Every world needs its own distinct feel, whether it’s a microcosm of the one we already know, a distant past, a far-out future or a magical alternate world altogether. From Middle-earth, to Tatooine, to the scandalous world Bridgerton’s Regency London, it’s the author’s job is to make the world feel real and relevant to what’s happening with the characters and plot.

But what makes a fictional world feel real? There are a lot of different tools and approaches available to authors to help you in this important process.

What is world building?

When writing any story, one of the top jobs — and greatest challenges — the author takes on is to create a world that feels realistic and multi-dimensional.

Much more than a backdrop for the action, the story’s world is a crucial foundation to everything that takes place. What are the values in this world? What’s the structure of daily life look like? Who has privilege, and who’s left behind? What’s the economic system? What’s got value and what doesn’t? 

Whether it’s directly related to the plot of your story or not, these are the types of big questions that will round out your story’s world. You might be surprised at the ways these important dynamics emerge in subtle but important ways throughout the story.

How to start world building

There is no right or wrong way to create a world for your story. In fact, there are a lot of examples of incredible authors, all of whom go about the world building process in very different ways.

Here are a few examples:

E. Schwab: The author of “The Invisible Live of Addie LaRue” and other speculative genre fiction famously says she loves to write stories about outsiders — but to know who the outsiders of a fictional world are, one must start by understanding who its insiders are, and why. In this way, Schwab wisely starts to unfold her world from a characters-first perspective, starting with its most central values. To learn more about her process, start with this video. 

Margaret Atwood: The multi-award-winning author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” has said she starts her world building by thinking about how her character eats breakfast. What type of kitchen does the character have? Do they prepare their own food or does someone else? Where does their food come from? This process offers her a way to start peeking into the world’s economy and social structures, one step at a time. She shares how she builds out her world from this single moment of the day in this Fast Company article.

Chuck Wendig: Whereas many authors set aside time to map out their worlds before they begin writing, not all do! The author of “Wanderers” prefers to start tackling his stories from the characters and plot, and then revisits the draft to fill out the world building as needed. As he puts it, “the world serves the story, the story doesn’t serve the world.” He offers this and more great world building advice in this blog post.

Reading about other authors’ methods and talking to them about their process when you have opportunity is a great way to add to your own world building toolbox. But, as they say, your mileage may vary! Just because your favorite author does their world building a certain way, doesn’t mean it’s the right way for you to do it.

Give different methods a try, then don’t be afraid to stick with what works for you. In the end, all that matters is that the result is a world that brings the story to life for your readers.

8 tips for creative world building

If creating an entire world feels like a daunting challenge, here are some steps to get you started.

1. Study other authors at work in your genre

It’s important to read widely within the genre you write. As you do so, make a study of the ways other authors bring their worlds to life on the page.

How can you bring these lessons to your own writing?

2. Mix and match different worlds

If you need inspiration to get started, draw inspiration from the worlds you already know — whether those be fictional or real!

Then, use these elements as building blocks and start making it your own.

3. Draw a map of your story’s world

The geography of your world can be as important as the culture — and the two may even inform each other.

You don’t have to be an artist to develop a quick sketch that can help you navigate how the world comes together.

4. Consider what kinds of flora and fauna live in your world

What do the trees and other plants look like? Are some native to certain areas or only grow under certain conditions? What types of creatures exist there?

For worlds more like our own, this may require some careful research; but for more fantastical worlds, this can be an opportunity to set loose your wildest creativity. 

5. Outline your world’s background

How did your world become the way it is at the story’s start?

What is the government like? What about its financial systems? Are there different cultures intermingling? Are there fads or styles within this society?

6. Use all your senses

When we’re out in the real world, we experience it through our senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Your world will come to life for readers when you let them do the same in your fictional world.

If your character wanders through a market, what spices and herbs might mingle in the air? If your character is on a spaceship, what does the food taste like? If your character spends her weekends in the local coffee shop, how does her favorite table feel? These kinds of details within a world can help to make it feel more multidimensional and real.

A lot of writers fall into the trap of relying on just a few of the senses, like sight and touch. But as you revise your manuscript, look for opportunities to round out these details with the other senses, too. You don’t need to touch on all five senses for every aspect of your world (that would get tiresome pretty quickly) but added in at opportune moments, they can take a world that’s fine and turn it into something remarkable and memorable.

7. Reflect your world’s values

In the real world, values and bias are embedded so deeply we hardly even think about it in daily life — consider the ways in which the world is built for right-handed people, or, some of the phrases we still use from our history. Then of course, there are the complex consequences of racism, sexism other serious issues that continue to plague our society. For better or for worse, these all have connections to what’s really valued in our world. 

So what is valued in your fictional world? Who holds power and influence? Who doesn’t? How are these values reinforced? These small touches can demonstrate important things about your story’s world without having to hit pause and explain it all.

8. Explore thematic elements

Every story has a theme. Your world building should support a deeper exploration of those elements. Look for opportunities for the greater world of your story to reflect, build, and deepen these big questions.

