WARNING: this post contains mild elements of self-congratulation, which may not be appropriate for readers with delicate sensibilities. Mostly, though, I’ll try to sum up how things have gone since Dead Letters was published a month ago, on 5th May, in a way that will hopefully be of interest to anyone interested in self-publishing.
So, how did it go?
Pretty well! As of today, Dead Letters has sold 218 copies and people that have Kindle Unlimited have read over 16,000 pages. This compares to 136 copies and 6,740 pages for Troubleshot. So, my second novel has outsold my first by quite a bit in just a month!
How did this happen? Well, I can think of a few reasons:
More popular subject – People like a good mystery. And the humour in Troubleshot is subjective. So I decided to go ahead and publish Troubleshot first, as a bit of an experiment, learning things that I could implement for the launch of Dead Letters.
Reviews – One of the things I learned from Troubleshot was that reviews sell. I managed to get a couple and some nice ratings. Then a troll came in and gave me 2* everywhere. So this time, I made sure I was prepped. I sent out the manuscript to several volunteers who were good enough to leave a review, and I got a few editorial reviews, which I mentioned in the book blurb. If you’re someone coming to an author fresh, I’m sure this makes a big difference to your decision whether to give them a go. Here are some links, if you’d like to check out these reviews:
Amazon.co.uk to see the reviews from my readers
Lovereading.co.uk provided my first editorial review, in time for me to add a quote to the cover
Promotion – I’m talking here about getting strangers to read your book, not just friends and family that take pity on you. This is where I’ve been spending a lot of my time. With Troubleshot, I made sure it was on the main websites, such as Goodreads, and did a bit of Facebook promotion, which was reasonably successful, but I realised that the lack of reviews would make any sale an uphill struggle. This time around, with the reviews in my pocket, I could do a lot more.
I got the book on various mailing lists, some with greater success than others. Actually, it’s difficult to gauge the success because, even though I spaced out these promotions, it’s difficult to tell what led someone to your page. I do know that Bookbub was amazing. A bit of a steep price, but a selection criteria that means that not every book gets chosen – and thus that readers probably take much more notice of the mailing. A good chunk of the books I sold this month were due to Bookbub. I’d definitely do again.
All of this gives me a great feeling – not only the satisfaction of having finished a book and published it, but that people you will never meet have got it and are reading it. It’s really quite an indescribable feeling. Part scary, part addictive!
What’s next?
I’d like to get back to writing at some point. I’m a writer, not a marketer! So definitely on my list of priorities for next time is looking for an agent and publisher. Self-publishing was a great adventure, and I’d definitely consider it again, but I’d rather leave certain things to the professionals.
In the immediate future, I still have some plans for Dead Letters. I want to do one last push for the summer holiday, and I want to explore publishing through Ingram Spark, which opens up the world of bookshops. And who knows, maybe one of those competitions I entered might come to something?
I’m not sure what I’ll blog about next. Let’s see what happens. For those that have followed me thus far, thank you – and watch this space!
P.J. Murphy's Writer Site 
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