What worked for me

It took me a long time to get serious about finding my readers, and I'm talking decades. In the past, I'd nabbed a few agents, briefly snagged the interest of an editor at Berkley Press, but as soon as things got tricky, I took a dive. I'd rather write than hang by my mailbox or inbox waiting for acceptance, let alone preform countless rewrites according to someone's notion of what sells.

Independent publishing offered me what I needed: a chance to reach my readers without a lot of go-betweens, time lags, and waiting for someone to say my books are good enough. If they can grab the attention of even a dozen readers, they're good enough. Readers are everything. And I don't mind doing what's necessary to keep them happy.

So, after writing for decades, I began to study ways to find my readership. In the past I wrote suspense, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, everything, in fact, that I loved to read. After studying the market, specifically the Amazon success stories, I launched a crime series called Crime by Design, that melded thrills, mystery, intrigue, international settings, history, art, humor, a touch of romance, and features a woman who shares what the uninformed may assume is an innocuous pastime: knitting. Knitters are a huge presence (there are more knitters than golfers in the world) and they are ferocious readers. The series is not “a knitting mystery” but they do feature a woman who happens to knit.

I joined Books Go Social first, and even though the tweets didn't initially boost my sales, they certainly upped my exposure. I decided to tweet regularly. By then I had book two in the series, Warp in the Weave, and wrote to Laurence for suggestions on how to improve my approach. First thing he suggested was that I change the cover to include more indication of the book's thriller roots. As it stood, he said it looked far too literary. I added the eyes and sales escalated.

I also invest in a great graphic artist to do all my covers. If the cover doesn't look professional, potential readers may look elsewhere. My covers target the woman with a craving for armchair adventure without spelling hard core thriller. My third cover in the series added the eye with a bit of an el fresco touch since it was set in Italy.

Everything BooksGoSocial posted, I studied. If they suggested working on my Amazon author page, that's what I did. In fact, that page is so enticing now, I often link it to my Facebook ads and sell directly from there. Amazon Author page for Jane Thornley.

I now pay BooksGoSocial regularly for extra Tweets to keep my sales moving.

Which brings up Facebook. I'm a firm believer in multiple sales avenues, using multiple ways to reach a target audience. I took a Facebook marketing course, coupled it with what I learned from Books Go Social, and launched what has turned out to be my marketing plan. I now target my tweets to knitters (and soon to crocheters, spinners, textile-lovers, art history aficionados) with hashtags that target these readers. My tweets now spike sales.

I also continue to build a mailing list and have several landing pages tailored to specific campaigns. For knitters, I offer a free pattern in exchange for their email address here: Crime by Design , which is also the same link I place at the back of my books. About 6 new readers join my list daily organically, even more when I run a campaign.

After the release of book three, I packaged Crime by Design as a virtual boxed set, and watched as I became a paid author–paid as in making more money than I spend advertising, paid as in life-changing income, something I did not believe could happen. Ever. I now ride in the top 100 of a couple of Amazon bestseller lists.

I don't write to make money. I write because a storyteller needs an audience. To be paid for your stories is more about validation than income but I'll take both, thanks. Still, it's not the money that makes me feel successful, it's the comments from readers demanding that I get off Facebook or whatever and get back to writing books. I'll have that book four in the series ready in November.

Jane Thornley, Author, at http://www.janethornley.com/blog/index.php/crime-by-design/