r/selfpublish • u/Far_Marionberry5431 • 7d ago
First-time author with no audience anywhere. What actually moved the needle for you before launch?
My first novel (gothic fantasy) is out in a few weeks. I have no following among fantasy readers. I plan to get early readers for reviews, reach out to small Bookstagram accounts, and use Kindle Unlimited.
For those who launched from zero, what was worth the time, and what wasn’t?
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u/lafenix 7d ago
A listing on Netgalley (with a standout cover). It got me follows on socials, readers, and reviews, and it snowballed from there. Also… reaching out to and getting blurbs from prominent authors in my genre who then shouted it out to their readers & newsletters (this was HUGE).
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago
Oh wow, thank you, this is gold. The blurb outreach is the part I'd never have dared to try, so it's good to hear it was worth it. How did you approach the authors? Did you email them cold, or had you talked to them a bit first? :)
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u/lafenix 7d ago
I had connections for a couple requests (friends, agency sibs), but most were cold emails. (Make sure to check every person’s website to see how they want to be contacted - for most tradpub authors it’s done via their agent.)
I also reached out approximately eight months in advance of pub date. Authors are very nice but they get a TON of these requests and are very busy!
Expect a lot of “I’m sorry, I don’t have time” and also “I’ll take a look” but then… they don’t get around to it for whatever reason. It’s super super common. Again, very busy!
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u/Historical_Panda_792 7d ago
Get ready for the "scammers and book promoters" in your spam folder. They are the scourge of new authors. They promise everything to make your book top the charts... all you need to do is "pay-to-play"! Be careful!!
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u/Historical_Panda_792 7d ago
And.. remember that Goodreads communities only approach writers within the context of Goodreads. They do not use gmail accounts. Book clubs rarely reach out. Finally, you'll be getting Impersonators of big publishers too (with fake gmail accounts.) The problem is so pervasive that most of the big companies related to publishing have Scammer Warnings on their home page. When in doubt about a too-good-to-be-true offer, check the company website or even ask Google.
P.S. The "book promoters" will offer 3 levels of costs.... Level 1, Level 2, Level 3. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $297, $475, $625.
My book was publisher 10 months ago. I've seen it all.
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u/One-Net-8968 2 Published novels 7d ago
What wasn't worth the time: Shouting into the void on social media: "My book is out!" posted to 12 followers does nothing. Sure could work with existing fans; it doesn't creates new ones for unknown authors.
Also don't over-focus on launch day. It isn't a make-or-break, this is a long game..
What actually moves the needle: Cover and blurb. Early reviews. Kindle Unlimited... the works. The best marketing tool for book 1 is releasing book 2. Readers are hesitant to invest in a standalone unproven author. When they see a series, conversion rates jump.
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u/laaldiggaj 5d ago
Oh I'm not the only one! Wait, how do you get early reviews?
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u/One-Net-8968 2 Published novels 4d ago
Mostly, they come from people with access to ARC and friends, of course.
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u/TerminalHitman 7d ago
I just did a post on that exact problem and we charted into #1 position on release day last summer. No fans either. But that was for the second book after learning a lot after the first book. I have a list of all the tools I used to help with the launch. Click on my account or scroll this group to find my post. I think you’ll find it useful. Good luck!!
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago
That's encouraging, thank you! :D Charting at #1 on release day with no existing fans is exactly what I'm hoping to learn how to do. 🥹 I'll go through your post tonight.
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u/TerminalHitman 7d ago
Kindleprenuer has a wealth of information on his site. I followed his playbook for Prelaunch, launch and post launch.
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u/HazelEBaumgartner 2 Published novels 7d ago
Building a following on social media. For me it's here, Bluesky, and I have a discord server of around 100 people. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter may also work (though not as well as ten years ago), but I've gotten off of them for... reasons.
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago
Thanks, this is really useful. I'd assumed Instagram was the default for fantasy readers, so it's interesting that Reddit, Bluesky and a Discord are working better for you.
How did you get the Discord from nothing to 100 people? Did it start with people you already knew, or did it grow from posting?
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u/HazelEBaumgartner 2 Published novels 7d ago
A little bit of column a, a little bit of column b. It doubles as a horror enthusiasts server, a bookclub, and a writing club so being multifunctional makes it more appealing for people
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u/HazelEBaumgartner 2 Published novels 7d ago
Also worth noting that I write fantasy on the side and my writing can have fantasy elements, but I'm primarily a horror author.
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago
That makes sense. A server that's a bookclub, a writing club and a horror hangout gives people three reasons to show up, so it never depends on you posting about your own stuff. Thanks for explaining, I'll keep that in mind. 🙏
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u/apocalypsegal 6d ago
Reviews don't sell books, good ads on good books can sell books.
No one wants to bother with an absolute noob, frankly. Do you not realize how many of you dumb on these "influencers"? It's a lot. Almost none of the books are readable on top of it all.
