What Moves the Needle?
Spoiler alert: I don’t have the answer, and I don’t think I ever will.
My fourth book in two years of being a published author just came out (surprise, btw!) and I thought now would be a good time to discuss how I actually try and sell my books. I would love to say writing is all about community and vibes, but unfortunately I do have to also put in the work to market myself sometimes too.
If you’re reading this post for advice I would advise (hah) you not to, even four books in I still have no idea what I’m doing. But if you’re curious about all the methods I’ve tried, I can definitely help you with that. I’ve made a very conscious effort to do things differently for each of my books, so I’ll go through title by title describing what I did and how I think it worked.
GOLDEN RUIN
The OG
Golden Ruin was my debut, so I tried to really just fling things at the wall and see what stuck. I collected ARC readers via BookSirens and through my own signups on social media. I got about 200 ARC readers, mostly through TikTok.
BookSirens (controversies aside) was not for me. I didn’t like having access to the reviews and I didn’t find the investment worth it. An ARC site is good, however, for ensuring reviewers in a forever uncertain and changing social media landscape. So, that’s something to consider if you struggle with traction via other avenues.
For this book, though, I had several successful (to me: upwards of 10k views) videos on TikTok specifically, and this is where I collected most of my ARC readers. I kid you not, I posted the same photo slideshow multiple times a day, and it never failed me. What really sold this was that my book had a strong, identifiable hook that I slapped on an aesthetic photo (royalty free, don’t use Pinterest for this.) Things like “you’re saying you wrote a sci-fi western book that’s sapphic???” Or “your book is seriously Stardew Valley x Westworld???” And then add in slides with trope graphics, preorder info, character art, etc.
Character art (I commissioned 3 pieces) also really helped on Threads and Instagram, as well as little boosts when the artists posted the work on their own pages. I also used the commissioned art for preorder goodies like art prints and bookmarks. I ended up with 121 preorders by launch. I also ended up in several indie bookstores (unbeknownst to me at the time) largely due to social media.
Most of the spend for this book came from character art, followed by very small percentages of boosted IG/TikTok posts (which had few returns) and the BookSirens fees.
FIREREND
The Problem Child
My sophomore book was always going to be a labor of love. Though I of course did try to promote it, I knew there were several things working against it that would limit me.
It’s a novella (novellas are often relegated to the critique “this book should have been longer” despite being short on purpose)
It’s the prequel to an unfinished series ( a lot of people wait until a series is completed to start reading)
It’s a genre jump from my other work (fantasy and sci-fi can definitely co-mingle, but I went from a romance book to this, which has no romance at all)
Can authors work past things like this and still find success? Yeah, of course. But I didn’t. As of now, FIREREND is my lowest performing book by pretty much every metric. And that’s okay with me! It’s a book that I wanted out there even if only my mom read it, and (I hope) it will eventually find its readers once the series is completed.
But, that’s not to say I didn’t try to promote this book at all. I did commission character art for this that I also used as preorder/PR incentives, which ended up on the explore page on IG for a time.
The most fun I had marketing this book was in creating PR packages. It wasn’t a good return marketing-wise, but I really enjoyed sending them directly to readers and creating what I thought was a really fun box. It was, in all honesty, pretty expensive so it’s not something I would do for every book, but it was definitely the highlight of my promotional run.
I also joined a Netgalley co-op via Victory Editing. I did not have a great experience here, as all reviews were emailed directly to me (can you turn this off?? I couldn’t figure it out…) BUT unlike BookSirens, I would use Netgalley again. I found more librarians and booksellers requested my book via Netgalley, and I also made a few Goodreads reader lists specifically from being listed here. A co-op makes this affordable as a self-publisher, so if you have the money to spare then there’s really nothing to lose.
However, even with Netgalley and collecting my own ARC readers, I didn’t send out even half the copies I did on Golden Ruin. That’s definitely a sign that this book wasn’t marketed well. Was it the blurb? Concept? Should it not have been the first released book in the series? I kind of realized once this book was out that business-wise it could be considered a misstep, but for me, since I’m my own boss, I didn’t really care at all. I love this book and I am able to keep publishing even if one book doesn’t hit, which I think is a huge boon in all of this as well.
SOULBIND
The Turning Point
I knew when writing SOULBIND that it was something special. I can’t really describe it, except that I was having so much fun. And then when I started sending it to early readers, the reactions made me think I might have something good. While it is book 2 in a series it is logistically book 1, the first full-length entry, and can stand on its own, which to me all seemed favorable in marketing.
