Publishing a book on Amazon has become a popular route for aspiring and established authors. The good news? Yes, you can publish a book on Amazon for free using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). This platform allows authors to upload their manuscripts and reach millions of readers worldwide without any upfront costs. Here’s a detailed look at how the process works and what you should consider.
This article is just an overview! If you are in the initial stages of self-publishing and want the most comprehensive checklist ever created (ha!), please go over to our sister site, SelfPublishingChecklist.com
How to Publish Your Book on Amazon for Free
To get started, sign up for a free account with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). You can only have one KDP account per person! I am so serious about this! Once you’re in, follow these steps:
First, prepare your manuscript. Amazon accepts files in Word (.docx), PDF, and several other formats. Ensure your text is properly formatted for digital reading or print, depending on your publishing goals. If you’re publishing a Kindle eBook, consider using Amazon’s free formatting resources or guides to make your manuscript reader-friendly. For print books, formatting should adhere to paperback or hardcover standards.
Next, you’ll need a book cover. If you’re on a tight budget, Amazon offers a Cover Creator tool, which is free and easy to use. However, many authors opt to hire professional designers to make their books more visually appealing, which can increase sales.
Once your manuscript and cover are ready, log into KDP and start entering your book details. This includes the title, subtitle, author name, and description. Upload your manuscript and cover files, and then preview your book to ensure everything looks perfect. KDP provides tools to preview both eBook and print formats.
Finally, set your pricing. You can choose to publish your book as a Kindle eBook, paperback, or hardcover (or all three). For eBooks, Amazon lets you set your price and offers two royalty options—70% or 35%—depending on your book’s price and distribution. For print books, royalties are calculated based on the sale price minus printing costs.
Once everything is complete, hit the “Publish” button. Your book will typically be live on Amazon within 24 to 72 hours.
Is It Really Free?
Yes! The actual publishing on Amazon is indeed free, but there are optional costs you might consider to enhance your book’s quality and appeal. For example, professional editing and proofreading can significantly improve your manuscript, while a custom-designed cover often attracts more readers. I know this is an article about publishing for free and yes you absolutely CAN format in Google Docs, Word, or Pages, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that formatting tools like Vellum (for Mac users) or paid formatting services can make your book look polished and professional. These optional investments aren’t required, but they can help your book stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Understanding Royalties
Although there are no upfront fees to publish on Amazon, the platform takes a percentage of your book’s sales. For Kindle eBooks, you can earn either 70% or 35% royalties, depending on your book’s price and the geographic regions where it’s sold. For print books, royalties are calculated by subtracting the printing cost from the sale price.
For example, if your paperback is priced at $10 and the printing cost is $4, you’ll earn $6 per sale, minus Amazon’s fee. Understanding this structure helps you price your book competitively while maximizing your earnings.
Benefits of Publishing on Amazon for Free
Publishing on Amazon comes with several advantages beyond its zero-cost entry point. For starters, it provides global distribution, allowing your book to reach readers across multiple countries. You retain full control over your book’s rights and pricing, and you can make updates to your manuscript or cover at any time.
Amazon also offers promotional tools like KDP Select, which allows eBooks to be part of Kindle Unlimited, a subscription service that can boost your book’s visibility. Additionally, you can use Amazon Ads to target potential readers and drive sales.
Final Thoughts
Publishing a book on Amazon is an excellent way to share your story or expertise with the world, and the fact that it’s free makes it accessible to virtually anyone. While optional expenses like professional editing, cover design, and formatting can enhance your book’s appeal, the platform itself allows you to publish without any financial barriers.
Whether you’re a first-time author or a seasoned writer, Amazon’s KDP platform is a powerful tool for turning your manuscript into a published book. With careful preparation and thoughtful marketing, you can reach a wide audience and start earning royalties—all without spending a dime upfront.
