Marketing in the Middle of Nowhere

This post will also be available on the Indies Unlimited site at a future date.  http://www.indiesunlimited.com/

Admittedly, I live in the middle of nowhere. It’s 18 miles to the nearest town; and the county, (which boasts a population of 13,000) has only ONE traffic light, and it’s in the center of town. My closest neighbors are 200 yards away. The nearest “city” of 30,000 people is a 40 minute drive. If we need to go to the “Big City,” that’s an hour and forty minute drive. Yet, I’m an author and I sell books.

No, it’s not easy either. I also juggle a 100 acre farm, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 3 horses; so my time is divided up amongst everything. As difficult as it is, I find the time to write, edit, blog, and promote my books. Sometimes I’m up late, other times, I’m up early. To make some sort of success, you have to make sacrifices. Am I successful? I would say for only being published just over 2 years, mildly.

For most authors, the word “market” is akin to a 4 letter word. We all hate it—me included. But we’re not part of a Big 6 publishing juggernaut that will tell the whole world about our books. No, it’s most of the time just us. So how can you market without spending a fortune? If the internet isn’t your friend, it darn well better be! Take advantage of every opportunity to put your face and your books out there. There are many platforms to use such as Goodreads, Google +, Librarything, and many more. Here’s my most-used list of FREE ways to advertise:

Facebook—my friend! I wasn’t keen on getting a profile, but my best friend pestered me. So, I broke down and got one. Actually, it’s been tons of fun. I have 3 pages: 1 personal page, 1 author page, and 1 page just for my military thrillers. I can chat with friends, leave postings on specialty pages, (like romance readers, or sci-fi) and also put up announcements of when I will be releasing a new book. I can’t tell you HOW many books I’ve sold because of Facebook. Hurrah!

Twitter—my next best friend. OK, less fun to use because of text limitations, but AWESOME for getting news out about a new release, or using for short PR blasts to get attention. You can even post pictures now. And I always stick a link to where my book(s) can be bought.

Author pages—Amazon, Smashwords, and any other eBook sites you can utilize. This is your landing pad for sending folks. If you don’t want to just post a link to one book, use this and let them discover all your books. These are great because it gives you a professional look.

Blogs—Eh, I wasn’t too keen on this one either. But, I finally did it. I don’t use my blog for an instrument of sales; rather I blog on things like writing, farming, and stuff that’s not always related to books. Once in a while, I’ll put up a new book, but I don’t like to hit sales hard there. I think a blog should be for information or enjoyment for the most part.

So there you have it, my free ways of marketing a book from the middle of nowhere. One day I suppose I’ll have to get a website, but as some of my friends know, HTML hates me! It may take 5-8 years to make enough from my books to supplement my retirement. Until then, I do the best I can with what hours I have in the day. The most important part is being able to figure out which internet sites will do the best for you. Don’t be afraid to dive in and check a bunch of them out. It may be the one lucky break you need.

Here’s my links:

http://www.amazon.com/K.-Rowe/e/B003H2UCNI/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/sturgeoncreekpublishing

http://sturgeoncreek.blogspot.com/

Twitter: sturgeon3736

http://www.facebook.com/pages/K-Rowe-Author/136794706391542

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Dragonslayers/411626645650

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kathy-rowe/32/740/333

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=K.+Rowe

http://www.bookstrand.com/sturgeon-creek-publishing

Here’s some cool places to check out:

http://www.librarything.com/

http://www.breakthroughbookstore.com/

http://newbookjournal.com/

http://www.indiebooklounge.com/

http://www.theindiespotlight.com/

http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/index.html

http://www.indiebookcollective.com/IndieBookCollective/Home.html

http://www.authorsden.com/

http://www.writersdock.com/

http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/

http://www.theindieview.com/

http://www.indiebookslist.com/

http://www.books2heart.com/

Well, that's all I got for now. I need to get back to Space Available and get Dar into some more trouble. Poor Dar...

Until next time my creatively obsessed friends,

Kathy