For example, in “The Hunger Games,” the story isn’t only about Katniss. It’s also about power dynamics, control and what it takes to survive. As the series goes on, it also wrestles with themes of trauma and the costs of war and freedom. These themes are reinforced by the details of the story’s world from where we start with Katniss in District 12, to the Capitol, to their fight in the rebellion.

These are only a few examples of ways to explore your world and make it more multidimensional. With these and other exercises, you may surprise yourself with the ideas you come up with, and how complex your world becomes. The more you’re able to consider all aspects of your story’s world, the more dynamic and life-like it will feel to readers. 

World building tools & resources

There are myriad tools and resources for world building available to help you build your skills and flesh out your story. Here are a few excellent places to start:

• Brandon Sanderson’s BYU lecture series – This leading fantasy author is renowned for his complex fantasy worlds. In this six-part series for students at Brigham Young University, two of his lectures are dedicated to world building. They offer a wealth of information on building compelling worlds, as well as a peek behind the curtain of how a master (and bestseller) gets it done.
• World Building Reddit – This subreddit is an active community of creatives for all sorts of speculative fiction and world-building endeavors, from authors to gamemasters and more. It’s a great source for insights, support and inspiration within a community of like-minded creators from across the expanses of the Internet.
• World building software – Did you know there’s software designed to help you through the world building process? In fact, this great list from ProWritingAid lists multiple you can choose from, depending on your creative style.
• World building templates – Many have created their own versions of templates, questions and prompts to help authors build out their worlds—there’s something out there for everyone! But it can also be a deluge that’s hard to navigate. I like this organized list of points to consider from Amelia Weins on the Science Fiction Writers Association’s blog, which prioritizes considerations for diversity.
• Tracking tools for world building – Maintaining consistency within your story’s world is crucial for making it feel real. So how will you remember on page 227 the color of the wallpaper in a shop your character is revisiting from chapter two? There are tools for that. This article breaks down a few ways to approach it (full disclosure, written by this author).

How to reveal your world to readers

 Once you’ve built your world, you now must introduce it to your readers through your story. The best rule of thumb for sharing key details about your story’s world is to reveal it as it becomes needed.

While certain classic fantasy authors are notorious for their extensive detours into elaborate detours into backstory (looking at you, Tolkien), most readers respond better to brief glimpses into backstory, revealed as naturally as possible, as it becomes important to the plot and character’s development.

You may even find that full threads of your world’s history or culture never make it into the manuscript at all — and that’s okay! It was still well worth the effort if it helped you to create a world rich enough for readers to inhabit. You can even set these nuggets aside for use in a sequel, or as a special treat for newsletter subscribers. 

Further, look for opportunities for your world building work double time as characterization. What is your protagonist’s relationship to their world? How does this influence their feelings toward the world’s systems? Do they have special memories or associations with certain foods, places, or rituals? For better or for worse, this will color their perspective and how they move through the story’s world. This should be evident in the way world is described through the character’s perspective.

 Your world is, in many ways, a character as dynamic as your protagonist and supporting cast. It should shift and evolve as the story develops, too! “Game of Thrones” offers an excellent example of this: as winter draws near, so too does the looming threat of the white walkers. The world itself is a ticking clock on the story as it unfolds, and impacts everything taking place across its vast set of characters.

The greatest fictional worlds tell us about ourselves

 The world you create doesn’t just tell readers about your story, characters and the adventures you send them on. It also reveals important things about the real world, too — whether it resembles this one closely, or appears vastly different on its surface. Every story offers not just an escape, but also a mirror. 

How do you see the world? What do you have to say about it? What troubles you about it? Even if you don’t set out with the intent to take on these major questions, as an author, your take on these big questions is sure to seep into every aspect of your world. 

The more thought and imagination you’re able to offer to bring your world to life, the more clearly these messages and themes will reach your readers.

This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

Photo via Vitalii Bashkatov/ Shutterstock 

I was so shocked I felt that it must be too good to be true. The press was small, and it was quite new. I’d read enough horror stories of predatory “publishers” and well-meaning flops to know just how risky this could be.

Should I take a risk on an opportunity right in front of me? Or after querying about 50 agents and getting a decent handful of promising bites, but no offers, should I forge ahead with my fingers crossed?

There was real risk to both paths. I panicked like a deer caught in headlights.

After a great deal of agonizing and painstaking research, I decided I would rather fail by action than inaction.

So I scoured every corner of the Internet I could find looking for dirt on the small press, had phone calls with the editor, emailed with the co-publishers and got the contract perused by a literary lawyer. Then I signed it.

I’m so glad I did.

In the time an average single manuscript goes from query to agent, and agent to publisher contract, I’ve released three books, won the top honor in a state level competition, gotten a significant jumpstart on building a readership and experienced a wild ride through publishing that feels equivalent to a bachelors degree.

And hey, my small press turned out to be pretty great. They’re open and responsive, my editor is wonderful and they’re growing so fast that in my most recent round of pitching, some agents I queried actually knew who they were. All in all, my risk has been rewarded many times over.

Even better, I’ve learned a ton along the way. Here are my top lessons in my publishing journey so far.

1. A slow month is OK

When my first novel released, like every other author, I became obsessed with my book’s Amazon ranking and sales numbers. My first few quarters were (relative for a debut from a small press) promising, but then — predictably — they calmed down.

