In the three months or so since I published my novel “Daredevil”, I’ve continued to learn a ton about the world of independent publishing. Prior to launching my book, I thought I had a pretty good idea of the women’s fiction landscape, my target audience, and – with my background in PR and marketing – a good handle on how to promote my novel. Some of the things I thought I knew were certainly correct but I also learned some new – and perhaps, surprising – things about trying to launch a book in this new age of publishing.

I should have begun earlier and pitched Advanced Review Copies. Advanced Review Copies – or as they’re known in literary and publishing circles – ARCs – are key to getting influential readers on board. Much like the media lists I used to prepare in advance of pitching a news release on behalf of my PR clients, I knew I needed a target list of reviewers who focused on women’s fiction and would be interesting in reading and reviewing my book. I specifically targeted “bookstagrammers”, reviewers who publish their reviews on Instagram and build followings there. I was thrilled when this paid off with several of these influencers agreeing to read and review my book and I received some really nice reviews as a result. But I also realized that those with larger followings weren’t responding to my pitches because a) they already receive a ton of books for review from major publishing houses and well-established authors and b) I was sending them my book post-publication rather than enticing them with an early, advanced copy which would make them feel a bit more special and exclusive. 

I probably should have invested in a social media consultant. I consider myself to be pretty adept at social media and what I don’t know, I could fill in with help from my daughters and my niece who is a bona fide ESPN content creator. But the amount of time and effort it takes to ensure you’re constantly, consistently posting on multiple platforms – all of which should be customized – as well as the process of continually updating your targets and pitching them to read/review is a full-time job. And in addition to being the writer/promoter for my book, I have a full-time job already! The consultant could probably have helped me with my target lists, as well. For example, my novel is about a suburban housewife who begins to question her identity as a wife and mother and begins to counter her dissatisfaction by joining a group of women who take a series of dares to inject excitement back into their lives. One of my reviewers was a woman who, after reading the book, noted that she couldn’t relate to my character’s identity as a Mom – and the associated trials and tribulations -because she doesn’t have children – and she also doesn’t like reading about infidelity (and my novel is definitely peppered with instances of it!). A bit more careful researching on my part of may have revealed that this reviewer wasn’t the right audience for my book.

Also, word to the wise about TikTok: at the behest of several family members, I took the plunge and joined TikTok but quickly discovered that the euphoria you feel at having a few of your first videos take off and garner thousands of views will quickly be replaced by disappointment when you learn that TikTok does that to everyone’s first few videos to get them “hooked” but to get lasting followers, ongoing engagement, and thousands of views, you have to be on the platform constantly. I also learned that people were much more interested in my hockey takes than my book content!

Don’t Count on the Friends & Family Boost to last. Probably the biggest surprise to me was who purchased, read, and enjoyed my book  – and who didn’t. The first lesson is that if your friends and family aren’t readers to begin with, they won’t suddenly become those people just because you publish a book. For me – a lifelong reader and lover of books – if someone I actually knew personally wrote a book, I would be extremely curious to read it. I’ve learned that this isn’t the case and those you might expect to support your endeavor, don’t necessarily do so. 

Related to this, the real benefit of having friends and family support your work goes beyond them reading the book to helping you promote it whether posting something on social media or simply passing it along to their friends, neighbors, and colleagues. For self-published authors, this can make all the difference, given we don’t have a publisher (and their time, resources and dollars) to promote our books.

Along with that, however, I also learned that those I didn’t expect to want to read it, did. Many of my work colleagues – past and present – snapped up a copy and read it. And many were vocal in their support which was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. And no, my day job has nothing to do with fiction writing!

As I’m now several months out from launch and sales have slowed, I will probably have to look into advertising and figuring out how to set aside more time for the arduous task of identifying more potential reviewers. I remind myself that this was my hobby, not my full-time job, that I’m fortunate not to be relying on the book for income, and that any sales, attention or recognition I get is just icing on the top of the cake that is the fact that I finally published this thing I started writing 20 years ago. I’m trying hard to make the satisfaction of just getting “Daredevil” out into the world last!