You may laugh, but I was super proud of the fact I started an author TikTok account three months in advance of publishing my first fantasy book. I even hit 1,000 followers soon after my publication date!
Of course, this was before I understood that both self- and trad-published authors spend literal years building up their audience, their brand, and interest in their work-in-progress on social media platforms before ever announcing a link to pre-order.
And yet in the last six months, I have long since surpassed the benchmark of an average book’s first year: 250 copies sold. Today marks 342 copies sold of Mellifluous, in fact. Here’s the breakdown across my various platforms!
Paperback: 278
- My website: 47
- TikTok Shop: 145 (signed)
- IngramSpark/bookstore distribution: 85
- In-person: 1
Ebook: 64
- My website: 36
- Barnes & Noble: 6
- Google Books: 7
- Apple Books: 9
- Kobo Books: 5
- Amazon (inactive): 1
So what’s working for me? What’s worked against me? Let’s talk about it!
Cornerstones of my success
I paid for a professional book cover.
Yes, illustrations for commercial use are expensive . . . but that’s a good thing! I paid over $860 to get the exact cover I wanted, and one that would reflect the same investment of time and effort I put into writing the book’s contents. I found the artist on Reddit and it took about two months of back and forth to get it right.
People do judge a book by its cover, and especially in this age of fast fiction, a beautiful and detailed cover will stand out. I’ve been told many times that the eye-catching cover is what made my readers first interested in the book! I'm very happy to say the same artist has agreed to illustrate the cover for Part II as well.
I initiated an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) campaign.
Six weeks before launch, I posted a slider with information about the story on the platforms I had (TikTok, Tumblr, Discord, and Patreon), offering the ebook in exchange for an honest review. I made a simple Google form to field interest, and chose BookSirens as my distribution platform (though next time I might also try NetGalley!), which got me about 50 ARC readers.
The result? By my publication date I had 26 reviews on Goodreads, and many ARC readers also started buying the physical copy, recommending the book to others, and even joining my Patreon! Some authors may be afraid of offering ARCs, but my experience was super positive and I definitely plan to do it again.
I used what community I did have and created a Patreon and Discord server!
While I didn’t have a very established presence on major social media platforms, I kept up with the tiny audience from my fanfiction corner of the internet (AKA Archive of Our Own and Tumblr) who followed me onto Patreon and my author Discord server when I first posted Mellifluous as a weekly serial. They not only provided feedback on the story and helped me ready it for official publication, but helped spread the word, bought copies themselves, and contributed to the cost of my cover. Some even drew fanart they allowed me to use for my commercial promotion and this website!
Last, I created a TikTok Shop business account.
When enough people asked about getting a signed copy, I realized I could turn my account into a TikTok Shop business account and offer the option there. It would cost more for me to send the books to myself first and the cut that TikTok gets from each purchase, plus extra shipping for the customer, so I only sent 10 to myself thinking it would be a small side venture. But because of the profit TikTok makes, their algorithm started pushing my content out and helped me reach more readers in general—and way more people than expected were fine to pay extra for a signed copy! This free method of advertisement is one of my biggest reasons for success, and while I am not perfect at posting daily (or good at making trendy videos!), when I am consistent I always see a good return.
Stumbling blocks in my way
I went wide instead of entering the ‘Kindle Unlimited’ program.
I am morally appalled by Amazon and I avoid it whenever possible. But even I had to wrestle a bit with the knowledge that I would be hurting my wallet not to make my ebook KU-exclusive the first three months. There are just so many readers on that platform still, despite its abhorrent deeds related to the book industry and outside of it. I know it is a major way indie authors get noticed, make money, build readership. I knew if I made my decision based entirely on financial strategy, the choice was clear.
I am very happy to say, however, that ‘going wide’ and offering my ebook on multiple platforms instead has not felt impractical or unrewarding, even if it means my ebook sales are lower. I may have lost some readership, but I feel pride in the fact that I am an indie author offering readers other options so they can stop using Amazon if they’d like.
Would I go back and choose differently? Not at all.
I did not cross-post my TikTok videos onto Instagram or other platforms.
I was intimidated by Instagram (still am, honestly) and hate Meta, so instead of figuring out how to gain a following I ignored it and missed out on the easy option to just repost what I made on TikTok over there. Now I’m finally starting there and on Youtube Reels as well, but my Bookstagram account is rather pathetic for a published author!
I’m sure I’ve missed out on finding readers and networking with fellow authors because of that. Follow me on Instagram if you want to help a girl out.
Would I go back and choose differently on this one? Yes.
My second book may not appeal to all readers of Part I.
Back when I planned this long fantasy series, I knew I wanted it to center on two queer couples. I wrote more M/M fanfiction, so it made sense to me to write a story like that at the beginning first. But as I researched the book community, I realized there is an unspoken divide—most readers are not simply looking for LGBTQ fiction. They want M/M or F/F, not both. This does not work in my favor, and that’s on top of Part II not being about the same couple regardless.
If I was making a strategic decision based solely on the market, I could have in theory pivoted my plans and tried to keep the F/F couple as side characters . . . this would, however, make me lose all creative interest in the series. The sapphic characters are equally important to the overarching story I want to tell. I love all queerness, and I have an extra soft spot for the type of queer love I personally experience.
So would I go back and choose differently? No. I can’t wait, in fact, to share my soft butch Bev with the world and her girl-failure vampiric love interest!
Last, I am not a fast writer even on a good day.
Whenever I do sprints with fellow writers, I notice this—on average, I’m writing 600-800 words an hour at best, while most others are almost twice as fast. It’s gotten slightly better over the years as I’ve gotten on ADHD meds and learned how to edit myself less, but there is still so much that slows me down, including but not limited to doing historical research, checking my previous writing for continuity, and already being tired from my day job and promoting my first book. Plus fantasy worlds are complicated (I should probably build myself a wiki)!
In the world of indie publishing, however, this introduces an actual problem—successful self-published authors stay relevant because they have a higher output. This is less of a “what do I choose?” sort of situation, and more “how do I find the balance?” Because I do want to improve my writing speed, but I also write much larger books than most indie authors, and I still need to spend time marketing and maintaining this business.
So far, sharing my goals with my Patreon followers has helped, and my alpha readers keep me accountable. I also decided recently to publish a short story collection to help tie readers over between the release of Part I and II, which will publish in June!
Keeping my eye on the prize
What's next for me and this crazy venture of becoming an established author?
- I tried using Bookbub ads, but had no idea what I was doing (or if it helped me find any readers). I might try paid ads again at some point, just with more research first!
- I joined a queer writing discord. I love the connections I’ve made there thus far and all the great advice I have access to from other queer writers also navigating the publishing world!
- My goal to finish the first draft of Part II, Euphonious, is July 1st! I have written about 20 chapters and plan on 6-7 more, so in theory this should be very possible. Then I'll be re-implementing everything that worked for Part I, trying out new things, and (hopefully) learning from previous mistakes. This will be a long book series, so I'm sure to have plenty more bumps down the road!
- I’m going to Lavender Con in Washington D.C. this July! I don’t have a huge following yet of course, so it is mostly an effort to make connections with other authors and potential queer readers, and also act as a dress rehearsal for any larger book events I want to try in the future. I’ll let you know what happens!
Add comment
Comments