This was honestly one of the best videos on book marketing that I've seen. If you ever care to share a deeper dive, or sell a book that covers the steps in further detail (such as a timeline worked backwards from release date, marketing templates, etc.) I'd be interested. It seems that 99% of the time when someone talks about marketing, what they're really doing is trying to hook authors into paying them to do it. Getting real information with an author's perspective is exactly what so many of us need. Thank you for sharing your experience.
So glad to hear you liked it! And funny you mention it, I actually have a 5 book marketing series haha! It didn't even occur to me to mention it in the video, and that would've been a perfect place to bring it up, but here's the link if you're curious: www.amazon.com/dp/B09CY8PCYK
I am currently writing my first dark fantasy standalone, and this video actually really helped me put some stuff I to perspective regarding marketing. I had no idea about some of these things. Thanks for making this info so accessible
I haven't even published a first book much less a sequel but I found this super interesting. Saving for later. Thank you for sharing all this great experience with us.
Thank you for keeping it real and being able to laugh at yourself. The thoughts of a writer are usually messy, so I appreciate that your video showed that. Great content, not only on this video but your whole channel. Thanks for taking the time to help us newbie writers!
Best of luck Bethany! I'm also releasing my second in june and going through the same motions. Marketing has always been a challenge for me, and a lot hinges on the mailing list which frankly I find really difficult to gather. So whilst one can plan a zillion things, offers, giveaways etc. If your social media reach is poor then its quite hard letting people know in the first place. Anyway great tips, and best of luck on book 2!
Thanks Jens! That's so exciting! Don't worry about trying to do it all, that's what throws most of us authors off course and makes marketing feel overwhelming - it's better to do just one or two things really well than to worry about trying to do everything! :) Good luck with your release!
This was super helpful as I am getting ready to put out book 2 in my Alice in Wonderland retelling in June. I find launches stressful but I did make myself sit down and do some planning. This gave me a few more ideas, especially about pre-order incentives. Mailing stuff is always a challenge so having some digital ideas is great! :)
This was interesting - thank you! Book 2 in my self-published fantasy mystery series is coming out at the end of this month and I'm doing most of the things on your list, but it's always good to see how other authors prioritise their marketing. Best of luck with your June release!
@@BethanyAtazadeh I love seeing the changes with every book you write. It's fun to watch each one grow and evolve. I also enjoy the "wait...I don't remember this..." moments I have.
Yay! So glad it's helpful - I hope this video will give you tons of ideas! :) (And like I mention in the video, ultimately book 1 will always be your biggest marketing tool!)
Hi Bethany, I continue to listen to RUclips videos and appreciate the content. However now I'm concerned with my self-publishing platform as a experienced creative writer with a master's degree. I'm having a personal conflict with submitting to self publishing versus traditional publishing. For instance I know Kdp has new avenues of self-publishing, for instance hardcover vs. Ebook and now vellum episodes. So the conundrum is having a limited amount of time of the day to create versus marketing, promoting, instant spending my time on digital platforms. Do you have any suggestions on where to begin as a fellow writer.
This was super helpful. I'll be releasing book 5 but still have the problem of getting readers to buy it. And finding ARC readers. So even with a blacklist and lots of shorts in between each book as bonus materials I'm not selling or making money with them and I don't have an audience or readers like you. So I'm not sure this marketing will work for me 😢
So glad to hear that, thanks Joanna! And I think when you don't have a large audience, it helps to work with others who do (aka places like NetGalley and bookstagram tour companies and influencers for example). You don't have to do everything on this list to be successful - you've got this!
Great question - I'm still waiting to hear back from B&N on some details like if I can promote signed copies to friends outside of MN, but if they can't do that for some reason then I plan to do signed copies on my website in a few months! :)
Great ideas and energy! I think my problem with book releases is that I don’t push it out enough in the future to plan for all of this. Like right now I want to release a book next month but I’m nowhere near done. But I have a rough timeline and I really want it out for the summer. 🤔 What I need is a week off work to dedicate to the book. 😂
Thank you, so glad it was helpful! Totally understandable to want to do faster releases and not have as much time for buildup - in that case, I'd totally plan out some fun post-release marketing to do to keep the momentum going and that can be just as effective!
Very informative. The chaos on your paper is the same kind of marketing chaos I experience. A great illustration of what marketing plan entails. I just struggle with having people sign up for my newsletter, which is demotivating. But since I do picture books my Instagram account is slowly growing as I share my process and pages there. I can't do entire chapters, but I do page reveals instead. Any tips on how to market picture books? It's a series, but each book can be read on its own without having read the previous picture book. Right now there are 2 books and I am working on the third and I kind find any good video about marketing plans for picture book specifically.
So glad it was helpful! Haha yep it's a good representation of how chaotic marketing is. And as far as how to market picture books, I have almost zero experience so if I were in your shoes, I would search for other authors with similar books and study how they market, to pull ideas from that!
