making the best choice. And when it comes to books, the “best choice” is something we enjoy reading.

Traditionally published books go through review cycles. They have editors.

Meanwhile, there’s nothing stopping someone from taking their first draft, slapdashing a cover together, and hitting publish on KDP or any of the other direct publish services.

To be fair, I’ve read a traditionally published book in the last six months that had egregious errors on the technical level and included a character who somehow felt cold as ice about seeing a team member bleed out in front of him while almost vomiting at the sight of dead militants.

So, I set out with a goal to offer the most professional book that was ever self-published. I invested in an editor, a formatter, a cover designer, and an audiobook narrator.

I even printed the manuscript and proofread line by line with a red pen.

Even with a flawless manuscript, there’s no guarantee that someone will like the content, but at least that’s one less thing for a reader to get hung up on.

And there is something to be said about truly believing in your book and believing it is worthy of someone’s time when it comes to everything that comes after.

Promotions (Paid)

To the shock of no one, my primary audience has been my friends and family to date.

Even with my 30+ short stories out in the world, I haven’t exactly built a following (that I can tell, anyway).

Still, from those friends and family you can start to tap into an extended network. For example, my cover designer’s mom picked up a copy. Several past coworkers responded to my LinkedIn post to say they bought a book. One even reshared my post with his network.

Even so, you can only promote to your circle so much until that circle starts to feel like you view them less as valued individuals and more like you see them as dollar signs.

So, eventually, I found myself facing the same dilemma I imagine many an independent author have faced:

1. Continue to beat the dead horse and risk alienating your friends and family with endless promotions .
2. Invest in paid advertising/promotions and risk spending money for no return.
3. Do nothing and resign your book to the dust bin.

I had too much faith in this book to let it wither away. And I certainly didn’t want to spit in the face of all those had shown me support.

So #2 it was.

To be clear, I have paid far more than I have received back in royalties so far.

It’s almost inevitable with the two promotions I’ve run so far:

• Amazon Sponsored Products: This model is cost-per-click, but just because someone clicks the ad doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy/the book is a good fit for them.
• Bargain e-book newsletter: This model is cost-per-placement. I pay the newsletter provider up front to include my book, with no charge for any clicks and/or sales that come from the placement. So I could profit here if I drove enough sales, but that has not been the case so far.

Still, I’ve sold 20 copies through these campaigns. To folks who likely never would have heard of my book had I not paid to “shove it in their faces.”

And if they enjoy what they read, they may go the extra mile and write a review.

And if they really like it, they may even tell their friends and social networks about it.

And if they’re a superfan, they may even subscribe to my Amazon author page or author site to keep track of future releases.

Or they may hate it.

Or simply not read it.

Anything is possible, but I like to believe that I’m laying the groundwork, brick by brick.

Certainly, none of the positive outcomes will arise if the person never buys it.

True for the negative outcomes as well, but that’s the risk we take.

Promotions (Organic)

Besides posting about the book’s release to my friends, family, and LinkedIn network, I’ve also worked on a few signposts/content offerings that cost nothing (besides hosting for the author site) and can help draw in new readers. I’ll now run through them rapid-fire style:

• My author site: A place to promote the latest book, catalog past releases, and talk about all the short stories, awards, and other bona fides that might convince a tentative reader I “know what I’m doing.”
• My podcast: Full of free short-form content on platforms I never would otherwise reach (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.) and with the most recent season capped off with Chapter 1 of my book, an episode that even includes links to the book in the description.
• My Google presence: This includes knowledge panels if you search my name, my name + “author,” my name + “a bloody business,” and while I don’t own the space for “a bloody business” because another author beat me to that title by about three decades, I have wormed my way into the search results:

Granted, there’s a whole different level of intent from someone searching my name on Google versus someone who sees my podcast in their Spotify recommendations, but the point is all of these pathways exist for someone to find my book without costing me a dime for a click.

Another Book, Another Learning Experience

This was a cathartic experience—and a good reminder—as I gear up for another book release on 9/27. Some things I did here I’d do sooner, like spinning up an Amazon advertising campaign. Other things, like running a $0.99 promo and sharing that with my friends and family, reek a bit of desperation in hindsight.

But that’s the beauty of having done it once before: clarity. After this next one, I’ll have even more solidified opinions and more lessons learned for the next one.

And I certainly have more thoughts than I gave myself room to indulge in here. If you’re interested in any follow up posts, let me know.

And, hey, thanks for sticking with me to the end!