The first time it happened it felt like the apocalypse.

But truth? It’s just how it goes sometimes. It’s okay. Really.

2. Sales aren’t the most important aspect of publishing a book

A second lesson that quickly followed the first is  you can’t live and die by your sales, it’s just too much of a roller coaster.

Instead, focus on things you have more direct control over: readership and your list of titles.

If you keep releasing and you keep growing your audience, the sales will follow.

3. Put yourself out there

Like so many other authors, I’m an extreme introvert. It’s not just that being social is draining; I am also very good at convincing myself no one is interested in what I have to say. But wow, was I ever wrong.

At events, I have been shocked by how many people not only allow me to stop them at my booth, but react with enthusiasm at the story premise and even buy it.

Likewise, I was convinced that other authors already knew everything I knew — until I started presenting to writer association chapters. The incredible response I got to my talks forced me to acknowledge that public speaking is well worth the anxiety.

4. Targeted audience outreach is better than rapid growth

I first started growing my readership through Facebook ads, using the network’s profiling feature to target my ads. As I honed my targeting, I reached above average engagement and saw steady growth from this approach.

Then I learned an author friend was growing her list even faster through Instafreebie and book swaps. So I tried them, too. I saw a huge uptick in new email subscribers with each promotion I joined…and a significant decline in engagement.

Never forget — a small, engaged list is worth far more than a large list that ignores you. It’s not a race.

5. Always be writing

Any time art meets business, it can make an artist go a little crazy.

To me, the best way to counter that madness is to always be planting that next seed by looking ahead and writing my next story.

On a day where a lackluster Amazon review turns up or I feel frustrated with where I’m at, knowing I’m already putting in the work for the next step ahead is a comfort.

6. Always be iterating

The work of marketing your books is a moving target.

In publishing’s constantly shifting landscape, the trends for what works best to reach readers is changing, too. The best way to keep growing is to pay attention to industry news and trends, and to be constantly experimenting with what works best for your readers.

What works today will not necessarily work next month. If you’re not trying something new, you’re falling behind.

7. Respect your limits

Writers also hold a hundred other roles in our lives. We are parents and employees and runners and travelers and so much more.

Writing in itself could be an all-consuming work. Marketing your books could be all-consuming work. You can’t let it be all-consuming. You won’t have anything left in you, and that will come back around and hurt your writing, too.

Live. breathe. Give yourself permission to work a reasonable amount and then rest.

I have learned this year just how depleted I can get when I push myself beyond my limits, and it was awful. Never again.

Just try something

I could go on with this list for a long time. But the biggest lesson I have to share is that there is no better way to learn for yourself than to get out there and try things.

Write. Publish. Promote. Experiment. Do it all over again.

Sure, there are a lot of cautionary tales out there about how an author lost a beloved book to a predatory scheme or how a self-published disaster can harm your odds of getting traditionally published later.

I’m calling BS on it. If you ask me, there is always another story idea to grab and write. There is always another chance to try again. And if you try, that next time, you’ll be all the better equipped to do it better.

I can’t imagine where I would be right now if I had not taken the chance on my small press — everything I have gained from this process has supercharged the opportunities ahead.

If there is some alternate world out there where I didn’t take this chance, I’ve left alternate-me far behind in my dust.

My wish for you is that you have the opportunity to do the same.

What is the top lesson you have learned from your writing experiences so far?

I sold a grand total of 25 books, between two titles.

While my publisher assures me this is normal for a small press author between releases, I was somewhat distraught over this report.

There are a lot of reasons behind this dip in sales. As my publisher pointed out, I was in a lull between releases (my last true launch was March 2016, over a year before). Additionally, my personal life was in upheaval.

I had just settled back into my home in D.C. and returned to a full-time office job after two years of freelancing and flexibility. Additionally, a loved one was in the midst of chemotherapy treatments, and for whatever reason, the hubs and I had chosen to do an unusual amount of travel during this period.

In short, it was a busy and overwhelming time in just about every way. I was exhausted. This limited my ability to write consistently, let alone focus on marketing.

Sometimes, something just has to give.

There are a few caveats to this that soften the blow. I got 622 downloads of my freebie novella from new email subscribers during this period. Likewise, my social media following grew. And, I did the important work of finding a new, sustainable flow for my writing and marketing, within the parameters of my new life.

Amazingly, my life has only become more chaotic in the months since the time frame of this report.

So staring at these cold hard numbers prompted a question.

When does an author rest? And what is the cost?

At some point, I speculate that a writer’s platform begins to take on some of its own impetus, and that while one might see a modest dip in sales from a neglectful marketing period, it would be less significant.

But as a small press author early in my career, if I’m not hustling, the copies don’t get into readers’ hands.

That pressure is exhausting sometimes.

I’m not a machine. I can’t hustle-hustle-hustle without a break — and I’ve been trying very hard to summon the Energizer Bunny. But heck, even machines need to recharge.

Eventually, I must rest too. When I don’t, I start missing things. I make mistakes. My overall quality of work declines, and hard.

If I’m truly in this for the long tail, there is a much greater cost to not resting than there is to taking an occasional sales hit. Low numbers might hurt my pride, but if exhaustion leads to poor writing quality, there is no recovery.

