Indie Author Group

Category: Industry

Industry

  • …but my books aren’t selling!

    One of the best things about community is that when you are stuck, chances are someone knows the answer.  In the indie author commumity, it’s often easy to forget that others have paved the way before you, that writing is a solitary pursuit.  Right?

  • Community in 2022, and why it’s important for writers #Mondayblogs #IAGbeatsfomo

    Community in 2022, and why it’s important for writers #Mondayblogs #IAGbeatsfomo

    Historically, writing is something that people consider to be really lonely and difficult, unless you’ve got a good community around you.  But, in the last decade, especially, writing a book is more like raising children – it’s not solo, and really does take a village.  And that was one of the principles that Indie Author Group was founded on. And we’ve talked about community before.

    Why is community so important?

    Honestly?  There are so many answers to this question, but the key answer has to be that as humans we’re social creatures.  Writing is about connecting to another person, so why not make sure you’re connected when writing.  And there’s a saying that we oft quote in the group – a rising tide lifts all boats.  
    No matter what the size of the boat, the community feeling and learning is always about making sure everyone is making the most of their lives.  And if they aren’t, hopefully we can help.
    It’s also about the fact that writing is done by ‘fleet’.  That is, readers will see one ‘boat’ (book) and go for others.  It’s just another way of saying we’re not zero sum in the community.  It’s not about one person having ALL of the readers, and more about ensuring that people can read and be happy.
    Community isn’t just about reading books though, and it’s not just about writing – it’s about sharing knowledge.  And if you can learn from and support others in learning from mistakes, either that you’ve made or nearly made, that’s a kindness in the community that can’t be understated.

    Community after pandemic


    During the pandemic, community became one of the single most important things to many people – connection, love, support, it was all there. And I think it says a lot about the state of mental health that this is still the case. And it doesn’t matter if you’re formally diagnosed with a mental or physical health concern, the writing community is all access, all ability, all support.

    ~D Kai Wilson-Viola

    (Click to tweet this quote!)

    Finding ‘your village’.

    So, you’re a writer, dipping your toe in looking for your community? As I said earlier in the article, we should consider it as a village, and how it takes a village to do everything. You could argue that before self-publishing took off, we found our villages by going to traditional publishers. Now, in many ways, we get to build our own villages, virtually and by connecting with the best we can access.
    But how can you access that community?

    There’s various things you can do!

    I’ve broken down the ones that I find most useful – please remember though, you need to tailor it to your own needs and beliefs.  I say this because I use some social media and not others.

    1. Groups – (like the Indie Author Group) – IAG and other groups are a goldmine of information, both searchable and ask-able.  Check out the rules and talk to the members, make the most of the information that’s available to you. And of course, there’s the whole actual human connection and knowing you’re not alone? It’s powerful.
    2. . Twitter – look out for the #writerslift #Mondayblogs, and #writingcommunity hashtags.  Lots of people share  lots of stuff there, but if you’re fully interactive in there, you can really grow your following, and your own community. And leading your own community and joining in on others is a pretty uplifting way of being in the community – but it’s also important to remember that Twitter is pretty fast moving and can be quite mean at times.
    3. Blogs – While it’s more about discussing with other people and going to them, think of blogs more like round tables, or other places to get support.  That way, you can read, discuss, and if respectful (always be respectful!), others will appreciate it, and you never know, you might make new friends.
    4. Communities built around genres – you can look for communities built around your genres – specialist sites and more, it’s important to be aware that these sites usually have uberfans to reach, but can be really hard to feel like a ‘community’.

    By far and away, Facebook and Twitter are the best places for me to have a community that I can share with, and I lead one on my blogs.  I’m never lonely, I’ve always got places I can ask questions and I’m always motivated by other writers, while trying to support them too!

  • Updated! And we’re looking forward! #mondayblogs

    Updated! And we’re looking forward! #mondayblogs

    Hi! Welcome back!
    How do you like the redesign?

    Firstly, the whole team wants to say hi, we’re delighted to have you along and whether you’re new or an old hand, we’ve been honored to serve and work with you to now, and hope that this new phase brings more great stuff!

