The answer to the first questions is “yes”! Authors of fiction can certainly benefit their platforms by incorporating speaking into their repertoire. So this brings us to the next question: What should fiction writers talk about?

Well, how about…writing? Talk about writing your first novel. Talk about researching effectively. Talk about establishing your book’s theme. Talk about using fact versus fiction in your work. Talk about creating conflict. Talk about bringing fictional characters to life. Talk about where you draw your inspiration from.

Another topic you can cover is your genre. Are you a writer of paranormal fiction? Or maybe you pen thrillers? Or literary fiction? Talk about particulars or trends specific to your genre.

If you’re an indie, talk about your experience with independent publishing. What made you decide to go that route? Did you make any mistakes? What did you learn from the process? What are the pros and cons to publishing independently?

If you’ve published traditionally, talk about your experience with that. Did you have an agent? How did you find one? How long did the process take? What have you learned?

Every author has to market his or her book to some extent, and there is an endless supply of topics to speak about in that regard. Talk about building your platform. (Explain what a “platform” is!) There are dozens of topics alone related to social media, including blogging, tweeting, friending, and the like. What works for you and what doesn’t?

For those of you who do speak, I’ll offer much of the same advice I gave to nonfiction writers: Don’t forget to bring sales materials to your events—bookmarks or business cards with your book cover on it (as well as ordering information, of course). (Or books themselves to sell right on the spot, if that is practical.) Readers of fiction tend to want to buy books written by authors they like, and they will likely want to buy your book after hearing you speak. Some authors give a small discount—perhaps 10 percent—to induce immediate sales. In any event, be sure to weave into your presentation that personally autographed books will be available afterward.

So even if you don’t have a book that outlines your expertise, the mere fact that you’ve written a book makes you an expert the on the process itself. There’s plenty to talk about!

Your name: Belinda Kroll

Your website/blog: http://worderella.com

Your bibliography: Catching the Rose, Worderella on Writing

1. What is your background? Funny story: I’m actually a usability analyst. My degrees are in computer science engineering, human computer interaction, and a minor in English. My Masters degree was very open, and allowed me to take high-level creative fiction writing courses with published author Samrat Upadhyay, which was amazing. I’ve always been a writer, though, and confused my high school class when I announced I was going to be a computer programmer. I was voted most likely to win the Pulitzer!

2. What led you to self-publishing? I am part of an entrepreneurial family, and I’ve been subscribed to Writer’s Digest since I was sixteen, so I’ve known about self-publishing for a long time. As an entrepreneur, I like to know all aspects of the business and have creative control. Luckily, my undergrad and masters degrees allowed me to cater my studies to learning the industry software and practice page/cover design in a safe environment. Using the knowledge I’ve gathered, I maintain my website, I make my book trailers, I design my books, and I’ve opened my own micro-press, Bright Bird Press.

3. What have you found to be the biggest challenge in self-publishing? Marketing is something I have always had problems with. As much as I can be chatty in person, I’m still a bit confused how I can get people interested in my work without just putting it in front of them. I’m learning all the different paths for marketing online because I know that’s my best option. I’ve been experimenting, but I need to make a solid plan to follow.

4. What has been the biggest surprise about self-publishing? Even though I assume it would take a lot of work, it takes even more work than I expected sometimes. I think this is because I work full-time, and I also make websites for small companies on my free time. So I have a lot of responsibilities to juggle.

5. What inspires you? The little things in life that make me smile, such as an ant on the sidewalk dragging a leaf. I walk toward it and it stops, and starts to walk the other way. I walk around the ant, and it pauses before turning around to walk its original direction. I like to capture little moments like that in my writing.

6. Describe your writing process. I’m trying to be disciplined with this book. I try to write at least 750 words on the days I do write, usually after I come home from work. I sit at my desk in my bedroom, open the laptop, and start typing. Sometimes I feel a little stuck so I read the last page of the previous chapter. Sometimes I read a chapter from a book at my bedside to get my imagination flowing. Then I write as quickly as I can until I get 750 words. From that point, I slow down until I reach a good stopping point.

7. How do you stay disciplined? This online application I’ve been using, 750words.com, has been my lifesaver. It guilt-trips me into writing, but takes the pressure off because I know I only have to write 750 words, which is a relatively low-hanging-fruit sort of goal. Some days I focus on writing, other days I focus on marketing, websites, learning more about publishing, etc. The main goal is to “Keep moving forward,” like from the Disney movie Meet the Robinsons.

8. What is your favorite self-marketing idea? Tough question! Of course I like word-of-mouth, but really, I just like the idea that if I help you, you help me. I don’t want to be a spammer, I just want people to enjoy my writing. So if I help you with your website, or book trailer, maybe I won’t ask for monetary support, but that you spread the word about my book(s). I also like the idea of leaving bookmarks with my book information in the pages of similar books at the library/bookstore. I figure that’s one of the best ways to reach my readers.

9.  What advice do you have for burgeoning self-publishers? Take baby steps. I published my first book through a subsidy/vanity publisher, my second through Lulu, and a reprint through CreateSpace. I’m working my way up to Lightning Source, but maybe if I get enough funds, I’ll stick with CreateSpace and buy my own pack of ISBNs. So yeah. I know everyone says to avoid vanity publishers, but if you get a good one (like Aventine Press or Mill City Press), you can have a good experience and learn the ropes. My biggest advice is to not rush the process. Make mistakes you can afford. Don’t get ahead of yourself and burn out.

10. When you’re not writing what do you do for fun? I’m part of the local lindy hop community. Every Tuesday I swing dance and lindy hop all of my frustrations away. It’s the best sort of exercise ever.

11. What project are you currently working on? I’m in the middle of getting the word out about the second edition of my book, Catching the Rose. I’m writing my second novel, Haunting Miss Trentwood, and I’m trying to settle on the style of website I want for my micro-press, Bright Bird Press.

I live in South Africa and I am published in the USA. Distance has made it impossible for me to go the traditional marketing route. Online is all I have open to me. I have worked very hard to go from “Fiona Who?” to not quite “Aha, Fiona Ingram, the famous children’s author,” but to a point where I have a healthy Google profile, a nice author site, with lots of links to interviews, book reviews, articles, etc. When I began researching (as is my wont) the concept of book marketing, I still had the silly notion that as a writer, all one did was write and people would automatically rush out and get one’s books. Not at all. Nowadays, even the traditional publishers expect their authors to do their own marketing as well.

An author cannot just be an author. He or she has to be a product or a brand. Publishers are also more interested in someone who has more than just books to offer. Readers are greedy for information about the author, what inspires them, what new books are coming up, etc. Your marketing will incorporate your author online platform which leans heavily on Social Media.

The online author platform consists of: your book/s; your website; your author profile/bio; an e-zine or newsletter; a blog; a video interview (vlog); a podcast radio interview; a video preview on sites like YouTube; articles you’ve written; articles about you.

Your website is your biggest asset in your author platform. You can put up information on your book and purchasing details, as well as your press release, your bio and a good pic, your reviews, and anything written about you and your book. When you reply to people, include your website in your signature so interested parties can track you back to your site, thus creating a good stream of traffic. Been interviewed on the radio or a local television station? Ask for a copy and put these up on your site as well. The more electronic information people have available for easy access, the better. From here, you can also launch your blog or fan club, set up your Twitter and other options, and link your social network sites, such as Facebook, Myspace, Squidoo, etc, back to this. You can also launch your website on many social sites simultaneously. These create coverage and alert the industry to your presence.

Google is a fantastic tool. You can load your articles, get a Google Alert to notify you every time something comes up about you and your book, link other sites back to your own to increase your ratings and give you credibility, set up a Blogger alert, join Google’s Library page, keep track of your site’s performance with Google Analytics, and much more.

Blogging and blog tours. You can “chat” to eager readers by going on a Virtual Book Tour. Virtual book tours are a promotional tool for authors to connect with readers via book blogs. Tours usually include a minimum number of tour stops over the course of one month on a variety of blogs. Some companies offer to feature on each tour stop a photo of the book, a review, links to the author’s website and blog, and will include your purchase information. Authors who interact with tour hosts and make themselves available for guest posting, interviews, Q&A sessions with blog commenters, and who respond to comments will have the greatest success from their tour.

Book competitions. Why should you enter? It’s not so much about winning as being seen. Competitions broaden your author profile because people in the industry will read your book. Organizers also post results online to market their contests. Even if you don’t win, you may get a Best Runner-Up mention, and that’s the kind of detail you will put in your press release. You don’t have to be in print yet to enter some competitions.

Do not stop marketing. Even when your book is out there and you’ve sent off your press releases, don’t stop spreading the word! Do something every day (either online or physical) to continue your marketing thrust. Penny Sansivieri of AME says: “Remember—marketing doesn’t sell books … marketing gives you exposure and exposure sells books.”

To get something done … you have to do it yourself. You only get reviews if you ask for them; you have to make a huge effort to engage with potential readers through blogs, tours, tweets, Facebook, all the social media tools freely available at every writer’s fingertips. There is so much free information that there’s no excuse for writers to moan about not getting publicity. Author sites abound, and if you’re not sure what to do, many marketing newsletters and e-zines offer load of free information. 

* * * * *

Fiona Ingram (B.A., Hons. (Natal), M.A., (Wits)) was born and educated in South Africa. Her interest in ancient history, mystery, and legends, and her enjoyment of travel has resulted in The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, the first in her exciting children’s adventure series—Chronicles of the Stone. The first book was inspired by an actual trip the author took to Egypt with her two young nephews (then aged 10 and 12).

Please visit Fiona’s author site http://www.fionaingram.com/ for more articles on marketing. For her book site, visit http://www.secretofthesacredscarab.com/.

So you self-publish your book but then what? Just because you’ve built it, they won’t come. High street bookstores are unlikely to pick it up, and Amazon will take it for a few bucks but won’t highlight it unless it miraculously becomes a best seller. Most good journalists won’t review it (trust me, journalists don’t take self-published books seriously) and unless you’re a marketing or PR guru, it’ll be very difficult to promote it well.

Actually, if you publish traditionally, you are still going to be expected to promote your book. And in fact, you will likely not get signed on with a traditional publisher if you don’t already have a strong author platform with lots of potential buyers. When I was managing editor for a trade publisher, almost every single author we signed on was shocked to learn they were expected to promote their books. But the truth is, the bulk of our marketing was to plop the book into a catalog and send out a few news releases in hopes of getting a review or two. Anything beyond that—well, there just wasn’t a budget for it. Granted, that was a smaller press but even if you do manage to snag one of the major players, they are not likely going to spend their marketing bucks on a new author (like advances, marketing budgets continue to shrink). They’ll spend their money promoting whoever their current James Patterson is—and you will likely be lumped in with the rest of the midlist authors who enjoy little or no marketing budget.  

In addition, if you self-publish properly—start up your own imprint, purchase your own block of ISBNs, and have the book well edited and well designed—as opposed to going the subsidy route (often incorrectly called “self-publishing”), reviewers should have no idea you are self-published. Your book is simply a title from a new independent publisher. And there is no stigma there.

The next hurdle is trust. Sadly, self-published books have a bit of a grim rep. Whether it’s because people associate them with their Aunt Bettie’s History of Littlehampton book with its funny photoshopped front cover, or because they’ve read a self-pubbed book chock-a-block full of mistakes (which, sadly, most self-pubbed books have due to the lack of a decent editor and proof-reader), there’s not a great deal of respect for self-published books despite there being some decent ones out there.

See my point above about putting out a top-quality book. It should look just as sharp as any other book put out by one of the big houses. And again, done right—there is no way readers can tell if a book is self-published or not.

This is why self-published books on average sell dozens (if you’re lucky hundreds) whereas traditional publishers tend to sell in the thousands.

This is true of subsidy published books; these are often called self-published but in reality they are pay-to-publish vanity pieces. They sell few copies because they are often poorly done—and they are usually not priced competitively because authors are forced to purchase the books from the subsidy at an inflated price. In order to make any kind of profit, the books are priced too high—and they don’t sell.

Authors who self-publish in the true sense of the meaning are able to price their books competitively, and if they have a solid promotions plan, they tend to sell books in the thousands—sometimes tens of thousands.

Now if you’re one of those writers who doesn’t care about book sales and it’s all about the love of writing, then self-publishing is worth a shot.

To this I say—if book sales and profits don’t mean anything, by all means, go with the subsidy presses such as Outskirts, iUniverse, and Author House. If you want to make money—self-publish the true way.

