Tag: tips for indie authors

My latest obsession – Amazon Ads

My obsession lately (aside from writing a new book) has been with Amazon Ads. For a long time, I have avoided them as my budget is tight and they looked complicated. Plus, I struggle with gambling my hard-earned cash on something that may never work.

There is the saying ‘face the fear and do it anyway,’ so I decided to cast aside my fear and do some research so that I can make some calculated risks when it comes to spending money on advertising. I have been watching endless YouTube videos, Googling and scanning to see how other authors get on with Amazon Ads and the results are mixed and varied, as you would expect.

My conclusion so far is that as with any gambling, you need to decide on a budget and stick with it. It is too easy to throw money away, not get anywhere and then become despondent.

Years ago, I worked with a market trader who liked to gamble. He only ever gambled low amounts and he had a ‘system.’ From what I could gather, because he kept his cards close to his chest, he normally broke even. I will never know if that was actually the truth, but I suspect it was. For him it was a hobby.

For some, writing is a hobby and breaking even is good if you enjoy what you do and can live from other means. For others, we need to treat writing as a business and that is where we need to adjust our thinking when it comes to marketing. A book is a product and any product needs advertising. Nothing happens by magic alone.

As writers, we all have social media which is free advertising. Or at least we think it is. In fact, it isn’t, if you factor in the time you spend on it and how much your time is worth per hour, you can see that it isn’t so free after all!

I believe E.L James, author of Fifty Shades of Grey worked hard on her Facebook profile and that was a part of her achieving success. I think it’s good advice not to spread yourself too thin and try to do everything. Which is amusing coming from me because I have accounts with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. My favourite is Twitter for writing, Instagram for photography and I’m a bit of a random Facebooker but I continue to try to work on it. Promote on the platform you enjoy the most as you are more likely to stick with it.

Anyway, I digress. This post is meant to be about Amazon Ads. After watching umpteen YouTube videos and Googling away, I found two good avenues of advice this week. One is a book by Deb Potter – Amazon Ads for Authors 2021. I have not read it all yet but so far so good. Easy to read, cuts to the chase, offers clear and concise advice. Great for beginners.

The other is a chap called Dale and his YouTube channel is Self-publishing with Dale. Again, he cuts to the chase, doesn’t encourage you to throw away your life savings on Amazon Ads and although I can’t prove his system works, it makes sense to me. So, I am cautiously trying it and will report back on results, which could take as long as a year according to what he says. As much as we all want sales quickly, we should remember the story of the hare and the tortoise…

The information I give here is impartial, I am not using affiliate links for this, simply imparting what I learn as I go along. The best advice I can give is do your own research and see what fits for you and your budget.

I have seen Mark Dawson’s Self-publishing formula heavily advertised; you may want to look into that. From what I can see you will need a higher budget to take his courses, but the reviews are good. If you are on a lower budget, Amazon offer their own free course to teach you how to use their advertising platform. You can find it on their website.

Do what you can for free!

We all work hard on our books, but we have to work just as hard on marketing if we want to reach as many readers as possible. If you have any tips, please feel free to share them in the comments section.

If you like what you read here and it helps, you can always buy one of my notebooks– all writers need notebooks right? Every penny helps me keep this website going and they are lovely notebooks, if I say so myself… and postage is free to UK customers.

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Until next time…

Switching – my method of doing the things I’m not so comfortable with.

It’s a beautiful Norfolk day as I sit here on my balcony writing this. Instead of sunbathing, typically I’m writing, well actually I’m doing both but one by default!

Today I want to share with you some of my methods to motivate and block out negative thoughts, mostly learned during lockdown. This is connected to writing but can be applied to most life situations.

Luckily I’ve never struggled much with motivation. If the idea of a story bites, I’m off, burning to write it. For me, that works with any idea, as soon as I think of something, I want to make it happen. But like many other writers, I do sometimes struggle with self belief or a need to organise myself or I have to stop myself avoiding the jobs I hate.

When the COVID 19 pandemic hit last year, it came as a blessing in disguise. Suddenly I found myself getting up early, doing yoga, learning to meditate, finding out how to do simple coding, completing a cycle challenge for charity and writing a book of short stories – The Isolation Sex Stories. Instead of life getting in the way of the things I really wanted to do, suddenly, I simply did the things I wanted to do (within the safety guidelines of course). Lockdown gave me time to breathe, enjoy my own space and company and evaluate what I really wanted from life.

