My son often asks me why I don’t have a channel on YouTube. And I ask him how many followers and views his favourite Minecraft bloggers have. He replies: “Millions.” And that, in short, is the reason why I don’t add to my already enormous list of things that I do as an indie author, without getting paid for it, another hopeless venue.
That said, I am beyond grateful when people who aren’t afraid to step into the formidable waters of video content giants – my son’s bedtime reading at the moment is Thor Heyerdahl’s ‘Kon-Tiki’, thus the association – invite me to their podcasts. I admire their courage and determination and wish them patience and the greatest luck in attracting those millions of watchers who seem to flock to Minecraft channels voluntarily. Which isn’t true, of course. Behind any kind of success, there stand tremendous effort, time spent, and a few – or a lot of – falls and failures.
I would like to thank fellow author Simon Ward for inviting me to his Budding Author Podcast and also for bearing with me when we had to reschedule our talk due to my annoying pharyngitis. It was a pleasure to talk about what I love most – and what frustrates me most as an indie author.
I think I won’t swerve far from the truth if I say that promoting their books is the biggest challenge during the writing journey of almost every indie author. We touch upon this sensitive subject in our chat with Simon. Please watch the Budding Author Podcast (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj0CVDpkM70) to learn more.
It’s been a few weeks after the podcast episode, and after that, I had a hectic time finishing my current project – book one of the five-book dark fantasy series – and I also got a much-needed break visiting my friend in Norway last weekend. At the time of our talk, I still wasn’t completely well and was afraid that I might start coughing again. So, I had to rewatch the video to refresh my memory. And when I did rewatch it, I had some afterthoughts about what I said about paid advertising.
I know that paid advertising is a kind of a red flag for many authors in the social media writing communities. At least I often notice posts where an author declares they would never ever pay those ‘sharks’ – owners of popular platforms – for advertising. I understand their position. And I also can relate to the reasons why the fact that books aren’t going to advertise themselves causes frustration. Most people don’t have an additional line in their budget that states ‘Book Promotion’. Most of us struggle with paying everyday bills – that grow faster than our income.
Alas, the objective truth is that for anything to sell – in the quantities that bring profit – it must be advertised. It applies to anything, not only books. There are various ways of advertising. For food products, one of them is product placement on the shelves. Any item placed at the level of an average height person’s eyes will be bought more often than the one on the lowest or highest shelf. A book placed on a special display in the very front of a bookstore will be noticed by more potential readers. As someone with an educational background in marketing, I could go on and on.
But what I want to say is that for us indie authors to reach a wide readership, we must find a way to showcase our books to the widest possible audience. Unfortunately, free methods of advertising work only as exception cases. For example, I’ve read about an author who sold 6,000 copies of their first book because it was posted in some niche Facebook group. I don’t remember the details, but it was something really specific like the Chinook dog breed lovers club. Such things, of course, happen, as do canonical examples of Oprah Winfrey picking up a book by an unknown author in a small bookstore in a tiny town she was driving through on her way to LA or NY.
Yet, for me personally, it isn’t acceptable to rely on exceptions and coincidences. I believe in both. And I believe in luck. Still, a pragmatic in me keeps reminding me that luck favours those who put hard work into their dream first.
I’m not saying that it is impossible to promote your books otherwise than paying the ‘tycoons’. I know that some authors have managed to find their readers through niche readers’ blogs. I’m sure that there are also those who have ensured decent sales solely through being active on social media. What I want to say – to myself including – is that every indie author, if they want to make their books visible to a reasonably wide audience, must not harbour prejudices against any of the promotion methods. What didn’t work for one author, might work for you. What didn’t work for you when you first tried it, might work the second time. It is hard to get through every disappointment. It is annoying and disheartening. But the general principle nevertheless applies: you don’t gain if you don’t try.
It isn’t really inspiring, but the thought that it’s me who wants the world to know about my books rather than the world craving to discover yet another writer pulls me through. After decades of neglecting what was my very first passion, I finally accepted writing as a commitment to myself. I might never achieve the level of success that would justify this commitment – the time, money, and effort spent on writing – in the eyes of the general public. Still, for me, having taken this step against probably a sound judgement will remain the achievement that made me feel fulfilled.
Listening to our talk with Simon on the Budding Author Podcast, I was reminded again that if not for one person in my life, none of it would have been possible. I won’t repeat myself, so please watch the podcast episode on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj0CVDpkM70) to learn more.
P.S. If you are in a reading slump or simply want to read a kind of book you’ve never read before, give books by indie / small press authors a try. I’ve read 141 books by writers I met through writing communities on social media, and some of them are now among my all-time-favourite reads.
Eve's Book Diary 
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