A Philhellene Writes

Independent author Tony Whitefield has been profiled by the Greek Herald. Tony explains how his love for Greek culture, landscape and history led to him writing several works on history and fiction.

““I never ever thought that I could write a novel,” Tony said.

I’m a great believer that anyone can write, and having been a high school teacher for years, I thought, well I’ve written lots of articles, listing things and curriculum things and I’ve completed a master’s thesis and a PhD, so I just wanted to take that next step and commence writing.”
The 64-year-old said what he loved most about writing was the “aha moments.”
“I just love when I’m focused on such miniscule things and I can’t work out how to construct something, so I go away and clear my mind. Then, when I come back and start typing, it clicks,”

— Tony Whitefield, via the Greek Herald

The Publisher's Paradox, or, The Author's Dilemma

Some very good advice and an ansight into the publishing process from experienced editor Euan Mitchelle. Excerpted from his book “Your Book Publishing Options”

The Publishers’ Paradox

Publishers want a submission that is different yet has been done before.

A paradox is a statement that appears to contradict itself yet contains a slippery truth. How can publishers expect something different – that is, new – but somehow it has been done before? This doesn’t seem to make sense. The answer is that publishers want evidence your genre or type of book is already selling in viable quantities, and your submission has at least one marketable point of difference from the existing competition.

Remember the example of the new atlas on page 31? If you think your book can’t be pigeonholed into an existing genre or combination of genres (cyborg-romance, gothic-crime), think again. This can be particularly confronting for fiction writers, as I found when my first manuscript was summed up by publishers as a coming-of-age/on-the-road tale. Up to that point it was my unique story that I didn’t like to categorise.

To a publisher it was just another text whose commercial potential could be guesstimated. Therein lies the key difference that your submission needs to overcome.

You are going to improve your chances of pitching to a publisher if you can put yourself in their shoes. But I have read too many submissions – in my later role as a publisher – that are self-centred (including a new writer’s career goals), rather than focused on how a book might fit with the publisher’s existing list of titles. The following alternatives aim to turn an ordinary submission into an extraordinary pitch.

IngramSpark Drops Setup Charges But Adds Another Fee

In welcome news, IngramSpark have dropped their excessive new title charges, and also removed revision charges if corrections are made within 60 days. This aligns them better with their competitors at Kindle Direct Publishing. The revision fees were particularly egregious — one of the advantages of Print On Demand is the ability to correct and update when necessary, unlike long print runs, and IngramSpark were effectively penalising people for doing so.

Of course, what one hand giveth, the other hand taketh away — a new ‘Global Distribution Fee’ has been added:

Effective July 1, 2023, a market access fee will be charged for every print book sold through Ingram’s Global Distribution network, reaching 40,000+ bookstores, retailers, libraries, and schools. The fee will be 1% of the list price of the title sold. For example, if your book has a US list price of $20.00, the market access fee will be $0.20 cents. 

Hybrid Publishing

Books + Publishing recently published a fairly lengthy and nuanced discussion on the state of ‘hybrid publishing’ in Australia. The article defines hybrid publishing as “a situation where ‘a writer pays money for publication, and grants the company a licence of rights or the company takes a share of any profits”. Hybrid Publisher Shawline Publishing is mentioned, along with their recent opening of a bookstore in Ballarat focused on promoting indie authors. Their Facebook page is here.

Books + Publishing also posted a useful checklist for authors considering signing on with a hybrid publisher. Reedsy’s take on hybrid publishing is here.

Independent authors and making a living

Book marketing guru Joanne Penn practises extreme financial openness, breaking down her book sales by format, genre and country… Her advice is always worth considering.

WorkingType Studio Publishing Information Pack updated for 2022

Please click here to download our updated client information pack, containing much practical information and advice from other authors.

Managing Your Expectations as a First-time Author

It’s often said that everyone has at least one book in them. Good. A thriving culture is loaded with storytellers of both fact and fiction. You don’t have to be a mega-seller to enrich yours and other people’s lives with your writing. If you have written your first book, then what should you reasonably expect in terms of publication and success?

The biggest myth to bust is that your book will sell itself. Yes, your words might be captivating; yes, you might have a stunning cover; yes, you are wrung out from the many months or years of effort to create a retail-ready book; but – and it is an important but – are you genuinely ready to promote your book? Promotion is a whole other game, which requires planning, strategy and many hours of intense work. Just when you thought you could sit back, relax and wait for the phone to ring!

Creating a print book, ebook or audiobook for a global readership has never been easier. That’s the good news. However, this also means there are millions more first-time authors around the planet competing for the attention of readers. It is often said in the book publishing industry that 95% of new titles will sell fewer than 100 copies. This includes traditionally published as well as self-published titles. A sobering statistic.

In Australia, ABC Radio is the most accessible and effective network for publicising new books. Yes, TV would be even better, but good luck getting that level of exposure unless you are already a celebrity or well-connected with TV insiders. Perhaps you think a good review in a newspaper, magazine or journal should sell truckloads. Not really. Even though a review is typically more objective than listening to a radio interview of an author spruiking the wonders of their latest title, potential readers usually find the subjectivity of the author more engaging. And what about commercial radio? Yes, this can work, but more book buyers listen to the ABC.

But before you pick up the phone to dial your local ABC Radio station, you need to know that, as a rough average, they will be able to publicise only about 1 in 20 of the books they receive. And every day a particular show at a metropolitan station, like 774 (Melbourne) or 702 (Sydney), might receive 20, 30 or more books seeking an interview for their author. This includes traditionally published authors.

Believe it or not, you can beat these odds, like I did, and score interviews with ABC Radio stations in capital cities, if you write an engaging one-page media release with a headline that hooks your potential interviewer. You will need to post a copy of your book along with your media release addressed to a particular announcer or their producer, who you’ve researched online. You might even go that extra metre with a follow-up phone call a few days later to see if they received your ‘media kit’.

