My dos and don'ts and random lessons learnt
Launch day minus 10
Faff around trying to find the best web-builder for that combination of author and someone who’s never actually built a site. Here we are on Wix.
They all make it sound so easy. It probably is. But somehow, without fail, I make it harder than it needs to be. Why? I was a whizz once on those old desktop publishing AppleMacs from the '90s (what a collector’s item that is, wish I’d hung onto mine).
I plump for Wix. The only trouble is I need another new domain for my author name. I don’t have a middle name but my friend Robert calls to say he’d been looking for my book The Assassin’s Head on Amazon and found that there’s another Vicky Payne, an American, and she’s writing erotica.
Well done her, I think. I know from LinkedIn there are a good few of us VPs out there, so I add a ‘J’ for ‘Janet’ named after my paternal grandmother who brought me up.
Buying Vicky J Payne.com off Google domains takes minutes. Attempting to import into Wix takes hours. Don’t ask me why. Finally it works. Wish I could tell you how I figured it out in case it’s useful but it was a fluke or possibly something the daughter suggested. Anyway, website on its way with said daughter doing all the heavy lifting.
Quick tips
Do check if your name on Amazon is unique or whether you might need to tweak it with an extra initial or adopt a pen name.
Do spend time researching the many different builders on the market. You’ll also find loads of comparison review blogs and sites so depending on your experience with a site build you can see which aspects matter most. Some are site builds are free – but come with ads.
Do make sure your website url is already prominent on your book cover (so get your website organised before you sign off your cover!)
Do not: leave it too late to build yourself website. I should have started weeks ago.
Launch day minus 9
Time to upload the electronic and paperback versions of The Assassin’s Head.
Thanks to Mark Thomas, the designer I found on Reedsy (a recommended service, particularly if you’re a newbie as I am). I chose Mark mainly because I love his work and partly because he also offered the typesetting.
After a collaboration lasting around two and a half months, Mark sent four files. Two each (cover and interior) for the electronic and print-on-demand versions on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). It was relatively straightforward process, though I still palpitated.
What is infuriating is the lack of visual space to fill in your book’s blurb. So take your time and try to make sure it’s ready to go. Trying to make amends in the fiddly space allocated for the blurb is frustrating. And it's easy to make errors - which I did.
Quick tips
Do: give yourself plenty of time to upload each version of your book. I was so twitchy that the upload would not work I failed to check the relevant box saying I like a specific publication date.
Do: think carefully whether you want to be part of the wider Amazon offer and enrol in KDP Select. There are pros and cons to consider – and you need to work out what’s best for your book and your ultimate aims. Again, you’ll find a lot of advice on different writing sites. For me, the biggest pro with KDP Select is potentially more royalties – although there have been a few scams with this that Amazon are trying to sort. The biggest con is that Amazon holds the rights to your book for the minimum of 90-day period of KDP Select membership. You can withdraw, but then you lose the benefits.
Do not: start uploading stuff when you’re tired. I tweaked the book blurb and only spotted my error the next day and had to fix – which is straightforward to do.
Do not: rush the arcane process of choosing categories (the equivalent of ‘library shelves’) or the vital ‘keywords’ (the place on the shelves where your book is found). There is a serious industry offering authors help as choosing the right keywords can apparently help push up your ratings so you become a ‘bestseller’ in a particular sub-category. If you hover over the ‘bestseller’ tags you can see which books did well where. You can change categories and keywords after you've published.
Launch day minus 8
Mark Thomas, the designer I worked with and found on Reedsy, had also sent a zip file of images to use for publicity and promotion. Activities that are absolutely essential for an independent author, but are probably anathema to many writers, including me. You have to overcome that inner reluctance immediately.
As an independent you HAVE to push your book out there because unless you pay someone to do it for you – and even then there’s no guarantee their strategy will work – no one else is going to do it for you. You’re an author first but being publicist runs a close second.
You’ll find an overwhelming amount of information out there on how to market your book, which can fill you with dread. I’ve decided to follow the advice of one Reedsy blogger and just focus on two or three activities: this website, the Amazon author page, Facebook, which I confess I’ve never signed up to, and highly targeted activity which I’ll cover in more detail as each one happens.
Quick tips
Do: plan a marketing strategy of sorts and maintain it. The Reedsy blogs are very helpful on this.
Do, if you’re having a launch gathering if some kind, have a plan for the evening. For example, a Q and A session, a couple of brief readings, a book signing table and so on.
Do not leave it too late to upload your print-ready paperback. I realised when ordering author copies to send out to reviewers that I have only allowed just enough time for these copies to be printed for any launch event. I’d rather glibly assumed that the usual Amazon fast turnaround would be in place but it is different for print on demand as the books are printed in Poland. Make sure you allow AT LEAST TEN DAYS before your launch event. Although author copies are cheaper than buying them at full price, be aware that this is an expensive exercise. I'm selling them at full price. Some authors give copies away but you need to be careful that you are not being seen to offer 'compensation' in return for a good review. See countdown blog part 2.
Launch Day minus 7
Send out reminder emails to the launch guests with core details. I copy and paste the core details of location and so on but make sure each email is sent individually so it feels personal.
One guest asks if she can bring her newly-acquired puppy. I adore dogs but feel twinge of anxiety as I also know the pub has a large bolshie cat in residence.
I've asked my friend Zoe to do a three to four minute recording of an excerpt and I trust her to read it in the voice.
Quick tips
Do reflect on the kinds of questions you’re bound to get asked as your book is published. Why did you write this particular book? What do you want your readers to take away from it? These basic questions might be much harder to answer than you realise.
Do not waste your time and energy on marketing activities you don’t want to follow through with. Everyone has a preferred way of communication so, for example, if you’ve never exactly loved Twitter, focus on another medium.
Do not be afraid to ‘take what you like and dump the rest’. There’s a vast amount of advice out there: that doesn’t mean you have to follow it all. Respond to the ideas you feel you can achieve and that fit with your author personality.
Launch day minus 6
Six A3 posters arrive for launch venue walls. Very easy to organise online using the designer’s marketing files. I rediscover some of the stats and facts that led to me writing The Assassin’s Head and we’ll run some slides at the launch.
One of the main themes of the book is what happens to people in the chaotic upheaval of civil strife and war. The assassin’s head of the title refers to an ancient Iraqi artefact that is dug up in the desert near the city of al-Basrah and then sold on to one of the many contractors arriving to ‘rebuild’ Iraq. The destruction and looting of a country’s heritage is what the UN describes as the ‘third casualty of war’. I looked on the Interpol website – you can still do so – to find page after page after page of stolen pieces from Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt and Syria to name but four countries, now in the hands of unscrupulous collectors and dealers.
Quick tips
Do weave in, if relevant, some of the factual background that informed your story, include the source for your own reference. Even in fiction, perhaps especially in fiction, sources are important. All the more so in these days of lies and fake news.
The countdown continues in my next blog.
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