Wednesday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

FOR NEW INDIE AUTHORS: WHAT I WOULD DO IF I WERE STARTING TODAY

By: Lindsay Buroker

Sometimes when you give publishing and marketing advice on your blog, you get a little resistance from new self publishers. But you’ve been doing this for 3+ years. You have a fan base already. You have heaps of books out already, so you’re not a nobody. It’s way different for people starting now!

I’m not going to argue that it’s not different. There are more ebooks in the Kindle store than ever. The gaming-the-system tricks that might have worked in the past aren’t working now. For self published books, the blurbs, cover art, and sample chapters are, on average, more professional than they were a few years ago. It is harder to stand out.

But…

There are a heck of a lot more readers willing to try novels by independent authors these days. There’s still a stigma toward self publishing, but it’s a much smaller stigma than it used to be. More blogs are willing to accept submissions from indie authors. Oh, and there are a lot more options for advertising your ebooks. When I got started, there was Kindle Nation Daily, and that was it. And I never did manage to break even with a KND ad. Today, you have everything from Bookbub (which can move a tremendous number of books in a day, if you can get accepted) to scads of smaller reader-centered blogs and mailing lists. Not all of them are great, but lots of them can help with sales and name recognition, at least a little.

I also keep coming across success stories from people who just started. Last year, I interviewed Sue London (historical romance) and Leeland Artra (epic fantasy) who both did extremely well right out of the gate. Just a couple of weeks ago, someone on Kboards was talking about how she made $50,000 and sold 100,000 in her first four months of publishing.

So it is possible to get started today and hit it big… or just gradually build up a fan base while writing and publishing what you love (this is all I’ve ever done).

What I would do if I were starting fresh today

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Email List Building Series: The Set Up, Start to Finish (Using Aweber): http://ow.ly/y2P7I  @writerplatform RT @elizabethscraig
2. Creating a Business Philosophy | Elizabeth Spann Craig http://ow.ly/ynZhN
3. How to write a novel to an outline and still be creative | Nail Your Novel http://ow.ly/ynZpd
4. How Literary Agents Get Paid: Standard Commission Practices And Payments For Literary Agents - Writer's Relief, Inc. http://ow.ly/ynZsd
5. For New Indie Authors: What I Would Do if I Were Starting Today | Lindsay Buroker http://ow.ly/ynZXc
6. 5 Tips To Optimize Your Facebook Page | Molly Greene: Writer http://ow.ly/yo0gA
7. 10 Simple Tips to Becoming a Better Blogger http://ow.ly/yo0ov
8. Search Engine Marketing - Four AdWords Mistakes That Drag Your CTR Down : MarketingProfs Article http://ow.ly/yo2mk
9. Blogging Like a Shark: 10 Secrets to Bootstrapping Your Blog into a Business : @ProBlogger http://ow.ly/yo2w9
10. How to Use Google Analytics: Getting Started | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/yo2yU
11. Twitter Testing Ways to Add Commentary to Retweets http://ow.ly/yo4aJ
12. You're Only as Good as Your Worst Book - Books & Such Literary Management : Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/yo4jy
13. Should You Self-Publish? 15 Questions by Orna Ross http://ow.ly/yo4Dx
14. Social Media Secrets of Success for Authors: How to Market Content Online and Build Your Fan Base http://ow.ly/yo4T0
15. 10 Effective Strategies To Fight Procrastination http://ow.ly/yo4XD
16. How To Avoid Being Overwhelmed And Exhausted http://ow.ly/yo55o
17. Novel Diagnostics: How to Tell if Your Book Might Have Terminal Problems in TEN Pages http://ow.ly/yo5eH
18. Are you killing your book with too much detail and explanation? http://ow.ly/yo6ff
19. The Writers Alley: What's Your Writing Motivation? Deep Question Recap http://ow.ly/yo6tC
20. Author, Jody Hedlund: 4 Ways to Add Caffeine to Your Story http://ow.ly/yo6Jb
21. The Worst Ways to Begin Your Novel: Advice from Literary Agents - The Write Life http://ow.ly/yp8rD
22. 7 Storytelling Lessons from Sports | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/ypehX
23. Do Ebook Discounts Devalue Content?  via @BookBubPartners http://ow.ly/ypJxV

Happy writing and running, Kathy