Hi, Bethany! Thanks so much for the breakdown…it’s SO helpful! I do have one question, though…how do you do preorder incentives when the book is available through Amazon and your author website? My books are also available both places, but of course I don’t know who’s preordering through Amazon, so I don’t know how to market preorder giveaways or perks to those readers.
Just one book at the moment: The Stolen Kingdom. Hope you enjoy if you read it, and I do have a video about making audiobooks too if that's what you're asking. :)
I don’t mind t all putting my first book on sale for .99, but what do I set my price at for the paperback? Everyone always talks about ebooks. 😊 Do I just cut it down a few bucks?
Ahhh this is a really good question - I would actually NOT put a sale on the physical books at all! They just haven't been as effective for most authors. If you really wanted to, you obviously could take a dollar off or something. BUT most indie authors only do ebook sales because you're trying to reach readers who may not have wanted to take a chance on your books yet, and therefore, spending just one dollar (or $0 if your book is set to free) lowers that barrier for them to try reading. There's just no way to make a paperback that cheap, since the cost for printing alone is usually $5-10. So that's why indies don't do paperback sales usually, they're just not worth it.
Check out my Marketing for Authors series here if you'd like more info on this topic! www.amazon.com/dp/B09CY8PCYK
This was honestly one of the best videos on book marketing that I've seen. If you ever care to share a deeper dive, or sell a book that covers the steps in further detail (such as a timeline worked backwards from release date, marketing templates, etc.) I'd be interested. It seems that 99% of the time when someone talks about marketing, what they're really doing is trying to hook authors into paying them to do it. Getting real information with an author's perspective is exactly what so many of us need. Thank you for sharing your experience.
So glad to hear you liked it! And funny you mention it, I actually have a 5 book marketing series haha! It didn't even occur to me to mention it in the video, and that would've been a perfect place to bring it up, but here's the link if you're curious: www.amazon.com/dp/B09CY8PCYK
I am currently writing my first dark fantasy standalone, and this video actually really helped me put some stuff I to perspective regarding marketing. I had no idea about some of these things. Thanks for making this info so accessible
Yay! I'm so happy to hear it was helpful - perfect timing!
I haven't even published a first book much less a sequel but I found this super interesting. Saving for later. Thank you for sharing all this great experience with us.
Thank you for keeping it real and being able to laugh at yourself. The thoughts of a writer are usually messy, so I appreciate that your video showed that. Great content, not only on this video but your whole channel. Thanks for taking the time to help us newbie writers!
Best of luck Bethany! I'm also releasing my second in june and going through the same motions. Marketing has always been a challenge for me, and a lot hinges on the mailing list which frankly I find really difficult to gather. So whilst one can plan a zillion things, offers, giveaways etc. If your social media reach is poor then its quite hard letting people know in the first place. Anyway great tips, and best of luck on book 2!
Thanks Jens! That's so exciting! Don't worry about trying to do it all, that's what throws most of us authors off course and makes marketing feel overwhelming - it's better to do just one or two things really well than to worry about trying to do everything! :) Good luck with your release!
This was super helpful as I am getting ready to put out book 2 in my Alice in Wonderland retelling in June. I find launches stressful but I did make myself sit down and do some planning. This gave me a few more ideas, especially about pre-order incentives. Mailing stuff is always a challenge so having some digital ideas is great! :)
I'm so glad to hear that! Hope your marketing planning goes well! :)
just what i needed! thanks for much Bethany this was super helpful and loved the visual aid
So glad it was helpful! :D
I find marketing (especially book marketing) to be very interesting, so thank you for this vid. I may have to start calling myself a marketing geek.🙂
This is so informative, thank you!! I'd never really thought about marketing sequels and how that's different from first books or standalones.
So glad you enjoyed it, thanks Katie! :)
So much helpful information. I learned so much! A video on your previous book release expenses would be really interesting!
Yayyy so glad you enjoyed it, thanks Sarah!
oh, so glad you made this video. I have two series and I was wondering about this just this morning!!
Yay perfect timing! Glad it's helpful!
Thank you so much for this video ❤
Your channel is so helpful!
This was interesting - thank you! Book 2 in my self-published fantasy mystery series is coming out at the end of this month and I'm doing most of the things on your list, but it's always good to see how other authors prioritise their marketing. Best of luck with your June release!
So glad it was helpful! Thanks Anne! :D
What a great video! Timely too, as I have a book (also #2 in a series!) coming out next month as well!
Thank you, and yay perfect timing!
Awesome and informative video! Thank you for sharing all of your insights and strategies.
Thank you so much, so glad it was helpful! :D
This was a very helpful video as I’m writing a four book debut series.
Yay perfect timing!
Oh June is coming up!
