When You Hit Publish

When you hit publish, nothing happens.

Balloons don’t fall from the ceiling. Bells don’t toll their song of success. Nothing happens. Nothing at all.

In fact, it takes a day or two from hitting Publish to seeing a book on Amazon as available. And it took another few days for me to wait out the clock to request the Kindle and Print editions are linked.

And still. Nothing happens.

There is this myth to writing, that if you write it, people will buy it.

Image result for build it they will come
Field of Dreams (1989) scene “if you build it they will come”

I knew writing was the easy part and getting folks to buy the book would be an experience unto itself. I am far from an expert in launching a self-published book. I hope that by sharing my experience though I can offer insights and possibly support others who wish to self publish.

Do I Tell People?

Well yes, I need to tell folks the book is available if I expect anyone to buy it. But I was nervous to do so. I wanted to know people could buy it before I promoted it, which was silly since this is Amazon and they have literally one job – letting you buy things.

OK, I’m Telling People

Email Subscribers

I didn’t, and still don’t, have a lengthy list of email subscribers. Being said, you should totally sign up. I opted to be part of KDP Select, which is a program that lets you, among other things, run free or discounted days on your Kindle edition. I ran one for the first 2-days after announcing the book and made sure the email subscribers were the first to know – with the full 48-hours to their advantage.

Social media

OK. The email subscribers had a head start. Now onto Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Slack, and whatever other social media channel I could get my hands on. I have a very narrow list of Facebook connections, so that was my next avenue and over the days during and after my free-Kindle-days I announced on different channels, tagging different groups and professional organizations.

This is an ongoing endeavor. As I publish new articles, I link on social media and provide easy access to the book. Unfortunately, I haven’t found an easy way to track referrals from different social media streams so all I see is Units Sold.

Word of Mouth

I’m still figuring this one out but I hope some of it comes from colleagues and improvisers alike knowing me and thinking of me when they face the challenges in the book.

I have a few speaking engagements in the coming months I plan to have the Book-Wagon (ok, a small garment bag on wheels) that I can sell copies direct-to-consumer from.

Persistence

Books don’t sell in a day. I imagine I’ll be promoting this as long as I care to maintain the energy.

Into the Unknown

Writing is easy compared to being your own marketing department. I continue this journey and if you have suggestions or thoughts, I welcome your input on this process.

Grab a copy! Get your own copy of Collaborative Improv and tell me what you think by leaving a review over on Amazon! Thank you for your support!

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