braveandrecklessblog

So I was thinking. . . Musings about self-published and small press books

20180326_092831

Several writer friends of mine have recently self-published books or published books with small presses.  They often promote their books on their personal Facebook pages, Twitter and Instagram, relying heavily on informal personal networks to sell their books. It crossed my mind this morning that there have got to be ways to grow these informal networks into a more powerful, formal network that connects people who read with great books they might not otherwise hear about and great writers with people who would buy their books and possibly even write reviews of them- really important if your book is available through Amazon.com.

This has planted a seed in my head that maybe I could partner up with a couple of other bloggers to create a site where readers could discover great new books and writers could leverage this kind of network to get the word out about their upcoming and currently available books. Maybe this site could have reviews, and writer interviews, and links for purchasing. And this site could have connected Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. A site dedicated to the discovery and promotion of really good self-published and small press published books.

Just a thought. But I like it. And its growing on me. What do you think?

Samantha Lucero’s Six Red Seeds and Jason Kynge’s Skeletons and Wine are available for purchase on Amazon.com.

Posted in Friends of Brave and Reckless, Thought of the DayTagged , , , , , , 33 Comments

33 thoughts on “So I was thinking. . . Musings about self-published and small press books”

  8. There are quite a few Indie author promo/review sites out there, but the difficulty I see with them is that they’re “branded” as the site of the person who is posting about the books. Some of these “sponsor” sites have many thousands of followers, but the discoverability of this approach is still dependent on the popularity and credibility of a particular person, which is not so very different to what hordes of individual Indie authors are doing by trying to establish an “author brand” with their own sites (most to no avail).

    Also, a great many Indie authors are writing in genres that don’t need much promotion to get their work noticed, anyway (fanfic, fantasy, dystopian, erotica, sci-fi, YA). It’s the less-trendy writing that really needs the help. A couple of years ago I identified a dozen genres that seem to be particularly hard to find, and I started building a site I called “Masterpiece Marketplace” (https://wp.me/P7aoDX-3a) as a way to cooperatively promote works in those genres, by developing universal brand recognition. Please take a look at it – perhaps it’s something like what you have in mind.

    Like

    Reply

  12. marvelous idea. makes me wonder how to replicate what rupi kaur did–everyone told her that she shouldn’t self publish (from what i read), that it was detrimental to any possibility of getting “legitimately” published…does it just take luck? christine, from your evident tenacity around building a vibrant community of writers here on wordpress, you of all people should be able to organize something amazing! and if you need poetry reviewers, i would be interested…

    Like

    Reply

    1. My understanding is that Rupi Kaur had an enormous Instagram following that she was able to leverage. I think a lot of writers are choosing self-publishing now because of the creative control. I would LOVE to have you on board as a poetry reviewer. I’ll be in touch.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment