Why I Love Having Imposter Syndrome.
How Imposter Syndrome made me a best selling author
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Imposter syndrome is characterised by feeling inadequate like you are an imposter in the field you are working in. In layman’s terms, you fear that everyone around you will suddenly find out you don’t have a clue what you’re doing. Join the club.
I have had (and still do) Imposter Syndrome since I published my first novel, and every subsequent novel thereafter. I get it whenever I do an interview, get a great message from a fan, or tell someone what I do for a living. Whenever someone highlights an issue with a story, I hastily rush to fix it. If I get a bad review. If I get trolled. At any moment, I fear will be exposed as a charlatan, and be cast outside into the rain and mud.
And yet, I embrace it. Here’s why –
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Why do we have this feeling? Well, put simply, it comes down to two things –
1 – We care about what we’re doing.
One of the fundamental reasons that Imposter Syndrome can be so prevalent in our minds is that we are working on something we care about. We spend hours at the desk in solitude, crafting a world, characters, and storyline to share it with the world. It’s our passion that keeps us up late into the night, day after day, working away at our creation. If we didn’t give a shit, then we wouldn’t care if we succeeded or failed, and we would simply stop when it got hard.
2 – We lack confidence in our own abilities.
This is the biggie right here. We lack self-confidence in our abilities. We take every negative comment and every bad review to heart. It breaks the fragility of our confidence, and we find ourselves crying into our half-completed manuscript. But this is real life, guys. There are no safe spaces here. Suck it up and roll with it.
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How do we overcome imposter syndrome? This is very simple. Are you ready?
You outwork your self-doubt. Read that again.
You must outwork that feeling of thinking that you aren’t good enough. You must identify the reason why you feel the way you do. Is it because you don’t feel like you know enough about the subject you are in? Well, then learn more. Read books on the subject. Research your industry. Speak to others in the world you have found yourself in. Try new things. New ways of doing what you’re doing. You can never know too much.
If it’s monetary or scalability on your business, then go back to basics. What makes your product unique? Who is your target market? Identify who these people are, and then build connections with them. Start from the bottom again, and work through the fundamentals. You can move up a rung on the ladder when you have a strong foundation.
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Don’t stop creating.
Many writers have written tonnes of books that barely moved off the shelves, but they kept going at it. They kept working, building a fan base, and improving their craft.
Comparison is the Thief of Joy.
I love that saying, as cliché as it is, because it’s so true. If you compare yourself to JK Rowling or George R R Martin when you haven’t released your first book, then you will never write a single word. But here’s the secret – at one point, they were just like you - staring at a dog shit first draft and feeling sick at the sight of it. We only see people when they are successful. We don’t see the thousands of hours they invested into their craft with nothing happening.
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Use Your Current Successes as Evidence.
Remember when you got that awesome review? Released that new book? Got a message from someone you had never spoken to who told you that they loved your work? Those examples are all evidence that you are doing what you are meant to be doing, and that you are good at it. Use that knowledge, that back catalogue, as fuel to your fire when moving forward and upskilling. Acknowledge what you did in the past, identify any mistakes you have made, and then learn from them. Identify, refine, and replicate.
Imposter syndrome is the vulture on our shoulders. It’s that part of our brains that tells us that we aren’t cut out to be doing what we’re doing, regardless of all the evidence surrounding us that tells us the contrary. We can focus on the one thing that isn’t going right and lose sight of all the things around us that got us to our position in the first place. In other words, you can’t see the forest because you’re focusing on a single tree.
Imposter syndrome isn’t a bad thing. Welcome it into your life. Let that fear of failure, getting it wrong, and not being good enough propel you into work and learning. Only through hard work and dedication to what you’re doing, bit by bit, will you get where you need to be.
Stepping out of your comfort zone will always lead to self-doubt. You’re going against the curve, putting your head above the firing line. But if you work at it, maybe in a year, maybe ten, you will get where you want to be. The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The second-best time is now.
Creating a business is like trying to paint a mountain one layer of paint at a time. It’s a huge task, but little by little, effort after effort, you will get there.
Jay Darkmoore
Jay Darkmoore is a UK best-selling author with a background in crime and investigation. He is a huge fan of all things dark - exploring the macabre, demonic and darker aspects of the human psyche.