If this all sounds like too much hard work, then why not Google freelance book publicists? Yes, you can do this, but don’t be surprised if a professional’s publicity campaign costs $5,000 or even $10,000 with no guarantee of success. Yes, really. Unfortunately, even that amount of money cannot guarantee high-profile announcers at key radio stations will choose you and your book. You might receive some incidental publicity opportunities, such as a community radio interview, but these will be lucky to translate into significant sales.

The above is an outline of how to pitch your print book to the traditional media: radio, print, TV. Of course, you can also promote your book on social media. If you have only an ebook version of your title, then you can forget about traditional media (who expect your book is important enough to warrant a print edition to be worthy of broadcast time) and focus all your promotional efforts online. The best material I have found on how to promote your ebook is a free downloadable guide titled Let’s Get Digital by David Gaughran, an Irish writer living in Portugal. Google him and also sign up for his regular and very helpful emails.

Then there are paid-for ebook marketing services, such as BookBub and similar companies like Book Gorilla, The Fussy Librarian, Freebooksy and Booksends. They all have various terms and conditions that may or may not suit you and your budget. Or Google the website of Alessandra Torre Ink and check out her resources and courses that show authors how to use Goodreads to attract and retain readers. There are numerous other ways to promote your ebook and/or print book, but you get the idea: marketing know-how is crucial if you want to compete successfully.

The above suggestions all point to one difficult-to-escape conclusion: first-time authors need a solid marketing plan to compete in the marketplace. Yes, your launch might sell 40 or 50 copies of your book to family and friends, but how do you become one of the 5% of authors who sell more than 100 copies? A good marketing plan can take a year or more to create.

“That said, how do you measure success? Is it only through the quantity of public sales of your book?”

That said, how do you measure success? Is it only through the quantity of public sales of your book? In 1998 I had a self-published bestseller that was short-listed for a readers’ choice award and the screen rights were licensed by a film company (even though the movie didn’t go into production). However, now all the glitter from publicity and sales has well and truly settled, I can offer you another perspective on what success means. I’ve long since spent all the money I earned from that bestseller – a healthy five-figure sum – but when I calculated the total number of hours I put into writing and promoting that book, approximately one thousand, my hourly rate wasn’t much more than the minimum wage. Another sobering statistic.

With the advantage of more than two decades of hindsight, there are three enduring measures of success from my self-published bestseller experience – and it wasn’t the money!

Firstly, it was the satisfaction of actually finishing that book, because there are so many millions of writers who have half-finished manuscripts that never see the light of day. But I got mine done. I beat the odds against me completing that book. I didn’t die wondering. Not ‘I coulda, woulda, shoulda …’

Secondly, it was the legacy value for my children. My book offers them a snapshot of a time in my life that was so different yet so similar to their own, and the passing of time increases the value of that story to them. I still regret that my family had only just started recording the stories of my paternal grandfather when he died in 1977. It was like a library had burned down. His stories may or may not have been bestseller material, but the small number I heard revealed fascinating insights into our family history through two world wars and two depressions.

Thirdly, my book is now permanently stored in the National Library of Australia (NLA) and also my state library. By law in Australia, a print or electronic copy of every published book must be sent to the Legal Deposit units of the NLA and your state/territory library. You can be fined if you don’t. But the pay-off is that your book becomes a permanent part of Australia’s cultural history collection, which can be accessed by anyone online via Trove. If you have never used the NLA’s Trove search engine, then use Google to see what treasures await your discovery.

“Now, with the advantage of perspective, I can see this type of commercial success is fleeting, yet a different sense of success can endure. What will be the enduring measures of your book’s success?”

In summary, if I hadn’t had a bestseller and I told you that personal satisfaction, family legacy and contributing to Australia’s cultural heritage are the three enduring measures of my book’s success for me, then you would probably dismiss these claims as rationalising my lack of success in the marketplace. But I did sell many thousands of copies of my book and enjoyed the publicity while it lasted. Now, with the advantage of perspective, I can see this type of commercial success is fleeting, yet a different sense of success can endure. What will be the enduring measures of your book’s success?

Dr Euan Mitchell is an author and former senior editor for a major publisher.

He can be emailed via mitchell.words at gmail.com

Shirley la Planche, author of The Fatal Path

Shirley La Planche emailed with a brief account of the recent progress of her excellent thriller The Fatal Path.

“It’s not easy being a self-publisher but I’ve sold more than 100 books to friends and associates and the reports back have been fantastic – couldn’t put it down, read until finished, great plot, scary – sort of comments that are what a thriller should do. Now I’m looking at ways of getting it into mainstream media which his not easy for a self-publisher because reviewers prefer to deal with a big publisher.”

This excellent, fast-paced book is available via the Mosh Shop and Amazon. Initial reviews on Goodreads have been positive.

Recommended texts for Independent authors:

Independent authors are faced with a bewildering new world when they attempt to promote their books on snd offline. The following authors and sources do an excellent job of making sense of the contemporary publishing and promotional landscape, and all are worth reading.

Euan Mitchell's Your Book Publishing Options

How to Be an Author from Fremantle Press

Let's Get Digital by David Gaughran

Ricardo Fayet's How to Market an ebook

Amazon Ads Unleashed by Robert J. Ryan

Amazon Selling Services from Helium 10

Author 2.0 Blueprint by Joanna Penn

Online Resources and Advice for Independent Authors

If you are a veteran writer who has been in the industry before the internet boom, you may already have known what it was like when writers had to struggle with writing and even more so trying to find a good publisher. This could be why the market stayed relatively small. At least for the talented ones with limited resources and had geographical challenges.

Fortunately, nowadays, with some knowledge and the willingness to labor for your niche and craft, you finally get the opportunity. That is the chance to be able to reach an audience base that would otherwise have taken you forever to find.

 Let's look into some of our recommendations of the best sources on resources for Independent Authors.

Let's Get Digital: How to Self-Publish, And Why You Should (Fourth Edition) (Let's Get Publishing Book 1) by David Gaughran

About the author:
Apart from being an author of a practical guide such as "Let's Get Digital," David writes historical fiction and science-fiction books under a pen name. This particular book has undergone revisions to meet the needs of the self-publishing writer of today, And it includes bonus resources as well. His engaging writing style is simple enough to understand but not to the point of being too simplistic. He covers the essential basics such as:

• Using tried and tested marketing strategies that work to increase sales of your book

• Getting the best editors without spending a ton.