No quarter is the end-all or be-all

This is about the long tail — growing a true career as an author. And if I’m going to do

that, I need to remain sane and release one knockout story after another.

Faster would be better, sure, but quality is my queen.

And if I go on trying to function on four hours of sleep, coffee and cortisol, quality is

just not going to happen.

So when I power down for bedtime or allow myself the occasional much-needed morning to sleep in, instead of write, this is what I tell myself when the guilt and ambitions start rising up.

Harder vs. smarter: Playing the long game

Work harder all the time is not an option. Thus, I must learn to work smarter.

My key way of doing this has been to constantly reassess what I’ve done and look for ways to do it better. I also constantly study what other authors are doing that leads to success.

For example, when I created my freebie novella, I intended to only offer it through my website. But my publisher edited and formatted it, and thus they placed it for purchase on the usual sites. It first showed up on my website, then quietly later released digitally, then in print, for purchase elsewhere.

If I’d really been thinking ahead, and taking the time to communicate better with my small press, we could have turned this into a proper launch instead of a gradual trickle out. Missed opporunity to gain some serious momentum.

Lesson learned: An author who is working smarter thinks ahead and sees this type of opportunity. Don’t ever let a new release hit shelves without a bang of celebration around it.

To take care of your author career, you have to take care of yourself

So as 2017 continues to escalate the chaos on every single front of my life, I’ve been forced to try a new approach: Resting. Looking out for myself. Slowing down. Saying no, sometimes.

It’s not easy. But it’s necessary. So I’m trying to retrain my thinking, calibrating for the longer target.

Call it self-care if you want. I’m calling it a strategy.

How do you find balance between your author work and rest?

I soon found out, I didn’t need to be afraid.

Sure, the occasional bad review happens. But I was in good hands with my editor and my publisher. They made sure my work was of professional quality, and then they made sure it found the right reviewers.

A great review from the right publication or influencer can springboard your way to success. Glowing reader reviews can make the difference between a purchase and a quick dismissal, and simply having several reviews for your book can help you get discovered more easily on the big sites like Amazon.

At first, I was stunned by my positive reviews. But then I realized: It does me no good to sit here and just read rave reviews over and over. (Okay, it did my ego a little good.)

Once you have reviews of your book, the next critical question is:

How can I get more from my reviews?

Good news — there are as many different ways to put your reviews to work as you can imagine. That said, here are seven of my favorites when promoting my own books.

1. Book cover

Do you have a particular review quote that sums it all up, or is particularly effusive? Go ahead, slap that baby on your front cover.

A particularly compelling quote in the corner of your cover can be the difference between someone picking your book up off the shelf and skimming to the next one.

Don’t forget the back cover, either — that’s more prime real estate, and usually the second place a reader looks when making a purchase decision. Quotes from reviews can also go on the back cover, either above or below your blurb.

I’ve found this especially useful for in-person events, as I can point directly to what other readers are saying.

2. Cross-promotion

You know those pages in your books before and after your novel? Don’t let them go to waste.

Instead of leaving them blank, use them to give your readers reasons to pick up even more of your work! A well-placed quote can keep your reading reaching to your next release.

3. Book sales page

Every book I release, I add a sales page for it on my website. On that sales page I put the cover, the teaser blurb and a review quote.

There are a few good reasons to do this. First, when someone is browsing from your website, they can’t see a thread of reviews below it like they could on Amazon. And there is a reason this feature is so popular on Amazon–reviews sell books. So help yourself out and share one.

4. Press releases

A strong review quote can be a great way to flaunt your credibility when approaching the media. And credibility with the media will get you far, my friend.

Think about it–especially if you’re in a big city or approaching reporters in a books niche role, these guys get whammied with pitches from authors they have never heard of on a daily basis. Multiple times a day. Each of those authors is convinced they are important and special.

Don’t be another author trying to tell a reporter you’re important. Killer reviews let you show them instead, with the hard proof.

5. Launch campaign

If you have great reviews, you better be making sure your following sees them. Throw those suckers in your newsletter, your blog, your social media, your ads, everywhere.

After all, these guys are your biggest fans. Don’t miss an opportunity to remind them why, or to get them as excited as possible for your next release.

Caveat: Don’t blast your readers with reviews all the time. Use them strategically in the most relevant spaces and most impactful times, like a launch.

6. New hooks

By paying attention to your readers’ reviews, you can learn a lot about how they perceive and talk about your work. If you can learn to address your readers with this language yourself, you may be able to reach like-minded readers even better.

For a release I put out last year, a reviewer described my book as “a reverse Persephone story.” I’d never thought of it before, but it was an apt description.

I’ve started using it to describe the work myself.

7. Trade up

Use your existing reviews to bolster your credibility and see if you can reach for even heavier hitters with review publications and influencers.

For example, if you find a few peer authors in your genre who can give you a good review, why not use those as social proof to see if you can convince a bigger name author in your genre to give it a blurb too?

Reviews are a valuable endorsement of your writing. So why wouldn’t you broadcast it from the mountaintops? By all means, go ahead.

