Learning from your mistakes! Part 2
Lessons I've learned (the roundabout way) in indie book publishing
As promised, here is part 2 of the lessons I have learned through mistakes made in indie publishing. A few weeks back, I shared the importance of purchasing your own ISBN numbers if you want to go wide with distribution beyond Amazon, as well as why it’s important to hire a cover designer who is familiar with your genre(s).
This week, I’d like to share a few more lessons learned! Hopefully, they are helpful for you. :)
Go deep, not wide, with social media
When I first began in book publishing, the social media/marketing side of things was very overwhelming. I barely had any personal social media accounts of my own, let alone the motivation or knowledge to make business-related accounts. At the start of my journey, I felt like I needed to be on anything and everything social media!
That meant Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, author newsletter, website, and more! I felt like I didn’t have much of a plan, and I began posting sporadically, various content, some of which was related to books and writing, others that weren’t. What I learned is that if you want to grow your following AND engagement, you need to be committed to regular, intentional posting, as well as creating content that maintains your voice and vision of your products or services.
To put it in perspective, here are my current social media breakdowns:
Facebook: 50
Substack: 210
Instagram: 525
YouTube: 570
As you can see, my numbers are a bit all over the place, and that was because I was trying to do too much in too many different places. Now, I have committed to Substack and YouTube as my two main places of engagement, and while not deleting my Facebook and Instagram accounts, I am really not active on them anymore.
I am also working on a regular posting schedule with a color scheme, content themes, and professional visual or written content. I’m scheduling things ahead of time when I can and enjoying seeing the bit-by-bit growth over time. You can too!
Make your book launch day a celebration!
In the past, I’d gotten into the habit of focusing so much on just getting the book published, that on release day, I didn’t have that much planned to celebrate!
There are lots of great tips for what to do on your book’s launch day, in particular, having at least one interview lined up on a podcast where you talk about your new book, so there isn’t radio silence.
You can also have a launch team of people who have social media graphics prepared to share with their followers, thus broadening the reach.
You can also have in-person or virtual release day parties where you offer a read-aloud of the first chapter of the book, do a book raffle and giveaway, play fun games related to the book’s content, and give away other fun, bookish content.
It’s also helpful to have people ready to leave reviews on your new book once it’s out; this could be people who served as early readers for you in the pre-publication stages.
Do you have any book launch day tips that you’ve found helpful? Share them in the comments!
Prayer Requests!
As always, I would love to keep you in my prayers, be those prayers for your writing, other creative work, business, or any personal intentions. I believe in the power of prayer and interceding for one another. If you have a particular prayer request, please reply to this post, and I promise I will pray personally for your request!