Write Now?

My first indie book comes out in a month, yet I’m not tweeting it daily. I haven’t posted into a ton of Facebook author/book groups or pages. There are no blog tours or promotions planned.

Having been a small press author, I know the long and frustrating process of marketing. There are a number of posts on this blog dedicated to my successes and failures, but I’ve decided to do a couple strange things with this indie launch, and most of them aren’t things I’d recommend if you can avoid.

1. I’m not doing major marketing until I have three books out. Sure, I’m writing on my blog, but the biggest thing I’m doing is working on creating a mini-launch circle. Mostly, the circle is for reviews. Until I have three books out, that’s my marketing – getting people to review. And by people, I mean other authors and reviewers.
2. I’m keeping my online feeds, just that – online feeds. They aren’t going to be screaming about my book, and those few comments that do will be focused on ‘hey it’s out’ and ‘it’s up for pre-order.’ General single run announcements.

Some of you are shaking your heads. Others are thinking this isn’t anything special. The fact that there is a divide is why I’m testing this out. If you’ve researched book launches, you’ve probably seen the discouraging posts about how readers are cautious (perhaps even afraid) of indie authors until a few books are out in a series because there’s always the risk they’ll get invested only to find the series vanish.

Additionally, a lot of indie marketing is hit or miss. If you have a set platform, there are some particulars to follow, but they are either expensive or time intensive. More often than not, what I’ve seen work requires both. As I have a day job, I don’t have free time. While salaried with ‘regular hours,’ anyone who works for a small company knows those hours stretch as needed, so I can’t be certain how much “free time” I’ll have to dedicate to this third job of marketing without taking time away from writing or the job that actually pays my bills.

And that’s just it. When I’m not working, I’m writing. In the last three days (sans internet, but that’s a different story), I’ve written 10,000 words. If I could keep on that trend, I’d have a decent sized book in a month. As I am to put out 12 book in 12 months, editing and writing take center stage. I have 2 more books to write and a few more than that to edit. If I focus until December on that, I will have all 12 books in editing – which can easily take longer than a month if you want it done properly and if you want it done professionally.

After that, I do plan to market heavily. With additional material up and steadily coming for several months after, December is my prime time. Until then, any updates will be editing/writing based. I may talk about ISBNs, cover art, and platform prep if you guys are interested. While my writing life is planned, this blog is going to be a bit pantsed for the next few weeks. If you have any questions or things you’d like to see, comment down below!

Otherwise, wish me luck!