But consider this: you’ve spent a year or so writing your book, maybe more, maybe less. So why not try to get paid for your hard work, rather then pay, as you would with self-publishing. Just give it a try, you know? For a start, most reputable traditional publishers will pay an advance (usually in the thousands if through a larger publisher). Then you’ll get royalties for every book you sell (once you make back your advance).

It’s pretty common knowledge that advances from traditional publishers have gotten smaller in recent years.  You’ll still fare much better by self-publishing and keeping all of the profits rather than just 10 percent or so since you have to promote the book anyway. Yes, there will be editing and production costs, but with print-on-demand, you won’t have to lay out a bunch of cash for printing. (And remember, you’ll want to hire a professional editor before sending your manuscript to any agent or publisher, even if you are publishing the traditional route—so that expense, along with promoting, is also a given.)

Don’t forget too that once you sign that contract with a traditional publisher, you lose a certain amount of control. They may change the title. They may edit drastically. They may come up with a cover you hate. They may delay your publication date. But you’re probably stuck with their decision.

Even Kevin Weiss, CEO of a huge self-publishing company in the US (Author Solutions), admits 80 per cent of their authors fail to break even whereas traditionally published authors always do as they never had to fork out in the first place.

Author Solutions is a subsidy publisher—you can’t have someone else “self” publish for you—but I agree that those are some pretty grim sales statistics. Sadly, they are all too true.

And then there’s being able to tell people you’re a published author. Most savvy people will not accept you are one if you’ve paid to have your book published because, as I’ve said before, anyone anyone anyone can self-publish.

Yes, anyone can self-publish, but what you are talking about here is subsidy publishing, or vanity publishing. True self-publishing is a complicated process, and if it’s done well, it generally garners nothing but respect for those who have been through it.

As for the idea that your amazingly successful self-pubbed book will garner the attention of traditional publishers, this does happen but not often. Your chances of getting an agent and then publisher are higher.

I would have to disagree with this point as well—unless you’ve already got a well established platform and a large following, your chances of getting an agent and then a publisher are very small. Very small. You are much better off self-publishing (doing it well) and establishing a track record of sales with which to approach a traditional publisher. That, of course, is if you want to at that point. You’ll likely make more money if you keep it as a self-published title.

So what I’m saying is, give traditional publishing a chance first. Don’t let people tell you traditional publishing is a pipe dream; that getting an agent is impossible; that self-publishing is the first and best option. It isn’t. The fact is, if you write a damn good book, someone will take notice and maybe you’ll get published and maybe you’ll make money.

I agree with this—only when it comes to fiction. As far as nonfiction titles, however, self-publishing is often the best and fastest route to publication. By the time authors wait around for umpteen rejection letters from traditional publishers, self-publishers could have been reaping the rewards of their published books for months…even years. This doesn’t mean self-publishing is right for everyone; but it is most certainly a viable option for those who want to maintain control and keep all of the profits.

1. Provide a local angle. Set your story in a real place. People who live in the area love to read about restaurants, amusement parks, streets, landmarks, etc. they know. And if you set your story in your own area, it simplifies promotion greatly. You can easily spin the local PR, then let it ripple outward regionally, then nationally.

2. Carefully evaluate your main characters. Does the protagonist have an interesting profession or hobby you can use as a sales hook? One novelist I know sold her book in spelunking shops because caving was the avocational pursuit of her main character. Another merchandised her mystery in Volvo dealerships. Why? Because that make of car played an important role in the story.

3. Revolve your story around an important “issue.” Add an aspect to the plot that addresses something newsworthy. If there is a dominant thread that deals with a timely topic, you may be called upon when a fast-breaking news story hits. Topics you might consider, for instance, are Internet privacy, battered men, terrorism, fetal tissue, obesity, or Medicare woes. You get the idea. By the time you’ve written at length on the subject, you will become an “expert” on that topic. Monitor the news each morning for references to your theme, then immediately piggyback on it with emails and faxes to the media.

 As a fiction writer, you can greatly impact the marketing potential of your book. Use the guidelines above to write a savvy book. Planting interesting angles during the creation process opens doors to lucrative results when your finished book comes out.