    The Indie Author Group is eleven, and we’ve redesigned the site, so I thought I’d talk about what you should expect to see going forward. Valerie, myself and the rest of the team have been discussing how to make IAG the one-stop shop that we’d love it to be, and the blog is, in my opinion, an integral part of that (though, I would, I love blogging!). Valerie and I have talked in depth about it though, and we’ve got a pattern we’d like to try, so here goes 😉
    While the site is still being updated, and worked on, we’ve started the new blog up to get started up so that people could access some of the new information available out there. From pre-publishing, all the way through to promotion, we’ll be writing about every aspect of indie author life that we can help you with.

    And with that, we need YOUR help.
    What would you like to see? Not only can you ask questions on the group, but you can ask us to write up content and offer information on the things that might be troubling you. We’ve created some great guides, including how to self-edit, and our ten hour marketing plan (which is due it’s update next week!), so we’re hoping to give you one place to find all the critical information you need to make your career rock!

    Exclusives and more

    Every Friday, there will be at least one exclusive, IAG specific article, that is for our site. These articles will be in series’ or from questions, or a mix of both. We’ll be covering the important stuff that comes up, for now once a week, as an exclusive article. We’ll also be pulling in some of the best blogs, and content written by trusted sources to talk about extras in the community. And we’ll also be putting up more short form answers on TWIRL.

    New stuff!

    We do have some fun new items on the list too. While some are still being worked on and rolled out, we’re delighted to announce that we’ll be running a weekly roundup of our blog posts, other interesting news, and more for authors once week on Fridays.

    Join here! (it’s free, on Substack!)

    Finally, we’ve added a questions form!

    If you’ve got a question or concept or series of articles you’d like us to cover, we’d love to hear from you! Head on over to our form and ask! (or ask on the group, we’ll pick up stuff that we can add to on there too!)

    Next week, we’ll be starting *right* at the beginning – some great ways to get inspiration, and why your first draft doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be drafted!

    See you then!

  • To brand or not to brand…it’s not even a question.

    To brand or not to brand…it’s not even a question.

    Recently, a new author approached us and told us that they were completely lost after being told they needed to establish a brand – they’d spent months and months looking at all of the studies of how to be an author. It talked about leveraging thousands of people on a list, pre-launching your pre-orders and propelling them into the charts using your following, and only using social media to buy advertising. Your brand is how your readers perceive you, you can’t control that, don’t even try. (I have to emphasize, if this is taken out of context, I DO NOT agree with this!).
    Oh…and engage, engage, engage. Even on reviews.

    None of this is good advice, not in my opinion.

    There is no question that you need to brand

    Brand isn’t a maybe if you’re an author. Your brand isn’t something that others shape either – it’s your individual and unique stamp. Your garuantee of quality. YOUR reputation in the reading community. So your brand should be something that’s not only carefully cultivated, but carefully considered.

    Many authors start after they’ve launched books, and that’s ok, but it really is best to get started as soon as you commit to the idea of being a published author. The longer you have to develop a cohesive brand, and start impressing people with that brand, so they link to your books via your brand.

    So….what’s my brand?

    Brand is complicated, but you can make it easier by breaking it down into what you consider essential, what you consider to be secondary, and what you consider to be not essential. And a lot of that does come down to where (a) you are comfortable, and (b) where your readers are. Balancing both allows you to decide where to work on your brand.

    What options do I have?

    We’ll be talking about it in the coming weeks and months, but anywhere readers gather is potentially a place to hang out. But brand isn’t (just) advertising – in fact, in my opinion, advertising is only a small part of it. I believe the key to brand is authenticity.. It’s interaction. One of the major rules that we absolutely stick by on the Indie Author Group is that we follow the *social* in Social Media. Readers might remember things they’ve seen over and over again, and while brand and consistency is about memorability, would you rather be remembered because all you’ve done is talk about your books, or beacuse you’ve given back to the community. I’d prefer the latter, wouldn’t you?

    Platforms

    We’ll be talking platforms in the coming weeks, but myself? I focus (in order) on:
    My own blogs, my own newsletter, guest posting, support groups on Facebook, my own groups on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bookbub, Goodreads. I keep an eye on other places too, but that’s my order. Your milage may vary, and before I set up my own sites, I was a lot more active on places like Facebook and Twitter.

    So….think about where your readers and genre are, and where you’re happiest, and build your community. Use sites that aren’t fully in your control to funnel people back to your own blog, and share items that you create.
    And it’s not to say ‘don’t talk about your work’. Just keep it proportional.