So, I’m heading into my fourth week of this brave new world of author marketing. In the spirit of full disclosure and solidarity, here’s exactly how I’m feeling:
Overwhelmed by just how much there is STILL to do before my book comes out
Stressed by how little time there seems to do it in, even working seven days a week
Barely holding at bay every author’s deep-seated fears of being found to be a worthless hack
Frantic because my ADHD-riddled brain is full of ideas rocketing around and ricocheting off memory boards that are already operating at full capacity, and I’m terrified I’ll forget something important
Coming back from AWP with so much potential work and so many ideas was exhilarating, but all too soon (as in, as soon as the dog was picked up, the fridge purged of two well-past prime heads of lettuce, and the laundry bin full), the grim reality of everything I had to do set in.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love what I’m doing now. I’m enjoying myself more than I have ever done in my entire professional life. The long hours are nothing to me, and if my body didn’t find ways to tell me to bugger off and get some sleep (like letting my iPad slip from my hands and bonk me in the face as I’m trying to read), I would work even longer hours.
The grim reality for me comes from facing down my biggest cognitive demon: prioritizing.
I think everyone has trouble to some degree with deciding exactly what is most important in any given moment, especially nowadays when the volume of information and variables coming at us doubles and triples by lunchtime. In ye olden days, the priority was probably clear: sit down, take quill in hand and write. Today, it’s monitoring Twitter, updating the ‘mothership’ website, working on edits, working on the WIP, keeping up with your groups on GoodReads, guest blogging, learning about new SEO techniques. A single email or tweet can rearrange your entire day in a heartbeat, and then 15 minutes later, do it again.
Right now, I’m operating on so many levels simultaneously that I feel like I’m juggling grenades, and I just lost track of the one without the pin. Here’s an example of the big categories of to-do’s I’m working on:
Building out the mothership: blogging, learning about meta tagging, SEO, making sure feeds work
Connecting with people: finding groups on GoodReads, spending quality personal time on Twitter interacting with real people, learning how to make the best use of Tumblr and Pinterest
Guest blogging: writing and pitching myself for guest blogs
Creative nonfiction writing: working on several pieces to submit to various journals
Publishing production: editing, proofing, filling out forms for my publisher to prepare my book for launch at the end of March
Writing (oh yeah, that thing): driving my current WIP to conclusion over the next few weeks, plotting the sequel to be written next month, polishing up and finishing another novel for submission, gearing up for a new stand-alone novel to be written in April as well, and researching weird stuff like electron diffusion portals in Earth’s atmosphere and the Flying Dutchman (just to name a few)
Misc: setting up a financial spreadsheet to track my income and expenses from my business (that would be me, Cait Reynolds, Author) so I can start to track how my books are doing and possibly correlate marketing activities to sales (*gasp* just like a business), and finding other writing conferences and trade shows that I will need to attend this year as part of my professional development
The worst part is that ALL of that is extremely important, and ALL of that needed to be done like yesterday. And a sub-worst part of that is that every item in those broad categories has three or four tasks attached to them. Suddenly, I am facing a nuclear mushroom cloud of work that is blazing “YESTERDAY NOW!!!!!!!!!” (including gratuitous exclamation mark use) across the sky.
So, what’s an author to do? Me? I make lists. Over the years, I have developed a specific method for making lists. Just writing things down doesn’t help me organize or prioritize. It’s just a bit list. So, I go through the following process, which usually includes taping multiple pieces of paper to my closet doors:
Write everything down…everything
Decide what the big categories are and rewrite the list into categories
Figure out what is going to support the ‘mothership’ immediately, i.e. setting a goal for three posts and a vlog every week and start putting that on a separate list of the week’s to-do’s
List out the social media outlets I am going to use every day and put them as repeatables on my week’s to-do’s, i.e. spend 45 minutes-1 hour checking Pinterest, Goodreads, Twitter, Tumblr every day, or maybe 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon
Determine what production stuff needs to be done to support my book’s upcoming publication and put that on the week’s list
Note how many chapters I want to get done on my WIP and what needs doing for outlining, editing, etc.
Put down specific deadlines for any of the creative nonfiction pieces I have
So my obscene three-page, single-spaced list is now down to one page. I now can take this one page and break it into a set of days with specific tasks each day. It ends up looking something like this:
This week, as only someone obsessed with lists can do it.
In fact, March is looking so busy that I even had stuff spilling into next week, and I decided I needed to organize all that as well. Sooooo…maybe I went a little overboard…
Hyper-organized or paranoid? Or just garden-variety control issues?