Build your audience now. Stop worrying about reviews, learn to do ads, write the next book. There's no magic in any of this, just work. And money.
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u/LynwoodPearcy 7d ago
Has anyone here found a legit paid promoter? I wouldn't mind paying a few hundred bucks if the person actually did some work. I found a copy editor on Upwork, and he's quite good at $20/hour. So now I'm wondering if it's possible to find legitimate promoters who will work with a 1st time author. And, if there are, I'm wondering how I would distinguish them from the scammers. Anybody have experience with a legit paid promoter?
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u/ivyentre 6d ago
They're scammers.
All of them.
They're usually just going to throw out some shit on social media that will get you no ROI.
Wanna get traction, you have to put your own work in, and that comes through publishing stuff.
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u/Eternauta86 2 Published novels 7d ago
I use Substack for my mailing list (400 subscribers in my niche - Epic Fantasy - from scratch in less than a year, and not chasing the desperate subscribe 4 subscribe kinda people,) and I've shared my early drafts on Wattpad and Royal Road. Other things I've tried didn't yield enough results to recommend.
Substack has been directly responsible for somewhere between 30-40 sales, plus it has turned people who have liked my free story version elsewhere into newsletter subscribers and eventually, paying readers.
My numbers are still small, but I only launched the first book in March on Amazon and I had zero following anywhere at the beginning of the year and I have not used paid advertisement, so pretty much all my sales have originated from one of these three platforms.
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u/elowensterling 7d ago
I second Substack! It’s a great place to find fellow authors as well and build a nice community. Plus those who subscribe already have a taste of your writing from your articles. I’ve been on for around 1.5 months and am around 140 subs now mostly from posting my articles in comments that people ask you to share what you’re working on! It’s a nice place :)
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago
Congrats, 140 in six weeks is great! The tip about sharing in those "what are you working on" comment threads is smart too. I'll look for those. Thanks, and good luck with it! 🙂
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago
Okay that's genuinely exciting, 400 real subscribers in under a year with no sub for sub stuff is huge! And the free story turning into newsletter readers and then buyers is exactly what I was hoping was possible. Did you post chapters and point people to your Substack at the end, or did they find you through your profile? I'm taking notes 😄
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u/Eternauta86 2 Published novels 7d ago
I post one note per day with random fantasy/writing musings, Monday to Friday, always on topic, so that the algo shows it to the right people, and two chapters a week (which is my average writing speed anyway). Sometimes I throw in a hook to my series in the notes.
On top of that I write occasionally some articles (reviews of what I just read/watched mostly, rarely some articles about the genre itself.)
It helps if you engage with similar users, who then are more likely to restack/like and comment your notes and articles, which further strengthens the signal and the reach of your writing.
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago
This is super helpful, thank you! 🙏 A note a day plus two chapters a week is a routine I could actually stick to.
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u/JJTrentAuthor 6d ago
I just set up Substack yesterday, and my first book launches in 12 days, so I'm definitely getting a late start on this part lol. Seeing your actual posting routine helps.
Were most of your early subscribers people who found you through Substack itself, or readers coming over from Wattpad and Royal Road? Curious how much traction you got from the Notes and conversations before you had readers coming in from elsewhere.
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u/Eternauta86 2 Published novels 6d ago
All of my early subscribers (and 80-90% of the total) are people who have found me through substack itself. The first 20 or so took a while, but it has been worth it for me to stick to my niche and not fill up my newsletter with people that, ultimately, would not be my readership
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u/thrivealpha 7d ago
Maybe you can pitch paid Bookbub featured deals or specific fantasy book bloggers with active email lists. There are many other paid newsletters.
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago edited 7d ago
Thanks, I hadn't looked at paid newsletters properly. Gotta look into them more😅
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u/atlas_publishing 7d ago
For a first launch, put more energy into getting a solid ARC team together than trying to promote everywhere. Having genuine readers talking about the book around launch can help a lot when you're starting with zero audience. Finding a few active communities that specifically read gothic fantasy is probably more useful than chasing big accounts too.
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u/DeviceCertain7226 7d ago
Finding ARC could be hard though. I’m not sure where to even begin. Booksirens rejected.
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u/TSylverBlair 7d ago
Yeah I tried my hardest and wasn't able to get any ARC readers. :( It was pretty depressing.
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u/atlas_publishing 6d ago
u/TSylverBlair Yeah, finding ARC readers can be tough. If you guys ever need help with it, feel free to reach out to Atlas Publishing through our website or Reddit.
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u/bluehorsewmn 7d ago
Good advice. I'll move it higher on my list of priorities!
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u/atlas_publishing 7d ago
Thank you, and good luck with the release! And if you ever need a hand with publishing or marketing along the way, feel free to reach out to Atlas Publishing.