In fact, I’ll even go a step further and say that if you have genuine glowing reviews, you’re helping your target audience find their next great read by putting those reviews to good use.

So don’t let those reviews just queue up under your book’s Amazon page. You worked hard to earn those reviews. Now, it’s time for those reviews to do some work for you.

How do you put your reviews to work?

Your email list is your best direct line to your biggest fans, which no publisher, book store or giant drone conglomerate has any control over. But this also means it’s completely up to you to find those new readers and convince them you’re worth a slot in their inbox.

This is no small task!

At first, it can be easy to get new subscribers on your list, because you’re new to everybody. But once you exhaust your immediate social network, how do you continue expanding your reach and finding new readers?

As far as I’ve seen, there are two major approaches used by authors to find new readers: cross-promotion giveaways and targeted social media ads.

Which is better? I tried them both to do a side-by-side comparison and find out.

1. Cross-promotion giveaways

Services like Instafreebie and BookFunnel are an easy way to automate the delivery of your reader magnet. But one of their most popular features is the ability to connect with other authors in your genre to offer group giveaways. (This is fairly new for BookFunnel, as they try to keep up with Instafreebie.)

How does it work? In short, you submit your book to the giveaway, and then all authors included (often between 20 and 100 of them) blast the giveaway out to their email lists and social media feeds to promote it over a short period of time, such as a week.

The idea behind this approach is that readers love to find new authors and new great stories, and that by partnering with authors in the same genre, you can get in front of the readers most likely to be interested in your work.

For this purpose, both services function well, and they certainly deliver on new subscriber activity (specific results depend on the giveaway size and reach of the authors involved).

Overall both services are great, but I prefer BookFunnel. It’s actually not even because BookFunnel costs half as much for the same services. It’s because while Instrafreebie adds every new subscriber you get to their own book promo list too, BookFunnel’s policy is that your readers are yours not theirs.

If you’re looking to grow your list quickly for overall subscriber quantity, or to simply get quick exposure for a new promo work, fire away. This approach will get the job done.

But, I have to add the caveat that I have seen engagement on my list go down as my subscriber numbers grew from these giveaways.

With this approach, I worry about lack of focus on readers beyond a genre label, and also about how many new readers you’re really getting exposed to over the long haul, if the same authors keep participating in the giveaways over and over. I’m also not a fan of blasting my readers with promo announcements all the time.

But for $10-20 a month, this is a very reasonable and sustainable investment for what you get.

2. Social media ads

Some self published authors swear that listbuilding with a reader magnet and targeted social media ads propelled them to the bestseller list.

And just like the cross-promotion giveaways, this can be done on a very small monthly budget.

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow users to access advertising at low budgets to reach an audience beyond their existing followers. All you need is some teaser content, a good image of your book and an idea of who will want to read it.

Don’t let the extensive targeting options intimidate you — just use your common sense and imagination to focus on the people most likely to enjoy your book.

The setup for a social media ad is a bit more extensive, and to get the best results you should test updating the ad’s elements regularly.

You won’t see the rapid growth you would with a cross-promotion through these ads, but even $20 a month will give you a steady, healthy growth rate. And, because the approach is more targeted, this approach results in a much higher engagement rate, for me.

Which approach is better?

If you’ve got to choose one approach, my opinion is that a highly engaged email list is better than a rapidly growing one — so go with the social media ads.

However, I do think there is a place for both, if your budget allows for it. I was surprised at just how much I got from my first giveaway promo — several hundred new subscribers in just a couple weeks. Call me superficial, but I think there is some value to having a decent number of overall subscribers, even if it’s simply to help you demonstrate your platform size to an agent or editor.

Ultimately, the key is to never lose sight of what your email list is for. Like all author marketing, it’s about building relationships. When reaching out to new readers, and engaging your existing subscribers, always remember to consider what will motivate them to read more.

How do you get in front of new readers?

But first things first: I’ve got my sales report for the first quarter of 2017.

I sold 60 copies of my books between January and March — 45 of my debut novel and 15 of the prequel novella (the one I actually give away for free to my email subscribers and don’t promote).

Compared to the previous two quarters, I improved my sales rate: In Q3 I sold 25 books, and Q4, over the holidays, I sold 39.

How’d I do it? Some of it is simply having more books available for sale. But I also tested out my ability to mobilize my email subscribers — and it worked.

Email sales conversions

For the most part, your email outreach should be about strengthening a relationship with your readers. But on occasion, mobilize those readers to generate sales — that is the end game, after all.

So when my book’s publication anniversary came around in mid-March, it felt like the perfect time to test out my ability to turn my list into sales.  

I worked with my publisher to do a $.99 cent sale for a week, and then got to work to create an email push around it.

In my opinion, the key elements of any good email campaign are:

• Intimacy: You are your brand. Readers don’t just buy books, they buy authors. Sharing your personality in your emails builds a personal connection.

• Exclusivity: Offer something to your subscribers that they can’t get anywhere else. Make them feel like an insider, whether it’s for-your-eyes-only weekly emails or simply an early sneak peek.

• Repetition: The mechanics of marketing matter, too. A persistent, frequent pattern of outreach plays an important role in mobilizing your audience. It’s just plain science that most people need to hear a call to action multiple times before the act.

