So, it’s official! I’m a published author, and now all my castle-in-the-sky dreams have come true, right? Um, you don’t know me that well yet if you think this is where I plan to stop. A spectacular, surreal moment to savor, yes, but an end, this is not.
I’m currently writing a short story/novella between books 1 and 2 (1.5?) that tells the beginning of book 1 from another point of view. l’m also writing book 2, currently titled Balance Broken.
You can also now find the book to buy, review, and share on these sites: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. (iBooks is coming soon.)
Busy girl, I am.
But this post is really about giving you homework. I am, after all, a high school teacher. If you love me the way I think you do, then you want to help me spread the word about Justice Buried!
The remainder of this post was inspired by this one on an informative and entertaining blog called Writer Unboxed. A lot of the ideas on that post are more helpful for traditionally published authors, rather than independently published authors. So, here are my…
Top Five Ways to Help an Indie Author
1. Buy the book. Obvious, right? But keep in mind that at this point, it isn’t always about money. The more books your author sells in a short period of time, the higher they go on the mysterious Amazon lists . These lists can make them more visible to new people – new sales!
2. Share and share alike, and like everything. These days, every website has multiple ways to tell everyone everything. So use the share and like and pin buttons on every social media and store website that carries your author’s book. This way, your indie author has exponential share power.
3. Leave reviews and/or ratings. We are all busy people, and we often rely on other’s opinions to help us to the research grunt work. So if your author has a handful of reviews and ratings (even if they aren’t all 5 star!) people are more likely to purchase than if there are no reviews.
4. Ask your local library, schools, and independent bookstores to consider carrying the book. (Chain bookstores often don’t have the power to choose.) Many authors (including me!) are also willing and happy to do virtual or local visits for school groups and book clubs.
5. Make the world a smaller place. We all know people who know people, in that whole six degrees of separation way. Suggest the book or author to someone – you never know who might end up with the information. Indie authors don’t have big advertising budgets, and they rely on word of mouth (or keyboard) to spread their books.
I hope these have sparked a few ideas in your mind about helping your favorite independent or self-published author, or even a traditionally published author. Help us share our books, and we’ll keep writing them for you!
What other ways can you think of to help spread the word?