Marketing Your Books During Lulls - What To Do When You Do Not Have an Upcoming or New Release

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 16:48:39 +0000

This post is dedicated to Ladz, author of one of my newest favorites, Cradle of Eternal Night. They asked over on BlueSky about marketing when there are no big releases on the horizon and while I provided some quick examples, I want to expand on that here.

I know you've written a bunch about marketing for indie authors and I was wondering if you had a thread or a blog post anywhere for how to market in lull years because I don't have anything planned for 2025 and I'm getting the Sunday scaries about it

These tips and suggestions work well for anyone, trad or indie, Amazon Exclusive or Widely Published, but as a widely published indie author, these tips are coming from that perspective.

Here are my suggestions and advice for marketing when you have no new releases coming up.

I've got nearly a dozen strategies here, including newsletters, group promotions, in-person events, discount promotions, re-packaging back list books, making your books available in multiple formats, and more!

NEWSLETTERS: The One Marketing Trick to Rule Them All.

No, I'm serious. Don't let the people who say email marketing is dead fool you. Many readers truly enjoy newsletters, especially when you provide them with exciting things to read. They want to see the photos of your messy desk, they want to see the (blurred out) wall of sticky notes as you plot out the next book, they want those two or three paragraphs of a sneak peek for your latest WIP.

And they want to feel special for seeing it. They want the behind-the-scenes. Keep some of your process secret from social media and only share it with newsletter subscribers. They are your super fans. They are your cheerleaders; give them something exclusive that no one else sees. It doesn't have to be whole chapters but give them a peak behind the curtain of what you are working on. Something they won't find on threads, BlueSky, or Mastodon.

Example of what you can share in your newsletter when you are editing: behind the scenes of your revision process, including carefully selected screenshots from Scrivener or photos of your revision journal.

Example of what you can share in your newsletter when you are drafting: progress updates and selectively picked excerpts that leave the readers asking questions.

Example of what you can share in your newsletter when you are outlining: Notes from your outlining process and thoughts about what this draft in progress has in common with your previous books.

Newsletters in general are great marketing tools no matter the time. I love my newsletter because I don't have to worry about “how many people are online right now / will the algorithm suppress this / am I spamming the skyline too much.” My readers know that they will get my newsletter every other Thursday around 8AM GMT -5. They know they will get funny stories about that time I was accused of being a witch, that time I scandalized a town during a performance of Camelot, or that time I forgot I was walking my dog on a public trail and dictated a spicy scene within earshot of many joggers and bikers, as well as updates on my latest works-in-progress. And pet photos. Can't forget pet photos.

Examples of other things you can share: pet photos and photos of your writing space.

You can share as much or as little in your newsletter as you want, but a newsletter makes sure your readers don't forget about you or your books while you are going through the seventh round of Revision Hell on this book that just won't revise itself already.

There are a ton of other benefits to author newsletters. I could write an entire 10,000 word article on why you should have one. But Tammi Labreque already has written that and more and I suggest picking up her book, Newsletter Ninja (and the follow up, Newsletter Ninja 2: If You Give a Reader a Cookie.)

Having your own newsletter will synthesize really well with some of the next few suggestions, which is why I put it here first.

[Note About Addresses: Yes, some countries require that you place a valid address in the footer of your email newsletters. If you are an author with an agent or publisher, ask them if you can use their office address. If you are an indie author, several author professional organizations have the use of their address for newsletters as one of their perks. Some author collective also allow members to use their address. You can also form your own collective and rent a post office box together, pooling your money to cover the cost. It does have to be a valid address, though.]

RECOMMENDATIONS: The Hype Machine

I have like three different versions of this image, each with a different set of 18 books. I have a good mix of recent releases here, FALL SACRED APPLE and LUCY UNDYING are both 2024 releases, as well as older books, like HUNTRESS which came out in 2011! Also a mix of trad and indie, here! But note, I do have one of my own books in this graphic ;)

Providing recommendations. This means strategically promoting and recommending books by other authors.

Wait, what!?! Isn't this supposed to be about marketing YOUR books?! Yes, it is. And that is what you are doing here.

Many retailers, like Amazon, have recommendation algorithms. When a certain number of people buy A Bowl of Mac and Cheese by Pahst A. Sauce and also buy A Plate of Noodles and Alfredo by Tom A. Toh, the algorithm will start to associate those two books together, despite being written by different authors. When a reader goes to the page for A Bowl of Mac and Cheese, the algorithm might show a list of items “Customers Also Bought” at the bottom of that page, and A Plate of Noodles and Alfredo will be in that list.

Other retailers, like Kobo, create specific pages for your recommendations that take into account everything you've ever purchased or read in Kobo Plus.

Your goal is to select the books you recommend well enough that your book lands in this list for your Ideal Readers

Your goal is to select books to recommend well enough that your book lands in this carousel for those books and your Ideal Readers see it.

These retailers are promoting your books for you. But you have to make sure their algorithms are properly trained. You can do this by strategically promoting books that you want to have associated with yours. Make a list of books that are similar to yours that you know your readers will love. Include books that are recent releases as well as books that are older. I keep a running list and am always adding to it as I find new and new-to-me books.

Sort those books into different micro-niches. My specific genre I target is “secondary world high and epic fantasy with sapphic main characters.” My ideal reader enjoys deep worldbuilding, dynamic characters, and romance-subplots accompanying epic storylines. They also enjoy rivals-to-lovers, books with disability rep, and court intrigue. I have my list of books sub-categorized and tagged with things like “contains non-human fantasy races” and “goes on a quest” or “loads of court intrigue” or “close knit found family” or “large, diverse cast.”

When sales happen or Pride Month comes around, I have a list I can promote on social media, in my blog, or to my newsletter. I can select ten books from my long list that all have “close knit-found family” and make a blog post of “best sapphic found-family fantasy books for Pride Month” or share in my newsletter “My favorite sapphic books featuring loads of court intrigue.”

For example, when the Queer Your Bookshelf event happened in August, I sent out a newsletter that had six recommendations for sapphic fantasy books to pick up, including my own. When the Itch.io Creator Day happened on Black Friday, I had a list ready to share on social media and promote on my blog.

