Marketing the Indy Author

Marketing is the hardest part of going Indy.
What should the budget be?
Where should I advertise?
What kind of ad?

It's time. I've been slacking in the marketing department for ~ like~ ever.
I've done a facebook ad. Very easy to do, you can set a budget and say what kind of people you want to see your ad. However, I didn't see any great return on it. But I know this is something I have to do if I ever want to make a living at this writing stuff.

Thinking of places like these:

Indie Author News

Kboards

BookBub

Google Adsense

Yahoo Ads

I'm not sure which would be more productive. I think I need to go find a book about this stuff.

I did get a book recommended by Hugh Howey on Facebook. It talked about creating an email list so you can update your fans, but at my level, with my 3.5 measly little books, I wonder if it would be worth it?

Any recommendations on marketing or a book on marketing for the Indy would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Writing!

Oh wait! This is my new foster pup. He's thin as sticks and was found as a stray in Cliffwood, New Jersey. We're looking for his owners but he must have been out on his own for a long time because he's very skinny.

And he's collecting all the dog toys in the house.

Stop Me From Ranting

I was planning a blog on commas...vexation of my mind....but all this Amazon / Indy hate has sidetracked me. I was just over at Konrath's Blog and felt the need to speak out against the authors who are giving the negative to Indies and Amazon. all I can think of is....who cares?
If you want to go Indy...have at it. Indy lets you say what you want to say without censure. Be yourself, post your book...but beware. . .

Indies aren't resting on their laurels...or books...they work hard at marketing. I should know, I suck at marketing. I start, stop, start, stop...never knowing where to invest my marketing dollars.
Indies are in editing hell from day one, yet they push on for the love of the story.
Indies have to deflect that question; Have I read anything you wrote? (Okay, I always answer this with a wide-eyed stare, "You can read???")
Indies have questions, problems,life and everything else that the legacy authors have,but they have built their empires alone. There are lots of Indies who made it big, who had stories to tell that people loved.

So what's with Patterson and the rest of the (almost always an older and popular) authors who give a f**K about how others are publishing? Why should they care? My life, my book, none of their business.

In my book, Betrayed by an Angel, a publisher once told me it couldn't be accepted because the hero doesn't enter the picture until the second chapter. Like there's a rule that the heroine and hero have to meet in the first five-ten pages. My main man is a runaway angel and the set up is when the heroine discovers she was supposed to die, but her guardian saved her and was banished to earth. Now she has to hunt him down. Could I have changed it and had him appear on page five? Probably. But I liked my book as it was written. It flowed and made sense. So I put it up on Amazon. Go read it and tell me what you think? (Insert shameless plug here.)

My book, my decisions. Why is this a problem to other authors? Please! Someone explain it to me!

The Indies are out there and they're ready to give you a wonderful read. Go find them and when you do, leave a review to make them smile and keep them writing.

The Amazon Hate Game

I've been over at Konrath's blog and reading about all those who are mad at Amazon for offering thousands of writers a chance at their dreams. Konrath (love this guy) has it right. Go check it out.

He sites a few articles that are bashing Amazon including Patterson's attempt to come to the aid of his publishing house. Wait, I thought I read somewhere that Patterson had a team of ghosts and didn't even write his own books anymore? (Hey Jim! It shows!) I have to wonder; what's the point? Why wouldn't an author want to control his own work? Is Patterson so rich that it doesn't matter anymore?

I went Indy a few years ago and don't have half the stuff up that I should have by this time. I worry too much about the polishing and I'm always working on my next book. There are too many books to write and too little time. There are several reasons I went Indy and none had to do with money. Don't get me wrong, any money would always be nice, but that didn't push my decision. I went Indy because I just want to write. There is where the joy lives.

If I were with a publishing house and scored the contract as a romance writer, I doubt they'd like it if book two of three were a mystery or a zombie book, or that vampire idea I've been cooking. If I had a contract I'm sure I'd lose a bit of control. My work would be a shared decision with someone in an office that makes decisions, not on my work alone, but on several factors. Climate of the industry, length of the book, what's hot, and their own personal preferences.

Bah!

How many ditched the the Harry Potter book for some of those reasons? Why did they make that decision? The quality of the book was probably not the issue, yet they still rejected it.

One of the criticisms of Indy books is the quality of the book, but that doesn't really fly, does it? I've seen books come from the big publishing houses that had typos and grammatical errors. I've read lots of traditionally published crap. Sometimes my hand itches for that red pen! Then I've read Indies who are outstanding and some with problems. There's really not a big difference in quality between traditional and Indy.

So why go Indy? Or better yet, why not?

Control is an awesome thing when it comes to your own work.