I fully admit that I wrote everything down so I wouldn’t forget. However, I can also begin to see exactly what I did on each day, and I can begin to get a real feel for the amount of ongoing work once I’m past this crazy start-up period. Eventually, I would like to be able to use these as the basis of a routine as well as a template for marketing work around book launches and other projects.
It took me three hours, about 12 pieces of paper, seven markers, a lot of tape, and one puppy trampling of all my supplies to get to this point, but I don’t feel it was time wasted. I now feel that I am in control and have set things up so nothing falls off the radar and am making significant progress on every key area of my business every day.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go rewrite my grocery list and reorganize it by aisle.
Me at a “funny hat” NaNoWriMo get together last November.
I have been doing every single National Novel Writing Month event for about eight years now. NaNoWriMo (as it’s called) has expanded from just November to include a “Camp” in April and a “Camp” in July. The differences between November NaNoWriMo and Camp are that you can set your own word goal for Camp and you get an online “cabin” with cabin mates that you can live chat with.
Now, here’s the funny part: I’ve never, ever, ever ‘won’ a NaNoWriMo event. Ever. But I finish and publish books all the time. So, go figure.
How does this relate to book marketing? It actually does, if you don’t write in a lonely basement, cut off from the world with only you and Igor the rat you have befriended with crusts of bread from your meager meals. Um…may have gone too far on that one. Oh well.
Aside from actually writing, the whole point of NaNoWriMo is to get you hooked up with other writers. A lot those connections will help you find your moral and literary support team. Some of those connections, however, will be for people who run interesting blogs and are looking for writers. For me, at least, I’ve found that guest-blogging is a fantastic way for me to get visibility. You’ll also get offers from people who are following NaNoWriMo’ers in order to promote their editing/proofing/marketing services.
I have a lot of fun doing word sprints on Twitter, and it’s amazing how much it helps me focus and drive my word counts forward. By sharing my project, my LSW’s (last sentence written), and general banter with other sprinters, I’ve met a lot of like-minded writers and bloggers. In fact, some of the best guest-blogging opportunities I’ve had this year have come from folks I met through NaNoWriMo sprints.
The NaNoWriMo main website has message boards that are always a great place to connect with other writers, especially ones specific to your genre. You might be able to find opportunities to exchange guest-blogging gigs or get inspired by some of the things they have done to promote their books.
For Camp NaNoWriMo, I love the cabin setting, where you can chat with your cabin mates. Last summer, I ended up with a group of amazing women also writing paranormal romances. We ended up wanting to name our cabin because we were just awesome that way. We put together a long list and narrowed it down to “Cabin of Lost Souls” or “Cabin with a Cauldron.” In a stroke of brilliance, one of the campers suggested “Cabin of Lost Souls with a Cauldron.” TEAM COLSWAC was born. Yes, we are designing a mug. No, you can’t have one.
We are together again for April, and I’m super excited to be with them in my cabin. I’m also making plans to be bigger, better and badder on Twitter for sprinting because it’s just so much fun, and I really do have a lot to share now. My Camp project is to finish book 3 of my Blue Moon series, “Blue Blood.” I’ve set a goal for 60k words, and I’m totally ready to go for it.
I guess today’s real world lesson is be yourself and get out there. Even if something seems like just a writing event, get involved and start getting to know people. You never know where it will lead…and when you’ll come up with coffee mugs.
In case you don’t know me, almost one year ago I committed to writing a blog post every single day of this year (2013). I chose my blog “Funny Strange” to write on. That blog has been around for about eight years and gets good traffic, but I was trying to see how much better it could get it if I put a daily effort into it. After all, I wrote a whole book called “How to Market a Book,” so I wanted to lead by example.
I am now approximately two weeks away from completing this goal, and I’d like to tell you about how it’s been going! I will of course share the “final final” results and lessons learned after the year is over, but I thought I would give you some preliminaries now.
Part of the reason I undertook this challenge was so I could be informed when I talked to authors who “simply do not have the time to blog 2-3 times per week.” I always suspected this was a BS statement, and so I set out to prove that keeping your blog active is something you not only SHOULD do, but that it can become something that is a natural part of your life.
Here’s how that’s been going:
1. Yes, it was hard to get into the habit. I run this business, consult for several companies, write books, and manage this website. I was trying not to make excuses, so I downloaded Wunderlist (an awesome to-do list app thing) on my phone and iPad. I made “blog post” a line item that recurs every day, and I actually get great satisfaction in checking it off.