Readers appreciate these kinds of recommendations because they trust you as an expert in their genre. You will never write fast enough to satiate the most voracious of readers. Other authors are not your competition. They are the reason you don't have readers interrupting you by barging through your door demanding to know when your next book will be released. The reason GRRM doesn't have a protest outside his house is because readers have other things to read while he finishes his next book, and I am sure he is glad for it.

By providing thoughtful and intentional recommendations for other authors, you aren't just training an algorithm, you are also keeping your readers happy and providing them a personalized recommendation service akin to what they might find in a bookstore or library. Except you are much more of an expert on your readers' specific, hyper-niche interests.

I also try to sporadically shout out books that I am reading that I know my readers will like on social media, not just as part of a list or promotional effort for a sale.

For example, I noticed that the author of my the book I am currently reading had posted a promotional skeet for that book—SHE WHO BROUGHT THE STORM. I quote-posted saying that I am currently reading and enjoying this. Genuinely, I am loving the book and do want more people to read it. But I also know it's a good “also bought” for STARS AND SOIL. Both are secondary world fantasy with queer-norm worlds, feature disabled characters, have spicy sapphic romances, and have complex magic systems.

While this post merely stated that I was reading and enjoying this book (because I was eating breakfast and couldn't be arsed to actually use my one braincell for anything other than listening for the sound of my kettle), if I had been more awake, I would have done something along the lines of this:

If you enjoyed the sapphic elements and magical queer-norm world of STARS AND SOIL, you will love SHE WHO BROUGHT THE STORM. I am loving the dragon/human power exchange dynamic. Plus, it has a very unique take on disability in fantasy!”

I would have called out why someone who enjoyed my books will enjoy this book, a tidbit about what makes this book unique, and what I like about it.

I am both marketing my existing back list and promoting a (very awesome) book I know my Ideal Reader will enjoy. (Can I keep pretending that I'm not my own Ideal Reader now or is the jig up?)

I know this might sound crass, maybe even a little gauche. What do you mean, this promotion of other books is all for selfish gain and I have ulterior motives? EWW! ICKY!

Except, it is not. Rising tides lift all ships. Before I published as an author, I was an indie book reviewer, specializing in reviewing queer, speculative fiction. I never got paid for this, I didn't have ads on my blog and I wasn't even an affiliate of any retailers. I was simply an enby with a Netgalley account, a blog, and not enough books. I've been hyping queer indie books since 2012.

The difference between then and now is intentionality. In 2012-2017, I was reading all across the spec fic and queer spectrum and promoting everything. I still read widely, and while I might mention an m/m military sci-fi story I enjoyed off-handedly on social media, I'm likely not going to be including it in my recommendation lists or giving it multiple shout-outs on social media during special events.

And besides, I want to see fellow sapphic authors succeed and thrive. We are a small community, we don't get the kind of promotion and chatter that cis, straight, allosexual m/f romantasy gets. If we don't promote each other, no one else will.

There is a tertiary monetary benefit to this, too. Potential affiliate income. I am an affiliate for Bookshop.org, Rakuten Kobo, and Amazon. When I make my recommendations and link to those retailers, I get a small percentage of income if a reader purchases a book. I don't make much from this, about $50 so far this year. But that covers 6 months of my phone bill. (Mint Mobile for the win. No, I'm not an affiliate for them, just a fan.)

–> Newsletters and Recommendations Combined: Swaps and Group Promos

I wasn't sure whether to sub-section this under newsletter or recommendations, but I think it works best as a subsection of recommendations because that is what this is, and newsletters are just the vehicle.

Now that you know the important of recommendations, one of the best ways you can provide them is in your newsletter.

Group promotions can be found many places, most prominently on Ebookfairs, My Book Cave, Bookfunnel, and StoryOrigin. Group promotions are when multiple authors create a landing page using one of these platforms, each contributing one or more books. Then all authors in the group promote that landing page. You are cross promoting your works, all hoping the share your readership and have readerships shared with you. Some of these platforms are entirely free, some of them have a small cost, some of them have a free tier that still lets you access many of these features.

This is a recent group promotion I was part of on StoryOrigin, here is one I am currently part of on BookFunnel, and here is one that I myself organized on My Book Cave. I've found the best success in organizing my own promotions as it lets me create hyper specific promotions.

A description for a recent group promotion I put together:

This is for secondary world epic fantasy books with lgbtqia+ protagonists. There doesn't need to be a coming out story or a romance. Just so long as it's explicit that the MC is queer. Rated R / Romantasy ok! But please have a professional and safe for work cover.

By creating my own promotions, I can make sure all books in the promotion meet my own standards and fulfill the niche I want.

Group promotions come in many different flavors. Some group promotions involve sharing each others' “reader magnet” (read Tammi Labreque for more info on good 'reader magnets') so that all authors can grow their mailing list, some cross promote ARCs or review copies. But this article is about marketing and sales, so I will focus on the group promotions aimed at increasing sales by sharing Universal Book Links.

If you look at my examples, you will see each promotion has a banner image at the top of the page. A lot of people will just put the group promo banner image at the bottom of their newsletter and hope readers click on it. I personally find this a bit annoying. When I share a group promo in my newsletter, I try to find one book (that isn't mine) in the promotion that my readers will like, usually this means finding the other LGBTQ fantasy books. This gets me more “clicks” in my newsletter (which improves my chances of being accepted into other group promotions) and will help me Do The Algorithm Thing if the reader ends up buying.

A recent group promotion I linked to in my newsletter. This one was for StoryOrigin and was a Reader Magnet Promotion, but note how I chose a specific book and gave a reason why I thought my subscribers would like it.

I try to be thoughtful and intentional when choosing group promotions to join. I look at the other books in the promotion. Do they have covers that match the genre and look professional? Are they aimed at the same readers my books are aimed at? It might seem like a good idea to join any promotions that even are tangentially related to your books, but this runs the risk of ruining your carefully crafted algorithm manipulation. Try to find extremely niche group promotions with books you wouldn't wince at promoting.