    And remember – we’re a community. Your brand should always reflect generosity. Share others, support others, write up the things you’ve learned and pay it forward. Your brand is something that will live with your pen name, always, so you can create something amazing, lasting and incredible, simply by building what you need from your community, and designing support for those around you. That’s the brand we’ve tried to build with IAG, and the brand all of the team of moderators and regulars believe in. And you’re welcome to come enjoy that brand, and learn from us too.

    Next week, I’ll talk about options for blogging – if you’ve got questions, let me know!

    Pin me!
  • ACX updates return policy – updates and good news.

    ACX updates return policy – updates and good news.

    In a reversal of their advertised and touted “up to 365 day return policy” (love it or return it) on all ACX books, Amazon and Audible have updated their policies to provide more protections for authors, and encourage sensible use of their resources.

    The problem

    The crux of the problem was that if readers returned books to Audible up to a year in advance, the author would have their royalties retroactively cancelled, effectively reducing months where they’d sold more books as books from earlier were returned. And, with every system like this, widescale abuse could have been rife, though, Audible is fairly closed-lipped about how many returns they accept. While there is a policy to prevent listen and return as a use for credits, due to customer service issues, and the pandemic, it’s possible that the rules surrounding needing to contact customer service was raised, which could have created more returns before flagging. On that, I’ve only got personal experience to speak to and three total returned books in 12 years.

    Why it was unfair

    While it’s true that many of us don’t automatically listen to our books as soon as we buy them, and sometimes stock up during sales, it’s also fair to say that without good reason, very few other places accept returns – and if there was an issue with the audible file itself, it shouldn’t have passed quality checks. Authors shouldn’t be punished for readers deciding they’d rather treat Audible as a library, and so, the Author’s Guild and others spoke out late last year. In November, Audible confirmed they’d be changing policies and now the new policies have been rolled out, as you can read on the blog Audible issued on the 20th.
    Hopefully, this policy change will redress the balance back to the creator side and allow them to keep earning as they should.

    Found on GoodeReader

  • How the three laws of robotics apply to writing and planning

    How the three laws of robotics apply to writing and planning

    Today is National Sci-Fi day, and while we’re not on Sci-fi this month (that’s later in the year) as our featured support genre, for advice Mondays, I thought I’d share a bit of a thought experiment.

    First though…

    Today would be Issac’s 100th birthday, and there’s little denying the impact he had on the world of sci-fi and writing. But the thing that always stuck with me the most was his three laws of robotics.

    The three laws

    (from Gismodo, who cites his story Runaround)

    1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

    2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

    3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

    Issac Asimov

    Later, Asimov added a fourth, or zeroth law, that preceded the others in terms of priority:

    0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

    Issac Assimov

    I have many theories on AI, given I’m eventually doing a Ph.D. on it (hence the combined STEM degree now), but I’m not going to address the fallacies and intricacies of why the three laws (and the additional zero law, which is almost the same, but not quite, as law 1) fail and cause problems. If you want to know why there’s a plethora of books out there exploring that and similar issues.

    No, instead, I wanted to talk about how the three laws apply to writing.

    But I’m not a robot…

    As you’re quite right to observe, it’s highly unlikely that you are a robot. You might be, but then, that opens up questions, again, not for a writers’ blog. But when you look at the three laws of robotics and change the context to writing, something interesting happens.

    1. An author may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
      I would argue this is common decency, but when there’s little of each online, it’s a good thing to bear in mind. It goes into a slightly broader concept though.
      While there’s no admonition to not harm our characters (cause we might), there is a duty in every community for the weakest to be cared for by the stronger. Writing is not a zero-sum game, so, if anything, I’d argue the first of the Writer’s three laws is that we need to work to prevent bullying. As we watch the mess with the RWA unfold and look back on Cockygate, I wonder why it isn’t a credo adopted by more.
      Beyond that, it also tells you not to hurt yourself. Planning and self-care are critical.
    2. An author must obey the rules of its community, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
      I think the easiest way to explain this one is 1) Don’t pick on someone for upholding rules on a group, even if you personally think they’re not fair. It’s their group, you agreed and continue to agree when you joined, and to be frank, bullying a moderator is something that we’re going zero tolerance on – and that includes if we *hear* of it from a friend that’s a mod. Beyond that, mob mentality is dangerous online – there’s a difference between defending the downtrodden and forming a lynching mob, and I think this law aptly states that. If an author is unhappy with a review and asks their tribe to retaliate, maybe question the worth of that tribe, and the person leading it?
    3. An author must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
      Ah, you may say, doesn’t that mean if I don’t agree with people, I get to retaliate?
      Nope.
      You need to protect *your own existence*. What Jilly, Bob or Timmy does, as long as it’s not hurting you, isn’t important to you. I’m actually interpreting this one to be ‘don’t compare yourself to others, someone will get hurt’.

