# [UPDATED] Learned from kboards. My turn to give back. Marketing & lessons:



## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

*[UPDATED JAN 8TH 2015]* _Warning: not all paragraphs updated_

My turn to give back, especially to those starting out. _(Updated to reflect new tips and tricks I learned)_

Don't know how it would have been possible to publish my fantasy book without all the expert advice around here. On Nov 25th 2014 I hit the publish button on KDP, and watched as my book slowly gathered 21 31 sales (+40 hardcopy presales to friends here in town) and 7 10 borrows without any advertising (though I did email my paltry mailing list). That first sale was magic, and for the first time, I truly felt like a real author. _[Update: as of Jan 8, 2015, thanks to things I learned from kboards, Arcane sold 1600 copies, achieving the #1 rank in the USA and UK in its subgenre.]_

The next step is gathering reviews and advertising, all while readying books 2 and 3 in the series (both are complete and undergoing final editing and proofing). I'll be enacting a marketing campaign (which I outline in better detail on my blog here). *You can go to that link to see the results of the campaign.*

- Adwords hints: Turn off Display networks; go with the CPC model. Also, don't forget to use negative keywords (but NOT campaign wide!). Have a ton of ADs competing against each other. Weed out the poor performers, but make copies of the good ones and tweak them. Make it a Battle Royale--survival of the fittest in true Darwinian style, baby. When google eventually recommends new keywords, load up, but weed out the ones that don't apply.

- Twitter: Use Hootsuite to load up on Tweets for the day ahead (only regarding your book). Try to keep it to 2 robo tweets a day, else you'll get muted by your friends. And retweet your friend's important tweets (the tweets that you know are important to them), and don't forget to have fun and interact. See this thread on other twitter hints.

- Facebook: Don't pay for facebook ADs unless it's a link direct to Amazon, and then focus on CPC (cost per click). Avoid markets other than the US as kindle is popular mainly in the States. Use a landing page if you can to monitor progress (though bitly links work too as they show up as Amazon lins, if I recall correctly). Careful with this one--you can easily blow through your budget.

- Marketing: too much to go over in a nutshell. I made a post on kboards and goodreads that I condensed and turned into a blog post here. Will update it when I have time.

- Approach select fantasy readers/reviewers on Amazon/Twitter/Goodreads and offering them a copy of the book, following

__
https://www.reddit.com/r/1aqkjq/dos_and_donts_or_getting_reviews_for_your_book/
 Dos and Don'ts guidelines. *UPDATE:* This is tedious and kind of sucks and people don't like being reminded to review (I'd advise _against_ reminding anyone, unless you know they LOVED the book).

- Small release party here in my home town of Victoria BC (I ordered 55 copies from createspace, and of those, about 40 are pre-sold to people in town). *UPDATE: Had to order more. Party was fun. T|otally worth doing it at home. Pubs suck. And don't pay to rent a joint. Ugh, what a waste of cash that is.*

- Goodreads book giveaway as soon as my books arrive (planning on giving out 3-5 signed copies). *UPDATE:* So I ended up only doing one, and it was a huge success--had tons of people sign up. Also, keep it to 10-15 days as more days doesn't necessarily lead to many more signups. Oh, and DON'T bother with Goodreads advertising. It's not up to snuff yet. Google is infinitely better right now.

- Print really cool bookmarks based on the front cover design and give them out like candy. UPDATE: This worked like a charm. The bookmarks are functional objects people use, so they love them. I also have a kick-butt design that catches the eye, and give them out like candy. Can't recommend this enough. And do them double-sided! I'll post a photo in the comments how mine turned out if people are interested.

- Print cool business cards and give those out like candy too (I'd go with bookmarks first, THEN this). Don't do T-shirts or other swag until you have a following demanding it. I learned that lesson the hard way with my music, over-ordering and going in the hole for stuff I could have done without. Still sold it most of it, but still.

- Obligatory blog post about the book being released *UPDATE*: The more I blog, the easier it becomes. I'll be featuring a bunch of author interviews this year, and all of them are people I met here on kboards (only fantasy / scifi or for people who want to talk selfpub). My advice is to find a secondary focus for your blog, something you enjoy, and run with it. I've realized I enjoy interviewing authors I know, haha. Anyway ...

