Marketing and Self- Publishing Experiences – Reflection

Dec 25, 2020

Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi

It took me a while to decide that self-publishing would be something that I want to do. When I was writing down the stories of people from multiple viewpoints, having interviews, and creating a book on addiction, I just imagined that when I send this book in for a review to a publishing company that they will love it just the way I do. Well, it did not exactly work out that way. I kept sending in the book to any publishing company that I found that I thought would be interested in a non-fiction book. I continued sending in the book for about one year to different publishers. I received some replies stating that the company is not interested in topics related to addiction, some feedback on not taking any new books now or have no interest in manuscripts that was submitted without an inquiry. Some publishing companies I contacted, I just never heard back. In the meantime, the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, and my mind was mostly occupied with that topic for a while. Understanding facts about the COVID-19 Pandemic, getting a specialization in epidemiology, learning about contact tracing and more.

When I got back to the thought on publishing again after multiple disappointments, I reached out to a friend mentor Neal Lemery. Neal self-published his books and was telling me about his experiences and providing me with tips and recommendations. One early December morning I decided it was time to do whatever needed to be done to publish this book. I just knew that need to do this for myself and for all the people who interviewed for this book. I felt that the stories needed to get out instead of just sitting on my computer. There are a lot of different options in the self-publishing world. After searching through different platforms I decided on Amazon publishing. Honestly, I just felt that it would be the simplest method of publishing. I signed up for the Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) and started to work on formatting my book to be available in an electronic version. There was also an option to design the cover, create a description of the book and set the price. I originally wanted to set a lower price, then I found out that the base price is set. I think it is based on the length of the book. The base price on the kindle books become $2.99. I found out later that I can run promotions and set a lower price for a week. I decided to set that up and my first promotion will be running in the beginning of January. I also opted in to provide the readers who are part of the kindle unlimited to be able to read my book. It costs no additional money that way. My whole idea was just to get the book out so anyone who is interested can read it. Once the kindle version was alive the paperback option come up and I reformatted my book to be able to publish a paper version. It took about a weekend to get it done.

The next challenge I faced once the kindle edition was approved and published after a few changes to make sure all pictures fit, and all words stay on the page is how to let people know that my book is out and ready to tell the stories I wrote down. Marketing. It is truly another language to learn and it is not one I thought I ever have to learn. Still learning now and it will take a while. There are a lot of factors that play into marketing. It is interesting to see what will happen. Now, I can track how many people bought my book in any format and how many pages were read by people who have the unlimited option for the book in Amazon. I learned how to create an author page in multiple platforms. I had a chance recently to also talk to another author who told me about some of her recommendations that included creating a Goodreads account, a BookBub account, join other author groups. I am truly thankful. Because of her recommendations I joined some author groups on Facebook and had some wonderful experiences. Through one of these groups, I found Tom -Corson – Knowles. I had downloaded his free recommendation book about how to sell more books which is a segment from his book marketing bible. The document and his videos had been really helpful to gain a more in depth experience in marketing. He recommended some of the same things as my author friends and had many additional tips. One of the tip that he advocated for is to spend some time each day on marketing. Invest in yourself. I have to say it is been a hard and tiring experience. I been building connections in social media as recommended in Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and Instagram. I asked people to review my book, created a group to discuss the book on Facebook and participating in multiple writer’s groups. I had sent out information on my book to schools, media outlets and many individual people. I found out recently from my sisters Hédi and Dóra that they could not write a review on Amazon because there is a spending limit attached to the ability to write a review. I was very surprised on that limitation. Luckily BookBub does not have money attached to the ability to write a review. I also reached out to some bookstores and found out that even though that when I published my paperback on Amazon, I choose the option to have the book available to warehouses so bookstores (this option increased the price by about 4 dollars) can order this option did not seemed to work for the bookstore who was interested in carrying my book and she told me that she would carry my book if it becomes available on Ingram. Yet, another publishing company I have not heard from before. I sent in a request to Ingram and waiting to hear back from them. Overall, it has been an interesting ride for sure. I have published my kindle book then my paperback in the beginning of December. As of today, I have sold 8 paperback copies plus I ordered 5 for myself so I can give them away. 9 of the e-book was ordered through Amazon and a total of 835 pages been read through Amazon KENP pages. Recently, I reached out to our local paper in Astoria and had an interview about the book this week. I am hoping that the published article will spark some interest. I am working a little bit on Marketing every day as Tom Corson – Knowles recommends and also spending some time on my upcoming book. I will keep writing and keep marketing with a hope that my book will gain some interest and spark good discussions. To all other first time authors out there I wish you all the best and just keep on going one small step each day.

www.gabriellakorosi.org

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PTF2GP7?pf_rd_r=2B6F2QAW48BQC00CZS47&pf_rd_p=9d9090dd-8b99-4ac3-b4a9-90a1db2ef53b

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Marketing and Self- Publishing Experiences – Reflection

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