2. Pre-scheduling is your friend. When I was really on a roll with writing, I found that I could write about five posts on different topics.
3. Pictures can sometimes be just as good as words. A couple of times a week, I put a funny photo up on Instagram. I set it up so the photo then gets pulled through my blog and goes out through social media, and sometimes I go back in and write some thoughts about it. These photos often lead to funny comments and conversations, so my readers stay engaged.
4. You don’t have to WRITE every single word. Sometimes I get an idea for a post while I’m out and about, and since I was under the gun to produce every single day, I forced myself to learn the “voice record” function on my iPhone. That has actually been a life-saver, although I will say that I have to go back through and edit almost everything, because the dictation function can only do so much. This definitely helped with the fear of staring at a blank screen every single morning.
5. Practice makes perfect (or at least better). It’s true, I was cursing myself for this challenge a few times throughout the year, but it really was a great tool for just making me write every single day, whether I was in the mood / inspired. I think that making writing a daily part of our lives is really important, and I’m glad this challenge did that for me.
So– that’s it for today’s update. I’m thinking about a new challenge for 2014, and I would love to know yours! Are you going to blog every day? Produce a book? Now’s the time to start thinking about it!
Most authors new to social media are usually at a loss for content — what am I supposed to tweet about? is a question I hear a lot. Twitter seems to especially confuse people. The short format doesn’t allow for pontification, so you need to learn to express yourself in a short and sweet manner (a good skill!).
I recommend learning ways to effectively use Twitter — here’s a great basics list from Buffer, or for a more guided customized consultation, give me a holler — but a quickie way to start now is to recycle content here on your blog or, if you don’t have much blog content, pull from your work-in-progress, past works, or guest articles. If you don’t have any of that, then get on it that shiz.
Let’s deconstruct.
1) Divide and Conquer
If you follow a typical blog post format, you have a beginning, middle, and end, right? Typically, you want to break up that middle part with a few headings in the middle. I usually use three headings (big Rule of Three fan here), some people prefer five. Do whatever you feel works best for you.
Then tweet those headings in a way that makes sense. So let’s take this heading right here: divide and conquer. Now, because we know this post is about finding or recycling post content for tweetswe know what this means, but if we put that in a tweet with no explanation, it won’t make any sense, right?
That’s where hashtags come in. So let’s build on that a little bit more to create a tweet (or share):
Example: Divide and conquer: how to find and recycle #blogpost content for tweets. #blogging
All that’s missing at this point is the link to your existing post (just add it) and then violá! Easy tweet from existing content.
2) Ask questions from your post
I do this a lot. Once you’ve written and shared a post a few times (please, not one share right after another — space the shares out and by all means, use #MondayBlogs to share your non-book promotion blog posts), asking relevant questions is a great way to involve your readers, whether or not you add a link. Let me explain.
I shared a post recently that I wrote recently on the Huffington Post:
Of course, it would be easy to just share and reshare the link, but how about asking a question instead? People love to share their opinions and fears, because they want to see if others feel the same way. So instead I asked this:
Example: Are you censoring your own #writing? Holding back, afraid of what others will say?#WriteWhatScaresYou
No link, nothing that even discusses that this has anything to do with my article on HuffPo. Why? It’s not about ME. Remember, social media is about building relationships, not selling. Twitter is Twitter, not The Rachel Show. Slow down, it’s just one tweet or share. I know it’s super exciting to be on social media and think that everyone is now going to know all about your book! Sadly, everyone isn’t your demographic and everyone doesn’t care.
3) Discuss a main point from each post 4) and link to it
Here’s where you can capture the main point of your article and then add the link. If you’re going to keep getting mileage out of the same post on social media, mix up the wording of the main point so it’s not a replica — people recognize seeing the same shares and tweets repeatedly. For some, they’re quite vocal about their irritation.
(Personally, I don’t mind see posts repeated — I know I skim articles a lot (as most of us do), so if an article pops up again that interests me, I’m glad, but whatever…people who complain about that stuff amuse me.)
Twitter is a microblogging platform, which means that a tweet’s half-life is shorter than our attention span (which is about eight seconds — two seconds shorter than a goldfish, according to my ten-year-old son — Mr. Factoid). Scary. The case for reposting content is well-documented.
