Marketing emails

Since I uploaded my first book, Blue Crescent, Black Moon, I’ve received so many emails about marketing my book. They all look legitimate. They sound earnest. They really want to help.

But if you look at the return addresses, some come from the same place…a certain newsletter. It’s like the Walmart of people who want to help you. Through the newsletter, you’ll hear from many different people, all working for different businesses that want to help you get your book seen.

They sound convincing because the hook they use is true: your book needs to be seen. But the offers do seem to lead to paid services, often for things that many people can do for themselves. Marketing isn’t easy. It’s hard to know which site will work for you.

I’ve tried BookSprout, Hidden Gems, Facebook ads, Pinterest ads. I’m on LinkedIn and Instagram as well. I’ve heard very good things about BookBub, but you’re looking at a serious investment if you choose a substantial campaign.

And just the other day, I saw an ad for a service that will get your book onto Amazon for only $199. That’s convenient for an author who doesn’t want to get into the tech side, but KDP accepts common manuscript formats and doesn’t charge authors to upload their books.

Others offer a variety of services: formatting, uploading, proofreading. There is one that will even check for missing words or sentences. How would they know about missing sentences? And are all these services really included in the advertised price, or are some additional purchases? Gee, that would be a surprise.

Of course, you can use Canva to design your cover, which I’d like to try. The easier some of these things sound, however, the harder they are to actually do, in my experience. I’m pretty good at doing postcards, so I think I could design a cover.

The point is that publishing your book on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is free. You can format and convert the manuscript yourself, although some authors may prefer to pay for help. Try doing it yourself before paying someone else to use a free publishing platform. It’s usually the production and marketing—not access to KDP itself—that cost money.

Your book won’t be the worst one out there if you miss a comma or have an extra adverb. Believe me, I’ve read books that have never been seen by a proofreader or an editor. Sometimes I think the author has barely seen them.

Give it a try and go hit that publish button. The sun will still come up tomorrow.

Take care,

Gillian