Jay likes putting his characters in terrible situations and then turning out all the lights. To date, he has self-published novels of horror, crime and dark fantasy dystopia. His inspirations are Stephen King, Keith C Blackmore and Nick Cutter.
When not at his desk, Jay spends his free time making YouTube videos to help writers in their craft, promoting other books he has enjoyed, as well as hitting the gym and taking wild cold plunges with ducks.
He is a single parent to his son Joe who is his biggest fan.
Support the author by signing up for his newsletter at jaydarkmooreauthor.com for exclusive content.
10 Tips for New Authors
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When I first started publishing in 2019, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I had heard about things like ‘marketing,’ ‘newsletters,’ ‘book launches,’ and ‘pen names’ etc, but naively, I thought it would be as simple as writing a book, clicking publish, and posting on social media about it, then sit back and watch royalise roll in.
And they did! For about five minutes, and then my book was buried under the weight of the virtual amazon bookshelf.
So, four years on, I have done a lot of learning. My newsletter is well into triple figures, my books are selling regularly, and my following has grown immensely.
Below are a few things that I have learned the hard way, so that you can get to where you want to be quicker.
1 – Pick a genre, or at least, use a pen name.
Does Stephen King write romance? Does JK Rowling write splatterpunk? You know exactly what you’re getting when you hear these names, and you want your readers to know the same when they hear yours.
I write very dark fiction, from crime thrillers, horror and dark fantasy. My readers will cross over into the other genres, because they enjoy the style of my writing, and the themes correlate to each other. Now imagine if I threw in a romantic comedy in there, or a children’s colouring book. My readers would be very confused, and so would the Amazon algorithm.
You must stick to a genre, and if you wish to deviate from that genre, use a pen name. It prevents your readers from getting confused, and also the meta data and voodoo witchcraft of Amazon from getting confused too. It will encourage read through, and you will attract those kinds of readers that enjoy the work you put out. Amazon will also push your books in front of the eyes of potential readers who enjoy the genre you’re writing in.
Remember, if everyone is your target audience, then no one is.
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2 – Consume the genre you write in.
If you write horror, crime or romance, you should read it or at least consume it through other mediums. It will give you an idea of chapter lengths, feel, tone and language used in these kinds of books. It will allow you to write and create something that is familiar to the readers of that market, and not accidently throw in a unicorn in the middle of a steampunk dystopia.
3 – Writer’s block doesn’t exist.
I have spoken about this in a few of my blogs and videos. You do not need inspiration to write. You do not need the muse to appear to you. If you write only when you’re inspired, you will fail. You must make writing a part of your day and treat it like a job. You must give yourself targets, word counts and deadlines. You must write when you don’t want to. That is how books get written.
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4 – Writing is a business.
If you want to make a living writing and telling stories, then you must adopt a business mindset. This is why writing in a genre is so important, and why writing to a schedule is so paramount.
No, I don’t mean sleezy sales tactics or underhanded techniques. Marketing is basically putting your book in front of people that will want to read it. It’s that simple.
Learn about marketing. Learn about calls to action, mailing lists and how to engage with your readers and build relationships with them. Don’t be one of these annoying writers who scream in a crowded room for someone to buy their book.
Find a target market. Find where those people hang out. Engage first, then promote. Offer something for free. Encourage sign ups to your mailing list. Offer content, and then promote your work.
How to market as a writer
5 – Self-publishing is a viable option.
If you dream of being a traditionally published author, then that’s brilliant. All power to you, but don’t think that if you manage to land a publishing deal, you’re set for life. Far from it. I know plenty of writers that are still not making ends meet through trad publishing deals, and many independent self-published writers that are making bank each year through DIY publishing.
Decided what you want to do and focus on it. A proverb I love is ‘A man who chases two hares will catch neither,’ and you need to focus your energy on one path and get very good at it.
Focus is the key.
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6 – You don’t have to be the best at everything.
You don’t have to be the best writer. The best marketer. The best at SEO, emails, social media etc. You just have to be good enough at a lot of it.
7 – Never stop learning.
The landscape of publishing and writing is always changing. Don’t think you will know everything. You will fall down rabbit holes and implement information, and then you will discover something new to try.
8 – You will need to write books. And then more books. And then more.
You will not get successful from one book wonder. Lightning strikes do happen (E.L James – 50 Shades of Grey), but do not build your career on the hope of a one book wonder success. If you’re in this for the long term, then you better be ready to write millions of words and keep publishing.