KEY LESSONS:

*- Assume you're a terrible writer and have a lot to learn.* Pick up as many books about writing and editing as you can. I think I read about ten before I felt comfortable enough to finalize my first book, and I'm 35 years old. (But still believe in yourself that your final product will be professional--but only if you work your butt off to get it there). Any hint of arrogance or ego about how good you are or how much schooling you have under your belt is a recipe for disappointment. (Oh, and my favorite book to learn from, which I even reviewed, is Lisa Cron's _Wired for Story_). _A Writer's Guide to Fiction_ by Elizabeth Lyon is also very good. *Your product, especially your first one, is the foundation of your career. Make it it as pro as possible, even if you have to shell out some mula to do it.* I'm not saying mine is any good (that's for the public to decide), I just know this to be a fundamental truth.

*- Hammering out a good blurb is critical*, so swallowing your pride and posting it publicly here on kboards is a must. For some reason, out of everything to do with writing, this was the hardest for me, and I mean it. Anyway, after posting it publicly to be ripped apart, take your licks, learn, but move on at some point--you can tweak it endlessly and stress yourself out in the process (like I did). *I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS ENOUGH. SAME WITH COVER!*

*- Read as many of the "this is what I messed up on" posts as you can*; they're sometimes more valuable than the "this is what I did right" posts. My mistakes: not writing sooner, not following advice because of my ego, not finishing the entire series before publishing (due to impatience), not writing every day (still struggling with this one), not sticking to my deadlines (was supposed to have books 2 and 3 published by now, gah!), believing people that said self-publishing is for losers (it isn't--it's for people willing to work really hard on making the best product they can--and your product _can_ outshine a publishing house' release).

- When searching for content on kboards, use google advanced search and point it to kboards. The search function here is not too reliable yet (someone in the comments mentioned the shortcut to this)

- This forum is great for networking. If you're around long enough, it's like university. I consider myself a newly-minted sophomore and I've been here well over a year, and that's not counting those months I spent lurking. There are a lot of varsity and junior varsity players here. Listen to them, they are wise. The big dogs (Blake, Howey, Hocking, Aubrey, Stinnett, and many others) have already graduated. Some alumni still come to drop pearls of wisdom. Most are too busy. (I'd love to see a photo chart of the various generations of writers as tey come an go, sorted by "class year", haha).

*- The stickied links on this forum are INVALUABLE*. Study them like a first-year med student. Especially this one.

*- Post your cover for critique.* Take a whoopin'. Test the cover with people in your genre. Move on.

*- Make sure your cover is relevant to your genre and has a wow factor. *I did my cover myself, but I also did about fifty different covers before settling on a style that works, and is approved by fantasy readers in testing.

*- Make sure that if you're doing your own formatting, that it's absolutely perfect* (I used Guido Henckel's formatting guide -- just DO NOT do the "replace all quotes with quotes" thing, trust me on that one, especially if you have spaces between your quotes, like this: " 'The following proclamation will be enforced,' " he began to read).
*UPDATE: Why avoid this?* Because if you have quotes floating in the air, like I do in the example above, they'll revert to the default position of facing left, even if one set was facing right. Going through your whole document to find them is a pain. Further, I find re-doing quotes completely unnecessary, though Guido's intention was good.

*- Don't be afraid to message individual forum users for help*. This community works because we share our knowledge. Self-publishers also really only have each other to learn from.

*- Sign up to mailchimp and post a link to your mailing list at the back of every book. This is CRITICAL.*

*- Have a physical copy available* - it makes your book look professional, and also makes the digital ebook price look like a bargain. It's not as hard as I thought to format the thing for print, though you'll have to do a little bit of research on how to do it right.

*- Don't be afraid to call people* (especially createspace, they're super friendly and helpful).

*- If you have the means, incorporate* (especially if you're Canadian -- taxes are super low up here for corporate entities). Not to mention it limits your liability to getting sued.

*- Write the next book *(I'm still struggling with this one--spending too much time marketing / procrastinating. I should be writing EVERY DAY, and I'm not ... yet.) UPDATE: Does editing count? =P

*- Listen carefully to criticism*, and try to get as much of it as you can (but be mindful; use it constructively or move on).

- Read Russel Blake's system on selling books (I printed it out and stuck it at the front of my binder)

- Read Russel's system again. Sleep with it if you must. Cuddle it. Stroke it tenderly.

*- Synchronize all of your accounts* -- twitter, blog, author facebook page (if you have one), etc. I use hootsuite to manage my twitter feed, though admittedly I still really really suck at twitter.

