Why I Self-Published

A publisher may have deeper pockets and a more established PR machine but they can't guarantee your sales. Since releasing the book, I've had a lot of success for an indie author. The book has featured in online and print publications all over the world, including The Mail Online, The New York Times, BUST magazine, The New York Daily News and The Voice Newspaper - to name a few. I achieved this by working incredibly hard and really, there's no other way to do it. 

The first thing that I did was get a very good graphic designer to do the book cover. It's very important that the cover looks professional. Next, I had to come up with marketing material to generate interest, so I did what any sane person would do. I stripped naked and posed with the book cover. Although I'm not saying you have to do that, the picture went viral quickly and it meant that I had something that would get people talking about the book. 

The next thing I did was to set up social media for the book  you can find me on Facebook here and Twitter here. This is so important for an independent author because this is where you can spread the word about your book as well as communicate with fans. The communication element is very important because it helps you to see firsthand what kind of interest you generate as well as allowing for feedback. 

I followed up this action by ordering flyers for my book, which I distributed to people on the street to help raise awareness. I gave out 10,000. One thing I've learnt is that you can never have enough flyers and I still carry some in my bag to give out if I meet a stranger and the book comes into the conversation. I then sent out 5000 emails to bloggers and journalists, asking them to interview me or review the book. This was tough, as not many responded in a positive manner but eventually I got lucky and once the first interview came out, more bloggers started showing an interest. The good reviews that the book received on Amazon also helped me secure more press. 

I then filmed 41 adverts for the book and put them on social media. Again, I made sure to use a professional so that it gave my book credibility. After that, I sent emails out to bookshops with a view to securing orders and I am pleased to say that Barnes and Noble in the US said yes and there are others in the UK who are looking to follow suit. 

Contrary to popular belief, I do not believe that a self published author should keep churning out books. I strongly advise that you get the maximum reach for each book before working on the next one as there is a huge audience out there that you haven't reached. Some of you would have spent months - others years - writing your book so it is only right that you take your time in making sure you do the blog tours, interviews and continuous promotion on the current book before going on to the next one. 

A structured marketing campaign is your best friend and it is imperative that you plan with precision. As things stand, I now have over 5000 facebook likes, over 1800 twitter followers and 106 reviews on Amazon, of which 96 are five stars. 

However, I do know that I have a long way to go. The best advice I can give to a fellow self published author is to grow thick skin. You will get a lot of knock backs which you should learn to take on the chin. Listen to all criticism received as you will know what is relevant within yourself. The criticism is a great learning tool for the next project you embark on. Lastly, have fun while you're trying to secure the publicity because it is a challenge you should relish.

To find out more about the book, take a look here. To see a sample of one of my adverts, click here.