Self-Publishing lesson +1

Hi everyone, 

I thought I’d share something I have learned from this whole “self-publishing” drama that I’ve gotten myself into. Hopefully reading this will help you if you decide to go the same route. I’ll post more information and anecdotes as they become available.

For those that don’t already know. I’m going the self-publishing route with After Sanity. I had a lot of reasons for coming to this decision, but they are not part of the current topic, so I’ll avoid any further digression. I released After Sanity: Corporate Aspirations, the first part of six, in early July.

Now, when you go the self-publishing route, YOU are your own marketing department. If you happen to have a marketing guru friend who’s willing to do it for you, so much the better. I don’t. So It’s all me. I knew this in advance, of course. I didn’t kid myself on it. However, I did have one major oversight.

My specific problem has to do with a little thing called ‘timing.” Generally speaking, this wouldn’t be such an issue since my schedule’s so fluid. However, summer and fall is my heavy season. So, in case I haven’t left enough bread crumbs, I picked a horrendous time for me to release my first book.

If you already have some sort of following, or group of people you can recruit to help you spread the good word, so much the better. I’m rather unknown outside of certain circles. And, as I mentioned in my very first post, intentionally stayed out of social media for as long as possible. This has seriously bit me in the rear as it’s forcing me to make those connections now.

To get the word out, I have to be as active as possible in a variety of areas. I don’t mean running around like an Avon salesman and harassing people. I simply mean letting people know that I exist. And, even with that relatively meager goal, I simply didn’t have the time to do it. A great example of that is the extended absence from this blog.

Now that it is the winter / slow season, I’ll be able to spend more time doing things to help get my name out there. My flurry of projects I’m getting into is another example of my attempt to tell the netsphere “Hey! I’m here!” and give some examples of my work.

So, as should be expected, the exposure for the book has suffered dramatically. As such, it’s nowhere near any “best seller lists.” All of this, can be attributed to the lack of marketing and lack of attention on my part.

The takeaway / advice for you: If you are going to self-publish anything, make sure to schedule it so that you actually have the TIME that will be required to do the marketing it will very much need. Getting your name out there during the creation process would also help. But, unlike what several POD printing services may say in their ads. The “Hard part” is NOT over when you finish the book. It’s actually just starting.

Good luck my friends! Until next time.

 

--Kirk