*- Run one last spell check on the final product POST FORMATTING. *Formatting can bungle a few words here and there, so it's critical you do one last run-through before publishing. And for the love of all that is good, order a physical copy proof!

- If you can do formatting, you can avoid the mass distributors too (Smashwords, Draft2Digital, etc). Why give away 10% of your hard-earned income to a middle-man? From what I've been hearing from fellow kboarders, it's not too hard at all to upload to Kobo, Apple, etc. It's not for everyone, but it's closer to the DIY route. Then again, it takes a lot of time, so maybe try Smashwords with a book and see what happens! Mark Coker is a decent guy who'll probably answer your email if you send him one with questions, haha 

- Have your copyright, Library Archives (CIP data in Canada), ISBN etc sorted out at least two months ahead of publishing. Do the same with your cover and proof copy (that last one I've failed at--MISERABLY).

*- Examine your print copy cover output carefully. *Turns out Createspace converts your file into CMYK before print (at least that's my conclusion), thus muting the colors (if you used RGB that is). I convert to CMYK first and then adjust the colors to match. Worked for me, at least, but not without significant stress, trial and error.

*- Get more than six pairs of eyes to examine your proof copy. *A very kind kboarder (thank you so much, Bruce!) pointed out to me, to my utter horror, that there was a tiny spelling mistake in the first paragraph of my book (the first edition--now fixed). It somehow made it past the electronic scanner and every single on of us that has seen it. Gah! *Face palm*. I fixed it promptly but, ugh, how embarrassing ...

- *PUSH YOURSELF!* My goal this year is to complete my series for 2015, and have at least four of the books published. That's a substantial increase considering I've been working on them for three years without publishing a thing. And FYI: Goals only count as goals if there is a clear time frame and a clear outcome.

*- Get your own website!* Find something to talk about and blog weekly if you can (and of course, I'm failing at this one too--have yet to establish a regular blogging schedule. *sigh*). Also, do what you can to get people signed up to your mailchimp. Cannot understate that mailchimp enough!

- If you incorporate, ask the law firm you incorporated with if you can use their physical address for your mailchimp address (otherwise your home address shows up in your emails--eek!). And you better not spam, otherwise you might really hear about it, haha.

- *Respond to people!* I learned this with my music, big time. When a reader sends you an email or a private message, it is CRITICAL for you to reply courteously. NEVER ANSWER REVIEWS. NEVER BE RUDE. From my experience, once you respond, you've increased the chances of winning them over for life by magnitudes.

*- If you have large page counts, for the love of all that is holy, check the template restriction page count on your print-on-demand printhouse!* Turns out, at 5 x 8 inch format, max page count with createspace is 700 pages. Luckily I caught this in time and shrank my font size to 10 for book 1, so that it can stay uniform with book 2, which is twice as large. I have my wife to thank for spotting that one actually.

- *Get regular exercise!* The brain just functions better for things like writing when the body and the endorphins have been given a workout. That's just nature rewarding you for taking care of your body. And guess what--it's winter and I might as well be a giant slug. Yep, I'm struggling with this one too, folks.

*- Don't get too caught up with word count.* This is a tough one, but I've discovered that writing for the joy of it is far more productive than trying to hit a daily word count (not to mention your output actually increases--just avoid looking at the actual total if you can). Find your joy and follow it. You make this all about performance and money and output, you're going to be one miserable you-know-what. If you love what you do (which will be writing 75% of the time, barring release weeks), then it's not a job at all, is it? It's a _passion_.

*- Monitor for burnout.* It happens to everyone. Find ways to combat the doldrums. Exercise is a good one. Sitting down to write with zero expectations helps too (and I mean zero! Harder than you think, isn't it?).
*
- Read self-help books*. Often the things that prevent us from succeeding have nothing to do with our craft or abilities. They're subconscious self-defeating loops, or mannerisms passed down from our parents, or assumptions we made about ourselves, etc. This point is a lifetime study, but makes a huge difference. If it's something you think you're capable of, I highly recommend it. *It'll give you that edge over those incapable of bettering themselves.* A transferable skill, so to speak.

- *Avoid browsing the internet while writing.* Scientifically, your brain actually changes when surfing the net. Each link provides a small endorphin rush, and so you are rewarded for skipping around. This is not conducive to long bouts of steady concentration on one topic. This point requires discipline. And yes, I still battle with this one like an angry chihuahua. I found that if the first thing I do in the morning is check the net, then that's what I'll likely be doing most of the day. Make writing / editing the priority.

