If you’re an independent (indie) author, like me, you’re either selling a lot of books right now or searching for ways to do so. Most of us are probably doing the latter. That was… is me. I have read every blog, watched every YouTube video, joined every author Facebook group, and purchased every book on the subject. OK, maybe not every one, but I can honestly say I’ve done a lot.

The problem with researching multiple sources is that you never get all the information in one nice little package. Every resource has a different viewpoint and approach. Today you might read a blog that says selling exclusively through KDP is key. Tomorrow a Facebook post might tell you the complete opposite. Who is right? Nobody is. They’re all wrong. But at the same time, they’re all correct.

Every book has its own story- not just the words written within but also how it became a success- or a failure. You can’t look at the success of one book and apply its marketing strategy to another. Like the story within, the author must write the book’s success story in its unique way. Some people say they owe their success to a well written Amazon ad. Others say it was attending conventions. Still others say a free giveaway put their sales through the roof. Every story is different.

Of all the variations of marketing, there is one technique that seems to be consistent throughout. Be persistent. Don’t give up.

To choose the right marketing path, you have to become familiar with all the possibilities or, at the very least, know they exist. Then you can select the one you feel fits your book the best. That is why I created the 30-Day Book Marketing Checklist. For just one low payment of- no, no, this is not an ad for a product I’m selling. It’s a free outline of all the ways I have found to market a book. When you have many sources of information, it becomes difficult to keep them all organized in your head. You begin to forget where you found those gold nuggets last week or last month. And the internet is packed full of gold nuggets, but it also has a lot of fools gold. You’re going to need a big shovel to get through it all. Which is the very thing my checklist is- a big shovel that helps you dig through the sludge.

Marketing is a chain reaction. It starts with you and gets handed off to others like dominoes falling in a line. First, you have to get out there and show your face. Become that familiar figure people know and trust. Then those people pass that trust to those who know and trust them. After a while, everybody else is doing a lot of your marketing work for you.

Marketing is multi-targeting. People need to hear about you multiple times in multiple ways. If someone hears a friend mention your book, then they see it on a Facebook ad, then see it in their email, and then they will want to buy it. Three time’s a charm.

Marketing is a continuous effort. You have to keep it going continuously. You can’t just put an ad out for a week and stop. People need to see it more than once.

Go through the plan. Do as much of it as you can as often as you can. Marketing works. Now go and sell your book(s).

And buy mine!

Article and graphic by Jeffrey David Montanye