9 – People will laugh at you for being a writer.
Fuck them.
10 – You will get discouraged.
Everyone does. We all have slow days. We all hit mental blocks. We all have self-doubt. Be consistent, and outwork your self-doubt by writing good stories, and putting them in front of people that want to read them.
Jay Darkmoore is a writer and writing coach from the UK and author of over ten titles and counting.
How to make a living writing: The advice you don’t want to hear
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If you’re a writer or another creator, you aren’t going to like reading this. This post will piss you off, but I hope it will make you think a little about your direction and goals.
A fellow writer friend emailed me and asked how I manage to stay motivated when writing. How day by day, I write and make progress in my work. How I manage to post consistently. Juggle family life, creativity, health, and business. How I manage to wake up at 5am on days off and get to work day by day.
As if by magic, I heard this saying, to ‘outwork your self-doubt,’ and it hugely resonated with me.
I’m not going to go into imposter syndrome or feeling out of your depth. Those things go without saying.
No. I make a habit of writing. I make it part of my day. My writing is a non-negotiable activity. I must do it, and I have a list of promises I make to myself. A task list to complete that never ends.
Write X amount today. Read this marketing book. Post this content. This call to action. Create this advert. Hit this word count deadline. Complete this edit. I do not break those promises. Because when you can’t trust yourself to get your shit done, then you can’t trust anyone.
Use self-doubt as fuel. It’s the enemy, and you must crush it every time it rears its head. Be hungry for the self-doubt, and then devour it with your successes at the end of the day. Every time I hit the keys on the keyboard. Each time I cross something off my list. Every new email subscriber. Every new story. Every new fan email. It’s all one more millimetre up the mountain.
Keep the promises you make to yourself. No one cares if you fail. Only you.
And only you hold the key to your own success.
- J
About Jay Darkmoore -
Jay Darkmoore is a UK horror and Dark Fantasy writer. He enjoys the darker and more Macabre sides to story telling, and has a great time doing it.
Starting with his debut Novel in 2020 ‘The Space Between Heaven and Hell,’ a multiple POV thriller mystery novel which delves into the deepest depravities and secrets of the human mind, he has gone on to self publish anthologies and a fantasy sage.
His Podcast ‘The Darkmoore Diaries,’ tackles issues such as mental health, relationships and more ‘human’ elements of life, where as his YouTube channel supports writers in honing their craft.
He has a distinct eye for the unusual, and often can be seen enjoying cold weather in frozen lakes, and is a wellbeing and fitness enthusiast. He is two opposing sides of the same coin. The yin and the yang, the dark and the light, and he has a great time bringing both terror, and comfort into peoples lives.
Writer’s Block Isn’t Real
Writer’s block isn’t real. Here’s why, and here’s why.
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Writer’s Block isn’t real. Now that is a BOLD statement. How many times have you sat staring at either a blank page or have gotten halfway through a scene only to find that the well of creativity has run dry with no sign of rain in the sky?
I have been there. Many times. As a writer of several novels, novellas and short stories ranging from crime, dark fantasy and horror, plus tonnes of social media posts and blog posts and articles, I have at least some authority to comment on this topic.
But we have to escape the notion that ‘Writer’s Block’ is actually a real thing. It isn’t. It’s something that we tell ourselves. It’s a lie. A ruse. A collective scapegoat that writers use to make their current predicament feel better. We attach some kind of romantic, creative notion to it that if only we could overcome this block in our brains, we could create our masterpiece.
Luckily for you, I have a toolkit which will not only break you out of your current bout of imagined writer’s block but also make sure you are never crippled with it again.
Step Number One – You’re the problem here.
The story isn’t the problem. Nor is the keyboard, the mouse, the screen or the word processor you’re using. It’s you. Sorry, not sorry. The problem is you have given the fabulistic idea of writer’s block its power. You need to take that back.
You need to understand that writer’s block isn’t real. It doesn’t exist. It’s something we tell ourselves is real to allow ourselves to not have to do the work that is required. It’s resistance, procrastination, or stress. But it isn’t an abstract idea as a brick wall being put around your brain and your creative ideas are being held ransom and you have to hit the siege at the right moment to free them.
Stop thinking that immediately. Your mindset is the problem. Rid it of its power by acknowledging that writer’s block is nothing but a creation of your own mind.