It might also seem like a good idea to join as many as you can. But Gmail has a hard limit on email size before it cuts you off with a “click here to see full message,” and you don't want your readers to have to do that. I try to limit myself to two carefully selected group promotions per newsletter.

Another feature of some of these sites are “newsletter swaps.” This is an individual cross-promotion between you and another author. You promote the universal book link for one of their books and they share one of yours. When I do a swap, I share the cover, the title, the author, and a 250-300 word blurb for the book. Some authors just share the cover and link.

I use StoryOrigin to manage my swaps. Their system allows me to look at past statistics for authors and peak at what their newsletters look like so I can see how much (or how little) effort an author puts into their swaps. Again, I am very intentional in making sure I choose swaps where I know my readers will be interested, the cover is professional, genre appropriate, and safe for work, and the author I am swapping with will present my book well, too.

I have heard unfortunate tales where an author agreed to a swap without doing this research and ended up having to share the link to fantasy-noir erotica when they are a contemporary dark fantasy writer. This kind of mishap can result in a loss of reader trust and may end up messing up your books positioning in the algorithms for years.

I want to show a little bit about how your click statistics are influenced by how well you are targeting your specific niche.

In this newsletter, I had two swaps I organized via StoryOrigin. One was for a sapphic dark fantasy romance. The other was for a sci-fi book with no obvious queer elements (it did have queer characters; it just was not obvious from the book packaging).

Taken from my newsletter, here is the swap for Zoe Calloway and the Temporal Tides

Taken from the same newsletter. You might have to squint, but the cover does mention it is a dark sapphic romance, and the blurb is very obvious about this being a romance between two women.

These statistics are collected from StoryOrigin. As you may notice, the book with multiple clues that it was sapphic got many more clicks. HATED MAIDEN had “sapphic” right on the cover and the blurb makes it very obvious that the romance is between two goddesses. More than twice as many people clicked on the link for HATED MAIDEN than did for ZOE CALLOWAY.

This is one of the reasons I started my sign up for queer fantasy books to be featured in my newsletter. There is no “swap” component to these. I am not asking these authors to do any marketing or promotion of my works. I am trying to bring better recommendations to my readers. This builds reader trust, makes them more likely to open my newsletter, and potentially helps train the algorithm. Even though this seems like it would not lead to any sales for me, it is still laying the groundwork for sales down the line and will definitely help train the algorithm in my favor by further solidifying my books as queer fantasy books.

NEW FORMATS: Everything Old is New Again

This one is mostly for indies, but if you are trad published and still have some of your rights, this might be for you, too! Not all publisher acquire the rights for all formats. Check your contracts and if you still have audiobook rights or special edition rights, you might be able to brew up something yourself. Become a hydra~ I mean a hybrid publisher.

Most indies focus on ebooks. This makes a ton go sense as it's easy, cost effective, and simple. But some readers prefer physical books. If your back catelog is only in ebook format, consider making it into a paperback. This can give you a “release date” to hype up and countdown to.

If you have paperback already, look into hardcover. I just put out a hardcover edition of A LAKE OF FEATHERS AND MOONBEAMS seven years after release and got several purchases day 1 from fans who told me they already owned the ebook.

This book released seven years ago, but it got a whole new marketing campaign because I finally got around to adjusting the cover file to be compatible with hardcover.

If you've already got hardcover and paperback, consider “special editions.” I use Bookvault Bespoke for this as it lets me do foil, sprayed edges, ribbon bookmarks, and more. I include full color maps, glossaries, bonus short stories, and more in these special editions. (Psst: Bookvault does have an upload fee, but it doesn't charge for revisions. If you are a member of the Alliance for Independent Authors, you get free uploads!)

I sell my special editions directly by integrating BookVault with Shopify. One fun thing I offer my newsletter subscribers is a discount code that lets them order special editions 15% off!

Here is a mockup of my special edition for SMOKE AND STEEL when I first started imagining what a special edition might look like. I shared this process with my newsletter and asked for their feedback.

And this is how it turned out in the end...

If you've got all that already, consider audiobooks. This one can be a bit expensive, but there are a lot of narrators who are willing to work with indie authors on a budget! I am very much against exclusivity, but if you are absolutely between a rock and a hard place, ACX lets you do “Royalty Share/Royalty Share Plus” with audiobook narrators. You are signing up to be exclusive to Audible for 7 years, and half of your royalties will be distributed to the narrator, but it is a way to lower costs/make the upfront cost more manageable.

It took me seven years to get from A LAKE OF FEATHERS AND MOONBEAMS being released in ebook to it having an audiobook. Worth it, though! And it set off a fun round of marketing a book I wrote seven years ago.

By making your book available in multiple formats, you are expanding your readership and giving yourself an avalanche of “release dates” to hype up without having to rush to finish half a dozen of your WIPs.

If have have a lot of short stories on retailers for $0.99, consider combining them into an anthology, which you can then create paperbacks and hardcovers for! Find any possible way to re-use what you have already written.

MERCHANDISE: Insert Space Balls Joke Here

This one can be a time sink, a procrastination distraction, and a potentially large expense. Proceed with caution.

Consider what fans of yours might want. If you have a pantheon in your series, do the gods each have their own symbols? If your books take place in secondary worlds, do you have maps?

There are several companies that will do stickers or buttons. Several companies that do cloth banners that could easily be used for maps. For the series and franchises you love, what kind of fan merch do you enjoy?

When I was considering this, I thought of Final Fantasy XIV and my collectors' editions for each expansion. I framed the cloth map that came with the Stormblood expansion box. The Azem pin from the Endwalker expansion is pinned to a canvas board and displayed alongside the job stone pins I have. How can I do something similar with my books?

I don't suggest creating a huge merch store with a thousand different products. Consider one or two things you think readers will enjoy. I hired an artist (and fellow author!) to design symbols for the gods of Ahnlisen and made stickers and buttons. I used Inkarnate to make a map of Ahnlisen and had it printed on cloth tapestries. Have I sold any of these? Not yet! But I have used them in giveaways for my books and subscriber boxes.