Above all, none of this matters as much as butt-in-chair hands-on-keyboard writing the next book. Your advice, my beloved kboarders, is why I finished books 2 and 3 in the series (and am working on the 4th) _before_ releasing my first.

Thank you all so much for your kind words of support, your unceasing willingness to share what you learned, and especially your advice. I hope to contribute and give back as much as I can 

If you're on twitter or goodreads, add me--links in my signature. If you're new and want some advice, although I'm nowhere near as experienced (or especially, successful) as most of my colleagues here, I'd be more than willing to help if I can 

I have a few other advice and checklist posts on my blog for anyone interested in more.

Blah blah blah derpalicious magica!

_P.S. I removed my book and author photo and my blub as those things are no longer applicable to the tone of this post. Originally I posted this a few days after my release, hence the visuals. This latest update, on Jan 8th, 2015, is about what I learned._


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## G.L. Snodgrass (Aug 12, 2014)

Welcome to the club of Published Authors. Congratulations. I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.

P.S. I really like the covers.


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## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Congratulations.  Especially on so many sales on the first day with no advertising. Love the cover. Sounds like you have a plan and you're working it. Way to go.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)




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## G. (Aug 21, 2014)

That is a very striking cover. Love the color.


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## Victoria LK (Jan 31, 2014)

Thanks for the detailed post & Good Luck!  Your cover is intriguing, I like it.


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

That's awesome, Sever! Cover looks great. Blurb sounds interesting. Congrats, dude!


Btw, I did that Find/Replace with quotes yesterday. FacePalm.


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## Douglas E Wright (Mar 11, 2011)

Sever, I wanted to give your story a thumbs up. Glad to hear you're on your way!


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## G. M. Washburn (Jan 23, 2014)

Sever, this was incredibly inspiring. As someone still pouring over his unpublished novel, tweaking and tweaking to make it perfect for fear that its terrible - your excitement is awesome and motivating me to just finish already. What I believe makes me want to finish is seeing how clearly and unequivocally happy hitting that publish button made you. Hopefully I'll be in the same boat soon. That being said; favorited for later use.


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

Congratulations on being published!


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

Congratulations! You're off to an amazing start. I look forward to following your success.


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## RG Long (Jan 8, 2014)

I appreciate your humble attitude towards it all! Congrats on the book(s) and I hope success follows quickly!


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

Congratulations, Sever! I opened Arcane--cyberly speaking--last night, and I was into it immediately.  

Thanks for the post and here's wishes for lots of luck going forward.


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## markhealy (Jun 5, 2014)

Congrats!  Great to meet another musician who's transitioned to writing as well.


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2014)

Congratulations and good luck!


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## CesarAnthony (Jul 10, 2014)

Congratulations. Hope for nothing for the best for you and everyone else here.


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

Good luck & many happy sales to you.


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## S.R. Booth (Oct 6, 2013)

Bookmarked. Thank you!


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## lee27 (Mar 3, 2011)

Thank you for this excellent post. I will be launching a book in early 2015. Your words are gold to me. Best of good fortune!


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Wow it feels so good to finally be able to give back in some small way. I've gone ahead and updated the post with some additional insights, for anyone that's interested.

Can't thank you all enough for your support, it means so much, more than you know!


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## Glenna (Dec 1, 2014)

Thanks for sharing this, Sever.  I'm definitely picking up your book.  (I have Russell's notes taped next to my computer.  Miss that guy!)    
Question:  
There was another thread a bit ago about Cdns using SIN's instead of EIN's or ITIN's when registering to publish with online retailers.  
I plan to incorporate too but can't see how using our personal SIN would logically follow if your business is incorporated.  
Can you comment?  Thanks, Glenna.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

The route I took was registering for an EIN number (Employer Identification Number) by calling the IRS directly. That was over the summer, so it appears I got grandfathered in, as they changed their system to use a SIN number now. Unfortunately I just don't know enough about the tax side of things to be able to tell you how any of the tax registration numbers impact your corporation.

And thanks so much, Glenna, hope you enjoy the book


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## Glenna (Dec 1, 2014)

It would seem that with incorporation an EIN would be  the logical route.  Aside from the fact I'm not comfortable putting my SIN out there.
I'll dig some more.  
Am now wishing for a lovely big snow storm in which to settle into your book!


