Happy New Year to all. It has been a while since I have posted. Life is throwing those curveballs again, but things look up.
I am still looking for a job, but I hope that gets worked out in the next month or two. In the meantime, I am working on a few books and getting all of my author stuff set up to make another run at self-publishing and traditional publishing.
During this “extended vacation” period, I have been studying marketing and publishing. I have been particularly interested in many YouTubers discussing Low-Content (puzzle books, journals, coloring books, etc.) publishing and how to market those books, not about making this content, but how they sell it.
One of the things I failed to do with my previous self-published books was to build a successful marketing plan. I dabbled in a few things but never made a push to get my books out to readers. I hope to remedy that this time with some of the knowledge I have gained.
For anyone curious, here is a quick summary of the things I believe will help get your book noticed more:
1) Create your content in as many media formats as possible. For me, with my upcoming works (discussed below), it would be ebook, softback, hardback, and audio. Previously, I only published in ebook.
2) Get reviews! This is key to taking advantage of marketing tools like Amazon Ads. I also realized this the more I purchased other items online. Checking out what people say about the product or experience is pretty standard, so why not the books, too?
3) Distribute widely on different online platforms. Previously, I only put on Amazon, the largest book-selling platform by a long shot (around 70%). Using other platforms as well could boost sales. What you need is about 10,000 fans that love your work. You can be a full-time author if you can get a group around that large and produce two to three books a year. So, going wide allows you more opportunities to find a few of your fans.
4) The world is wrong! We judge a book by its cover, at least online and probably in bookstores. A book cover that matches the genre and causes the reader to open the book is critical, especially among the tens or hundreds of thousands of choices.
5) An author needs to build their platform before publishing a book. Get the websites, blogs, YouTube channels, etc, all set up so they can be referenced in the books. This will help drive traffic to the sites to learn about other offerings (upselling).
So those are some of the main items I have learned about. Of course, your books need to be gripping stories that ignite the reader’s imagination first and foremost.
In addition to all of this foundation-building, I continue to experiment with AI. I can see it helping outline, edit, and research, but writing the story’s prose? I need to play with that more to see if the amount of rework is worth the prose generation. In 2023, Amazon and others started requiring authors to declare if AI had been used to generate the story, which might limit how I use it.
Finally, the works I plan to publish in 2024 will start with the following:
The Power of Water, Book One of The Doom of the Gods trilogy, available March 2024. The follow-up books will be The Power of Blood and The Power of One. In the last Ice Age, the empires of Atlantis and Rama wage war involving flying craft, energy weapons, swords and shields. The tale of Risor and his allies unfolds, revealing the catastrophic fall of Atlantis and their struggle to navigate the treacherous aftermath, where one-time allies become enemies and enemies become friends.
A follow-up to “Get Noticed! Resume & career advice to make you stand out! (2019) will be “2Q Your Resume” (working title), available April 2024. This version will expand on quantifying or qualifying your achievements and tasks in your resume and how to get past automated filters or AI used by HR. Additional things I have learned trying to help folks rewrite their resume.
With the closing of my publishing company, YumeBook Entertainment, in 2023, I have a few stories ready to go. I will seek traditional publishing/agents for these works. Some have an artist attached, and the art is complete. I might self-publish if I am not happy with the traditional publishing response. I still have several stories that are partially written down, so the well is not dry here.
Well, that is it for me. I wish everyone a great 2024 filled with success and happiness.
Jim's Place 