One merch item that I have sold is my lore book. I compiled all my notes on worldbuilding I had done over the years and cleaned them up into articles. I also gathered up my short stories, deleted scenes, and even some early but ultimately scrapped ideas. I put them into one book and sell it as a sort of compendium for mega fans!

These items built hype for my books, got people interested in reading them when I would mention working on them on social media or in my newsletter. They are another thing you can have a “release date” for, another thing you can do a “reveal” for without writing a whole new book in a month.

As I said, this can lead down a rabbit hole of you coming up with ideas and then wondering if you can afford an artist to do design work for you. Try to keep it simple to start with! If you want to involve your readers, put a poll in your newsletter or on social media. Ask them what they would want. If you are hiring a graphic designer or artist, consider what your budget is before you start making plans.

Remember, if you hired someone to do your cover, check what your license is for the cover itself and alterations to it. I make sure when I hire a designer that I have the rights to display my book covers on bookmarks and other promotional materials. This might make the cost slightly more expensive, but I like having the rights to use my book covers in potential merchandise materials. If you aren't sure what rights you have, email your designer or artist. If you don't have the rights you need/want, most artists and designers will sign a new contract for you to have those rights for a small fee.

I am sure you have experienced the following: you write a sentence about a character doing something mundane like climbing onto a horse. You pause, scratching your head and wondering if you described it accurately. You move your cursor over the icon for your internet browser.

Three hours disappear.

It's now, somehow, past supper time and you have three dozen tabs open and you now know more about saddle construction than you ever wanted to know.

Don't let that time be lost. Write a blog post about it!

“I'm still hard at work on A Bowl of Chocolate Ice Cream, and the chapter I am working on (spoilers!) involves a high-speed horse chase. Anyway. Did you know that the first saddle was...

Keep tying it back to your back list or your work-in-progress and explain why this is so important for you and your readers to know! If you write stories about swordsmiths, share your research about forging and the history of the broad sword compared to long swords. If you write science fiction about a corporation harnessing a black hole to power their terraforming machines, share some research you did on the physics behind black holes or terraforming. If you choose meaningful names, write an article about the names of your MCs for your back list books. If you were inspired by a folk tale or myth, write a post on how that myth started and how it's changed over the years.

SHORT STORIES AND DELETED SCENES: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

These are usually newsletter fodder, but you can also put them up on Patreon, Ream, Ko-fi, Itch, Campfire, or your own website and have them freely available.

In my experience, readers love deleted scenes. Posting these sorts of things between releases lets you talk about the book that maybe released a few months ago while sprinkling in some tidbits about your WIP.

I had to cut this cute scene because it was slowing things down in A Bowl of Mac and Cheese just as tensions were starting to rise. But here's what happened in the inn the night before the big battle! I am determined to have a cute scene like this in A Bowl of Chocolate Ice Cream. Stay tuned to see if I manage it. (PS: Who do you want to see have an “Inn the Night Before the Battle Scene?”)

Again, I personally save these things for my newsletter and tell people “Do you want the spicy bonus scene I cut between Arlina and Caitlin? Make sure you sign up for my newsletter this week so that you get it!” But many authors do this just as successfully by hosting these things on other platforms. Some even charge via Patreon or Ream!

Originally, STARS AND SOIL had two points of view: Caitlin and Kegan. Kegan's parts ended up getting cut, but I repurposed them into a novella. That novella is now available free to my newsletter subscribers, and it is the ONLY place you can find it. Originally, I released it episodically/serially, so each week another bit of it was released. This let me do constant marketing of it for 24 weeks. Words I had already written did NOT go to waste on the cutting room floor!

SERIALIZATION: Danger! Danger!

Continuing the train of thought from the previous section: serials are very easy to market all the time. You release a new chapter / new episode a week? Each week you have a very specific reason to be posting on social media about it!

This sounds great if you are in a lull, but if you are already having trouble getting your next book together and looking at a release date that is getting further away instead of closer, this marketing tactic might not be for you.

If you do have a fun side story that you want to tell, you could use your blog, Itch, Ream, or other serialized platforms to release an episode when you have the time. Make your commitment clear: you are releasing sporadically, potentially not regularly, etc. Don't make promises you can't keep.

Another way you might handle this is by creating a closed-off/password protected or paywalled space where you upload chapters of you WIP as a draft. Perhaps you can call it an alpha or beta program for your most loyal fans, who can comment as you draft. But I know many people feel shy or hesitant to put out works as they write it before there is a finished product. If this is you, you might instead “serialize” this “early access” after you have done a few rounds of edits but are waiting for your cover artist to finish, your proofreader to get back to you, or something else that is holding up publishing.

I mention it because it would feel inappropriate to not mention it, but this is a potentially dangerous method of marketing yourself if you have an ever-changing amount of spoons or unpredictable schedule. It does give you the opportunity to promote something “new” (chapter, episode, etc) more regularly than you would with a full book, but there are pitfalls, too.

(I do love serials, though, and I did write a blog post on how you can structure a serial if you decide that is something you really want to do.)

GIVEAWAYS: The Thing Everyone Loves

I host giveaways a few times per year, most recently in October when I had a huge multi-author giveaway to celebrate my birthday. But I also had one to coincide with the release of my special editions for Smoke and Steel back in June.

This usually involves giving away signed paperbacks of my books. I run them via Kingsumo, but there are multiple other platforms for this. (Kingsumo's free tier is usually good enough for most people's needs!)

My most recent giveaway included all of my books, plus books from my friends! It was a lot to organize but I had fun doing it and nearly 100 people who were not already on my newsletter list entered. The terms and conditions of this giveaway required that they be newsletter subscribers, and I use link tracking and special sign-up forms to know where my new subscribers are coming from. Nearly 100 readers who had never heard of me learned about my books by seeing other people promote the giveaway.

You don't have to do a huge giveaway like this. You can just keep it to one signed paperback and limit it to everyone who re-skeets a post. It doesn't have to be complicated or time intensive. But this gives you a specific reason to be talking about your back list books.

