With the upcoming release of “Beyond Dark 1: Belladonna”, I have been immersed in book marketing research. The bane of authors. Personally, it makes me want to pour another whiskey and lament about how much I hate marketing. Some of us simply aren’t salespeople. I am one of those authors.
Various Google searches about marketing turned up many sites that discussed Amazon and the perks of its exclusivity. In my humble, unknown writer opinion, I equate exclusivity with selling your soul to a giant corporation who is raking in royalties off your back while readers who don’t use Amazon miss out.
(Image by Perfecto_Capucine from Pixabay)
But who doesn’t use Amazon? I don’t, for one. I use Kobo, where I buy eBooks and subscribe to Kobo Plus. As a reader, it is frustrating to get recommended a book or find one on Goodreads, to find it’s only available on Amazon. From all of those sites that swear by KDP, many authors think it’s the best way to market. It is effective for those who are willing to go the exclusive route. Those enrolled in KDP Select who pay for advertising there don’t have to worry as much about where else to market outside social media, Goodreads and BookBub.
Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, posted his 2021 Publishing Predictions, in which he discussed authoritarianism vs democratization within the publishing world. In it, he said: “Authoritarians promise overly simplistic solutions to complex problems.”
Basically, when we put too much reliance into one power, or a select few, it eliminates options and enables said powers to further take advantage of authors who already live within an industry full of scammers and rip offs trying to profit off our dreams.
How do we take that power back? Well, in the words of Tom Petty, “I’m taking control of my life now.” If exclusivity isn’t your thing, then follow this blog and this series – I’m going to discuss my research on marketing outside of Amazon. We have options. But we don’t always know about it. I’m going to open this series with the ultimate tool in author marketing, over which we have complete control.
Your author website becomes your own corner of the internet which you can personalize and make your own. It should bleed your author brand and personality while maintaining simplicity and ease of use.
There are several site builders that are free and of decent quality. Personally, I use Wix. I love the ease of use, the short learning curve, and simple designs. There are templates with which to set up your site. Lots of creative freedom. Spend a little time on Google researching the different sites and which ones offer which. I am by no means an expert in this area. Based on my own reading, it looks like Wix and Weebly come with the best reviews. Keep in mind, you’re going to want something that also offers growing room as your career expands. You’ll publish more books, post more things and need to create more pages. You’re going to want to be creative with how you use the space. Give yourself that room. Wix allows you to set up a shop right on your website as well – hello, book merch sales? Why not? New income stream! I’ve seen poets on Instagram sell coffee mugs and other merch with their poetry on it. Poetry books don’t sell too well, but we all love pretty quotes on things we can display.
Let’s not get too far ahead. Leave that for the growing room. There are some basics every author needs on their website before anything – and I only learned these recently. It led me to revamp my own site to ensure it included the following:
(Image by Sofia Iivarinen from Pixabay)
Subscription Box
Ensure readers can subscribe to your mailing list right away. Note that on many sites, the subscribe box is either on the home page, at the top, or shows up in a pop-up box. This mailing list gives you access to your readers so you can send out newsletters about updates, new releases and more. Before you plan out the exquisite details of your design, plan where you want the subscription box to go. I made my own home page a sort of welcome page, with my name and a subscription box, and below that an arrow to enter the rest of the site. Anyone who comes to that page knows whose website they’re on and they see the subscription box.
A book page!
This is where you display your books and where they are available in all their glory. You can play around with this. I kept mine pretty simple. Cover images, short descriptions and where they are available. This is the first page I have after the welcome one. Don’t forget to add “buy” buttons to this page, and link it to where you want readers to purchase your book. You could add multiple buttons for different distributors.
Contact the Author
Give readers a way of contacting you. Mine has the icons for my social media and then a contact box linked to my author email. (Another word of advice – make a new email for your author life. It will soon take over your main email. I use mine for conversing with cover designers, my editor, any writing blogs I’ve subscribed to, and more. It makes life MUCH easier.)
The blog
Wix is wonderful and provides a free blog with your website. I don’t know about Weebly or the others, but if they don’t, then Wordpress caters specifically to bloggers. I’ve used it previously. I started my Wix website and decided it was easier to have both in one place. But Wordpress was good to me for many years prior. A steeper learning curve in terms of design, but if that’s not a problem, then it provides a great place for blogging. Again, take a look around, read reviews, and decide what will work best for you.
A blog provides a way of offering readers insight into your writing world. I’ll be the first to admit I am terrible at consistently posting things, so for 2021 I am trying something different – monthly planned posts with book reviews in between, and whatever else comes up that I may post. I enjoy sharing my writing research, updates, and random pieces or poetry. Ideas can be found on Pinterest or other writing sites. But regardless, make it you. Find your voice, find who you want to be on your blog. Who do you want to be towards your readers? How do you want them to see you? I’m still figuring this out for myself. My blog over the years has been a personal journal for my mental health (sometimes still is), a home for my poetry, random writing rants, and more recently I have been posting research dumps from my novels.
Take your time
Look around at other author websites for inspiration. Decide what theme will go well with your personality and your books. I decided on a dark floral vibe to accompany the fact that “Beyond Dark” focuses on female serial killers and much of my poetry has references to wildflowers. It’s a vibe I’ve always loved. I used a combination of my book covers and quote images, with stock photos off Pixabay, which is free to use.
Most of all, have fun. It’s your corner of the internet. The home for your books, your writing life, the first place your readers should go to know everything they need to contact you and buy your books. It’s your little world you can keep simple or expand on.
I hope this has been helpful! I am not sure what the next post will be about, but it will be up next month! Thanks for reading!
Mark Coker's 2021 Publishing Predictions can be found on his blog.
And I found a list of reviews for website builders here!
If you guys know of any more, or have anything to add, let me know in the comments! And share with anyone who may need help getting started.
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