If I Had It to Do Over Again....Release Week Tips!

So I had my 'release day' for my first Kindle ebook this week, Shivers, 9 Dark & Twisted Tales. And even though I did a crap TON of research before I started this little journey, there is PLENTY I could have done better. But instead of keeping these little secrets to myself (my precious, mine, mine, MINE!) I am going to be generous and share them widely. Because I said I would and I have been asked for help and advice more than once in the last few weeks and because who can't use some good karma more than a first time author?!

So here ya go!! (Aren't I awesome?! (writers are a shamelessly needy lot, you know)) :D

First, what I DID do right. (yay, me!)

Join KDP--immediately. I have said this before in my blogs, but it bears repeating. Obviously, you can look at  BookBaby, Smashwords, etc. You need to do your own research for your own needs. But I maintain for your first time, get-feet-wet experience, this site is the way to go.

Join Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. Twitter is kind of optional and personally I found it way annoying, particularly at first. Basically it's just shameless self-promotion, but hey, that is what you need to do to get some exposure.

*And some basic Twitter newbie tips, don't, I repeat DO NOT follow back everyone who follows you. There are too many spam accounts out there. Only follow other authors, people you are genuinely interested in hearing from, or people who post stuff that can educate or help you in other ways. Look at their page blurb first. Also, even though you don't need to post every hour, I recommend 4-5 times a day minimum during the week and at least 2 times a day on the weekend. You need to know your own audience though and use trial and error. A good guide to help you start out is Social Media Frequency.*

**oh PS, do not follow ANYONE who uses TrueTwit and do not use it yourself, for godsake. It is the mark of a total spammer.**

Facebook, you know all about this already, right? I am going to assume you do, but to make an author page, or not to make an author page, that is the real question. You can use your own personal page and that is fine. I, personally, made a separate author page. My writing can be very racy and dark and I want to keep some privacy, so that is what works for me.

Goodreads. A MUST in my opinion. Join the groups that interest you and reflect your writing genre. And PARTICIPATE. These people are your potential audience and they can be an amazing resource of feedback and inspiration.

Also, you have a blog, right? You need a blog, even if you feel like no one is reading it at times, keep it up. You'd be surprised at how many people lurk.

Now, what I could have done better.

Formatting, argh! I WISH I had read through KDP's community boards a bit more before going ahead with my publishing. My book looks fine (previously I posted about formatting and how I handled it with Word only, see 'I AM doing this' for details). But it could look better.

I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN THIS BOOK FIRST> The Kindle Bible (no, it's not really called that, but it should be.) It's free, natch. And AMAZINGLY helpful. Get it. NOW!

Next, publishing shares options-basically how you get paid. Kindle offers two. The 70% option sounds amazing and it is(who doesn't want to keep as much of their royalties as possible, right?) Plus, you get to hold countdown promotions and have free days(more on that in a bit). Sounds great and it really is, but first you need to think about your book. My book is not a full-length novel, its 9 short stories. I really wanted to offer it for .99 cents. At this point in time, I am much more interested in building an audience that making money.

But with the 70% option, I can't list my book for less than $2.99, except for the countdown deals. That kinda sucks. With the 35% option, you can go as low as 99 cents.

--FYI, I am not going to get deeply into things you can read about in depth on KDP youself, but countdown deals allow you to temporarily reduce your book's price several days in a row. This can boost sales and is a good ad trick, but I really think it only benefits those authors who already have a broad audience.

Free days though, are pretty cool, IMO, but I just wished I had used them more effectively. When you join KDP and choose the 70% option, you are given the option to choose to join KDP select. DO THIS. Yes, you have to give Amazon exclusive rights for a month or two(you promise not to publish anywhere else, ie. Smashwords, etc.). Read about it yourself, but I think it rocks. Free days are the best part, IMO. But you need to use them effectively.

What I WOULD have done, had I to do this over again is to schedule a couple free days BEFORE I did my official release day. Maybe a week before and promote it like crazy to all my Goodreads and  fb friends and try to get reviews BEFORE doing the official release. I still am working on getting reviews for Shivers, and that was a definite misstep on my part. You can get reviews on Goodreads by doing what's referred to as R2R(read to review) requests up. Bascially, you offer the book free and someone agrees to give you an honest review within two weeks. Be respectful of self promotion rules of individual groups, but don't be shy. Other sites include Story Cartel and others, some you pay for the privilege, others are free. Do NOT under estimate the power of a good review!!

Last but least, for this session, the cover. Personally, I love my cover, my sister did the photography and it is unusual and eye-catching. However, I used the cover creator on Kindle and while it was easy and looks good, it doesn't have the pizzazz I want when I go full-length novel. I am still going to use my sister's images, but I will use a professional cover service. They're all over, you will get hit up by dozens your first few days on Twitter, shop around and do your homework. Fees range from $45-$200 and more.

***PSS, Twitter is FULL of people who fed off newbie authors' insecurity and naivete. There are all sorts of Twitter accounts who exist just to try and sell you things you don't need. Don't be this guy:

That's it for now. Next time, I will go over ISBN numbers (do you REALLY need one?), tweeting and promotion services(scam or actually helpful) and staying positive and focused on the writing when you are trying to promote. (No, it is SO not easy!).

But we CAN do this!!