I suggest making the length of the giveaway at least a month. This is enough time for you to send out at least one newsletter about it and possibly two! Enough for other authors to share it in their newsletter if they are participating, and enough time you to heavily market it on social media if it's going to be a Big To Do where you give away multiple books.

I like KingSumo because it allows people to get extra entries by sharing on social media, hence extending the organic reach of the marketing. Part of the Birthday Giveaway I did involved getting extra entries for following the other authors involved in the giveaway. It was a win for everyone, that way.

If you are doing a physical giveaway, I would look into Pirate Ship if you are in the US. They make it very easy to find the best shipping rates, print out a shipping label, and request pick up from UPS or USPS. Plus, their customer support is great. They've saved me SO much money on shipping and so much headache, too!

NEW COVERS: Book Glow Ups

If one of your backlist books is older than 5 years old, it might be time for a new cover. Cover trends change over time and your book can quickly look out of place in your genre if you don't keep up.

And, as I found out the hardway, they can even change between when you commission the cover and when you release it. When I commissioned Sarah Waites for the cover of Stars and Soil, having a figure/character on the cover of a fantasy book was 'in', as was monochrome color pallets. But by the time I released STARS AND SOIL, typography and symbol-heavy covers had taken over. And my sales suffered because of that. My book looked out of place, and I had to get a new cover.

But this was also an opportunity. Another cover reveal!

I hired GetCovers because they do awesome work, and I love supporting a Ukrainian business that doesn't use generative AI. Plus, they fit my budget at $10-$90 USD depending on what I need.

This resulted in a “new cover incoming! If you like the current one, make sure you get your paperback or hardcover now before it changes,” entry in my newsletter and on social media.

A cover change could lead to better sales overall, but also gives you an opportunity to hype the back list.

And the “get the old cover now” thing works. How do I know this? Because when Nicolin Odel changed the cover for THE SHEPERDS OF THE SUNSTONE, it resulted in me sending a frantic message asking if he had copies of the old cover still available to purchase. Yes, his new cover is AMAZING and objectively much better than the original cover. But I fell in love with that book with the old cover. I wanted that version on my shelf!

NEW DESCRIPTION: Realigning the Stars (and Keywords)

This is more of a behind the scenes thing and won't necessarily lead to you hyping your backlist or giving you opportunities to bring it up, but it can still help move books into reader hands.

Like cover trends, trends for descriptions change over time. Once upon a time, many descriptions in the spec fic genre started with, “In a world where XYZ, one hero does ABC.”

Now, many of them end with, “Time is running out, and HERO must do IMPOSSIBLE TASK, otherwise VERY BAD THING.”

Here are some real examples of the “Hero Must Do X Otherwise Y” trend I found for popular books. These aren't exactly in this format, but they give you an idea of who the hero is, what their goal is, and what will happen if they fail:

An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever.

Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

...Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

“In a world where...” is cliché now, and you won't find it in any descriptions. And if you do, you probably won't click the Buy button. But that last line is in almost every book description.

Take a look at your descriptions and compare them to the descriptions of the new releases in your genre. What do the new descriptions have in common? Does your description have that?

Another thing you might consider doing to your blurb is evaluating tropes in your books. A decade ago, love triangles were the Cool Thing to Have and you wanted your description to somehow highlight that or hint at it. Now, it's enemies to lovers. And hey, your book happens to have that, too! Rework the blurb to emphasize the enemies to lovers aspect and maybe not go into so much detail about the other love interest. See what tropes your book already has and rewrite your blurb to focus more on the currently poplar tropes.

(I hope I don't have to say this but just in case; don't try to make your blurb highlight tropes that are only there if you squint. This is a bit deceptive and will lead to bad reviews.)

Take this as an additional opportunity to find ways to incorporate some new keywords and search terms into your blurb. When I last re-did my blurb for STARS AND SOIL, I added this:

Stars and Soil is the first novel in the Scions and Shadows series and is perfect for those who like their fantasy full of court gossip, political intrigue, shifting alliances, deep worldbuilding, backstabbing and betrayal, and sapphic and disability representation. Fans of Seth Dickinson's The Traitor Baru Cormorant and Tessa Gratton's The Queens of Innis Lear will feel right at home in this magical, queer-normative world.

For the purposes of showing what I did, I bolded the “keywords” and “search terms” I wanted to make sure my book is associated with and give the readers a good opportunity to nope-out if they didn't already realize that my books are full of rainbows and unicorns. Can you do something like this for your back list books, too?

This won't give you an opportunity to do more back list marketing, but it will make sure that the back list marketing you do is more effective at leading to a sale or library check out.

IN PERSON EVENTS: Introverts, Just Skip This Section

This is not one I personally do often, but the people who do it that I know have much success with this. It is obviously dependent on energy, transportation, time, and risk profile. I don't do this as it's hard to do when disabled and impossible to do as someone with an autoimmune condition when there are bad viruses running rampant. But I do want to mention it!

These don't have to be big book festivals or conventions! If you have a local farmers market that had a crafts and artist section, check if they allow authors. If you have a local holiday market, check if they allow authors. Libraries often host authors, as do bookshops.

This can be a bit expensive up front, as you will want to have copies of your books available, potentially a banner, business cards, and stands for displaying your books. This also often involves having some sort of means of accepting electronic payment, which can also come with some costs. A lot of places also have tabling fees.

One way to make this a bit more manageable is to find fellow authors to table with, preferably in your genre. You and the other authors split the cost of the table at the event, and you each get a small section of the table. There are some pop-up book shops that do this quite frequently, too!

My friend, Liz Sauco, tabling at the Scituate Art Festival. She's got an amazing table runner, her books displayed prominently, and an easy to scan QR code for people to join her newsletter with the snap of a camera. I don't know how she does it, but she attends events frequently.

But if you are an extrovert, can take on the upfront cost, and have determined that a public outing is within your tolerance for risk, then these can be fantastic ways to sell back list books and make super fans. Bookfunnel provides a way that you can sell ebooks in person, too, by letting you set up unique download links and qr codes. Simply print out cards with these links and qr codes and give those to the readers when they pay. Voilá! Ebooks sold in person.

