by Felicity Sears

You’ve had your work edited professionally, your cover is beautiful, and it’s now uploaded onto Amazon. Woohoo!

But what next? How do you sell this book that you’ve so lovingly poured hours of love into? Well, after cracking open the champagne and telling all your friends, maybe celebrating with a night out or a meal with your family, there is book promotion…

To many indie authors, promoting their book can be the hardest part of their journey. Posting to social media, copywriting and running ads (if that’s your thing, and it’s cost effective), book launch events and trying to get speaking opportunities can take its toll on even the most entrepreneurial of authors.

Add to that the unwelcome comments when you post to social media, messages from supposed experts wanting you to pay them to promote your book, and people asking how many you’ve sold and when you’re writing the next book, and it can all become a bit of a headache.

To many indie authors, promoting their book can be the hardest part of their journey.

When I finished writing my Christian fantasy fiction for young adults, “Emilia, the King and the Place Beyond,” I felt such a sense of accomplishment. I was so happy to have finished the story, and I was anxious to get it into print. But I was so naïve! The work had hardly started, and I had no idea…

In an ideal world, you’ll hit the ground running and already have a following that you can promote to, or perhaps an email list that you can contact who are already interested in you and what you have to offer. But that isn’t always the case, and it can be difficult to get started, especially when you’re relying on marketing organically and not spending money on ads.

On the flip side of the coin, though, you’ve already come this far. You’ve had the patience, determination, and perseverance to write an entire book, so you have what it takes to promote it. Nobody knows your book better than you do. No other mind understands the precious message that your book carries more than yours does.

Take heart. You can learn, you can find out the best ways to promote that suit you, your target market, and your lifestyle. It just takes making that first step and remembering what you’ve already accomplished. Never forget that you didn’t give up writing and try to see every possibility to promote your book as an opportunity rather than a chore.

It can often feel like you’re showing yourself naked by talking about what’s in your book. A lot of your heart went into your work, and it can feel strange to push that in front of people.

Remember that your readers NEED what you have written, and you need to tell them about it, without any shame.

You have what it takes.

Felicity Sears is a published author of Christian fantasy fiction. Her first novel, called “Emilia, the King and the Place Beyond,” hit #2 under Christian fiction for young adults, on Amazon UK within 3 months of its release. She is currently working on writing short stories for quick escapism and doing some copyediting for other authors. She is married and lives in Oxfordshire, England, where she enjoys long walks in the countryside, and dog-sitting her mum’s Pomeranian, Kaspar.

Find Felicity’s books in the US here. Find her books in the UK here.

Follow Felicity on FB here.

If you’re an indie author and you’re interested in guest posting on this blog, email here.