The breakdown

I created an eight-part email series where I shared a “secret” about my upcoming sequel novel every day for a full week. That was one short daily email the week of my book’s release, plus a wrap-up email at the end recapping the full week’s content and giving readers one last chance to take advantage of the sale.

To keep these emails open-able and engaging, I kept them short — a few sentences of intro, less than 100 words to explain the “secret,” and then a concluding call to action that reminded them about and linked to the sale.

These secrets were only available to my email subscribers until after the campaign was over. I posted about the campaign beforehand so non-subscribers had a chance to join–and I did see a small uptick in new subscribers as a result. Then, I shared the secrets all together in a blog post after the campaign was over, again telling readers that they can be the first to know about these things if they join my email list.

The results

How’d it go? I refer you to my increase in quarterly sales.

It wasn’t a wild, over-the-moon blockbuster, but there was a definite increase in sales. My Amazon ranking increased the first day of the campaign, went up again the next day and hovered at about that point through the end of the campaign.

Would I do it again? Heck yes. In fact I may use this campaign as a model to start from as I prepare for book #2’s release, as one of several tactics in a larger push.

As an author, your email list is one of your most valuable assets — it’s a direct line to your biggest fans. But, this only translates to real value if you know how to motivate them to take action on your behalf. Follow these three principles as a foundation, experiment, and keep an eye on those analytics to see what works.

How do you mobilize your email list? Do your subscribers make the leap to buy from you?
nolinks

As one might imagine, the value of, say, being quoted in a magazine feature article, is harder to measure than most other marketing efforts. It’s pretty rare to see a direct jump in sales as a result of such a placement.

More often than not, these mentions are cumulative:

A reader sees you over here in a magazine.

Then later they see you over there in a newspaper.

Later, her friend mentions your book as one of many on a list of new releases.

And in this way, a person gradually develops a familiarity with you without being able to point to a specific touchpoint for it.

Because of this, I sometimes find myself in the position of having to explain to clients why what I do for them matters.

The same is true for authors — including this one, despite all I know about the industry.

Investment vs. immediate gratification

The cool thing about working in the communications industry as an author is that I have an insider’s perspective on how to put my own author marketing plan together, and how to identify valuable opportunities.

As a result, I’ve been lucky enough to weasel my way into a few pretty awesome ongoing opportunities, writing this column for The Write Life included.

But life is busy. Especially now that I work full-time again rather than freelance, I have to be picky about where I invest my time.

Despite what my logic and experience tells me, it’s easy to sometimes feel like I’m spinning my wheels, and I’d be better off spewing out sales-y tweets every few hours and watch my Amazon ranking jump a few places with each resulting sale.

But that’s a short-sighted strategy.

I am constantly reminding myself to invest my time and efforts wisely as an author. And that means putting my efforts toward growing a long-term following—not just pestering readings into that one or two next sales.

And guess what? A steady drip-drip-drip of media mentions and bylines is absolute gold for that.

Identifying worthwhile PR opportunities

If PR isn’t about direct sales, what is it about? How do you know if you’ve found a good opportunity? Here are a few guidelines to help you assess.

• Publication focus: What topics does the publication cover? What biases or agendas does it have? Make sure these align with your own, at least loosely. The same goes for the article topic.

• Readership: Who reads this publication? You should be able to find this information on the publication’s “About” page or in its media kit. For most publications, this is also pretty clear from the home page: who are they talking to?

• Time investment: If a reporter approaches you for an interview, this is easy — just ask them how much time you should plan to set aside to talk with them as you schedule. For a byline, be sure you’re aware of the parameters like word count and how much research is involved. As a writer, you should have a good sense of how long these take you already.

• Payoff: Sometimes this is literal — you contribute content and are paid for it. Other times this is about exposure to an audience, the link in your byline, or the credibility that comes with being associated with the publication. Just make sure you know what it is, and that it’s worth it for you.

When these factors all add up, you’ve got a winner.

“All press is good press”

This mantra is false.

First of all, negative coverage is, in fact, bad. (One exception to this: If you’re getting hammered for standing up for something you know your audience agrees with, or that you consider more important than your audience.)

Another manner of “bad press” is media coverage that makes you look bad by association.

If I offer services that help authors build their platforms (ahem, I do), and I guest post for a marketing service that has a reputation for ripping people off, that’s a terrible association for me to have.

Value wins

Public relations works because it gets you in front of readers and clearly demonstrates your value and/or credibility.

Critical to this is, it’s about what you can offer your audience, not about what they can offer you (like book sales).

After a slow sales report, we all have moments where we want to climb to the highest hill we can find and shout, “For the love of God, buy my book!”

But shouting at people, of course, is no way to foster a relationship. and that’s what public relations is really about.

Just like social media and a lot of the other most impactful long-term platforming tactics, public relations is looks at the long tail success.

And if you’re an author looking for a career in this business, that’s exactly the game you want to be playing.

Do you use public relations to expand your platform? How’s it worked for you?

In the fourth quarter, I sold 58 books — 54 copies of my novel, and a surprising four copies of the prequel novella, even though I put no marketing into it and it states clearly in the teaser copy you can get it for free through my email list.