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

I agree, Glenna. Wish we had snow here ... certainly helps with writing cozy stories


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## Stewart Matthews (Nov 21, 2014)

Congrats, Sever! I'm releasing my first book on December 16th, and I know exactly how you feel right now!


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Thank you, Stephen, I wish you nothing but the best of luck and success on your release


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## amyates (Feb 17, 2014)

Great post. Thanks for sharing.


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## JSViolett (Aug 28, 2014)

Congrats to you and your wife on the successful launch and thanks for sharing your process and learnings.  I just gave you a borrow and I noticed it opens onto your map which looks great.  Did you design that as well? 

I'm looking forward to reading the book, I have high hopes!


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Thank you so much, A.M. Yates and JS 

Yes I did design the map--took FOREVER! Every one of those little trees is a separate layer in photoshop haha. But I had a blast doing it


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## Douglas E Wright (Mar 11, 2011)

Hi Sever,

I must be lost here. I usually know how to put links and so forth into the web, but I'm at a loss of how to put MailChimp sign up form in the back of an Ebook! I went to the code in Embedded code, is that what I put into the book? That's what I used today to put into the sidebar of my website. Any guidance would be more than helpful.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

It would be my pleasure to help, Douglas!

GO to mailchimp > click on "lists" > click on your list name > click on signup forms > select "general forms" > build the form and use the link provided 

Let me know if that works!


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

You can just copy and paste that link into your book. Also, I would use basic HTML, like:

Sign up to my mailing list HERE

And for the word "HERE" do the following:

HERE

Where XXXX is your mailchimp signup form address 

It will appear like this:

Sign up to my mailing list HERE.


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## Chris Fox (Oct 3, 2014)

This post should definitely be stickied. Thank you so much for putting this together, Sever. Congratulations, and great work.


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## Douglas E Wright (Mar 11, 2011)

I got what you said from another thread. Thanks again.

Thanks Sever ... once I saw the what you did, it came to me on what to do. Thanks again, for letting us use what you did. I made very minor changes, separating a series from a stand alone book.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Thanks Douglas and Chris 



Jeff Tanyard said:


> After reading this, I decided to use the Look Inside feature so I could see the map for myself. I like it a lot, especially the "compass" with the banner and the flaming sword.


That I had the most fun making. The original cover had that on the front, in color. But after so many different cover variations, I concluded it would serve best as a compass on the map (and that way I don't feel like the time was wasted making it haha)


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## Michelle Lowery (Nov 22, 2014)

First, congratulations, Sever! What a wonderful feeling it must be to finally see your work in print, and to see that first sale. I'm very happy for you!

Second, thank you so much for this post. I've only been on KBoards for about a week and a half, and I've already learned so much. Your post has SO much great information and advice. I truly appreciate your taking the time to share your knowledge, experience and links. Thank you!

I followed you on Twitter and added you on Goodreads. Can't wait to see what happens next for you!


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Thank you so much Michelle, followed you back 

I felt the need to give back--it was my turn. One day, maybe it'll be yours 

Besides, I enjoy passing on what I've learned!

Thanks again and keep me posted


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## Hannah Steenbock (Dec 2, 2014)

Thank you for this wonderful post. It's inspiring and encouraging!

I learned a lot, and I'll definitely print out that list. 

Congratulations on your launch, and all the best for the series.


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## Ken Magee (Nov 17, 2011)

Congratulations, Sever, and thanks for sharing your experience in so much detail. There are lots of things I've noted... including the fact that I should make a marketing plan.


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## Brevoort (Jan 27, 2014)

Hello Sever,

With your background in music, and in particular with the Tribal Machine project, are you able to see any parallels between the marketing of independent label music and your efforts to market ebooks?

I've thought for quite a while that there must be things that writers can learn from musicians in this regard because musicians have been at it for years before the ebook change took hold.

Are there any practices and techniques that can transfer over to the world of books?


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## A past poster (Oct 23, 2013)

Wonderful post! I wish you great success.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Thank you all so very much )



Brevoort said:


> Hello Sever,
> 
> With your background in music, and in particular with the Tribal Machine project, are you able to see any parallels between the marketing of independent label music and your efforts to market ebooks?
> 
> Are there any practices and techniques that can transfer over to the world of books?


An excellent question worthy of a detailed response.

