If you define ‘success’ as making savvy business decisions by placing ideas on a dartboard and then putting a blindfold over your eyes and playing a game of chance… well, then, yes, yes, I am successful at marketing. Just kidding, sort of. In actuality, the best way to learn and grow is to network. Meet fellow authors in your genre and industry, especially the ones who are cleverer and more experienced than you are (I begrudgingly admit).
When I first self-published in December of 2017 I was in for a rude awakening. Little did I know that marketing would be tougher than finishing my first novel that I’d been working on since 2012.
I am a young adult author so I felt it in my best interest to seek out my peers. So I decided to join a closed Facebook group called “An Alliance of Young Adult Authors”. Best decision I’ve ever made. If you’re like me and you like to stay low-key, maybe lurk and stalk from the shadows, this is the place for you. When I first joined, I stayed silent and watched. It didn’t take me long to figure out that everyone else was going through the exact same thing I was. Getting your brand out there is hard. It’s boots on the ground slogging through thick mud. I wish there was a simple and easy answer to this quandary.
Today, I don’t have a problem piping up in these forums to ask questions because I know these authors are there to help. They are very welcoming and even enjoy giving their expert opinions to newbie Indie authors like myself. They have been in the exact same spot at you have.
Attend conventions. Did I say network? Talk to people. Surf the web. Read books that were recommended by fellow authors. I attended Florida’s Indie Bookfest this year and went to classes on Facebook ads, marketing, and even a session on how to up your social media presence by using Bookstagram (If you don’t know what this is – search Instagram for hashtags and get ideas for self promotion). IndieBRAG was a great platform I took advantage of as well. I was overjoyed to learn that The Outcasts – The Blood Dagger: Volume 1, had received an IndieBRAG Medallion.
I can’t say it enough, social media is your friend not your enemy. I recommend checking out MD Coopers’ book – “Help My Facebook Ads Suck”
And remember, always be kind to your fellow author – whether they’re self-pubbed, trad-pubbed or just starting, you never know where they’ll be later on in life.
Before taking up writing, she has had a long career in law enforcement. Besides the self-torture of writing books, she also loves the self-torture of running. Misty is currently working on book three of her young adult trilogy in ‘The Blood Dagger’ series.
When not writing, Misty enjoys reading any books by Jim Butcher, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Joe Hill and J.K. Rowling.
A lot of author’s write about pets on their bio’s… Misty has a grumpy old rescue parakeet named Peeta (as in The Hunger Games).
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