• Attracting more readers by improving how your brand is presented.

• Making your eBooks easy to find, and so much more.

Our Take:

This book will help the new writer who wants to do it right the first time. That is, getting discovered and earning well in the process. Remarkably, it doesn't only cater to newbies but will also be a helpful resource for the more experienced writer who needs updates to this ever-changing landscape of internet publishing.

Overall, this resource is as comprehensive and as informative as you can get. It is a complete go-to reference for both the new and veteran writers alike.

How to Market a Book: Overperform in a Crowded Market (Reedsy Marketing Guides Book 1) by Ricardo Fayet

Ricardo Fayet is an author/consultant and co-founder of Reedsy, an online marketplace that connects authors with editors, cover designers, translators, and publishers. The platform has been successfully helping hundreds in marketing, online ads, growing their mailing lists, and establishing news streams of income.

About the Book

The book itself is a comprehensive distillation of years of coaching and teaching writers to become full-time authors and eventually make a good living out of their writing skills. Just be aware that some points of view of this author are not of an independent publishing writer since he works as a marketer and concentrates on the publishing business.

Nevertheless, you will find everything you need in this book on how to maximize the tools of the internet to snag better revenue and increase readership. He even includes essential tips on logo design to make your book appear even more attractive.

Our take:

This book is all about finding your market and growing it-a practical way of looking at things to help you keep your passion by being profitable too.

Amazon Ads Unleashed: Advanced Publishing and Marketing Strategies for Indie Authors (Self-publishing Guide.) by Robert J Ryan

This book goes into reaching in and tapping into a buying audience and converting clicks into sales. It also talks about what types of ads to avoid and the best practices for optimization. It does a no-nonsense look at how Amazon Ads works. Most of the time, it challenges the effectiveness of Amazon ads and offers methods on how to maximize them and make them work for you.

It takes on a more rigid stance compared to the softer views of other books. Nevertheless, being on top in sales rank and being one of the best sellers in this category does make it a credible source. This is especially if the friend who recommends it to you has already doubled their revenue.

Our Take:

If this book is recommended and in itself has sold more than the others of the same category, then it should be a must-have. Never mind that it is hard to read, provided that it is rich in reference and is an expert in the subject matter at hand, it will profit the author both in the short and long term.

Amazon Selling Services from Helium 10

Helium 10 is an all-in-one Amazon software that will help you sell your self-published book. Assembly recently acquired this software in 2019, which was aimed at helping small businesses increase their revenue through the use of content, education, and community. This software makes use of state-of-the-art resources that contain optimization tools that are intuitive and useful to help you grow your business.

It focuses on research and boosting the visibility of your product in the Amazon search engine.

Our Take:

Helium 10 doesn't claim to produce great listings directly, nor does it promise to increase your revenue for you automatically. But with its advanced management tools puts you in a position that will give you all the opportunities to promote your product on the world's bestselling platform. Not to mention that, currently, Helium 10 is an industry leader in its category today.

With over 1+ million users and 4 billion+ in monthly Amazon GMV, it lets its numbers speak for themselves. And for writers who like real-time marketing leverage using technology, this software is precisely what you need.

The Creative Penn with Joanna Penn

A bestselling author of New York Times and USA Today, Joanna Penn is also a podcaster, speaker, and an awarded entrepreneur. Enough said about her credibility. Ms. Penn has authored over 30 books and sold more than 600,000 copies in 162 countries, translated into 5 languages.

She is offering her book for aspiring writers entitled: "Author 2.0 Blueprint".

She has her website "The Creative Penn."m where she aims to help writers learn the basics of building a "platform" to market a book. She shares her personal experience over the past few years, detailing how she effectively marketed her book and generated and still generates sales as a best-selling author.

Our Take:

Her book "Author 2.0" is now available for free of which can be downloaded directly from her site after you sign up. The book itself is not about writing your best but how to market after writing your masterwork. Learning the pros and cons of publishing with necessary apparatuses like advances, contacts, and royalties, all these coming from the pro herself, is definitely worth the read.

Conclusion

Today, the book publishing landscape for authors has been turned on its head, as it carries both opportunities and some risks. Even minute details like logo design may make or break your masterpiece Self-publishing has finally arrived. And investing in your education on how to do it ultimately pays well in the long run.

Writer: Kieran Fallon is the owner of Logo Design company Éire Graphic Design. We are here to help your organization become more memorable through designing striking logos, eye-grabbing flyers, posters that pop, exciting animated emails and dynamic lightweight digital advertising campaigns – always backed by flexible and insightful support.

Steve Nurse Discusses his New Book "Cycle Zoo"

Steve (right) with Jesse Heath, OzHpv Challenge 2021 Photo John Hagan

There is a saying in recumbent bike manufacture, “The best way to make a small fortune making bikes is to start with a large fortune” and the same thing can be said about self-publishing a book. Its hard to rely on self-publishing to make money. It might happen, but don’t bank on it! In the first instance self-publishing should be about wanting to get your message out. 

To get to my book story, I have been building and designing bikes since about 1987, went on the first long-distance rides on bikes I’d built around 2000, and wrote the first version of my Cycle Zoo book in about 2009. Back then I wrote, edited, illustrated and laid out the whole book, and supplied finished pdfs to Publishing Solutions. They then organised the ISBN and printing of about 1000 copies.

After that it was up to me to sell and distribute the books but that was difficult. Sometimes I’d take books to bookshops to sell, and they’d never pay. It was impossible for me to sell all the books, so I still have boxes of books in the back of cupboards at home. However the first edition of the book helped with entry into an industrial design master’s degree which gave me paid work designing bikes for 2 years. Putting it out was worth it just for that.

I’ve stayed in touch with a couple of the contacts I made after the first book. I designed a cycling board game and Anki Toner put that on his cyclingboardgames.net website. Link here. And I was interviewed by Chis Starr at 3cr. I usually attend local recumbent bike gatherings and this didn’t stop. As well I’ve kept on building bikes, and became the editor of the Australian Human Powered Vehicle Magazine Huff.