YES! There are huge parallels! I achieved half a million plays of my music on Myspace before the site died. I learned some critical lessons throughout. I found that the people that I actually had a small conversation with (or longer) were the ones that stuck with me to the end (and some now pay attention to my writing too!).

I tried variations of the following:

1 ) Paid ads
2 ) Unpaid ads
3 ) Fan / follower groups with their own member forum
4 ) Leaving links in strategic places to sign up to my mailing list
5 ) Doing live radio and TV
6 ) Performing on stage
7 ) Doing paper / online interviews
8 ) Having a song in a film
9 ) Copy and pasting generic greetings and generic invitations to releases
10) Spamming people mercilessly by adding them as friends
11) Lots of merchandise
12) Signing and personalizing the merchandise on every order
13) Making top TOP quality content, mastered by the best mastering engineer in the world for my genre

Anything that was remotely spammy made me feel terrible, and I felt like I did not earn any of the results gathered through those methods. It felt like cheating, and in the end, wasn't worth my time, no matter how successful the result.

A lot of people I talked to personally hung around, or signed up to a mailing list, or bought something. It was the personal touches that worked, every time. Anything generic was discarded, as if it was contrived of by a robot. And in some ways, it was.

Paid ads NEVER worked. Not even once, if I recall.

Yes, there was a small snowball effect after the 400,000th listen, but it was all the same as the first day, basically. And it opened doors I suppose too (got one of my songs in a movie, after all). But if I were to start again (which I have, via writing), I would do everything far more organically. I would cultivate a more focused audience, a tighter group of people just interested in the product (and, I suppose, me).

So what worked? What_ actually, really_ worked? What was worth my time?

1) *Above all, making the best possible product* (in my case, I wrote my opus--a full-length industrial-rock concept album titled _The Orwellian Night_. It was my third album, and if I were to die today, I would be happy to do so, for I think I wrote my life's work in that sucker, musically speaking that is). Making the best possible content should be priority #1, because it will affect everything and supersedes everything. Even if you have superb marketing, or an awesome cover, or brilliant taglines--none of that means anything if your product is garbage. And it's FOR LIFE. Now imagine you make top-quality content every time, all the time. Eventually, people associate your brand with quality, and they'll buy whatever you do (it happened to me in music). So yeah, I worked for over three years insuring that my first book was as top tier as I could make it, period. The foundation has to be granite strong.

2) *Talking to people.* This is hard actually, especially when you get into high numbers. Talking to people naturally drains energy, so one has to choose one's moments. After all, there's other things to be done (writing, marketing).

3) *I learned if you make an amazing product, and reach out to people in an organic, honest way, they'll help you*. Not just help, but I mean really work for you via volunteering their time as soldiers, contacting radio stations, etc. They'll be true fans, and go out of their way to do things for you--without you asking them to do it! This happened a lot to me, and it was the engine of success behind Tribal Machine. The people that did that a) believed in the music b) talked to me personally c) bought merchandise and _were surprised_ to discover that not only had I signed their merch, but included a unique piece of the recording process, such as a hand-written lyric sheet with corrections, or whatnot. Every order I sent had something personalized, something unexpected. I went out of my way to make them feel special, included, and so they went out of their way for me in turn. Some people framed those little things on their walls! One person tattooed the band on their shoulder even! (I kid you not). That's the power of reaching out to people. It's absolutely incredible.

4) *A day is worth living with true work.* What do I mean by true work? If I gave it my all, honestly and creatively, it was true work, whether that was through marketing or writing music or performing on stage or talking to people. I felt successful doing true work. Nothing else gave me that feeling. The numbers didn't mean anything. It was the work and the people, that was it.

My conclusion? Writing is a thousand times easier. Music is hard, because you have to put everything on the line up on that stage. You have to go out on the road and wear yourself out. You have to be disciplined (I was the frontman--no drugs or alcohol on tour, no late nights, etc). Further, its' expensive--gear rental, merchandise, splitting the rewards between a bunch of people, gas costs, no income--it just gets convoluted and _thick_. Writing is just you and the page and a link at the back of your book to your mailing list. There's some marketing too, but it's not like music, not at all.

And people respect writers more too, I found. I just posted on my facebook yesterday about my book. A third of all my friends liked or commented on the post. That's worlds apart from music, where you had to claw to get anyone to blink at you. It's remarkable. And strangely, I get the same creative joy boost from writing an awesome scene. The creative side of me is fulfilled in writing. And the stories are just as grand, and just as fun as in music. Just without any of the distractions.