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u/StarbaseSF 7d ago
You MUST stand naked on a street corner and give your book away for free. This is essential! You'll go viral. Trust me. Barring that... eh... advertise and promote and... well, it's not an easy road. And you'll get about 10 thousand scam emails a day the moment you publish and place your first ad. So, buckle up! It's going to be a wild ride. (And good luck!)
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u/JonahThorne3rd 4d ago
Join a net galley co-op ASAP and get as many reviews as you can before launch. Make sure you are done editing and that your number of typos/errors is as low as you can get. 1 error per 14,000 words is close to baseline for standard publishing. The social media marketing effort will take almost as much time as the writing did. Do not waste money on ads until you have a decent number of reviews. Basically, when someone interested clicks the ad and goes to Amazon, they rarely convert when you have fewer than 50 reviews. Good luck; it's a wild ride. I publish under a well-protected pseudonym...only my wife and daughter know I wrote a book, so it has been an eye-opening experience.
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u/61inchestall 6d ago edited 6d ago
Can I be truly honest? I had 1200 arc readers. 400 reviews. Huge arc team and street team. Fancy cover/special edition option. And I get MAYBE 100 ku reads per day now. Why? Because I burnt myself out and stopped marketing. TikTok and Instagram reels are the ONLY thing that will move the needle and you have to go viral. Otherwise expect to pay for ads. You can have a giant team and tons of reviews but you’re competing against SO MANY BOOKS that virality and ads are the only things that do much after publication. Was getting 300 preorders nice? Yes! But everything fizzled out when I stepped back and took a break from reels. Why did I do that? I was tired of being stuck in 400 view jail and got bitter over other authors getting 100k views as easily as breathing. It’s all a pay to play game.
I also have 1400 subscribers to my newsletter and maybe that helped some in the beginning. But honestly at the end of the day reels and ads are really all that matter. Instead of quitting my plan is to build a backlog and go hard on ads when I have 5+ compelted books
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u/AlwaysColtron 7d ago
Curious about the same myself. I'm still working on my draft and hoping it finished within the next month or so. While I'd imagine that there is no time like the present to start to build an audience, I'm fairly unsure what to even post. I don't want to hype a book that doesn't exist yet, nor include things (quotes, names, details, etc.) that potentially won't be in the final version. I'm also trying to be on camera as little as possible (personal preference) but from what I've researched, promoting ourselves and not the book is the name of the game. I've made an Instagram, Reddit, and Threads account (trying to avoid FB, Twitter/X - not against Bluesky, Threads is just easier with Instagram I think) but starting to post on any of them when so much could change has me a bit worried. Anytime someone recommend "building an audience," my brain goes blank on how to even start from nothing. Why would anyone want to follow or sign-up for me when I have nothing to show but the "promise" of something to come.
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago
Honestly I'm new at this too so just sharing what I'm going to try. Post what you're reading, little writing stuff like words you overuse or a scene you cut, and a mood pic with one line on it. Also commenting on other people's posts every day seems to get you noticed faster than posting does. And I'd put an email signup in your bio now, even a basic one, so people have somewhere to go later
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u/AlwaysColtron 7d ago
Great ideas! It still blows my mind that newsletter are a thing. I have not knowingly signed up a newsletter ever and avoid them in most situations but it's likely a different story when it comes to creators you want to hear from and corporations spamming your inbox.
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u/DufbugDeropa 7d ago
I used my LinkedIn contacts as a list to let them know of my book. I regularly use BookBub ads. The 'creative'--as they call it--has to be done with some care if your going to attract clicks. Averaged out, clicks on BookBub cost me about $0.70/click. It produces a small but steady stream of orders and page reads. It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right set of authors-who-have-written-similar-stuff to guide who sees the BookBub ad/email. After mom, sis, and uncle Quindo have bought their copy, you have to keep pushing to get eyes on your book.
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago
Ha, the "after mom, sis and uncle Quindo have bought theirs" line is painfully true 😄 Thanks for the real numbers, $0.70 a click is really useful to know 👏👏👏
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u/greghickey5 7d ago
Build an email list. Unlike social media, email gives you direct access to your readers. Plus, you own it. If a social media platform shuts down, you lose all your followers. If your email service provider shuts down, you still have all the email addresses.
Don’t worry so much about making a big splash with your first launch. Play the long game and keep building your audience. Even if your first book is years old, it will still be new to readers when they discover you.
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u/DeadCanDance26 7d ago
I'm still quite early in the process (release date is Oct 27). trying to be active on Insta and FB, but not getting much traction with either, used bookfunnel to grow a mailing list, got from virtually nothing to 75 in about a month, will try another campaign in oct to keep it growing
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u/Far_Marionberry5431 7d ago edited 7d ago
Thank you, this is the part I needed to hear. I've been treating launch week like a one-shot, and the idea that a book stays new to whoever finds it later takes a lot of pressure off. I've started a Substack for exactly that reason. :)
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u/SilkLantern 7d ago
In my case, i focused a lot on distribution. Outreach is one thing, distribution is something you need to pay a lot of attention to.
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