I know I was lucky, COVID has been a cruel visitor to so many.

When I spoke to friends, I found that some of them had quite liked the first six weeks of the world shutting down too. The later lockdowns were more difficult to get through. Now that peaceful time has well and truly passed and I’m back to trying to organise myself to get as much done as possible which isn’t easy with all the interruptions and distractions of the outside world. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’m enjoying a lot of the normality that has returned but my mind races again as I race to achieve all I want to and it can be frustrating.

I’ve learnt to look for answers from others on how they cope with the onslaught of everyday living, achieving goals and fulfilling ambitions. During my search on YouTube I came across a lady by the name of Mel Robbins. I watched an interview with Mel who came across as extremely honest about the troubles she had endured and how she now makes decisions using the 54321 method. I have in the past used a different method to avoid doing things I know I shouldn’t, like drinking wine every night or thinking of someone who has annoyed me or to avoid a horrible memory. I used to call it ‘switching’. The minute I thought of something I knew I shouldn’t think about I’d switch the thought to something more positive. It’s easier said than done but if you practise it, it really does work. It works in reverse too. If you procrastinate or put things off, which I admit I used to do from time to time, you simply switch your thoughts to getting that thing done without letting any negative thought enter or pull you back. You force the positive thought into your mind before letting the negative thought take hold. Mel will no doubt explain it better than I have so take a look. (Caution: Mel uses some colourful language at times so be warned!) Mel Robbins

Like everything else in life, this can be applied to writing. If you are thinking, ‘I don’t have a good idea for a story.’ Replace that thought with, ‘where can I find a good idea for a story?’ If you think, ‘I’m not a good enough writer,’ switch to thinking of something you have written in the past that you are proud of. If you think, ‘I can’t face promoting my work,’ switch to thinking, ‘how can I find a way to promote my work that I will enjoy?’

Ali Abdaal, again a YouTube motivator says that you need to work at the jobs you feel weakest at or like the least rather than always turning to the ones you find easiest or like the most as that’s the only way you will learn. This is very good advice. I always hated maths at school and whenever I have to do something figure related it gives me an unpleasant feeling deep in my gut. When I set up my first business I made myself learn spreadsheets and how to do figures. I even had to present a business plan to the bank. This was way out of my comfort zone but with support and determination I did it. I had to switch from thinking, ‘I hate maths,’ to forcing myself to be interested in it. Instead of avoiding figure related work, I don’t think too much about it, instead I try to throw myself into it before I think too much and end up avoiding it. This must be one of the most useful techniques I have ever had to learn!

What does maths have to do with writing? Well, if you are an indie author, unless you are doing it as a hobby, it is like any other business, the figures will have to add up. You will need to study marketing, how to promote yourself and your product. Some people are natural at this but many are not. There is a lot of advice available, but you will need to separate the wood from the trees or you could lose a lot of time and money.

Learn to love promoting yourself and your work, it can be fun.

Something I never used to do was ask other people to help. I was so shy and I still find this difficult. This time when I published my short stories I still felt shy about promoting them but with the help of a very talented professional I actually did the launch live on Facebook. It was nerve wracking to begin with but once I started reading, I began to relax and even enjoyed it. Seeing the comments from the viewers afterwards was one of the best experiences ever! They had been discussing the book between themselves as I read. It was heartwarming and gave me huge confidence in going forward to promote the book. I’d never have done this without help so if you can find someone who will help you, do it.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to other writers. I find Twitter a great platform to meet other authors and book reviewers. It seems to be the most interactive and supportive. #Writingcommunity is a useful tag to visit and use. By reading the experiences of others, you can only learn.

Every week I will share what I hope will be useful information for you.

If you are an indie or traditionally published author and would like to be featured on this website please email me at myriadlifebooks@gmail.com for further details. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

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This week on the balcony… the tomatoes have been coming thick and fast now the sun has finally made an appearance. I’m waiting for my chilli peppers to turn red but I’m not sure they ever will! It hasn’t been a good year for strawberries, maybe I didn’t get them early enough or there hasn’t been enough sun.

Autumn is creeping in and soon I won’t be able to work out here (unless I buy a heater…) so I’m making the most of it. If you write outside, send me a picture and I’ll feature it on the website, I’m always interested to see where people create their masterpieces!