SFA 091 – Book Marketing for Introverts

Your two hardcore introvert authors, Jo Lallo and Lindsay Buroker, discuss ways to market that won’t force you too far from your introvert tendencies but that can also sell books. (Note: this is not a show on how to overcome your introversion and just get out there. Screw that. This is about things you can do that are in your wheelhouse if you’re an introvert.)

Here are some of topics covered:

The differences between introversion and extroversion.
Challenges of being an author and marketing/networking as an introvert.
Book marketing that works well for introverts:
Free stories/novels put out in numerous formats and in numerous places.
Advertising/sponsorship sites.
Asking/making it easy for readers to share (encouraging word-of-mouth advertising) freebies or sales.
Building a platform over time with a blog/podcast/YouTube Channel/Facebook page/etc. — whatever you wouldn’t mind doing long-term (you don’t have to do everything!).
Scheduling things to go out so you can get them just right and be prepared to interact/answer comments on your terms.
Being a content provider vs. a me-too who just comments on other people’s content.

Listener questions answered at the end:

Brandon: Greetings SFA crew! I’m wondering if anyone else has had trouble keeping a book permafree on Amazon? I have submitted the request (both by phone and email) three times and the ebook reverts back to $0.99 after a few weeks. I recently read that a free book on Kobo might not be persuasive enough for Amazon, so I also listed it on Google Play and used that in my next correspondence as Google algorithms are a direct competitor with Amazon’s.
Melissa: Hi guys!! I wanted to ask about a possible emerging genre. I saw a book that was being marketed to me that had a subtitle called midlife fantasy or something like that. Is this a new sub-genre? I know Lindsay’s characters are usually older (which I LOVE) and I tend to write characters in their 30s-40s. I guess what I’m asking is “midlife fantasy” a thing and should I market my books that way?
Mandy: Hello all! I was wondering if anyone has thoughts about Barnes & Noble Press? I am set to publish my first book this fall and am considering all avenues of self-publishing.

If you want more on the introversion subject, we also talked about book marketing in last year’s interview with Sarah Painter: Marketing as an Introvert, and Successful Urban Fantasy Outside of Kindle Unlimited.

Thanks for listening, and thanks to Joshua Pearson for producing the show!