I'm an introvert, and I haven't done this since 2018, so I don't have a good frame of reference for doing this in a post-pandemic world, but it might be something to look into!

OTHER MULTI-AUTHOR PROMOTIONS

Join groups for other authors and be on the lookout for other kinds of multi-author events. Right now, I have one of my books in the Sapphic Book Advent Calendar event hosted by Jae. Jae also does Sapphic Book Bingo every month and did an amazing Give Something Away Day in July. The moderators of the r/fantasy subreddit put on a mega sale every December to fundraise for charity. Authors on Itch.io frequently put together co-op bundles. Narratess puts on a giant indie sale in August and April. There are SO MANY ways in which authors collaborate to cross promote. These are great opportunities to promote a first-in-series book or an excellent stand alone book.

I took part in several big author-collaborative events in the same weekend, including the Beloved SFF Sale and the Narratess Sale. I made separate recommendations for each.

These events are often in the same vein as the group promos I mentioned earlier but are far more limited in time and frequency. It's cross-promotion and sharing readerships. But there's often a more personal touch to them, and they are hyped up in more places usually than just newsletters.

These events give you the opportunity to promote your book by promoting the event and also give you the opportunity to put together recommendation lists.

Talk to other authors. Collaborate with other authors. Be in community with other authors and you will naturally hear about these events and be able to participate in them.

This usually involves spending money and making sure to discount at least one of your books. You pay to have one of your books featured in a regularly sent promotional newsletter like BookBub.

There are MANY BookBub-like competitors. Many of them far cheaper, too! But not all of them are worth it, and it's unlikely you will make your money back if you only have a handful of books published. I do not recommend this unless you either have at least 5 books published or a series with at least 3 books out a pre-order running for another book in the series. You make your money back on these newsletter promos from readers buying the rest of your books.

Some of my favorite ones for fantasy specifically [note: prices are accurate as of 12/4/2024, I cannot guarantee that I will update the prices here if they change.];

SciSpry / BookSpry SFF – Cost: $7 – $65 depending on what you want to promote and if you want premium placement. THIS is my TOP recommendation! It's affordable and I have always had a positive return on investment from it! Just Science Fiction/Fantasy Books! (Don't confuse with their separate Romance newsletter) (Also, Bookspry has a very hand tool that is free to use that lets you check if your books have been sent to the dungeons on Amazon!)
BookDoggy – Cost: $22- 24 depending on if you are promoting a free book or a discounted book. All genres, but lets you link to your newsletter, your direct store, or other retailers! A cool thing about it is that it lets you promote your reader magnet! My promotion of my reader magnet a few months ago ended up getting me nearly 100 new subscribers to my newsletter. Definitely worth looking into if you are trying to grow your newsletter, but they've also been consistently great about getting sales, too. This promotional site is highly recommended.
Fussy Librarian – Cost: $13 – $80 depending on if you are promoting a discounted or free book—it's cheaper to promote a discounted book—and what genre it is. All genre, but lets readers pick which genres they want to see in their daily newsletter.
Book Barbarian – Cost: $40 – $60 depending on the price of your book. Just Fantasy and SciFi! They prefer books that are widely distributed. They also only promote stand alone novels or first in series, and unless the book is a new release, they want a 3.5 average rating with at least 10 reviews on Amazon (the exception to this being if you have other books released and they have over 50 reviews). Read their submission guidelines carefully! They are very strict with some of their rules. I've had good success with my books that are more action oriented, and decent success on my more feels-y books.
Bargain Booksy – Cost: $25-$100 depending on your genre. Fantasy is $45, and most Romance genres are in the upper range of $60 – $100. Run by Written Word Media, who also runs Freebooksy. All genres, but allows readers to pick the genres they get in their newsletter. Now allows direct store links! I haven't ever used Freebooksy but I hear it is good.
EReaderIQ – Cost: $10 – $30 depending on your genre and the price of your book. They only promote Amazon links as their secondary function is a price tracker for Amazon books, allowing readers to “subscribe” to books on Amazon and get email alerts when the price drops. One of the unique things about them is that they allow you to promote one primary book and up to 5 more secondary books so long as they are under $2.99. Each additional book you want to promote is $5. They also allow you to provide audiobook links. They are great for promoting a series. Read their guidelines; they get picky about covers and ratings.
BookRaid – Cost: They do a “Cost Per Click” model with their maximum being $60. They also stop counting clicks after 3 days, so if someone hasn't checked their email in days and only gets around to the email a week later, you won't be charged for those clicks. Prefers books that are widely distributed AND lets you see how many clicks you got during the promotion.
BooksGoDirect – Cost: $10 They only promote direct sales links. If you are really trying to get more people aware of your direct store, this is a great way to do it! They are still rather affordable right now, but not very well known yet. This is especially good if you have a series bundle on your direct store that isn't available elsewhere!

Example of what a Fussy Library promo looks like:

Example of an EreaderIQ promo, note the 'You may also like...' section at the bottom that lists other books by me.

Here is a screenshot from the BookRaid promotion dashboard showing how many clicks I got for each retailer and showing the cost breakdown.

I've tried SO MANY of these and after much experimenting and trial and error, this list comprises the promotional newsletters I found that strike a balance between affordability, customization, and return on investment. There are aggregate platforms, like CraveBooks, that allow you to book promotions from multiple platforms at once, but I suggest booking directly with each platform as it allows you the most customization (ex: Booking for EreaderIQ on Cravebooks doesn't allow you to also link your audiobooks or additional secondary books).

One of the key factors I look for in these promos is the ability to link to my direct store. Many of them require books to be $0.99, which means I get between $0.30 – $0.45 per sale on most platforms. But my direct store nets me $0.65. It's easier to recoup my costs if I have at least a few people buying directly from my store (as a bonus, they have the chance to join my newsletter!)

Make sure you vet these newsletters before you purchase a promotional spot. Make sure that the books they promote are in line with what you write. This will make your book more likely to get clicks and less likely to screw up the algorithms. Subscribe to them before you try them and get a feel of what books are most likely to be featured.

