Writing, Articles
Title: How One Successful Indie Author Marketed His Work Up the Bestseller Lists Source: Writer Unboxed. Published: September 2013.
Hugh Howey, author of Wool, has sold at least a million and a half books.
You hear about it more and more frequently these days. A successful indie author creates a bestseller and is able to quit his day job to pursue his lifelong dream of writing. But how does an author get to that point? For Howey, it was a combination of strong storytelling—Wool went viral and sold 1,000 copies per month before he even started actively marketing it—and innovative, subtle marketing.
Unlike some indie authors I’ve talked to who have had successful marketing campaigns using social media and reaching out to new readers, Howey has a slightly different approach: he only contacts existing readers.
“I try not to at any time tell new people to check out my work,” Howey said. “I spend all my time interacting with existing readers. And I find that to be much more effective because the only way you’re going to have any kind of viral growth is with readers telling other readers about the work.” Read more…