Today we’re excited to host a newly published Halifax author as our guest blogger. Julia Phillips Smith has recently published her first novel, which is part of the vampire genre. It’s a love story set in the dark ages where love lost leads down the road to a dark world.

More information about the book is below.

Today Julia is going to be sharing with us about her experience self-publishing and the importance social media had in her successful launch.

Take it away, Julia…

Launching a self-published book when you’re a debut author means having realistic expectations about the amount of time you’ll have to spend marketing your book.

However, most self-published indie authors are well aware that they will be spending as much, if not more, time marketing their books as they did writing them in the first place. Luckily, indie authors generally relish the feel of the reins in their own hands.

What can you do to promote your book?

Believe it or not, a strong promotional campaign should begin well before you’ve even finished your manuscript. What I mean by this is taking the time to establish an online presence before you have a book to promote.

As an indie author, you are in charge of your own brand. This is easily established through social media, which is a free networking tool no author should be without.

Even before you’ve typed ‘The End’ on your book, set up a Facebook page, set up a Twitter account, build a web site and – most highly-recommended – set up a blog.

If taking all of this time to do non-fiction writing seems counter-productive, try looking at it in the same way as corporate functions and conferences. The plus to online social networking is that you can ‘visit’ countries all over the world without ever leaving your home. I personally have built close friendships with bloggers who live in Australia, Denmark, England, Israel, New Zealand, Scotland, and all across the US and Canada. That’s because I began blogging four years ago – well before my manuscript was ready for publication.

The biggest plus about using Twitter is the ease of meeting like-minded people. By typing a subject into the search field, tweets from other users will show up and you can follow those people, who may follow you back. I’ve created Twitter lists to keep my diverse interests easier to handle. For example, I have a list called ‘East Coast Romance Writer’ which groups together all the people from my local writers’ group. I have a list called ‘Reviewer’ which collects Twitter users with book review blogs, horror review blogs, etc.

Twitter has been an important tool for me in finding my target audience for my debut novel. When I held a Vampire Smackdown recently on my blog, a bunch of readers de-lurked to leave comments and vote. They were all male readers who seem to recognize that I’ve written a superhero origin story. I was thrilled when they showed up.

Facebook has been invaluable in reaching a wider audience. My writers’ group regularly shares Facebook wall posts to spread the love when book info goes live. Buy links, reviews, interviews and guest posts – we share them so that we can introduce each other to our own circle of friends, family and business contacts.

If running your own blog seems like too much non-fiction writing, you can keep your posts as short as your Facebook status updates. However, by posting regularly, your Google search ranking goes up – way up. You want potential readers to find you when they type your name into their search engine. Blogging is the single best way to accomplish this.

A tip for newbie bloggers – make sure you respond to commenters either within your own blog or by visiting each blogger at their online home. The blogging community doesn’t appreciate a one-way conversation, and the networking you’re trying to build will go cold if there’s no give-and-take.

Remember – networking is vital to your success as an indie self-published author. Preparing yourself now for the time you’ll be spending with the marketing side of things will pay off once your book goes live.

Thanks, Julia! Great information and advice…not only for authors but for anyone wanting to increase business using social media.

You can find out more about Julia’s new book Saint Sanguinus on her website. It is now available for purchase online, and the book trailer (filmed by Halifax-based Charlie Mac Productions) is below.

Julia’s website: JuliaPhillipsSmith.com

Julia’s Blog: A Piece of My Mind

Meet Julia on Facebook

Follow Julia on Twitter