Today I’m super excited because I’m teaming up with fellow author and YouTuber, Natalia Leigh, to talk to you guys about the different things you should plan for when publishing a book. In my video, I’ll be talking about using advanced reader copies, finding readers, finding your author platform, creating a book trailer, launching your book and marketing your book. Be sure to also check out Natalia’s video because she’ll be talking about formatting your novel, cover design, finding an editor and beta readers!

There’s a lot that goes into self-publishing a novel. Ultimately, the success of your novel is dependent completely on yourself. For my side of this collab, I’m going to assume you’re planning for all things Natalia talked about in her video and that now we’re reading to move forward and start to think about how you’re going to find people to read your book.

Author Platform

If you’re a self-published author you need to have an established online presnse. You have to adapt to the idea that to sell books you not only have to be a writer, but you have to be a creator. This doesn’t mean you have to make YouTube videos like myself, but it does mean that maybe you should find some sort of place on the internet that works for you. This may mean writing a blog or hosting chats on Twitter. If you want to learn more about how to establish your online presence, check out my Marketing for Authors playlist on YouTube.

Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs)

Creating ARCs of your book is a great way to get people excited about your novel. Not only will you have people reading your book before it comes out, but when people are sent an ARC, you must make them aware that by accepting the ARC, this means that they will write an honest review of the book in return. This means that you should have reviews of your book on Goodreads and Amazon before it published. The more reviews a book has, the more likely someone will buy it.

You can send out advanced reader copies of your novel through Kindle by getting a user’s Kindle email, or you can mail someone a physical copy of the book. The process to send out ARCs can get a little complicated, so if you want a video on how to do it, let me know in the comments below!

Book Trailer

Book trailers are a really fun way to market your book, but by no means is it necessary. Both my novels, Essence and I am Mercy, have had a book trailer the released before the book was published.

 

Watch my YouTube video on How to Make a Book Trailer. But keep your eye out for a new one in the future, because I’ll be making an updated version with more information!

Launching You Book

One of the most important days for your book will be the day it officially comes out. This is the day you hit the publish button and your novel is released to the world. On your launch day, you want to try to sell as many copies as possible, because then Amazon and Google will rank you book higher on the sales scale and the higher on the scale you are, the more likely people will see your book and buy your book. I have a video on How to Host a Book Launch, as well as How to Arrange a Blog Tour. I also have more videos coming soon about what to do the day your book launches and how to host a virtual book signing, so hit the subscribe button if you haven’t already so you can be the first to see it!

Marketing Your Book

Everything I’ve talked about to this point, all leads back to this final step. Marketing your novel. The whole time you’re getting ready to publish this book, you should be talking about it online. If you’re excited, your readers will be too! Marketing means creating an online presence, connecting with readers and keeping everyone up to date about your book. This can be as simple as sending out tweets or as complex as creating a marketing strategy. With that said, next week I do plan on making a video on how to use social media to market your book, so stay tuned!

That’s it for today’s blog! If you plan on self-publishing a novel, tell me about it down below! Do you plan on using any of these tips? Were there any tips I missed? 

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