It’s been just over a year since my first book was first published, and I’ve had a few people ask me for advice. Seeing as how I’m about to publish my second book, I thought now would be a good time to wrap up all the lessons I learned from the first one and try and roll them up into one convenient spot. And, since a majority of the people in the world are not me, I figured I would write something for them as well.

So here’s what I would say to myself if I had the chance to go back in time and do so (and a bunch of people were listening).

Exposure

If you want to be successful (and most authors do, I suppose), the only thing that matters is how many eyes come across your work. It’s going to be exhausting, but you are now a product and you have to market yourself.

If you don’t already have a social media presence, you need to get on it now: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube — even Wattpad can be useful for growing an audience. [Note: these are the steps that you can take by yourself to get the word out there, but if you want to go beyond just friends and family, you’re going to have to go the extra mile (see next section)].

Just as important as social media, though, is having a website (like the one you’re reading RIGHT NOW!). It’s great for blogs, announcements, and for getting more of that sweet, sweet exposure. Granted, the content on said website is what matters, but you have to have content in the first place for people to want to share it.

Now, about that “extra mile” I mentioned…

Hire a publicist!

It took me almost a year to realize that a marketing team and a publicist do different things, and I have been kicking myself for not recognizing it sooner. As an author who is published by a smaller publisher, I was responsible for my own publicity. The best thing that I ever did for myself and for exposure for my book was to hire a publicist.

Now, you can’t just google “publicist” and hire the first one, believe it or not. There are different types, and you have to figure out what you want for yourself: do you want to be on TV? radio? podcasts? newspaper or periodicals? The right publicist can do all of those well, and you should look for one that is going to line up with your goals. Look at the other authors they represent — are they in your genre? Are they getting good exposure? These questions and more are crucial to meeting your goal of publicity.

The question of agents

One of the most common questions that gets tossed around is “Do I need an agent?” and one of the most common answers is “it depends.”

You know that paragraph about hiring a publicist that you just read? Well, a bigger publishing company typically employs an in-house publicist — meaning your out-of-pocket costs are zero. A freelance publicist, on the other hand, is going to be considerably more expensive (a quick google search can give you a ballpark figure). So, are you looking to sign on with a bigger publisher who could possibly get you more exposure? Well, an agent is going to be your first step into possibly doing so.

Notice I said “possibly,” because just like querying an agent might be met with rejection, so might your agent querying a big publisher be met with the same. The only difference is that going through an agent increases your chances of a publisher getting their eyes on your manuscript. You have to determine for yourself how important that is.

And speaking of important…

Reviews

Reviews are absolutely crucial. Think about it: how many times have you picked up a book based on the New York Times (or some other periodical quoted on the jacket cover) saying it was a masterpiece? Probably more than you realize.

Well I’ve got news for you here: reviews don’t just happen by themselves. The ugly truth is that, once again, you’re going to have to do most of the legwork. And not to put too fine a point on it, but here is where being published through a bigger publisher will get you an in: they are going to send out copies of your book to larger publications like the Times and, because the Times has a relationship with that publisher, they are more likely to review it over some unknown indy author like D.L. Jennings. But, if you ARE an unknown indie author, I have some good news for you: there are a ton of resources at your disposal.

**NOTE**: one thing I will footstomp here: make sure you are sending out advanced copies for review! Most (if not all) reviewing entities will NOT review a book after it has been published. I learned this the hard way. More on that later. But get with your publisher BEFORE your book is published so you can send out ARCs (advanced reader copies) to have them reviewed.

A few indie-friendly sites that I found are here:

City Book Review  // Feathered Quill // From the Book Reviewers Desk // Readers’ Favorite  // Reedsy (which I recently discovered — it can help you around the time of your launch to really get your name out there).

Reviews after the fact

Let’s say you decide, for whatever reason, to do things the hard way and wait until AFTER your book is published to send it out for reviews. Well, the good news is that you’re not out of options. The bad news is that you’ve got your work cut out for you. You’re also going to have a lot of emails to send.

Besides the resources I listed in the previous section, there are literally thousands of bloggers out there who review books for a hobby. These are your best bet and your best friend when it comes to getting reviews, whether it be on Goodreads, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. But the bottom line is this: more reviews means more exposure, which means more people are going to be talking about your book.

After reviews, there is also one more step that you can take if you really want to get your name out there.

Awards, and how they can help you

Not everyone is going to win a Pulitzer prize in their lifetime; in fact, by definition, it is an elite award. But you don’t have to be a Pulitzer-winning author to be able to call yourself an award-winning author. As someone who is lucky enough to fall into that category now, I can tell you firsthand that there are awards out there that are within your grasp. That’s not to say that things like the Hugo Award or the Nebula Awards shouldn’t be your goal — they absolutely should — but if you don’t qualify for submission to the panel (hint: a big publisher will help with this), it doesn’t mean you should give up hope.

Here is a list of awards that I’ve personally compiled and submitted my book to:

PEN/Faulkner Award // American Book Awards  // Next generation indie // Best Book Awards // Foreward INDIES // Benjamin Franklin Awards // Beverly Hills Book Awards

And, for the record, I’m 100% going to come back to this page and submit my second book to all these. (This was part of my motivation for writing this. Hooray, public record!).

Time

One thing that no one told me about was how busy all of the above would keep me after publishing a book. You have to prepare for it, and when it comes to things like querying agents, bloggers, publicists, and awards, there’s no easy way to say it: it’s going to take up a lot of your time. Whether it be time you set aside on the weekend, or after work (I assume that, like me, you’re not independently wealthy), you are going to have to get these things done. Hard work is the single factor that can push you into success, and you need to have time in order to do even get started.

I recommend finding a cozy spot, hunkering down, and getting to work.

After all, it worked for me. I hope it will work for you, too.

-D.L.

As always, feel free to leave a comment below or drop me a line if you have any questions!