In my previous blog I talked about the freedom you have as an Indie publisher who self publishes your own work.
 
I have decided there are a few more things to put with this including a few words on marketing I am still learning.
 
I want to make it clear, there is more than one approach to writing and it is based on your motivation and none are incorrect, they are just different.
 
I have listened to pod casts and You Tube videos by very successful writers. One of these writers was the author Jack Canfield and his partner for the books that started with “Chicken Soup for the Soul”.  He offered a free lecture, and I have been bombarded by spam ever since until I blocked it.
 
These authors all say the same thing: Start thinking about marketing and how to make your book more saleable before you even start writing.
 
I understand it is sort of important to have an idea about who your audience is, however these writers are all about sales and will do what it takes, in whatever way they can, to make it happen. They are a hungry bunch.  They employ every idea they can think of to make sure those millions keep coming in.
 
Just like any other business, they are always looking at marketing to boost their sales and increase their profits. They find a niche market (like compiling other people’s stories) and they milk it for all it is worth.
 
I have noticed over the years of reading things on deliberate creating or The Secret, you need to have a clear intention and then follow it.  I don’t know if you need to be such a go-getter that you focus all you writing on what the market wants, as well as being able to shovel it, however I do think, having a clear idea of your audience is very important when you are writing. For instance I wrote a few children’s picture books that don’t really follow the ideas of the age group however I chose the words and complexity to make it challenging for gifted kids as well as those with autism and are on the spectrum. That was a clear and deliberate choice based on years of reading books from those available in the school system.
 
Even after years of dealing with kids of all ages on the spectrum, I still can’t figure out why so many of these kids get fixated to the point of obsession on the things they do. Why does a child become obsessed with trains or rainbow ponies or whatever it is? I have no idea even though I carried the same obsession with dogs however I designed my books to get them hooked on nature, ecology and preservation of the planet filling my books with not only beautiful pictures, but also interesting facts.

Even my colouring books are designed for those who not only want to colour but improve and learn to draw their own images. Again, I had a specific group in mind!
 
My point is, I chose my audience before I started. My books cannot be read by just any child, just as only gifted kids or adults will really benefit from my colouring book and colouring sketchbook.  I accepted this and when you think of how many picture books there are with such limited text and ideas, I don’t mind if mine are not the same. In this regard I did think about marketing however only to the extent of the purpose and indeed, motivation behind my writing...and I can say now, it was not about profit or making a million.
 
 So, each of us as writers have to decide how far we shall go. Whether our Intent is to make huge amounts of money or to write something for the sake of writing it for the love of it, or if our intention will be tempered with both an understanding of our niche market so it will be able to reach that market but still be true to the personal intent that prompted us to write it to begin with.

Also keep in mind, writing a book for self-help in a niche market or compiling other people’s stories is not the same thing. If you do low content books and "how to" books with every intention of making a solid living from this, then once again, choosing why you’re doing it can be very different than marketing for a readers market.
 
I think in the end, there are a few things will likely sell your book:

• If the book is simple good. Nine times out of ten if a book is good and it can get out there, it will get discovered and sell.
  
• If you put some energy into researching best key words and most popular and stay on top of how things are going...
  
• and if you are prolific. Even in the art world, when you do something, and put it out there over and over consistently and with great energy, popping out book after book, you are more likely to get more than just stumbled upon or by word of mouth by one or two friends.
  
• Yes, marketing is important, and it is a necessary evil if you want to get found amid the sea of books out there now especially since covid gave everyone and their dog time to write a book! Hell children are becoming best sellers now!!!!
  
• Another tip from what I have been reading, and advice I shall follow is: Find what aspect of marketing that works for you. Don't bother spreading yourself too thin doing a bunch of social media and ad campaigns and then go at it also from other angles. Find a strategy that suits you and your time and style...and stick to that. Give it time, then if it is not working, add to it. And oh yes, social media is not the end all and be all of selling!
  
• There are tons of good videos and books written on how other people have found success in marketing their books to give you websites and ideas. Worth looking into however one piece of advice by a businessman who managed to keep his sporting store line alive in a climate when others were closing up shop. I am paraphrasing however he said this in an interview and it is a truth that I think still rings true: If you are successful with something in the world or marketing and commerce and think you have found the key to success or some formula that shall always work, then think again, you are heading for a fall. The real key to success is the ability to go with the changes happening around you. If you don't, you will fall behind, be forward thinking, and then, you will more likely adapt to whatever is going on and survive as a business.
  
• And of course, last of all is something some may or may not believe in: good old fashioned luck which I wish any writer all the best in having!
  

For myself, in the end, I had spent years trying to make it as an artist. I sacrificed so much for so long doing show after show, starting businesses and always wavering when it came to marketing. Like so many who are truly creative, that side of things always lacks. Most successful writers and artists usually have someone on their side or team who does that side of things...sadly it means many artists also get taken advantage of...even some of the greats like Elvis Presley and so on, had managers who were more important in sales and profit rather than growth and personal satisfaction for the artist...in his case, the proof is in his age or death and the life he had. The truly tragic part was he had so much more to offer but never got the change.

I would rather be an unsuccessful and struggling artist who never knows success than the one who knows it and has it take over his creative life. After years of doing portraits for people, and commissions, doing as they want which left me with very little creative input, I decided when I took on this retirement project, my goal is not about the sales and profit margin, it is about doing what I love to do.

It doesn't mean I won't work to market my work once I get more settled, because I shall, or find another who can do it. Either way, I know for myself, what my intentions are, and why; and they are not about making a million dollars or so many sales.

This is my decision and as an indie writer, at some point, you will have to decide this also...what sort of energy you are going to put into making your work known, and what your expectations are.

One thing I can be sure of, if you expect to knock something off, put it out there, and have it found in this sea of writers now, then you are likely going to be disappointed! Don't kid yourself, those writers who started getting found and selling and so on right away, especially now when there is so much competition, are few and far between!

In the case of marketing, learn from others, find avenues to make your book known, and then find how to make some aspects of it work for you. Don't spread your energy too thin attempting to market in a million different ways, just what works for you.

It won't happen over night, however that doesn't mean it won't happen.

Best of luck!

Have you ever had a problem that you couldn’t figure out how to fix, so you put it off and then out of the blue, you get the answer and it is so simple!!!!
 
Well that is what happened to me concerning my mis-matched ISBN numbers on one of my books!!!!
 
When I uploaded my colouring book, I accidentally used an old ISBN from my colouring Sketchbook. Well, I tried get the thing stopped from publication but it was missed by the review team whom I was told would catch it so that the online site and book didn’t match!
 
In the end it looked like I would have to unpublished the book and then correct the code and republish it.  I made numerous calls but to no avail…Once the book is uploaded, it is a done deal. They can’t or won’t do!!!!
 
Since I am in the middle of finding a new job and moving to a new place, I decided to let it go until I was ready to deal with the headaches of it all. Then the other morning I woke up with an idea!
 
When you get an ISBN in Canada, you can manage them on line which also means you can rename which book gets the number. Since the mistaken number was no longer in use, I just changed the status and title of the book to active and uploaded the book with a matching bar code and number in the cover! So much easier than unpublishing it to KDP and uploading for publication all over again! 
 
By the way, in Canada, the ISBN is free however you do have to send a hard copy of the books you use the ISBNs on so it works out to be the same price in the end…but it is great to not have to pay that fee upfront!!!!
 
Sometimes you have to wonder about the miracle of the human brain. Even though it may gallop away on many occasions and not stay focused on the task at hand, it still manages to keep perking somewhere below the surface to feed you the answers you need just when you need them! That’s a true wonderful thing!!!!!