I'm hoping to get my book closet up so I can get my books out.
Really excited for the physical books.
Yayyy! I can't wait! (And p.s. the book has changed a LOT since you read it haha!)
@@BethanyAtazadeh I love seeing the changes with every book you write. It's fun to watch each one grow and evolve. I also enjoy the "wait...I don't remember this..." moments I have.
I am so interested about this! I have a trilogy I have yet to release and have no idea how to market the other books....
Yay! So glad it's helpful - I hope this video will give you tons of ideas! :) (And like I mention in the video, ultimately book 1 will always be your biggest marketing tool!)
Super detailed and helpful!
Yay so glad to hear that, thanks Tania!
Hi Bethany, I continue to listen to RUclips videos and appreciate the content. However now I'm concerned with my self-publishing platform as a experienced creative writer with a master's degree. I'm having a personal conflict with submitting to self publishing versus traditional publishing. For instance I know Kdp has new avenues of self-publishing, for instance hardcover vs. Ebook and now vellum episodes. So the conundrum is having a limited amount of time of the day to create versus marketing, promoting, instant spending my time on digital platforms. Do you have any suggestions on where to begin as a fellow writer.
This was super helpful. I'll be releasing book 5 but still have the problem of getting readers to buy it. And finding ARC readers. So even with a blacklist and lots of shorts in between each book as bonus materials I'm not selling or making money with them and I don't have an audience or readers like you. So I'm not sure this marketing will work for me 😢
So glad to hear that, thanks Joanna! And I think when you don't have a large audience, it helps to work with others who do (aka places like NetGalley and bookstagram tour companies and influencers for example). You don't have to do everything on this list to be successful - you've got this!
Question: signed copies are better to ask B&N or on your website?
Great question - I'm still waiting to hear back from B&N on some details like if I can promote signed copies to friends outside of MN, but if they can't do that for some reason then I plan to do signed copies on my website in a few months! :)
Super helpful as always! :D
Yay! So glad to hear that!
Great ideas and energy! I think my problem with book releases is that I don’t push it out enough in the future to plan for all of this. Like right now I want to release a book next month but I’m nowhere near done. But I have a rough timeline and I really want it out for the summer. 🤔 What I need is a week off work to dedicate to the book. 😂
Thank you, so glad it was helpful! Totally understandable to want to do faster releases and not have as much time for buildup - in that case, I'd totally plan out some fun post-release marketing to do to keep the momentum going and that can be just as effective!
Very informative. The chaos on your paper is the same kind of marketing chaos I experience. A great illustration of what marketing plan entails. I just struggle with having people sign up for my newsletter, which is demotivating. But since I do picture books my Instagram account is slowly growing as I share my process and pages there. I can't do entire chapters, but I do page reveals instead. Any tips on how to market picture books? It's a series, but each book can be read on its own without having read the previous picture book. Right now there are 2 books and I am working on the third and I kind find any good video about marketing plans for picture book specifically.
So glad it was helpful! Haha yep it's a good representation of how chaotic marketing is. And as far as how to market picture books, I have almost zero experience so if I were in your shoes, I would search for other authors with similar books and study how they market, to pull ideas from that!
Hi, Bethany! Thanks so much for the breakdown…it’s SO helpful! I do have one question, though…how do you do preorder incentives when the book is available through Amazon and your author website? My books are also available both places, but of course I don’t know who’s preordering through Amazon, so I don’t know how to market preorder giveaways or perks to those readers.
Great question! I have a whole video answering that question here: ruclips.net/video/h2maeknQi5Y/видео.html
Thanks this is really interesting
Are your books on Audible? That’s almost the only way I consume books. I’d love to hear a show how that is done.
Just one book at the moment: The Stolen Kingdom. Hope you enjoy if you read it, and I do have a video about making audiobooks too if that's what you're asking. :)
I don’t mind t all putting my first book on sale for .99, but what do I set my price at for the paperback? Everyone always talks about ebooks. 😊 Do I just cut it down a few bucks?
Ahhh this is a really good question - I would actually NOT put a sale on the physical books at all! They just haven't been as effective for most authors. If you really wanted to, you obviously could take a dollar off or something. BUT most indie authors only do ebook sales because you're trying to reach readers who may not have wanted to take a chance on your books yet, and therefore, spending just one dollar (or $0 if your book is set to free) lowers that barrier for them to try reading. There's just no way to make a paperback that cheap, since the cost for printing alone is usually $5-10. So that's why indies don't do paperback sales usually, they're just not worth it.
Ok, that’s what I figured was why it’s not mentioned but wanted to clear it up. Thanks for the explanation!
A read with me would also be good for brainstorming those plotholes that tend to appear at the worst times.
Right? I really want to do it if I have time! :D
EARLY
This was beneficial! I'm going to try some of these for my next release.
Thanks! 🩵