Somewhere along the way I got the urge to write a book came again, and I had enough new material to add to my previous book so set about rewriting Cycling Zoo. Fairly early in the process I got editor Neil Conning and book designer Luke Harris on board. I conversed with and interviewed a few people involved in cycling to broaden the book’s appeal, and I’m happy how the stories came out. So Adam Hari about spoke about speedbikes, Gayle Potts about refurbishing bikes for refugees, Nell Sudano about electric bikes and teaching cycling, and Alyson Macdonald about boardgames and her cycling.

Publication for the new book is by print on demand, so the book is available anywhere in the world, and is printed in quantities as small as one in the nearest printing centre including Melbourne, the UK and the USA. I have ordered and sell or give away copies for myself, family, friends and reviewers. Normally I will give away books to reviewers. An example is Chris Starr who volunteers for and runs the Yarrabug Cycling show on 3cr.

Where to buy Steve’s book:

On Bookdepository

On Booktopia

On Amazon

After a phone interview with Chris, she mixed the show and put up a podcast page for the show, a resource I can use to let people know about the book. She deserves at least a free book for her efforts. The weblink is here .

Anki Toner really only wants to document every cycling board and card game no matter how obscure, and a lot of these are based on European races such as the Peace Race, Tour de France, Vuelta D’Espana and Giro D’italia.  An example is here, analysis of the games is well researched and concise. But he was happy to showcase a new game I had developed and put online, called Cycle Challenge. He’s included a link to my book page in his excellent coverage of my game which is all you can ask for.

Adam Hari features in my chapter about speedbikes, which are fully enclosed, highly aerodynamic cycles designed to break speed records. I was happy to mail him a book at cost, and he was happy to publicise it on his Instagram, showing a video of the book pages involving him and his machines.

Coming up in early October  I will be part of the Laidbackbike report Youtube series but meanwhile I will continue improving websites, contacting potential reviewers, contacting those mentioned in the book, and working on ebook versions. I put a book poster on the side of one of my bikes yesterday and have already been asked about it (a mum and her kids caught up to me on their electric bike and were chattering furiously) so will work on improving that too.

Have fun promoting your book. Selling oodles of copies and making money might be your initial aim but you might come away with something more valuable..

Leaning trike with poster.

8 Steps to Self-Publish Your Book Like a Bestseller

Guest post contributed by Chloe Harris

If you have an idea under your belt that you genuinely believe should reach a wider audience, consider publishing your own book. Historically, authors need an agent who can convince a publisher to take a look at their manuscript. In fact, many publishing companies work only through established agents, which makes it difficult, especially for first-time authors.

Self-publishing may sound outlandish, considering all the work needed to be even noticed by readers. But with meticulous planning, creativity, resourcefulness, and proper implementation, your book can be the next bestseller.

1. Edit Thoroughly

Even you’re self-publishing, the book will go through the hands of people who will judge it. Minor errors can hinder its success. If you’ve never edited a book before, here’s a guide on how to edit a book.

Do the following to get you started.

• Wait at least a week before editing so that you can look at the book with fresh eyes.

• Review the plot and characters. Take note of significant structures. For example, do the characters have dynamic personalities? Is the conflict sensible? How is the audience going to feel about the ending?

• If you’re not ready to edit the significant elements, start with line edits. Are you using the right voice?

2. Ask for Feedback

Feedback is invaluable. The book may sound perfect to you, but are you sure that’s how readers would feel? Share your manuscript with trusted individuals and ask for feedback.

To help them make more candid feedback, create an online form to share opinions on specific elements. Also, ask them how you can improve.

Feedback may be obtained from friends, family, book critics, and writing communities.

3. Format Your Book Properly

“A professionally-formatted book sends a good impression. This part can be a bit more complicated for self-publishing authors because your book must be 100% ready for publication after this. Many authors are anxious about formatting; after all, it’s an entirely different skill from writing.”, explains Direct Appliance Rentals CEO Karina Wolfin.

Here are some formatting options.

Free formatting software: Apple Pages and Kindle Create provide free templates. However, they also cater to their own platform, which means all or some formatting options will be discard when you upload to other retailers.

Paid formatting software: Vellum ($200) and Scrivener ($45) creates beautifully formatted print versions and E-books. Plus, you can format as many files as you want with a licensed account.

Professional typesetters: For print on demand, authors usually hire a typesetter to ensure immaculate formatting. This is the most viable option, especially for printed editions, because you don’t want unevenly spaced text and images.

4. Choose a cover that converts

The cover creates the first impression to the readers. A strong cover is attractive and lets those who see it know that the book was made for them.

Consider these tips for the book design.

Striking yet sophisticated. Whether it’s a photo, an illustration, or typography, the cover should look professional.

Indicative of the genre. Some design elements are associated with specific genres. Your book cover must conform to these principles to reach the right audience.

Spine and back cover. This is only for printed versions.

Unlike formatting, the cover should be made by a professional. This is your most crucial marketing tool, and you shouldn’t take risks.

5. Maximize Your Book Description

The book description is another element that can attract readers. Here are the basics of writing a good description.

Hook the readers. Use a dramatic headline, such as a quote from a book or a strong review from a known critique. The point is to intrigue the readers.

Introduce the storyline. Don’t give away everything, though! Instead, give readers a sneak peek of what they’re going to find inside.

Create a cliff-hanger. End the description with a hint of a shocking twist or an intriguing question.

Read the descriptions of some bestsellers of the same genre, and you’ll definitely see a pattern.

6. Prepare the launching

The launch will raise awareness and jumpstart the hype about your book—just like a movie trailer.

Consider including the following in your launch plan.

Build a website. A large fraction of modern-day consumers rely on the internet for information; therefore, your book should be there. Hire a web designer to build a dedicated website for your book and follow the pointers we gave for the cover design.

Ask for the support of family and friends. People will be looking for social proof, so it would be beneficial if your family and friends promote your book on their social media accounts.