    Law 1, Kindness. Law 2, fair play and Law 3, personal obligation. All three make for the best writers and the best communities. Personal obligation does mean sticking up for the rights of others if you’re sure you should, but it also means accepting that you ‘do you’. One of the hardest lessons I learned last year was that if I’m not careful, I will stay away for too long because I have nothing to give. My personal obligation became to me and only me for a while, and that was ok. But I have an obligation to you guys too. So, Law 3…it could also be read as ‘help yourself, help others’.

    I don’t really agree that the zero law exists in the case of writers, but there is one final one I think all writers need to follow.

    Law 4 – An author must ensure that everything they put out reflects the best of their work and the best of them.
    Each and every one of the team knows     it’s hard to get things done in a budget, and we all sacrifice, but we are calling each and every one of our members to consider their reputations this year. Build good things, save and make things to the best of your ability, and only release books when they are professionally edited, covered and formatted. That way, you’re already ahead of a lot of people out there, who might see your example and follow suit (thereby helping you with the second and third laws ;)).

    Yes, I belabored that one a bit, but I’m sure Asimov would forgive me.

    Do you agree with my three laws of writing? What would you add?

    January is National Braille month.
    Check out January’s Posts to see what we’ve covered.
  • A new release roadmap

    A new release roadmap

    New releases require a lot of the work and changes the ten hour marketing plan. So, here’s suggestions of a change to work well on your ten hour plan.

    • Start building out your blog posts – talk about other books
    If there are best books in (your genre), that you enjoy, talk about them. Post about your new book and talk about everything you can think of – research, your cover, your discoveries. Share the joy and pain of getting the books done.
    • Set up your book on preorder when you do your cover reveal
    Pre-orders give you a place to start from and gives you a chance to build a readership. Remember, if you’re going to lower your price after publishing (for example the first week release at $0.99 or $1.99), then no matter when people order, they’ll get the book at the cheapest price after their order. Even if you raise it, those that order first can be rewarded by getting the book at a lower price.
    • Guest blog
    Ask your readers and author friends if you can guest blog. Focus on the places that your readers will be. Google blogs that would be read by your target market, and see if they accept guest blogging about books.
    • Newsletter swaps are another way to do so
    There are currently lots of groups for people to request newsletter exchanges. Remember though to be fair – if you’re a new author, don’t expect the bestseller authors in your genre just to open up their newsletter to you. They might, but if they don’t, do not choose to criticise. It’s everyone’s choice to offer space to their readers and it’s their reputation on the line.
    • Teasers, teasers, teasers
    Separate the teasers that you like the best and use them to promote your book. Head on over to Canva and use the free options and create eye-catching items, and memorable pieces of your book. Think about looking into podcasts or vlogging if you’re feeling bold. You can also generate different cover styles at Adazing.
    • Give away arcs to your advance reader team
    The best time to do this is a month before your book is out, but you can do so any time up to the actual release.
    • Set up book giveaways
    Choose books close to yours to attract readers and plan a great book giveaway. Reward authors in your genre too, by promoting them, as goodwill is often the simplest way to get into shared promotion projects, and it’ll show your readers that you are engaged in the community. Let them know that you’re promoting their books in a giveaway, and they may share too.
    • LAUNCH book!
    Give it a few days till your rank settles, raise the price if you had it lowered, and then decide your next moves.
    • PROMOTE– Back to the ten hour marketing plan!

    (originally printed on tenhourmarketing.com)

  • A ten hour marketing Primer – 2018 update

    A ten hour marketing Primer – 2018 update

    In 2011, when IAG was formed, one of the biggest questions everyone had was marketing. All of the questions focused around how to make the most of writing and marketing at the same time, and from that, a project called ‘the ten hour marketing plan’ was designed, mostly based on the answers I’d given others with questions asked on the board.