Go figure. But a good lesson in the power of Amazon’s recommendation engine — that’s 7.4% of my online sales.

This still isn’t breaking any records, but it brings my 2016 sales total to 404 — a fair amount over the average novel sales for a year of 250.

At a major publisher, this number would be distressing. But for a debut novel, with a small press? I’m not bragging yet, but I’ll take it.

It’s also given me a small taste of what is possible with cross-promotion when you have multiple books out, and I’m hungry for more.

The second full novel in my series is scheduled to release in August.

New year, new ventures

As I started planning for a new year of promotion, I’m looking to explore some new tactics to build my audience and sell more books. In particular, an author friend and I have been musing over starting a podcast together.

Do I know anything about podcasts? No I do not. Maybe this should bother me, but it doesn’t. Not at all.

If I’ve learned anything in this last year of becoming a published author, it’s that authors are not just authors…but all that other stuff? You learn it as you go.

Case in point: As I kid I was so shy I could barely look an adult or a kid I didn’t know in the eye.

Even as an adult, I’ve always hated being in the spotlight. But as an author, well, you suck it up, because your book needs you.

Recently I wrangled my dad into helping me out at an event, and at the last minute, they realized they were missing a panelist for one of their events of the day. I jumped in and took it. When I stepped off stage, my dad asked, “Where did that shy little girl go?” Still here. I’ve just learned a lot from taking other presenting opportunities this year, when I got them.

This attitude of “meh” has gotten me through many other things this year, too. Here’s how you can use it, too.

You’re not John Snow

And you do not know nothing. A lot of the foundational skills of writing and storytelling are a good foundation to build from for the rest of this stuff. If nothing else, your readers are coming to you for your voice, and that is one thing you are an expert in.

So acknowledge what you already know.

Google that sucker

This is the information age, after all. And authors like to write about their experiences more than anyone.

So find another author who’s already done what you’re about to do, and read up.

Sample the smorgasbord

A little this, a little that. Try out a wide variety of what’s already out there, with a particular eye toward other authors in your genre.

This will help you get a feel for what’s expected, and where you can add something fresh.

Start

The best way to learn is to do. So stop waiting to be an expert first. Just accept that you won’t be perfect, and forge ahead.

Then, painful as it may be, go back and study it so you can be a little bit less un-perfect for the next time. Hug that learning curve tight.

Just get started

When you’re an author, learning on the job is just part of the gig.

The industry is shifting faster than anyone can keep up with, so the only way to keep pace is to constantly be looking ahead.

So try new things! Go after what sounds fun. Otherwise, what’s the point? And definitely never, ever be too afraid to try. Just get started.

What new tactic are you trying out?

Even better idea when you’re just a single author, and not a major corporation – time and budget are both so much more precious…and the results so much more personal.

The start of a new year is a good time to pause and assess before forging on ahead.

Let’s take a hard look at what I’ve done with my first year as a published author, considering what’s worked, what hasn’t and where to go from here.

Looking back at 2016

It’s been a heck of a year. On the most basic level, for me as an author, it’s been a very successful one.

I got published!

And by a traditional publisher!

And then that novel — the first I’ve ever written — won Florida Writers Association’s top honor as Book of the Year. Pardon me if my pride is showing for a moment.

Beyond that, I attended my first author event, participated in my first panel, had my first radio interview, presented to my first writers groups — there were a lot of author-ly firsts involved.

Along with that, I had to figure out my author brand and establish a presence for my pen name—and then grow it! That includes a website, social media, e-newsletter, event signage and other support materials.

Just getting through it all has been an intense, hands-on crash course in book marketing.

Key to this experience, I believe, is that I said yes to as much as possible, tried a ton of different things, learned as much as I could through experiments and watching others and took swift action based on those lessons.

What worked?

The good news is, a lot of my efforts to grow my platform worked really well. They didn’t all work perfectly at the start, but with some experimentation, I was able to learn how to get the most from them.

These successes include:

• Reader events. This has been the best way to sell books consistently, even if it’s often  just five-to-ten books per event day. Beyond that, I always get to talk to readers, build up name recognition and get a lot of new subscribers to my email list, which introduces them to my writing with a free novella.

• Networking. And by networking I mean, very simply, talking to the people around me at these reader events—not just readers, but the other authors. This has let to a number of additional opportunities.

• Awards. The award I won in October has been a wonderful impetus for new promotional opportunities, like talking to writers groups, and has built more credibility for the quality of my writing in general—major for a small press author!

• Facebook ads. This is the primary way I expand my reach to new readers online right now, helping my list to grow from 21 followers at its start last February to over 800 today. The best hook has proven to be a free novella offer.

• E-newsletter. Despite the rapid growth, engagement has remained high for my newsletter, and unsubscribes low. I believe this has to do with focusing on keeping content short, fun, and valuable to my science fiction/fantasy reader base.

• Focusing on alternate metrics of success. Being a debut novelist is never easy, but this is especially true for indie and small press authors. Using my book as a tool for platform-building instead of a product for sales, I’ve been able to make valuable progress on markers of more long-term success, like email subscribers and speaking opportunities.

What didn’t work?