Ask for book reviews. Contact known book reviewers and politely ask them if they can review your book.

Organise a virtual launch party. Partner with influencers and send them party packages. Give a speech and ask attendees to share their thoughts about your book.

7. Publish

You’ll be glad to know that self-publishing can be fast on Amazon and other platforms.

For printed editions, the process is a bit longer. But you should have no trouble if all the materials are ready.

8. Market Your Book

The work doesn’t end after publication. The marketing campaign has started during the launch, but you still have more legwork to do.

• Reach out to relevant blogs and ask if you could write a guest post to promote your book.

• Organise events at bookstores. This can a signing, reading or Q&A.

• Work with a third-party advertising agency. Self-marketing can be exhausting, especially if your fan base is still in its early stages stage. Instead, consider hiring the services of an ad agency that specialises in reading materials.

 With so many titles being released each year in Australia, it can be hard for your manuscript to find its way to the publisher’s desk. If you think self-publishing is the best method for you, contact WorkingType for design and print solutions.

Cracking Author Websites

Independent authors should have a place online where potential readers can discover more about them and their work. It might be a social media page or a website. Here are two websites that do an excellent job of providing information about the author in a professional and interesting way. Nic d Alessandro’s and Mary Garden’s respective sites are high impact, easy to navigate and provide extended information about their work.

Useful Texts for Independent Authors

Independent authors face a tough road promoting their work, but there is a huge amount of information out there to assist them. The following four titles bring order to that information — I highly recommend all four:

Recommended texts for Independent authors:

Euan Mitchell's Your Book Publishing Options

How to Be an Author from Fremantle Press

Let's Get Digital by David Gaughran

Ricardo Fayet's How to Market an ebook

Move Over Murakami...

A recent cover design for Mundaca, an accomplished work of fiction combining Generalissimo Franco, the Basques and Australian surf culture. Spotted on the shelves of the Village Bookshop in Noosa.

Tips for Marketing Your First Book

Guest post by Chloe Harris.

Marketing your first book is never easy. And it so much harder for self-published authors these days. Thousands of titles are published in Australia each year, and Amazon alone offers around 30 million books on their website.

But don’t despair! With the right blend of marketing techniques, you could become the next best-selling author.

1. Start Marketing Months Before You Launch the Book

Creating a buzz just two weeks before the book launching won’t build the momentum you need.

According to Alister Clare, Credit Capital’s senior financial planner, the marketing should start at least 6 to 12 months before the book is released to the public. He says, “This way, you have sufficient time to build momentum. You need months to collect followers and earn their loyalty. There should also be intervals between marketing stunts so that your book can properly permeate the mind of the audience.”

2. Establish Your Brand

Figure out the persona that you want to portray. Do you want to be a mysterious whodunnit writer or an all-smiling romance novelist? Ensure that your persona reflects on the book cover, website, teasers, emails, social post, etc.

Consider asking the guidance of a branding expert on effectively building a persona.

3. Ask for a Review

Many readers base their decision on what they should read next on the reviews. Approach a respected journalist or book critic for their insights. You can also find Australian book reviewers and bloggers here.

It might take a while before they get back to you, consider thousands of other writers are also asking for their review.

4. Build a Website Dedicated for Your Book

Did you that, as of January 2021, there are already 22.31 million internet users in Australia? So, if your book still doesn’t have a dedicated website, it’s probably losing many potential readers.

Solidify your book’s online presence by investing in a professionally designed website. Make sure it has the necessary plugins to allow sharing through social media platforms.

You don’t have to load the website with information; just input the following:

●       Your biography with a recent photo

●       Summary of the book and a few teasers

●       Links to your social media profiles

●       Links to online stores where the book will be available

5. Intensify Social Media Presence

Engage more with potential readers through social media. Tell them to drop questions, and you’ll answer as much as you can. Reply to their comments on your post. Share the posts where you’re tagged. Create a unique hashtag. It’s only essential to maintain your brand voice.

6. Consider Paid Advertising

Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Amazon Ads, Bookbub Ads, etc.

Calculate if you can afford daily paid to advertise. If yes, it’s advised to hire an expert on these types of ads to maximise your investment.

Various factors can affect the performance of your ads. These include the targeted audience, relevance score, ad copy, social proof, and timing. All of these should be aligned to get the best cost-per-conversion.

Working Type is an established provider of design + layout and print solutions. Through our expertise, creativity, and passion, we’ve helped numerous authors reach the right audience.

Thoughts on a Year as a Self-Published Author

Independent author Gail Meath writes well-researched historical romances. She has summarised her first year as a self-published author in some detail, with plenty of practical tips and advice, and has kindly allowed us to post her thoughts below.

My First Year Self-Publishing:

 All or most of these sites are probably familiar to authors, but my purpose is to share my experiences and, in part, to give great credit to some sites that have either been good promotional sites or simply because their customer service was so outstanding, I wanted to pay tribute to them for helping me in my self-publishing endeavor this past year.  

 (I compiled the following list from my own experiences during my first year of self-publishing.  Everything listed should not in any way be misconstrued as advice, suggestions or any type of guidance to other authors.  I am a new author, not a best-seller or veteran, and these are my opinions only.) 

 Goodreads: 

A great place for both readers and authors.  Actually, it is an excellent place for authors!!!  My definition of this site, “The best place ever where Indy authors come together to help one another.”...through endless groups and discussions.  There are also some great author blogs that help you promote your books even more.  And, of course, a lot of fantastic readers!!

 Thank goodness I found Goodreads even before I started publishing.  I won’t go on as most/all authors know about the site, but I can’t believe how everyone has been so wonderfully helpful and I’m so grateful to all!

 A couple things to remember:

Groups have Rules!  Yes, I shamefully admit that I’m guilty of posting a link where I wasn’t supposed to (oops).     

Don’t contact readers directly to promote your book.

 Try not to change your book covers too much....you cannot get rid of the old ones!!

 Sometimes, scammers infiltrate Goodreads, so beware.  There is a ‘flag’ option for inappropriate posts (needed that once the past year).

