Creating Opportunities For Yourself As An Author

At the beginning of my career, I knew nothing about how to get myself in front of readers. I mean, it took me 4 years to reach a decent follower count on social media, and even that doesn’t feel like it does anything for my book sales.

But, as time went on, I began to see authors doing events and getting into bookstores. Back when I began writing in 2014, when I began writing and publishing, self-publishing was still new. So, self-published authors were beginning to pave the way for how we got ourselves in front of readers. It wasn’t long before I found myself lost in trying to figure out how to get these things for myself.

So that is when I began to wonder how I could create opportunities to get myself in front of readers.

Before we even explore how to create opportunities for ourselves, we need to figure out a few key details to help us do so.

We first need to figure out how to gain access to our audience. This begins with figuring out your target audiences:

• Age demographic

• Shopping habits (Independent stores, chain stores)

• Preferred medium (paperback, eBook, hardcover)

Now, I’m aware that these are factors that we should already know from anything we are already doing online for our book, but it changes when we begin looking at in-person habits.

When we determine these factors, we then provide ourselves with a starting point.

Now is the time to figure out what we have to offer our audience.

Obviously, we have our books, but there are other options to consider.

• Merchandise

• Special editions of your book

• Reading kits for kids

For example, for my children’s books, I needed to offer something additional, so I created a Read and Learn kit. This kit includes one of my children’s books, a craft, and lessons that pair with the book.

When we determine what we have to offer and think outside the box, we can open possibilities we hadn’t previously considered.

As indie authors, we need to consider what partnerships we can create within our community to help us connect with our audience.

So, what venues can we partner with?

• Libraries (local author events, book club readings, story time readings)

• Independent Book Stores

• Chain Book Stores

• Local Merchant Stores (Storefronts that allow crafters, authors, and more to be vendors)

• Local Stores (Grocery stores, tourist shops, and more)

• Festivals and Events (Local fairs, town events, farm shows, craft fairs, and more)

There are tons of opportunities for authors to create partnerships within the community, but the key is that we need to make it happen for ourselves.

For example, there is a vendor store called Expressive Avenue near me in Lancaster, PA. It’s a shop that allows local vendors to pay for a space in their store on a monthly basis. By being part of this, I open myself up to a group of customers that I haven’t previously been able to reach. And what do I offer there?

• Merchandise (t-shirts, bookmarks)

• My Books

• Read and Learn Kits

And I occasionally go in and switch up my inventory so things feel fresh for return customers.

Marketing is the beast that no author likes to handle, but the truth is, it needs to be done.

So, now the question is— what kinds of marketing are you comfortable with?

• Creating and placing fliers for your books around town on bulletin boards with a QR code

• Paid marketing on social media

• Word of mouth marketing through friends and businesses

• Partnership marketing with a partnered business

Without marketing, you might as well never try to put your book anywhere. So help yourself out and figure out which marketing you’re the most comfortable with.

Now that we have those key factors:

• Finding our audience

• Figuring out what we have to offer

• Creating partnerships within the community

• Marketing

We need to use this information to put together a plan and put it into action.

Here is a step-by-step plan to help you get to the next step.