I don't suggest doing this more than once every 90 days. Readers are often subscribed to multiple discount book newsletters and do start to get fatigued if they see the same books over and over. This is great to do once in a while to try to reach new readers you wouldn't otherwise find, but it's not something you should be doing all the time.

“Promo Stacking” is when you purchase slots in several of these promotional newsletters at once within a few days of each other. This is usually a strategy used to make the most out of Kindle Countdown Deals for authors who are KU exclusive. The purpose is to move a lot of free books or discounted books in hopes of getting into the top 100 in a category or in all of Kindle. By doing this, you can get a “halo” effect where you will still get prominently displayed by the algorithm for several days to several weeks later, even as your book has returned to full price.

I have done a lot of “Promo Stacking” even as a wide author. It's not as effective at getting me to “climb the ASBR” due to readers purchasing my books on multiple platforms. I might sell 100 books on day one of the promo, but only 40 of them are on Amazon, so my ASBR does not rise respective to my total sales, only Amazon sales. I've still found it worth it, however. It just doesn't have the same “juice” as it would if I were Amazon-exclusive. But my goal is a wide reach of readers, and these stacks still let me reach readers on Kobo, Smashwords, Apple, B&N and more.

If you want more information on other promotional sites and an in-depth explanation of Promo Stacking, there is no better resource right now than David Gaughran's list. There are a few sites on his list that I tried and didn't have success with, but that is why I advise that you subscribe to the lists first to make sure your book fits in.

Again, this marketing technique is, in my opinion, only worth it if you have a sizable back list of books that readers can purchase at full price. If I have a series of three books, but only book 1 has released and I want to promote it, and I put the first book to $0.99 and pay $18 to Fussy Librarian for a promotion, I need to sell 55 copies of book 1 to break even. But if I have books 2 and 3 released and available for 4.99, I only need 2 people to decide to buy my whole series at once and I've got a positive return on investment. The sell-through is how you recoup your costs on these promotions!

If you are doing these, make sure your back matter in the book you are promoting prominently mentions your newsletter if you have one and the next book of yours they should pick up! These kinds of promotion make money via sell-through, so make sure it's easy for them to grab your next book!

Updating Your Back Matter

Speaking of back matter, it might be time to re-evaluate yours. I just went through and did this with all of my books last quarter, and it was enlightening. “Birthing Orion” still had “Coming Soon: Shades and Silver” at the end—Shades and Silver came out in 2021... Others didn't have any mentions of my newsletter! Go through your backmatter and make sure your books tell readers where to find you and where to find the next book.

For books which you do not have many reviews, I suggest adding a scene break on your last page and adding a short thank you to the reader and ask them if they would leave a review. The reason I suggest doing this after a scene break and not a page break or starting a new “chapter” is because some e-reading devices will go back to the beginning of the book after you turn the last page of the book itself or take over the screen with their own recommendations. By putting this as a scene break, you make sure the reader sees it. Here is an example of one of these review 'asks.'

Thank you so much for taking the time to read A Lake of Feathers and Moonbeams. When I first wrote this, there was a lack of LGBTQ fantasy books that just focused on the story and not on their sexuality. Most LGBTQ fiction at the time was about 'coming out.' But it can still be hard for readers to figure out if an LGBTQ book will contain the story and representation they are looking for. If you have a moment, could you leave a short review? It doesn't need to be long. Two or three sentences is more than enough to help make sure future readers know if this is the book for them or not.

I word my asks as a plea to help other readers. Some authors word theirs as if they are looking for feedback and will take the reader's review as critical feedback as they work on their nex book. I understand why some authors do the latter; it creates a sort of relationship with the reader. But a lot of readers prefer it if authors don't read their reviews, often saying “reviews are for readers.” And that is why I word my request for a review the way I do.

Aside from this, make sure any “Coming Soons” or “Sneak Previews” are for the appropriate books and your “Also By” page has all of your works! You might want to read over your bios in those older books, too, making sure to add any accolades or awards you've since accumulated or update your pronouns if you've had recent identity revelations. It might also be time to remove your Twitter links in the back of your books and add BlueSky.

With each new book you release, I suggest taking a moment to update the backmatter in the rest of your books. Tools like Atticus can help with their reusable template pages and Draft2Digital even has their own tool for keeping all your back matter in sync.

(If you are wide, make sure you are using universal links in your back matter or creating separate copies for each retailer if you do want to include retailer specific links!)

GOING OFF LINE: Heads down, only write

OK but like what if you need to just go offline so you can finally finish this draft without distractions? How the heck is one supposed to market when OFFLINE?

Sign posts and newsletters.

If you have read Newsletter Ninja, you will know about Automations and Welcome Sequences. To be brief, an automation is when a series of triggers or events happens and it results in a specific pre-written email being sent to a pre-selectef segment of your newsletter list. A welcome sequence is an automation created specifically to welcome new readers to your newsletter.

A welcome sequence had a few goals: establish when a reader can expect your emails, what a reader can expected go find in your emails, and what your whole Deal is. Part of “what is your deal” is making a reader more familiar with your backlist. For example, if I know a reader joined my newsletter by scanning the QR code in the back of STARS AND SOIL, they probably already have read SHADES AND SILVER and might be looking for SMOKE AND STEEL. But they might not know about my stand alone works! A welcome sequence for this reader might include a section introducing them to the books, where they can be found, and in what formats in addition to the gentle nudge to check out the next book in my series after STARS AND SOIL.

OK, but what does this have to do with going offline? Simple: make an automation in your newsletter for while you are offline and encourage your social media following to sign up.

Step 1 would be creating a specific automation for your “offline period.” The content for this automation might be a series of emails each containing a quiz about a back list book. Subscribers to this specific automation will be encouraged in the emails to respond to them with their answers. Winners will get a personalized post card from you, will get a signed book plate from you, etc. Something meaningful for readers and, easy for you / not expensive for you. Something valuable! Maybe bookmarks. Maybe stickers!

