GWC’s Self-Publishing guru Grahame Anderson gave us a all a masterclass on how promote your writing to a wider world. A natural raconteur Graham began by introducing himself, family and his door-top cat (don’t ask). New to writing and worried about imposter syndrome Grahame’s first encounter with GWC (where he found everyone dressed in togas and writing about Sci-fi) was enough to convince him to persevere. The rest as they say is history – including nearly 4000 followers and almost 2000 sales of his latest novel ‘The Best Seat in the Universe’ in January alone.
Well prepared as ever, Grahame’s slide show (available on request from him) consisted of simple and easy to understand bullet points that cover how to market your writing.
You must act like a business.
Create a business plan.
Who are you selling to?
What is that market like?
Know your genre.
You are the CEO, Marketing Dept,Writer and Janitor.
Use the technology available to help you.
Social media
On-line shops.
Free software.
Free online advice (podcasts).
There are many self-publishing platforms out there.
Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble.
All supply the tools to self-publish.
They are free – they only take a % of sales.
Tools to help get your book ready.
Word Processors.
Word, Scrivener, Atticus.
Grammar Checkers.
ProWritingAid, Grammarly, MasterWriter.
Book Formatting Tools.
Vellum, Atticus, KDP Amazon.
Book Cover Design.
Adobe InDesign, Canva, 99Designs, Blurb.
How to promote your book.
You need to dedicate some of your time to this.
Use social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok).
Set up your own author website.
Create newsletters for your followers.
Advice for budding writers.
Get a website.
Post on YouTube.
Listen to podcasts (for advice).
Mark Dawson’s Self Publishing Formula.
The Creative Penn (Joanna Penn).
Sell More Books Show.
In other news, as Margaret has already said, we going to meet up in person at Ardgowan (March 2nd), if cases continue to fall. To lend assurance to members everyone should take a Lateral Flow Test on the day of the meeting. Grahame will be ordering print copies of the Scottish Icon book so email Grahame how many copies you want by this Friday. Also if you have a suggestion for our Diversity Statement email Anne your suggestions. Poems/flash fiction for the Pamphlet should be emailed to Margaret by the 18th Feb. Remember 100 words or less. Next meeting is in two weeks on Feb 16th – Books and Movies by Anne Pettigrew.
Ho Hum, onwards and upwards.