Discuss: Places to market your work?

[wicked briar]

I’ve seen sites like pickwick.app, royalroad, and webnovel

[pale solstice]

Marketing is a whole 'nother world.
Compared with marketing, the actual writing of a book is easy...even though it may take years to write.

[grave bough]

Royalroad and Webnovel are more for gatherings readers with 100% free works. It might convert some readers into paying customers for other works, but it's more likely you'd get patreon supporters through them.

I have a little bit of luck using specific hashtags on social media (#Bookstodon for Mastodon) (#Bookstagram for Instagram). It at least gets me a couple of sales via libraries.

Participation in Smashword events also helps to get your name out there.

Setting up a Newsletter is supposed to be a really solid marketing tactic, you just have to figure out the right lure to bring readers to the sign-up forms.

Does anyone else have tips/tricks/ideas for marketing?

I would love to see this discussion go further

[lapis narwhal]

I think using social media is also a great way to market your stories. I feel if you have garnered a loyal fanbase on any social media. There's a huge chance that they would give your book a chance!!

[grave bough]

Ahh, but then the question becomes how to garner that loyal fanbase in the first place. I feel like it's one of those catch-22 situations.

Catch-22 ||for those unfamiliar with this expression, it refers to situations where you need item A to obtain item B but to get A you must have item B. An example of this is needing experience to obtain a job, but needing to find a job first to obtain the experience.||

[ancient oxide]

My primary form of marketing is social media as well. And it's about connecting with your community and being part of it, rather than being the centre of it

For some authors, it's easy to just be the centre or on a pedestal (more common for big name trad authors). Though if you're indie or working towards publishing, supporting others while posting to engage with others is the way to go. You will see the most growth when others vouch for you or share your stuff

People don't particularly want to be sold something but if you're in the community together (a place that is all about writing, reading and books), then it comes with connecting with others and eventually sharing what your works are to then "sell" (whether paid or just for someone to read it) your book