Once you've set up the automation, assign it a group / segment (whatever your email platform calls it.)

Then, set up a specific page for readers to join that specific segment. Tell your regular newsletter subscribers about it.

Then, you will make sign posts on social media. Go on every platform you are on and post something like this:

I am going on hiatus until this book is done! But I've set up something special! Sign up over here: (link!)

Pin this comment and/or link to the sign up page in your bio! If someone stumbles onto your profile, you want this to be what they see first!

Voilà. You can log out of your social media accounts. You don't have to worry about automated posts to social media being found by trolls while you are unaware of what's happening. You still have regular content going out to the people who want to see it!

Some technical notes: I can only speak to mailerlite, but custom unsubscribe pages that allow people to opt in and out of different groups is a paid feature. If you can't make these kinds of unsubscribe pages, then someone unsubscribing from your Hiatus Automation will also be unsubscribed from your main author newsletter if they were. If this is the case, make sure your readers know that by placing a note by the unsubscribe link.

WRAP UP: Bringing it all together

You can't do all the marketing, all the time. Pick one or two of these strategies to focus on while you write your next book. The majority of your time should be spent writing/drafting/editing/outlining/proofreading/whatever you do to get the book finished. Finishing that next book is the best thing you can do to advance your career. Keep your focus there. If you have to give up social media for a month to do that, give up social media. It's better to post nothing and finish the book than to post and delay the book.

I've run into too many authors who have gotten stuck in a rut because they put their focus on marketing their first book rather than writing their second. One such author said he couldn't bring himself to start the next book until book 1 was selling consistently. The unfortunate legacy left by GRRM is that many readers won't pick up a series if only the first book is out. I explained this, other's explained this. Without reader trust that book 2 is on the way, many are hesitant to pick up book 1 for fear that they will be left hanging. It's really a chicken and an egg problem, but authors are the ones that have to solve it.

Write the next book, select the marketing tactics that are within your budget and within your time, battery, and spoon allotment. Bonus if it's a marketing tactic that you find fun or engages a different part of your brain from writing. Dedicate everything else to finishing whatever you are working on now.

Addendum to Answer Questions:

Who makes your promo graphics? I make them using Canva and/or Pixlr. I do not pay for Canva. I do pay for Pixlr occasionally so that I can get more than their 3 downloads per day. I like that Pixlr allows me to do gradients on text and bevel text.

Where do you get your background images for your promo graphics? Either Free ones from Canva or DepositPhotos. AppSumo usually has a special twice a year where you can buy credits for 100 photos on DepositPhotos for only $40. I buy that whenever it becomes available. If you join David Gaughran's or Tammi Labreque's newsletters, they will ALWAYS make sure to let you know when that special is available! One pack of that usually lasts me a whole year and then some. I think I have enough credits right now for 150 photos?

Who designed your special editions? All me. I used photos from DepositPhotos and Pixlr to design it myself. I designed the interior pages, the dust jacket, the case laminate, etc. The biggest cost was the font I used, but I had purchased that license a few years ago (Yana / Yana Swash).

Where do you get those mockups of your books in paperback and hardcover? BookBrush. 3D mockups are part of their free tier! I use them ALL the time!

What do you use for your newsletter? I use MailerLite. They are free to use if you have fewer than 1000 subscribers! I did have to upgrade to a “Growing Business” plan recently as I went over 1000 subscribers. If you are keen to start a newsletter, please buy “Newsletter Ninja.” It will seriously be the best $5 you have spent. It's more worthwhile than all those self-publishing courses that cost thousands of dollars. Tammi will walk you through what you need for a welcome sequence, the importance of segmenting, and more! All in an easy to understand way an a wicked sense of humor.

Who formats your books? I do. I use Atticus and Sigil. Atticus to do the initial conversion from docx to epub and get basic formatting done, and then I use Sigil to edit some of the finer details with CSS. Most people only need Atticus! I have used Vellum in the past. I still have the license for it, I just don't have a Mac anymore. Once a book is in Atticus, though, I use their feature that lets you re-use back matter and update it across multiple books at once!

What was the last con you sold books at? ReaderCon 2018! I only sold 3 books but I had a BLAST. (I only sold three because I kept wandering out of the Merch Alley and into the panel sessions. I had set up my books on “consignment” at a bookstore that was tabling there. Technically, that bookseller was selling my books but I was doing my best to point readers to that bookseller to find my books.)

I hear a lot of people who are intimidated by starting a newletter and honestly, same. My current newsletter is not my first attempt at this! I was scared, worried I would be annoying people, not sure what to say!

But there are no trolls keyword-searching other people's email inboxes to find people to harass. No one will randomly come upon your last issue and try to start a whataboutism or a buthaveyouconsidered comment thread to your letter. You aren't spamming anyone's inbox: they specifically, intentionally signed up for it. They literally asked you into their inbox.

A lot of “grow your email list” advice tells you not to use double opt-in. Double opt-in is when someone has to confirm their email address by going to their inbox, waiting for a confirmation email, and then clicking on it to confirm they want to be on the email list.

But if you have anxiety about “but what if people don't actually know / realize what they are signing up for and then get mad at me?” then use the double opt-in method! It's what I do!

These people on your list want to know more about you. They want to hear about your writing. They want your emails! Don't worry about getting it right the first time. You can iterate over time. I started with a “welcome sequence” with one email. Over time, I improved my welcome sequence to have 3 emails. I used to only seperate my list by “signed up on my website” and “signed up elsewhere.” Now I keep meticulous track of where people signed up!

I feel far more comfortable with my newsletter now than I do on social media or any other platform. I can be more authentic, I am not competing in an algorithm or hoping so show up in a search. I don't have to perform, I can be myself with people who have already decided they enjoy my writing and support me. It's liberating! I do not have to wear a mask!

Find some of your own favorite authors and sign up for their newsletter. See what they do. Learn from those you think do it best!

Thanks for reading this article, I really hope that it helped you out! If you want to support me, you can leave me a tip or purchase one of my books. Also, feel free to join my newsletter, I'd love to have you!

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indieauthor — Dax Murray - Fantasy Author