 I’m sure their giveaway promotions are great.  The cost has been out of my reach.

 AllAuthor.com:  Free to upload books

I cannot say enough nice things about AllAuthor.com.  First, it is an extremely professional promotional website for authors that includes creating your own marketing mockups of your books: even GIFs, if you’re premium, which is about $40, I think, for four months.  Uploading and updating a book is a breeze, the author page is great with tabs for awards, reviews, etc.  And free.  They have several different promotional packages that are very reasonably priced and worth the cost.

 While the site is run by a ‘Team AllAuthor’, I have only had contact with Mady Joshi, Business Development Head.  He is fantastic to work with, answers all your questions, sends unique book mockups every week for premium and they have instagram and Facebook accounts that you can join for additional promotion opportunities.  He is exceptional.  If I were rating these sites, AllAuthor would by far surpass all others.

 VoraciousReadersOnly.com:  Free Intro/$20 Evergreen Program

This is a great site if you’re looking for an inexpensive way to reach new readers and gather some reviews...if you’re willing to give away books.  For me, I limited my book giveaways and received more reviews from their FREE intro offer rather than their $20/month Evergreen program.  They send review reminders to readers who receive your book, but during the six-week program, I received very few.  Much more during their intro.

 But Larry is wonderful to work with.  He’s the man behind-the-scenes and he will answer all your questions quickly and personally.  I was involved in this when I first started publishing and I was able to compile a nice start-up mailing list.  I grew tired of giving books away, but it was a nice place to start   

 ReaderFavorite.com:  Free to upload books and request reviews

I do love this site, too, although I believe that their ‘free’ reviews come few and far between.  For $59 you can receive a professional editorial review, which is what I believe they hold out for.  They do offer paid promos and contests...one of my books won their 2020 western, so that may explain why I’m partial to them. 

 But, despite that, I had a book that I worried wasn’t as good as my others and contacted them to see if I could pay for a review and write a message to the reviewer beforehand asking them for a brutally honest review so I could determine whether to publish the book or not.  One of their reps instantly contacted me.  He understood my dilemma and was willing to ask their top reviewer to look at it, knowing the person would be, well, brutally honest. 

 To me, he went above and beyond my expectations, so I highly recommend this site to anyone interested in what they have to offer.  I don’t believe there is anything better than having internal people/reps who are willing to help authors in any way they can.

 Bookbub.com:  Free to upload books

Another very professional site and very easy to upload books with a nice author page.  They also offer different promotion opportunities, from reasonable to costly.  I have two complaints. 

 To change a book cover, description, etc., you need to send them a note then wait until the change takes place.  At least a few days – AllAuthor, it is instant.

 Also, I set up a five-day-promotion for one of my books and used their ad template, rather than uploading my own.  My promotion began and within less than 6 hours, I received an email from them saying that I should halt my ad and change it as there hadn’t been any ‘clicks’ to it.  Huh.  I tried uploading my own ad template, but it kept getting rejected.  I gave up.

 I do know that Bookbub is supposedly a great place to market books.  Unfortunately, I am one of the few where it was not.

 Amazon KDP/AuthorCentral:

Like Goodreads and Facebook, all/most authors are already using these sites so there isn’t a whole lot more for me to add.  I use Kindle Create to upload books to Amazon Kindle and it’s a breeze, including paperback.  I had changed some book covers and a month later, I ordered author paperback copies so I could have a copy of the new cover and I received the old cover copy.  I contacted them and their rep was so very helpful.  They tossed the leftover old cover paperbacks and assured me that only the new ones would be sent in the future.  They were great.

 I do like Author Central’s new ‘author page’ setup.  They’ve been very helpful to me a couple of times.  Lately, I keep trying to bold the first line of my book descriptions and once that’s done, their fine for a while, then bold disappears again.  I need to contact them about that, but otherwise, I have enjoyed working with them.

 Draft2Digital.com/Books2Read.com:  Free marketplace for books

Only recently I discovered these sites.  They go hand-in-hand...Draft2Digital to upload books, Books2Read to connect to different retailers.  It was extremely easy to upload my books and kind of fun to watch all the retailers accumulating. 

 I did have a little trouble (surprise!) after customizing my UBL (universal link that gives buyers a snapshot of all retailers/costs for your books), I ended up with 2 UBLs each.  Their rep was super helpful, corrected the problem, walked me through each step and sent me a cool easy reference page of instructions.  I love great customer service people. 

 I haven’t been on this long enough to say much else, but I was so very impressed by them.

 Smashwords.com:  Free marketplace for books

I have a few books on this site.  Uploading books is easy, until it comes to being approved for the premium version.  This was pretty time-consuming and confusing, at least for me.  I struggled a ton with the Table of Contents.  You can download a huge file of instructions, but I finally contacted them.  One of their reps responded and was very helpful...apparently, there were hidden bookmarks in the Table of Contents and I finally, after a great deal of time, was able to fix that.

 They have a nice reporting system.  And promotional opportunities at a reasonable cost.

 Facebook:

Well, this one is universally known, so I cannot add much about it.  They do offer reasonable promotions where you determine the cost and choose targe audience.  I also belong to several other FB groups that focus on my genre of books and those are great to meet other authors and promote your books to readers.

 Pinterest.com:  Free to join and post

I use Pinterest for book specials/promos only.  You can set the amount you’re willing to spend and choose your target audience.  I usually do a $10-20 ad for a few days.  I don’t have a huge following there, but I know I have sold several books every time I advertise there.

 Alignable.com:  Free to join - Local business contacts

I believe this is available nationally, I’m not sure.  It is a sort of local business yellow-pages, although you have your own ‘page’ and can earn other business’ recommendations.  I’ve been using to connect with people in my area.  I’ve made a lot of friends there and I post my book promotions for free under ‘events’.  They also offer a paid promo through their weekly newsletter.  It’s an additional site that doesn’t consume a lot of time.

