Self Publishing and Marketing

One of the main parts of the publishing equation is Marketing for your book. Marketing is the way you get your work out there to your key readers. Although this step may seem a bit over whelming, I've done some research and put together some tips to help make your Marketing a bit more successful.

First and foremost, I suggest making sure your books is ready for the publication and marketing stage. This means fully edited to the best in which it can be, formatted into whatever version you want to put it in, and make sure any and all mistakes are fixed. Here you could make a trial version for only you. This way you can see what it looks like before you put it out in the market. I have seen books where there were odd characters such as >, -, ", etc... placed in spots throughout the book that should be there. I feel when a reader, such as myself, begin reading these types of books, it throws the reader off. Another thing I have noticed is where a dropped cap is used, it isn't always used correctly. I feel that when using the dropped cap, the first letter for the first word doesn't need to be used. Here's what I'm referring to if you're not quite sure.

I have noticed this is a variety of self published books. I think it's best just to double check and then, perhaps, check again.

Next, remember the font. I have read self published books where the font changed every where throughout the book. The worst part is that the font went smaller and it was hard to read. This may make the reader stop reading your book which isn't what we want at all. I think remaining with the same font and size is best. Keep it simple. Fancy text has it's way of distracting a reader.

Lastly, you could have a beta stage for your book. You could choose several readers to go through your book, read it, and tell you what they think. As them certain questions you'd like the answers to. This way your, in a way, getting that last step of the editing in with a different set of eyes.  You can also use their words, as long as they agree, in your book to help show other readers what people think of the book.

Once you're sure all mistakes are fixed and your manuscript is polished up, it's time for publishing and marketing. When publishing your work, it's best to start the marketing for it. Let friends and family know you have a book coming out. This is one of the best places to start. You can announce it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Authors.com, Goodreads, and many more websites. The more places you post it, the more likely you are to have readers waiting for it's release.

Another idea you could use is a Virtual Book Tour. Contact bloggers who are willing to review your work and be part of the blog tour. (You can find more information about blog tours all over the internet). You can even offer to give a free copy as a giveaway prize. This helps to get your book out there as well.



If you're planning on self publishing, what is your biggest concern?

**All idea's within this post are of my own. I'm passing on what I have learned during my process of publishing and marketing books.**