OK this turned into quite a post. Maybe I should add this to the original?


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## Brevoort (Jan 27, 2014)

Thank you Sever, your reply was beyond my expectation.

You seem to have been able to separate the wheat from the chaff admirably, and as a result I have a much clearer idea of what is important, and what is just spinning my tires in the snow for no real purpose.

I very much appreciate your thoughtful response, and even more your insights.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

My pleasure! Let me know if you have anymore questions


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## JSViolett (Aug 28, 2014)

Hey Sever, just letting you know I started your book last night.  Tonight, Augum and I are setting off for Hangman's Rock


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## R.V. Doon (Apr 1, 2013)

Congrats Sever! Excellent tips. My desk looks like yours twice a year. Right now, it's a mess.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

great post


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

FANTASTIC post!  Congratulations on the start of this fantastic journey!  You are off to a wonderful start!  I can hardly wait to see all of the incredible things in store for you!


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

My pleasure 

I hope to make it a bit more comprehensive over time too.


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## Antara Mann (Nov 24, 2014)

Very good post. Congrats on your efforts, Sever. I must for sure post my cover and blurb to be stripped off here in Kboards. 
I have two small questions; 1st about ebook formatting - when I convert a word to mobi file and I added an automatic table of contents, do I have to add table of contents by the conversion? I bought my book on Amazon and it's all well but it lacks table of contents - it has at the end, but t's not included in the Go To section. If I add one by conversion, I am worried at the end there would be two TOC.
Second one - which are the best places/ tweeters you mentioned about getting reviews?
I just submitted to be included as an author in Goodreads and soon they must approve me.
By the way, you looked great on the picture


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Great post, Sever. Lot's for any writer to consider...and adopt. Thank you!


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

My pleasure 

I've since updated this list on my blog (link in my signature). When I get home later, I'll peruse this and see if it needs correcting.


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## JR. (Dec 10, 2014)

Congrats on your #1 spot, Sever



> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Scary Stories > Fantasy & Magic > Coming of Age


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Thank you so much, JR  

I really didn't expect the first in a series to do this well without having the others available. As per everyone's advice here over the last two years, I already finished books two and three, and am working on book four. Book two scheduled out Feb 21st, book 3 three months later. Staggering the releases every three months. The first one will likely be pulled out of KU to go wide. After second one has three months in KU, will pull that one to go wide too.

Anyway,t hat's the strategy for now


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## AlbertB (Nov 11, 2014)

Congratulations! You completed the hardest step-finishing the F$&*$^*^#*ing book...


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

My pleasure, Kat! 

And thanks, Albert. Yeah, when the book was done, I had one heck of a party. I'll never forget this one moment I shared with a traditionally published friend when I told him I was intending to write a book. He looked me square in the eye and said, "99% of people _talk_ about writing a book," implying few actually finish one. That spurred me on to write three novels back-to-back, 98k, 182k, and 155k.

To this day I thank him for giving me the motivation. I didn't want to just talk, I wanted to walk the walk too. Of course, watching people succeed on this board was a major factor too


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## bwcolborne (Jun 11, 2014)

Hey Sever, 
wicked post that I can't believe i didn't see until today. I'm curious about your plan for ACX as it's not open to us canucks. Have you found a loophole?


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Been getting a few messages asking for updates on what I learned, so I thought I'd just dump some of it into this thread for simplicity


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Greetings Mr. Sever,

I did a search for "format createspace" and picked this post from a long line of posts cause it had so many of the search terms and I happened upon this little goldmine though I admit I saw some of it in your blog a few days ago.

I had to comment and say thanks for sharing for those of us who are following and bringing up the rear.  Great advice and I bookmarked it.

As an update I am at 45% on my Kindle with Arcane and ready to start the cellar chapter tomorrow morning.  I think I'll recommend this to my teens as a post Potter booster.  FWIW I found 2 errors in Sanderson's Way of Kings and I usually bookmark any I find for future reference.  I have an eye for typos LOL but, like I said, I am at 45% and no bookmarks.  I am impressed despite the early typo that embarrassed you on page 1.  It reads as very well edited and written so it's obvious you spent a lot of time and effort on your signature debut novel so again congrats!

I'll update you when I'm done reading.

Great post!
Regards,
SM


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