So an example tweet from this article:
Example: Tired of creating original #content all the time? I have the answer for you: {add link}
Here’s another:
Example: You have a huge amount of original #content to share and you don’t even know it! I’ll show you how: {add link}
5) Share Comments and 6) Shout People Out
This is always a fun way to engage your followers and reward those who go out of their way to read AND comment on your posts — mention them in a tweet in regard to a specific post! Give them a shout out in a positive way. ***Note: I don’t ever recommend calling someone out on social media in a negative way if they’ve left you a negative comment on your blog — you’re just initiating or furthering negative behavior online and really, who has time for that? Isolate the negativity whenever possible.
So, an example would be:
Example: I appreciate your thoughtful comment @K8Tilon, on my latest post about repurposing #content here: {add link}— or don’t add the link. I find having no link (in a thank you) is better etiquette.
Be cautious of being TOO linky. Twitter’s Terms of Service (TOS), aka their rules, warn against having a link in every tweet.
I hope these practical, real-life examples help you. If you want to adapt them for use on Facebook, just remove the @ symbols. Hashtags work across all platforms now, and will help you show up in Search, so I recommending using at least one hashtag in your shares.
Okay, I gave you six ideas. Ha!
Have more ideas? Share below! Let’s move this helping thing forward.
Originally posted on BadRedhead Media. Republished with permission.
I wrote a post over on my author blogRachelintheOC.com about how self-promotion sucks because, in all likelihood, you’re doing it wrong. Maybe you’re not and you can relax and not yell at me, so go sit down and take some deep breaths. But if you are one of those annoying authors who is repeatedly spamming your book links and has nothing else to say but, “Buy my book!” all over the place, take a sec:
It seems screamingly obvious that you think quite a bit of your writing because you want everyone on every social channel to purchase it. Heck, we all want that, right? Yet all you seem capable of writing are spammy messages. So…what’s that about? You not only disappoint your readers, but you disappoint yourself — you are better than that. You need to stop being that puppy who pees everywhere (gratuitous cute puppy picture below). Let’s discuss how to focus your content to engage with readers.
philhearing via flickr
FOCUS YOUR CONTENT
I loved doing this correspondence interview with Project Maven Deborah Pannell:
because we got down to the nitty gritty about finding your audience, and focusing your message for that particular audience. If you ask most authors what their demographic is, most will say, “Huh?” and I was in the same boat when my first book came out. How do you choose among, and find, the millions of men and women who read all kinds of different books — who is your ideal reader?
Here are a few ways I’ve found useful:
Social media: I love social media (use whichever channel you find most helpful right now — when you learn more about your demographic, you want to be where they are), to interact with people. I like Twitter and Facebook for this purpose because it’s like a vast market research audience where you can test your work before you release it. Not sure if a line in your WIP (work in progress) resonates? Share it. See what kind of reaction, if any, you receive — retweets, shares, comments, replies are all great indicators as to whether people like or dislike, or have any reaction whatsoever, to what you are writing.
Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback, because once you upload your work to Amazon and other sales platforms, your work is out there, up for review. Why not find out before it ever gets there? Which isn’t to say that you shouldn’t trust your voice — not at all. Feedback feeds our writer’s soul. If you are too afraid to receive feedback from the general public, how will you handle reviews? Now is the time to grow your thick skin, my friends.
The other benefit of social media before release is that you are building those critical relationships and connections with your readers. Many authors come to me after they release their book and can’t figure out why it’s not selling. They haven’t established any relationships with readers, bloggers, or reviewers, yet are still completely flummoxed as to why their book isn’t flying off the virtual shelf.
How can you sell a book to an audience who doesn’t know you exist?
Blogging: I hear too many authors say they have no time to blog and believe me, I get it. Blogging takes some time out of our writing time and marketing time, right? Get over it. Change your paradigm. If you want to connect to your audience, if you want to find your audience at all, blogging is a huge step to both. Regular blogging (at least once weekly) not only helps your visibility and SEO (search engine optimization), it also helps you connect you to your reader base.