    Over the years (2014, 2016, 2018) we’ve updated it in minor ways, but with the release of other materials that grew from it imminent, I thought it was time to do a full explain and update.
    The original primer was basically designed around taking three pillars of marketing, and how myself and other mods talked about using the content that we’d set up, and how long it took. It was originally a sort of ‘day in the life of marketing a book’ but as it turned out it was close to ten hours a week, we shared it as that instead.

    The new update removes Klout, as it no longer exists as suggested, and talks about a few items that we have found more useful since. If you’ve got variations, or questions, we’d love to hear them!

    Marketing plan graphic.

    A Ten Hour Marketing Primer – 2018

    Author’s note – the ten hour marketing primer is not designed to be used without adjustment. You do not need to follow our plan exactly, but it is a tried and true method for limiting the time you spend marketing, while maximizing results.

    How do I promote in 10 hours a week?
    So…I keep giving people this mythical 10 hours a week number and saying ‘I do all of my promotion in 10 hours a week, more or less’.

    And I do.  So I thought I’d share my basics.

    1. Schedule your writing time – some people are more productive in the morning, those with day jobs or kids may need afternoon or evening.  It’s absolutely critical you work out this step however, because you don’t want to be doing work
    2. Schedule your marketing time. I do this by:
    • Facebook sweep – I spend 10 minutes sweeping FB for anything interesting to share to my page. If I find something neat I either post it, or queue it. I fill my content usually by Wednesday for one of my author pages. I’m just picking up doing the second one now. I do this four times a day (40 mins total)
    • Blog posts – 30 mins. I write a blog post daily, but you should do a post at least once a week. (1hr 10 mins) Keep it somewhat short and as interesting as you can. (Examples, inspiration for books, prospective cover art, your writing process.)
    • You can also guest blog – https://indieauthorgroup.com is one of many sites that accepts a guest blog. Read the guidelines, and be aware of the style, editorial expectations and other rules surrounding that – it’s easiest to manage that way, and means you’ll get more yesses than nos. Some guest blog positions pay – most don’t, and that’s ok. If they are making money from you in a meaningful way, or are a huge website, you can try to negotiate, but most guest blogging posts are designed to introduce you to the site’s readership, so you shouldn’t expect pay, that’s normally a bonus.
    • Twitter – 10 minutes, three times a day. I retweet interesting stuff. (1 hr 40) MONDAYS – head on over to #mondayblogs, share other people’s posts and share one blog post of your own – make sure it’s not promotional.
    • Triberr 25 mins/3x per week – more content, more community building. Instead of Triberr, I sometimes switch to Pinterest and Instagram, especially if I’m working on stuff that is more visual, like layouts for books, so if you’re a more visual person, you can switch out Triberr and even Twitter with Instagram and Pinterest.
    • Work/write – I write a lot of posts and answer questions, and do content while I supporting others, so the majority of my day is taken up there. If it’s quiet, I get to write, if it’s busy, I’m doing a lot of ‘paying it forward’.
    • Email – 10 mins twice a day for marketing information via newsletters etc.(2hrs)
    • I then stop for lunch and write or do other work.

    Repeat three days a week (except the stuff that’s daily).
    Ok, so it’s not quite 10 hours, and sometimes I’m faster than I think with the stuff I’m doing.

    My biggest marketing primer tip?

    I do my email DEAD LAST. It’s important – really important – not to do your email first. If you do, you’re reacting for the rest of the day. So I promote in just under 10 hours a week. If I’m doing a blog or other promotional tour, it goes up (naturally), and some of that is sharing other people.

    The new Ten Hour Marketing plan book launches December 1st and contains more tips, tricks and information.

  • Pronoun is unfortunately closing

    Pronoun is unfortunately closing

    It’s always sad to see the demise of a platform that supports authors, and I heard (though never personally used) lots of great things about Pronoun.
    But it seems like they’re at the end of the road.

    Here’s part of the announcement.

    Two years ago Pronoun set out to create a one-of-a-kind publishing tool that truly put authors first. We believed that the power of data could be harnessed for smarter book publishing, leveling the playing field for indie authors.

    We are proud of the product we built, but even more so, we’re grateful for the community of authors that made it grow. Your feedback shaped Pronoun’s development, and together we changed the way authors connect with readers.

    Unfortunately, Pronoun’s story ends here.

    While many challenges in indie publishing remain unsolved, Macmillan is unable to continue Pronoun’s operation in its current form.

    You can read the whole piece here.