 RWA.com:  Contests & Membership - For Romance Authors Only

I was first introduced to RWA through entering one of my books into their 2020 contest.  I was not a member and the cost for me was $35 to enter.  After I won for the historical genre, I joined the group.  The cost was $124/year (I hated to spend the money, but...I was so thrilled to have won!  I received a really cool plaque and supposedly, I will be invited to an awards ceremony in FL next spring.) 

 This is a huge group and for a more social romance author, it’s probably worth the cost.  They do send out a booklet with a lot of great writing information, but it does seem to me as though they spend way more time deciding upon/voting for new admin people, than anything else.  And all their conferences, contests, etc., cost additional money rather than being included in the membership fee.  Which I kind of resent.

 BookSirens.com:

In this site, you request approval of your book before any cost passes to them.  All I can say is, they have quickly rejected all my books without any reason or explanation or even an email informing of the rejection.  I needed to go back onto the sight to find out, so I gave up on them.  Honestly, I would have thought at least one of my books deserved inclusion.  But that’s me and obviously not.  I would not rule them out until you try! 

 There are sites like Netgalley ($$ over my budget) and Bookviral (over $200), and several others, that are too expensive for me to even consider their promotions.  They are probably super sites for authors, but I cannot afford the cost.

 Several ‘smaller’ sites that offer Twitter-only to promote: 

I have not had any luck with these, but perhaps other authors have.  I didn’t want to post specific sites here, but I have been, shall I say, suckered into paying $20-50 for a few of these in the past with zero return.  Again, other authors may have had better luck.

Promote Your Book with Persistence and the Power of Networking

We asked author Pat Kelly to describe her successful efforts to market her two books set on the Isle of Man (Shadow of the Wheel and Hedge of Thorns). There’s quite a bit of detail, but it is a testament to persistence and networking (and having two excellent books to sell)

When my book, Shadow of the Wheel was accepted for publication I was not a member of Facebook but joined at my publisher's suggestion.

I happily admit to being a complete computer nerd and had no knowledge about Facebook other than that people seemed to send each other photographs of what they were about to eat. However, I dutifully joined and asked one or two people I knew to be my friends. Most of these were family, but a few were people I had known when I lived in the Isle of Man. So after a few days, I had a whole twelve 'friends'. I looked amongst their friends and put in a 'friend' request to quite a few. Some accepted, some didn't and some asked 'who are you?' From the ones who accepted I put in requests to some of their contacts. So it mushroomed until I now have over 100 contacts.

The important thing was, who some of these new friends were and the actions they took for someone who was almost, and in many instances, a complete stranger.

As the book started in the Isle of Man and I know the Manxies love their island and its history, I joined a couple of groups on the Island and saw one or two names I knew, so put in 'friend' requests to them. Several of them, on hearing about Shadow of the Wheel' got on to Amazon straight away and actually bought a copy while we were still on Facebook chatting. They enjoyed the book and some of them shared a picture of the book along with some very flattering words with all their friends. One actually said 'It is a terrific book DOWNLOAD IT NOW!' Others who had read it invited me to join another Isle of Man group they were members of. So I am now in five Manx groups and the good thing about this is that there are Manx societies all over the world, who are also members of the Isle of Man groups. So this got the word out to the world about my book.

It was a bit like throwing a pebble into a pool and watching the ripples spreead and grow.

One lady who is the secretary of the Isle of Man Family History Society, got in touch with me because she wishes to do a write up about me in the society's journal which will be out November, after which she is going to organize a write up in the local papers about me and my books and also a piece on the local radio.

Since launching Shadow of the Wheel, I have done a huge edit on a book I had published on the Isle of Man in 1993. It is a true story, as told to me by my late mother in law, telling about her childhood during the 1st World War, in a village of about 20 residents, when a huge internment camp was built in the village to house 'alien internees'. It was made rather a mess of when it was originally published, but with a lot of patient help from Luke Harris I undid all the wrongs that were done to it originally and Luke designed a beautiful new cover for it.

I re-launched it in the middle of September and put a picture of it, with a few words of explanation, out to my Manx groups. Within two hours I had enquiries from South Africa, Zimbabwe, USA and Canada asking where they could buy the book. Presumably they are Manx expats now living in these countries.

I also friended (only because she bore the same name as my beloved sister) a young girl - sixty years my junior who lives nearby and is studying journalism and history at university. She has similar interests to me and we got on like a house on fire from the moment we met. We are now close friends, she has bought and read both my books. She wrote my life story and,said a lot of flattering things about my books and took a very nice photo of me sitting on my front steps with a copy of Shadow of the Wheel as one of her assignments for university, then shared this assignment with her almost 2000 Facebook friends, including links for buying my books. Ending with a comment that they were terrific books and advising her friends to buy them.

This, to me, shows the value of choosing carefully on Facebook, then putting in requests to likely looking 'friends, contacts of theirs - and so ad infinitum.

I addition to this my friends in the Lakes Entrance senior citizens club put of a little launching morning tea for me a the club and invited a reporter from the local paper to come and take a photo. She duly did this, then called out to my house twice to interview me and did a great article about my life's history and how I came into writing. Now that Hedge of Thorns has also been launched, she is going to gake some more photos and do another little write-up.

Update #1

I had an email on Friday from one of my friends in IOM who told me that her friend, Carol Tomlinson, had just sent her a message (tongue in cheek) telling her she had just finished reading her wonderful book and didn't know she had it in her. So Pat and I exchanged a few messages about it and I told her about Hedge of Thorns, etc and she said she was going to buy them both. The following day I had a friend request from Carol Tomlinson, who had seen Pat's and my exchange. Carol and I had some long chats about my books. She had bought Shadow to read on holiday in Italy and couldn't put it down, so now she'll have to buy another book for the rest of her holiday. She said she was enjoying it so much she was very sad when it ended and asked if I would be doing a sequel.

I told her about my other books - Beyond the Seas and that at some time I am possibly going to re-launch Smugglers. She says she is going to buy Hedge of Thorns when she gets home, so I suggested she should buy it from the Knockaloe Trust rather than Amazon. She also said she is going to buy another copy of Shadow to give to her friend — who lives in Laxey — for Christmas. When I opened up her page there was huge picture of Shadow of the Wheel and a very glowing report. One of her friends thanked her for the tip and said she had just bought it and another two said they were going to.