Not sure what to blog about? I hear that a lot. Well, you don’t have to write about writing unless your book is about writing. Most readers can give a flying fig about pronouns, font choice, or how you choose character names. They are more interested in you, author person. What are your passions? What drives you? Who are you? What are your quirks, interests, what makes you human? Those topics are far more interesting than how many words you write every day or whether you use a Mac or PC.
Listening/asking questions: Social media and blogging are great for getting your voice out there but they are also wonderful listening platforms. I know, it seems counterintuitive, but try asking questions. Real questions that matter. On my author stream, I discuss childhood sexual abuse because I’m a survivor. I share articles about the topic, started #SexAbuseChat (every Tuesday 6pm PST), and I ask people their about their stories (if they want to share) because their voices count.
It’s not all about me. By sharing quotes, articles, and opening my platform up to others, I connect with people who may or may not be potential readers. Not everything we do has to result in a book sale, but it can result in a connection, a relationship that may at some point lead to a sale. The point is to focus your message so your readers can find you, and engage with you but more importantly, you with them.
*Read how this guy, Mark Dawson, made $450,000 as a self-pub’d author:
“The combination of having a loyal fanbase that always leave glowing reviews on your book’s landing page (user recommendations being one of the most powerful forms of marketing), and driving new customers to said books via large-scale Facebook advertising ($370/day) has created a very lucrative business for Dawson. He’s done what he could never do with a traditional publisher because he can exercise complete control over the entire process. (Source: Forbes.)
TYPES OF CONTENT
As I mention above regarding what I share — referred to in the business as ‘content marketing’ — a term that sounds big and scary but really isn’t. Let’s define content marketing:
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
Content Marketing: You are likely doing many of these types of shares already: blog posts, videos, quotes, newsletters, podcasts, radio shows, guest posts, social media, online magazines, participating in online groups, advertising…all of which avoid a direct spammy sell, yet still help you create connections and relationships with potential readers.
How to do it? Let’s get specific. I use Hootsuite (better for desktop) and Buffer (better for mobile) to schedule in some content, while still interacting live when I can. I share my own blog posts, others’ posts, my guest posts, articles of interest that are related to the topics I am interested in or that I write about, quotes that resonate with me or that have something to do with the topics I write about (i.e., poetry, abuse, relationships), relevant videos, pictures, and radio or podcasts and other ‘new media.’ The only time I will share something truly self-promotional is if my book is free or on some kind of promotion, or for a new release, and even then, I will usually say ‘link on bio’ because it is!
Here’s a screenshot of my current author Twitter bio. Notice that my book link for Broken Places is easily visible. That is intentional, so there is no reason for me to spam “Buy my book!” on my stream:
WRITE, WRITE, THEN WRITE MORE
Ultimately, yes, you want to sell books, so you need to write them. You can’t sell a book that doesn’t exist. So how do you balance it all? It’s not easy, I won’t lie. I struggle daily to make it all work. It’s already almost the end of April and I’ve done very little work on my own two WIPs for Booktrope. Given that I’m now directing the Gravity Imprint for Booktrope, run my own business, am a mom, the communications director the non-profit Stigma Fighters, senior advisor of social media for AuthorBytes, and promoting my own new release, believe me, I get it. What did I forget? Oh yea, sleep.
A few tips:
Make the time to write. Even if it’s only during your morning cup of coffee, you are a writer, right? So, write. Make it happen. Turn off social media, shut off the news sites, turn off YouTube cat videos. I see so many of writer friends on Facebook complaining about not having time to write. Um…busted.
Hey, we all need a break. I have an excuse: social media IS my business! I have to be there to check on the more than thirty + pages I manage — if I wasn’t on Facebook, I’d be in big trouble. But even I have to turn off social media to get my writing done. In fact, I turn off everything, all social media to get the writing done, even if it’s just for fifteen-minute increments. Make it work.
Make the time to market and build connections. If you make the time to learn how to use Hootsuite or Buffer, you’ll find it’s far easier to manage your marketing time and your writing time. Many writers tell me that they refuse to schedule anything in because it’s not ‘organic.’ I say get over it. What’s the difference between scheduling a blog post today for #MondayBlogs and posting it live on Monday for #MondayBlogs? Nothing, except an excuse.