I went pretty hard on the marketing for this book because obviously I wanted it to be a success, but also because my agent and I planned to go on submission to audio publishers and I didn’t want them to look it up and find it was a dud.
The first thing I did was set up an independent bookstore preorder campaign. I reached out to about 25 bookstores, 10 of which said they’d like to participate, 2 respectfully declined, and the rest I didn’t hear back from. I was super happy with the number that I did get to participate, many of which are stores that have been supporting me since Golden Ruin, so it felt extra special. I ordered the incentives and shipped them to the stores myself so they could distribute them in-store.
A preorder campaign is a lot of work to communicate with each store, commission, design, and print incentives, make a website page, and then advertise the heck out of it. It was also nerve-wracking because these stores were being so generous to help support me, and I spent the entire campaign imagining I’d bring them no sales. How embarrassing would that be to make such a big deal out of a book no one wants? So that was…fun…but ultimately I’m very glad I did it as I got to e-meet some really incredible booksellers.
I also ran a Goodreads giveaway for about three weeks to give away 50 kindle copies. This was not super cheap ($120) and I got what could be considered a “lower” number of entries, as major pub books get thousands of adds. But, still, my book got 1230 entries which adds it to each participant’s “want to read” shelf which, to me, was very worth the cost. That’s a thousand people who had never heard of me or my book who will now get a notification on launch day, and maybe even explore my backlist. Will I get reviews or sales this way? No idea! For me it simply was exposure.
The last thing I did was book a PR spot with ARC signups, multiple posts/book blasts, and content pulls. From this I got 125 signups, unfortunately I do not recommend the company I used, and I’m not sure I’d recommend an ARC service at all.
I will say, as a huge caveat, none of this marketing eventually factored into my audio deal with Recorded Books. The acquiring editor specially loved the content of the book, I don’t know if she even considered the stats I provided to my agent like Goodreads ads or preorder numbers, except maybe in calculating the advance. So, while doing my best to market made me feel better, it didn’t have a direct effect on pretty much anything else tangible.
Cumulatively, SOULBIND is the book I’ve tried my hardest to market, and it’s too early to say whether or not that’s paid off, but I’m glad I’ve done everything I can to make this book a success. The rest is out of my hands.
RECKONING
The Wild Card
My newest release is one where, especially after working so hard on SOULBIND, I wanted to see what would happen if I just published a book. No title reveal, release date, countdown. Just write a book and publish it.
Now that it’s out I do have social media posts planned, but I wanted to see how effective marketing would be after a book was published. So, that’s something I don’t have an answer on as of yet, but it’s been a breath of fresh air to release a book this way. I don’t think I could get away with this again, or at least not for a very long time, but depending on how it goes I may condense my release timelines for regular launches moving forward.
General
What I’ll always do
You might have noticed that between all of my books (minus Reckoning) I run my own ARC signup campaign no matter what. This is because I post the form on my website, and when someone signs up to be an ARC reader they agree to also join my newsletter. I think a newsletter is an invaluable tool for authors as social media is so fickle, and it’s an easy way to share fun announcements, pop in buy links, and get a bit more personal with readers. So, having my own ARC campaign is the best way I’ve grown my newsletter. (The next goal is to add newsletter exclusive bonus scenes to my back matter, which I’ve been meaning to do for two years…)
I also will always try to get an interesting cover. Charlie has done all of my book covers (and will do ToA3) with the exception of Reckoning, which I did myself. Charlie’s work is just gorgeous, and I think a stunning, eye-catching cover is the largest part of what makes someone consider a book.
The only other thing I think is vital to an author is their community. Having repeat ARC readers, engaging in online communities, reading colleagues’ books and sharing their work is all a part of marketing. I’m not saying to do these things to get support, but people naturally enjoy engagement, and when you put out good energy I do wholeheartedly believe you will get it back. So I think you’ll find most successful authors raise up others as they rise, and that is something I always try to keep in mind. I want to see BIPOC, queer, disabled, and indie voices more prominently in the publishing space. So being loud about the books we love is the best way to ensure those authors can keep writing and keep the door open for more minds like them in the future.
And that’s really the “why” of all this. Making a book successful means an author can keep writing, and more stories can find the readers that need them. So please have a little grace with us authors when we post more marketing than you’d maybe like. We just want to pay our bills and keep telling the stories that matter to us.
