Dave's Self-Publishing Thing

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Dave of Mars

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So let me start off by saying that this is definitely a learning experience and that I've learned a lot so far.

That being said, I realize now that I have a long way to go before I can succeed the promotional aspect of independent writing.

I published Life From the Machine on July 19th on kindle and smashwords. The first sales came to about a dozen from family and friends and 3-4 from random people, and there hasn't been much after that. Given that it's science fiction, and my first book, I'm not entirely surprised.

I haven't been able to promote it much since I've been in the middle of a move to Colorado, which was fraught with finding apartments, paperwork, job searches and the like.

But now that things have calmed down in my personal life, I want to really start promoting my work. My plan is to have free days some time in the next two weeks, which will be promoted though amazon KDP select, goodreads, Pixel of Ink, Ereader News Daily etc.

After that, I'm not sure what I'll do. I've already read through the other posts here but it can get overwhelming just how many strategies are available. Again, learning process.

And If anyone has suggestions, I'd be grateful for them.

Anyways, I should probably get back to work. Can't type with crossed fingers.
 
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LongWave

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Hi Dave. I am in a similar boat.
However, a few days ago I was able to re-think my whole approach. Considering that cover art and the book blurb/synopsis might be the key to a potential sale, I would really put a lot of effort into that. I changed my entire synopsis and it seems to be a little more enticing.

Good luck with everything!
 

kaitie

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Nice cover!
 

Dave of Mars

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Looking forward to following your journey.

Thanks!

Hi Dave. I am in a similar boat.
However, a few days ago I was able to re-think my whole approach. Considering that cover art and the book blurb/synopsis might be the key to a potential sale, I would really put a lot of effort into that. I changed my entire synopsis and it seems to be a little more enticing.

Good luck with everything!

Good idea. I'll post my synopsis here and get some feedback.

Nice cover!

All credit for that goes to the talented Yanni Davros.
 

MaggieDana

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I published Life From the Machine on July 19th on kindle and smashwords ... My plan is to have free days some time in the next two weeks, which will be promoted though amazon KDP select, goodreads ...

Dave, the best of luck with your journey. Just be aware that if you enroll your book with KDP Select, you can't have it for sale at any other vendor; you can't even sell it (or display an excerpt) on your own blog or website:

https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/KDPSelect

You can, of course, have the book on KDP and other vendors simultaneously; just not on KDP Select and other vendors. This applies to ebooks only, not print.
 

Polenth

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I'd say Twitter is your biggest friend in science fiction and fantasy. Don't go there with the promotion machine activated. Go to chat occasionally and keep an eye on what's going down in the community. Post links to blog posts and let people know about new work, but it shouldn't overwhelm the rest of what you say.

As well as getting you known in the community, it also means you'll see opportunities. There might be a hot topic you could blog about. There might be someone looking for authors to interview. (And if you're into short stories, submission calls often get passed around.)

You don't need to tweet constantly for it to work. Just check in for a little bit when you can.
 

Spell-it-out

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Hi Dave. I am in a similar boat.
However, a few days ago I was able to re-think my whole approach. Considering that cover art and the book blurb/synopsis might be the key to a potential sale, I would really put a lot of effort into that. I changed my entire synopsis and it seems to be a little more enticing.

Good luck with everything!

That is simple and excellent advice right there.
 

PJanes

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Good luck, and love the cover. The description sounds enticing as well.
 

WriterBN

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Good luck, and don't feel bad about the lack of sales. My book started out slow, and is now...slightly less slow. I haven't had much time to promote and market it either; most of my sales are from visibility on Amazon.
 
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