The advantage to scheduling is that you input your content when you have time, it goes out in scheduled increments instead of a flurry all at once which fills people’s streams with all your stuff, and you can still interact live. Hootsuite makes it easy to interact live (I prefer Hootsuite as opposed to Tweetdeck — which is limited to Twitter and Facebook only — because you can also schedule to your personal Facebook, Facebook page, Google+ page, LinkedIn, and a few other applications). There are a number of social media management options — use whichever one works best for you.
Listen, do what you want. If you don’t want to schedule anything, don’t. All I’m saying is that the combination of both works well for me and my clients. I absolutely believe you should interact live when you can, but you need to also protect your writing time.
Take notes, anywhere and everywhere. When I’m working, I often find articles, music, or poetry a great source of inspiration for my work, but I just can’t stop everything and start writing, so I use the Notes function on my iPhone or iPad to jot down the words or phrase that I want to noodle over, whether it’s for a blog post or poem or essay or short story … whatever.
Get in the habit of taking notes, even if it’s on a scrap of a napkin that you throw in your backpack. Many times, we are so overwhelmingly mentally saturated that we will forget some of our greatest ideas or thoughts as the next tweet flies by. You owe it to yourself to take a few moments to write down your thoughts. All that you need is there, floating by in your brain — find and gather it all together amidst the chaos.
Breathe a moment long enough to notice what you’re missing.
Bottom line: engage and focus with others, but also with yourself.
Originally posted on BadRedhead Media. Republished with permission.
I really tried. I really gave it the old college try. But, I just cannot get into HootSuite.
I know it’s supposed to make life easier for me, but frankly, it just gives me anxiety. Setting it up was a pain, and I’m still not sure I have it right.
But, more than that, it makes me feel disconnected. It makes the social media experience feel impersonal, which is the opposite of what I think it should be. Seeing all the lists and tabs and everything gives me a sick feeling of panic. I begin to think there’s no way I can adequately keep up with everything and respond to everything.
Now, granted, I don’t have thousands of followers on Twitter (nor do I follow thousands), and I use the “mute” function liberally. I interact with the people I see on Twitter when I get on to check in. This results in random times of day/night tweets and interactions, but that’s one of the things I like about Twitter.
I’ve seriously cut down the number of Facebook groups I’m in and only really participate in a few key ones, and not all of them have to do with writing.
I lurk on Tumblr, pin on Pinterest, and watch stuff on YouTube. I neglect Google+ unashamedly, and I occasionally remember to update LinkedIn. I don’t feel I need HootSuite for all this.
Basically, I manage my social media through a browser tab open to Facebook and a browser tab open on Twitter. For now, that will do. (That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.)
I am open-minded enough to know that I might need to do further organization of contacts and lists and such if/when I get more followers, or if my blog takes off, or whatever. But, even then, I still don’t know if I could use a social media management program.
By then, though, I’d like to think I would have a personal assistant or intern (aka minion).
I feel like I haven’t left my computer since Friday morning. I’ve been averaging 12-14 hours a day at the computer.
And, I haven’t been writing.
I have been 100% engaged with people online.
Last Friday, we announced the cover reveal for my upcoming book, Downcast. The ARC and cover went up on NetGalley. It was tweeted, facebooked, and blogged. And then…it caught fire.
In some ways, this is a continuation of last week’s post about how I’ve decided to use social media for marketing. As a result of my determination to focus on building good relationships and being deeply personal and attentive in every interaction, I found that I was running like a hamster on a wheel with trying to keep up with the number of tweets, inquiries, and messages.
However, I found that it was well worth investing my time in looking at people’s profiles before I replied, making every reply as honest and personal as I could, and trying not to miss thanking a single person for whatever message or tweet.
Not only did I feel genuine gratitude and enjoyment from the interactions I had, but other people picked up on the interactions, liking, retweeting, and messaging me directly. Word started spreading, and more requests and messages came in.
There’s a lot of science and studying going on, trying to figure out how things go viral (and all the varying degrees of viral). I’d like to add my observations to the data.
First, you have to have a good product. The video has to be funny. The book cover has to be intriguing. The synopsis has to be engaging. The one-liner joke has to be hilarious and timely.
Second, you have to engage. There’s no viralbot that makes things go crazy. It’s people sharing with people, who share with people, who share…So, you have to buckle down and engage with that first group of people who show interest. And, you have to be genuine about it. And…it doesn’t hurt to engage with the second, third, and tertiary tiers of people who share as well.
