For an author marketing and promotion is an important part of publishing their work. Whether the author is new to the publishing world or they have experience some still do not realize how important their brand is.
What is an author’s brand?
An author’s brand is who the author is. Whatever name the author writes under, whether it be a pen name or their real name or some version of their real name that is the authors brand. Also, some authors have some type of image or photograph or graphic that depicts their brand however they want the readers to see them. It can be some type of logo for that author.
When authors publish their book, especially their first book, Authors will promote their book which is great, but they will also set up web sites or social media accounts or other formats for marketing and promotion specifically for that book.
Authors should consider that they may write other books. If the author has a passion for writing or telling stories, they most definitely will write another book. Instead of creating specific social media accounts or websites for a specific book they should create one for their brand. Eventually, they will want to promote their new work and keep in touch with their readership or audiences. and they will want to draw in new readers.
Promoting your brand
If even if you have a publisher, the author still needs to do work in marketing and promotion. website, blogs, and social media can help in marketing and promotion. If you create a website have it as an official site of your brand your pen name or real name depending on what is on your book. If you create a blog, do the same thing.
Social media
If you're doing it on social media, especially Facebook, try to have a separate page from your normal profile so that one can be dedicated to your personal life which is your Facebook profile and the page can be dedicated to you as a writer. If you dedicate a Facebook page to just your book, you will end up creating multiple Facebook pages as you write more books.
There are dozens of social media sites and some are more popular than others, but don't be overwhelmed. Think of one or two social media sites that you may be familiar with and use those to promote your book and promote your brand. I'm not saying not to promote your book because that's what you want to do but since you will have more than one book you also have to promote your own brand.
Book sites and book shopping sites
The difference between book sites and book shopping sites is that some sites just list books and reviews and don't allow sales from the particular site. An example is the book site Goodreads. This site allows reviews to be posted at any time for any book it also has different categories for users, such as librarian, author, and reader. Now Goodreads does allowed links to where people could buy your book if it is listed on that particular site. If you are listing your books on Goodreads, you may want to create an author profile. In doing an author profile, it's a place where all your books that are published or going to be published can be viewed under 1 area. Goodreads also has a lot of other functions, such as giveaways (user must pay a fee), and they also have a blog so if you wanted A blog that was link to your Goodreads account you could do so.
Book shopping sites are obviously where you can buy a book. Amazon is one of the big ones an Amazon has also international sites, so they have gone global. Amazon is also it plays where authors can self-publish their work. It is called author central and authors can upload their books for both digital and paperback copies. If the author takes this option, these books will only be published on the Amazon site. If your book is listed on Amazon it is important to create an author profile page so that all your books can be listed under your name on a page and the access easily. Amazon has a feature where you can join KDP, but only if you are only listing your book on Amazon.
There are other self-publishing sites such as Smashwords and Lulu. Smashwords allows the sale of your books in different digital formats. Lulu also allows the sale of your books in different digital formats an also paperback. Lulu and Smashwords are also do-it-yourself books self-publishing sites and they also sell the books that self-published authors create. There are other companies that you can buy packages for and they will publish your book for indie authors.
Conclusion
What the author does or does not do is up to the author. Not everything works for all authors. What I recommend is that authors do their research. Look at other authors brands; how they create their websites. How they create their blogs. What their book covers look like.
You do not have to be famous to publish a book. Unfortunately, you don't know what you don't know. Try connecting with other authors especially indie authors if that is where you are going and see what kind of things they are doing. As an author you may not always have the skills to do everything such as, creating covers, promoting your work, and finding people to do reviews of your work. The work does not stop even though he wrote the end at the story. Promote your brand by accepting or seeking out interviews, whether on other's blogs, or even podcasts.
I am always available to answer questions from new authors and help them whenever I possibly can. I am a huge supporter of the indie author community. I, too, am an indie author.
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