1: Advertise. This means free, and often, paid ads. Work within your budget. Amazon Ads can get out of hand, be sure to stay on top of it. Facebook ads are hit or miss. Think outside of the box. Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest are all great if you are familiar with those formats. Try to run ads when you can.
2: Talk about your book. Be enthusiastic about it. Talk it up at signings, book clubs, restaurants. Wherever you get the chance. Part two of this is: know WHEN to talk about it. Throwing the book into an unwanted conversation never goes well. Know your audience, interject when appropriate.
3: Your cover, blurb, book description, etc can always evolve. Change often if it isn't working. Tweak your blurb, see what the public thinks. Adjust the book description. Find out what people don't like about the book cover and try to fix it. You may have a fondness for the cover, but everyone else may not. You're trying to sell a book to THEM, not YOU.
4: Local Bookstores should never be dismissed! Just because they're not the big time Barnes and Noble does not mean they can't equally sell dozens of your books a month! There is no guarantee that having a book at B&N equals billions of sales. It'll likely get lost among the trillions of books they stock. A small store likely will develop a personal relationship with you and help promote your book. Always promote that your books are carried in their stores on social media. They appreciate it.
5: Calm down. Just because you're not getting a sixteen movie deal with Netflix does not mean your books aren't moving. Selling a book a month is a big step. Selling one a week is excellent. Selling one a day is amazing! Baby steps. Don't sink a ton of money into anything, do not follow rabbit holes of false promises of vanity publishers guaranteeing you sales. Nobody can truly make good on that statement. If it happens, it happens.
6: Just be smart, calm, and positive out there. It's not so much its own step, but a means of getting through just about everything in life. Be calm and think things through. Ask for help. Patience is a virtue! Good luck out there!
1. You can always learn something.
2. Never stop. Even if the situation seems to call for stopping. Breaks are ok though.
3. Get out and see the world. Sometimes watching human interaction or the day to day hustle of life can inspire conversation, situation, or settings!
4. Write for you first, write for "them" second. Put what you want to put on paper first, and revise for others to enjoy!
5: Don't write for page count or word count. Write to tell the story, whether that takes 20,000 words, or 140,000. Tell the story.