You have to be willing to fail sometimes with your marketing in order to learn more about what works and what doesn’t. I definitely had my share of those in 2016, but I feel good about the lessons I’ve taken from those failures.

These included:

• Online sales. Post-launch, sales for my book slowly dwindled to almost nothing. Heartbreaking! I quickly learned to invest time elsewhere (events) to make sales.

• Email automation funnel. I created an email automation series, with the goal of delivering my free novella to new readers and turning those readers into novel sales. It hasn’t worked so far.

• Being a single-novel author. With just one novel, you either draw a reader in, or you don’t. And your opportunities for discoverability are much smaller than those of an author with, say, 20 books.

• Getting reviews. Despite several indicators that readers enjoy my writing, reviews have been slow to accumulate, even with a direct ask in my email automation.  

What’s next?

Looking ahead into 2017, there is a lot I can do to run with these lessons learned in 2016.

I’ve got some big plans ahead…in fact, I expect the hardest thing about this will be simply to pace myself, and not become overwhelmed.

My action plan includes:

• One event a month. I’ve become more discriminating about what events I invest in, and what kind of readership those events draw.

• Refine email automation. I am in the process of researching and re-crafting my email automation series from scratch, restructuring each email’s message and timing to better optimize reader relationships, book sales and reviews.

• Writing faster. To reduce the hardships of being a single-book author, I’m going to stop being one. The second book in my series is already with my editor, and I’m going to get at least two more novels out this year, one in the series, another totally separate.

• Street team. I’m going to develop a street team this year to get more reviews for each book, extend my online marketing outreach and foster a stronger connection with my most enthusiastic readers.

It’s tough being a debut author, especially when you’re indie or small press. It also comes with a very steep learning curve.

But don’t let the challenges discourage you. No effort is wasted if you learn from it and continuously apply those lessons to what you do next.

We can’t all be the prodigy who lucks out and becomes the first-time bestseller. But we can all adapt and iterate and grow with every new effort and grow that readership over time.

Do this over and over again, and you’re sure to continually reach new heights of success. Happy 2017, writers, and best wishes for success this coming year.

What book marketing lessons did you learn in 2016? What are you doing differently in 2017?

Today, we’re taking a look at the numbers again. I finally got my Q3 sales report; that’s for the months of July, August and September.

To be honest, my book sales numbers are pretty terrible this quarter. I’m really embarrassed by them, to the point where I considered not even providing specific numbers in this post.

But that is not what we agreed to, and it would not be in line with the frank, no-holds-barred look at publishing for the debut author that I promised you.

So here goes. Please have mercy on me.

Over the three months of Q3, I sold 40 copies of my novel.

Thank you, Buffy. My thoughts exactly.

What the heck happened?

These months were decidedly my most sluggish ones, which resulted in some low book sales.

In July, I had no promotion activities planned, as I was still naïve enough to think I could make a go of sales from online outreach alone.

Nope. Don’t do that.

I was also still in the throes of drafting the novella that I am now giving away for free to build my email list, so I did not even have the strongest weapon in my online arsenal yet.

Goodness, July feels like a lifetime ago—I can’t believe I was so inactive for an entire month. It’s been a sharp learning curve this year!

In August, I at least got myself to the Writer’s Digest Conference, but that offered little in the way of sales opportunities. Perhaps another writers’ conference might have offered more help? (The Write Life has a list of best writer conferences.)

Thankfully, by September I had wised up quite a bit. I organized a panel of writers for my local comic con, and was able to negotiate free vendor tables for all the participating writers in trade.

So I got some extra book sales out of it, and a lot of new email subscribers.

I also met some great authors, which led to more opportunities in later months.

Also at the end of September, I finally released my free novella to create a sales funnel for my email list. Since then, I’ve had 205 novella downloads and 321 new email subscribers.

On top of a pretty measly sales effort on my part, I had completely lost the momentum from my launch at this point, and my publisher did not offer any marketing support at this stage.

What I’m doing now to address low book sales

Because of the delay in these reports, I am happy to be able to say that I have learned a lot in time since the months reflected in this report.

A few other good things have happened that have helped improve my situation, too, like winning a big award.

All the same, this quarterly report was a real kick in the pants to keep working at getting better.

Events have served me well, and I have a number lined up for 2017, but there are only so many places I can be.

For long-term growth, I need a stronger online sales funnel.

So I’ve got some big plans in the works to reach some goals. Among them:

• Identify and reach out to top Amazon reviewers to get my reviews to 50+
• Start a street team that can extend my reach
• Give a deals website a try, such as eReader News
• Experiment with my new subscriber email automation to improve book purchases
• Write more books (two more in 2017, to be exact)

Book sales ebb and flow

Book sales are not something that chug along at a steady, predictable pace.

They come with ebbs and flows that are inevitable to the sales cycle. When you hit the ebbs, hang in there.

These ebbs are also a great time to reassess. There is a lot you can do to building momentum and keep sales from getting too sad.

My best advice on this is to watch what other authors are doing, and experiment constantly to see what gains traction. Then, just look ahead to that next sales report or performance assessment.

Check out this article from Self-Publishing School on how they recommend addressing low book sales.

How do you prevent book sales from dropping?