Then yesterday I had a message from a lady who bought it not long after it was launched, but at the time said she had a few in a queue in from of it waiting to be read. She had just finished it and said she cried at the end when Jos got off the train along with the rest of the family. She also put a big picture and write up about it and sent it to all her friends.

So it still seems to be moving well over there. In addition I sold two copies of Hedge and one of Shadow to two friend in my carer support group on Friday. It's all quite exciting.

UPDATE # 2

I just thought I would bring you up to date with my latest exploits. I decided to make today a day of running around all the little businesses I could think of to see if I could make any sales.

I started with the General Store in Swan Reach. The fellow there was very happy to take some of my books and have a go, though he did say he didn't really think they would sell there. But when I came to discuss money and how much his share would be, he just flapped his hand and said they didn't do that there. Any he sells he will just give me all the dough — to quote him. So let's hope he sells some.

Then I got to Bairnsdale and my first call was to a 'cafe' I just discovered a couple of weeks ago when a friend suggested we should meet there for a cuppa. It was only afterwards that I realised that they sold school supplies, stationery etc. there. So I decided to give them a try today. The first thing I saw when I walked in the door was a little stand of books and above it said 'LOCAL AUTHORS'. When I went in, books in hand and told the lady what I was there for I thought she was going to jump over the counter and hug me. No hesitation in saying she would have some of my books. She said she takes 20 per cent, which is $2 less than I was going to offer her, so I didj't argue. She then asked if I did events, which I haven't but would be willing to. She is very involved with the Bairnsdale Show and says they have a stand there which they invite local authors to bring their books to, and they get about 60,000 visitors to the show. She says there are also other events they invite authors to.

As you know, it was a stinking hot day, so I decided to have an iced coffee while I was there and there was a lady at another table. As Charlotte (the shop lady) was putting my books on the shelf this other lady said something to her and she took one of each over to her. Then she came back to me, told me the other lady was also an author and gave me her book to look at. The lady, Leanne, was actually a poet and photographer and her pictures were absolutely stunning - all local pictures.

When I'd finished my coffee I stopped to chat to her and we spent about half an hour discussing our masterpieces. She told me the secretary of the Bairnsdale Historical Society is Manx and she thought she would probably be very interested in Hedge of Thorns. When I got up to leave she told me she was going to buy Shadow of the Wheel herself and as I went out the door I looked around and sure enough, she was at the counter buying the book.

Charlotte asked to take a photo of me with the books to put on social media. In actual fact, she stood on one side of the 'local author' stand and I stood on the other side with a book each showing the sign between us. It looked good.

When I got home I found both ladies on facebook and requested to 'friend' them. They could both prove very useful contacts.

When I left there I went to the newsagent in the main street, but the boss was out and wouldn't be back for about an hour.and it was too hot to hang around. I had also been going to try two places in Paynesvile and the general stor in Metung, but again the heat was getting to me. I'll do them and the Newsagent another day.

Solving Writing Problems with Euan Mitchell

Euan Mitchell is a highly experienced editor and independent publishing expert who teaches at Swinburne University and also takes on private editing projects. His website provides further background information. He was interviewed on writing and editing for the Garret podcast. He specialises in Story design (all genres of novel and memoir), Young adult fiction (contemporary realism focus), Novel (commercial adult fiction), Memoir, Non-fiction (educational focus) and Short story (all genres). He has written a detailed guide for creating and marketing print and ebooks, available from Amazon. Here are some of his thoughts on authors and editing:

How does a writer know when their manuscript is ready to show publishers or readers?

This is a tough question to answer precisely, but new and emerging writers should not make the classic mistake of submitting unedited work to publishers. Too many new writers think a spellcheck is sufficient because a publisher will want to edit their manuscript anyway. But publishers want to spend as little money as possible on editing. Even though publishers know that a good edit can be the best way to add value to a book, editing takes time and editors typically work for an hourly rate. If you are self-publishing, then you don’t want your readers deriding your editorial efforts as substandard all over social media. There is a world of vocal armchair pedants out there!

Over the two decades I have been helping new and emerging writers to edit or rewrite their work to a publishable standard, I have found that a free sample edit of about 1,500 words from an extended manuscript is a good way to gauge how much editorial work is needed in total. Writers can then make an informed decision about whether or not to engage my services. Writers are usually pleased when I point out specifics that can be improved. This will typically include fixing some spelling, grammar and punctuation; however, often the sample edit will reveal other aspects to address, such as: lack of clarity, awkward transitions, ‘head-hopping’ points of view, weak dialogue, tautologies, clichés, and too much use of summary or stock character descriptions. The good news is that all these problems can be fixed. A careful edit or rewrite will ensure your ideas have the best chance of connecting successfully with publishers and readers. You can email Euan to discuss your writing project via euan@euanmitchell.com

Thrill of the Chase — books by Ray Scott

Ray Scott was born in England, and for many years lived near Birmingham. Ray and his wife Mary emigrated to Australia in 1970. Ray worked in the insurance industry, in England and Australia, over 35 years and after retirement devoted his time to fiction writing.

 In 2012 he released his first novel, an e-book originally entitled “The Man Who Had Five Lives”, later re-issued as “The Fifth Identity”.  In 2014, a paperback “Cut to the Chase” was published, followed in 2017 by “The Wimmera Shoot”, another e-book. In 2019, a fourth e-book and paperback “Double Dutch” was released.Ray maintains a website here.

 Ray’s writing style is similar to top writers such as Desmond Bagley, Geoffrey Household and Eric Ambler. The books are racy and about ordinary people caught up in international or political intrigue by accident or design, who go on the run to avoid being arrested, or murdered to ensure their silence.

 “Double Dutch” includes an exciting chase through country Victoria and New South Wales. The leading character accidentally learns of an impending coup d’état in a nearby Pacific island nation, is kidnapped to ensure his silence, but escapes. Penniless and without transport, he endeavours to reach Canberra to warn ASIO of the coup.