It’s a lot of work, though. I’m a deep-dyed introvert, so putting myself out there is very challenging and tiring. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy it. It’s just that it’s a test of how much I want to succeed.
Today is my Amazon pre-order announcement, and I’ve been at the computer since 7:00 a.m. working on posting to Facebook, my website, and Twitter. I’ve been replying to every message as it comes in. There’s more to do tomorrow, too. More places to let people know my book is on pre-order, and more people to talk to, meet, and hopefully establish relationships with.
Further Updates on Using Social Media
Yesterday, I spent an hour going through all the Facebook groups I belonged to and deciding how I was going to tackle the issue of posting to groups.
I left a lot of groups…a LOT of groups. I then looked at what was left and divided them into two categories.
One category is for the groups I interact with on an almost daily basis. These include my Basenji groups, several writing groups, and neighborhood groups.
The other category I decided would be major book promotion outlets. These are groups that have 10,000+ members and are primarily for posting promotional notices. I have 10 of these groups. There are two other groups for connecting authors and bloggers/reviewers, and I kept those as well.
That’s it. That’s all I’m going to do with Facebook groups.
I’ve also decided that I will not repetitively post or tweet just my pre-order link. I will be promoting, but I will try to include fresh and interesting content for every time I decide to promote. The bad news is that means there’s a lot of work ahead for me. The good news is that I’m so excited about my book and have so many things I want to share about it.
So…onwards and upwards!
And, because girlfriend needs to pay for Denny Basenji’s doggie kibble, here’s the Downcast announcement!
What would you do when faced with an impossible truth? Written with heart and passion, Downcast by Cait Reynolds is ripe with twists you never saw coming and love that defies the odds in this intense new Paranormal Romance retelling one of mythology’s greatest love stories.
It’s the start of Stephanie Starr’s senior year of high school, but sadly, this is no life of the prom queen. Stuck at the bottom of the high school social totem pole, Stephanie is forced by her domineering mother to wear lumpy linen dresses and eat organic tofu for lunch in a world of mini-skirts and pizza.
What Stephanie doesn’t anticipate is gorgeous and cocky Haley Smith who breaks social convention and pursues her with a determination that is both terrifying and flattering. Afraid that Haley is simply trying to set her up for massive humiliation, Stephanie does her best to push him away. But the more attention he pays to her, the more she runs, and the more everyone else begins to notice.
Instead of a loving family to support her as the mean girls make their play, Stephanie’s mother begins to unravel mentally, her possessiveness of Stephanie spiraling to new and frightening extremes. Stephanie is forced to grow up, find herself, and learn the truth about her past in order to save her mother, her friends, and her town. When the truth is revealed, nothing can prepare her for the outrageous reality of her existence…and nothing can save her from her fate.
Life got in the way. First, for a very happy reason in that I got pregnant, but then for a very sad reason in that I lost my baby at five months right before Thanksgiving.
I am okay. It’s not in my nature to give up, though I will admit a blow like this takes a while to recover from. The last two months have been a blur, but not without progress of a kind.
I got back to the gym. I got back to cooking. I got back to writing.
And getting back to writing means getting back to thinking about promotion.
So, here I am. I haven’t put anything out since the spring of last year. I have new things on the way, but they won’t hit until later this spring. This means I have a lot of questions for myself about what to do now?
This is a real world conundrum. Life happened, interfering with my “business.” In an industry where churning out new content is key, all I have is year-old “stock.” Yet, promotion is the key to keeping your name out there, keeping your books rolling through the rankings.
What’s a girl to do?
Well, for one thing, get back to blogging on a regular basis. Check.
I don’t want to come off as desperate and amateurish by flogging year-old horses all over Facebook and Twitter. On the other hand, enough time has passed that a reminder might not be so bad.
Trying to coordinate that with the book I have in the writing process in one genre and another in the editing process in a different genre is also a bit tricky.
I guess the most important thing for me to remember is that at least I’m trying again. I had a setback, and promotion of old stuff right now might not do much, but at least I’ll be back in the game. Sorta.
And, sometimes, “sorta” is the best you’re gonna get from the real world.
