Several of us authors have recently completed our latest projects–our books. Here’s a timely revisit of an early post from Indie Scriptorium.
Marketing–Building a Website
Check it out, click on the link below.
Re-Visit Sunday–Website Building
promoting books
Marketing Ideas and Information
Author Talks
Hello everyone,
I recently had the pleasure of attending an author talk given by Australian rural crime writer, Fleur McDonald. My friend, who is an avid fan of Fleur, booked tickets then invited me along.
I’ve only been to a few author talks at Adelaide Writer’s week but this was a local event at the Hallett Cove Civic Centre and Fleur is a South Australian born writer, so I was happy to attend.
As an emerging author, I also wanted to get some ideas about how to plan an event. You never know I might get invited to talk about my own writing experience some day.
Local author Nina D. Campbell interviewed Fleur. and this worked well. They covered a lot of interesting topics. Much of the talk centred around Fleur’s life as a mother, farmer and aviator. She also touched on her history as a writer, her research, writing processes and delved into a few of her characters. It was a funny and entertaining presentation which was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience, including me.
The organisation of the event was excellent with a comfortable venue, free wine or soft drinks, lots of promotional banners, a local bookstore selling the books and of course book signings. It was a superb night.
For more information about Fleur McDonald visit her web site https://www.fleurmcdonald.com
Also discover Nina D. Campbell – a South Australian crime author https://ninadcampbell.com.au
For an excellent blog about planning an author talk see Tess Woods – Six secrets of giving successful and sought after author talks https://www.tesswoods.com.au/six-secrets-to-giving-successful-author-talks.html
Cheers Elsie King ©2025
Feature Photo: Elsie with Fleur © Elsie King 2025
On Marketing–Why Blog?
The Benefits of Blogging
As a member of Indie Scriptorium one of our duties is to write and publish blogs on aspects of writing, editing, publishing or marketing every three weeks. Two years later we are doing a review of our blogs with the idea of putting them into an anthology.
As we currently only have three members the task of blogging has proved to be onerous. We would love to have some new members but …. Coming up with a topic, doing the research, writing 500-1000 words that make sense can be challenging. Making sure the blog is professionally written, properly edited and provides valuable information can be time consuming.
Indie Scriptorium has posted over a hundred blogs in two years. We have a following of 70 people and occasionally get positive feedback with likes from Facebook. Friends from my writing groups have also said they read the blogs and find them helpful. Yay.
But is the time and effort worthwhile for a busy writer who would rather be working on their next novel or short story?
I was recently asked where I find the time to blog? I responded without thinking. Oh, it’s a pain but I actually get a lot out of blogging. And on reflection that is true.
Doing a regular blog means that I am constantly researching writing skills, how to edit, what steps do you need to do to publish a book do a cover and burb, write a synopsis and market a book. (I need to do more research on this topic) In addition I have learnt about the legal, moral and technical issues to do with writing.
Looking back, I’ve realised that blogging has improved my writing style, made me a better editor and critique partner, has got me two books published and will in the future get my books marketed. The blogs have been like a course in creative writing, done with good friends and we have people who find our efforts helpful. We also will have a book of blogs later in the year for people to buy in the near future. That’s enough good reasons to keep me going.
Cheers
© Elsie King 2024
It’s not Over… Now Comes the Marketing Plan
Self-publishing a book is a wonderful goal but it certainly isn’t the end of the road. The book does not get into the hands of readers without marketing.
So, how do you get your book noticed, bought and read?
I read somewhere that the best form of marketing is to write the next book. That makes a lot of sense to me as the release of the second book, anthology or short story draws attention to what you have written before.
The business of marketing can take up a lot of time and attention and it’s difficult to get through all the steps you need to market your work and still have time for the joy of writing the next book/story.
This blog will explain my strategy for my own modest marketing plan:
What is your goal?
If you are like me my primary goal was to have a novel published. I don’t need a liveable income from writing. I don’t expect to be a best seller and if I cover some of my expenses I will be happy. So, my marketing strategy was modest and relied on word of mouth and the generosity of friends and family to buy my book and spread the word. If you have given up your day job and have the rent or mortgage due, you will need a much more vigorous marketing plan.
The basic essentials that I used are:
- Business cards with an e-mail address and web site address. You can add your phone numbers and address if you choose.
- A website that is connected to your social media accounts and where you can post covers of your books and have links to the sites that sell your book. Then tell everyone possible that you have a website and ask them to visit.
- Do regular blogs on your web site and post to social media.
- Organise a launch party. My release coincided with a big birthday so I invited guests and asked that, in lieu of presents they buy a copy of my book. I then ordered 35 author copies of the book and sold them to friends and family. I sold 34 books with promises of online orders too.
- I’m a member of Romance Writers of Australia so will take five copies of my books to the 2023 Sydney conference and put them on the Indie table for sale along with my business cards and a free card (A giveaway displaying my artwork)
- I have advertised my novel on the RWA website and in their magazine Hearts Talk.
- I paint as well as write so put my business cards of the back of my paintings
- Copies of my paintings have been made into cards and my website address is on the back of the card next to the copyright.
- Indie Scriptorium web site also advertises my books. I and my fellow members write regular blogs about the self-publishing process. We have a small but increasing following and go world-wide. My website is linked to the Indie Scriptorium website.
- Indie Scriptorium will launch a book of our accumulated blogs about self-publishing as well as an anthology of writing, poems, artwork and photograph early next year. Our individual novels and books will be included in this launch.
- My fellow writers in IS plan to get a display table of art, cards, books and other advertising at local craft markets.
- I intend to contact local writers groups and offer to give an information session about the process of self-publishing my book. Hopefully sell a few books too.
That’s the plan for now. I intend to review my sales strategy from time to time but now I’m going to start writing my third novel.
Cheers Elsie King
©Elsie King 2023
Image attributed to Creative Commons 2023
Marketing II–Website? Yes? or No?
Marketing 2–Do you really need a website?
I made it a goal to have a website by the end of this year. Achieving the goal is proving to be much more difficult and time intensive than expected.
The website builders are very keen to reassure that they can have a wonderful, professional looking website in a jiffy. That it’s an easy five, seven or ten-step process. That the website building is effortless and should take not much longer than 15 minutes, a couple of hours or a couple of days. It is all lies!
Building a website involves a stroll through an intuitive program, which guides you step by step to achieving your goal. They advise you get a template and just drag-and-drop things (from where I ask) replace their text and pictures with your own (but cannot tell you where the delete button is so you can get rid of the damned pictures.) Text boxes move, you get pushed into templates you never wanted and it’s very easy to delete hours of work for no apparent reason and it’s just hard work.
I’m halfway through building a site with WIX. I have a preconceived idea what I want my website to look like and am battling with a system that hates you having any creative innovations that don’t fit the bill. HELP.
Asking, do I really need a website makes quitting a viable option? But I want a website so I can put a web address on my business cards and attach them to my art and give them away to fellow writers and prospective readers. I want a web address on the back of my Christmas cards. I need a website for when I publish my books, organise an art exhibition or arrange a book launch. Web sites are important.
Ok, so I will persist and let you know how to find me on the web next year. Merry Christmas.
Elsie King ©2022
Picture from Creative Commons
Indie Scriptorium -- Self Publishing Collective 