Step Two – This Isn’t the Finished Product.
You’re likely stuck on the first draft of a project. This is because you have this idea in your head that you must write perfectly the first time and that the delete and backspace buttons don’t exist. It’s called a draft for a reason. You can make mistakes. Write utter shit. Write storylines that can be omitted later and remove scenes and dialogue that don’t work. This is why we edit.
Step Three – The Pressure Cooker
Remember when you had that exam that you hadn’t been studying for for the six months you had leading up to it, and then you hit the books the night before? That’s because the proverbial axe was looming over your head on the chopping block. It’s time to apply this same mindset to writing in the pressure cooker.
Don’t give yourself all the time in the world to write a scene. Give yourself just fifteen minutes.
You will be amazed at what just fifteen minutes of concentrated effort can create. By using this method, I have crammed out thousands of words in a day consistently.
Set a timer for fifteen minutes and write anything and everything that comes out of your brain. Even if the words are quite literally, ‘I can’t think of anything to write.’ This will get the engine in your mind running again and will allow you to put words onto paper.
Step Four – Stop, Drop and Roll.
When the fifteen minutes are finished, stop what you’re doing, drop the project immediately and roll away from the desk. Create distance. Leave the room. Go outside if you have to, but step away from the project even if that’s mid-scene or sentence, and do whatever you like for five minutes.
This will give you both a breather and will create the connections in your brain that when you are sitting at the desk, it’s work time. Not phone and social media time. Not relaxation time, but purely and utterly time to get to work. That way when you sit down at the desk or the laptop or hell, at your work pad, your brain will switch into creative mode and not ‘sitting here staring at the computer mode.’
Step Five – Repeat.
Do the process again as many times as you need to. Keep track of your word count amounts. Make a game of it. Try to beat the record of the last sprint.
For more writing tips and a free story, sign up for my newsletter. Follow me on social media and let me know how you have found this post. I wish you the best with it.
P.S – I wrote this blog in fifteen minutes using this method!
Enjoy this post? Check out What t’s Really Like to be an Independent Author
- Jay Darkmoore
How to Write a Psychopath
How to write a psychopath in your book, and why you should.
American Psycho
Psychopaths are incredibly fun to read in books and watch on the big screen and have been popularised by some very infamous and somewhat controversial films and books, from American Psycho written by Bret Easton Ellis, Hannibal Lecter by Thomas Harris and even James Bond by Ian Fleming.
But why is it that these characters have captured both love and fear in our hearts? What is it about them that makes us want to know more? Is it their propensity to violence? Their ability to be cunning and manipulative without feeling any remorse? Is it their self-confidence and being able to think under pressure? Whatever the reason, our hearts have a soft place in them for psychopaths in literature.
In this blog, I am going to tell you how to create your very own in your fiction, and it will maybe help you spot these same traits in other characters you enjoy.
Hannibal Lecter
Traits of a psychopath –
Most Psychopaths are male, with them making up approx. 1% of the population, and are estimated to make up 50 – 80% of the prison population. Women that show high traits of Psychopathy are more likely to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, which along with Psychopathy, is a ‘Cluster B’ personality disorder along with Narcissism and Histrionic Personality Disorder as outlined in the Diagnostical and Statistical Manual Version 5 (DSM – 5 for short) of the American Psychiatric Association.
Psychopathy lends itself to having many different traits, all of which are useful in certain situations, and can even benefit those in certain careers (below). Most people can dial these traits down as and when they need them, but a psychopath can’t and would always have these traits on the high setting in their brains.
These are low empathy, impulsivity, calm under pressure, manipulative, charming, ruthlessness and emotionally detached and show a lack of remorse for their actions.
James Bond
This list can make for some fantastic characters and even make for some fantastic story arcs. Maybe a character is charming and loving, and then later down the line, we see that it was all manipulation to convince someone to give up their life savings, and then abandon them. Tinder Swindler, anyone?
Or maybe we have a character that is a military soldier, a warrior, who is ruthless and can cut through the enemy without a shred of remorse? A police officer who will do anything to crack the case, or a surgeon who has the steadiest hand to make that vital, life-saving cut with everything on the line?
Psychopaths make for excellent characters. They make incredibly fun heroes to write about, and add a lot more depth to the ‘bad guy.’ We can look into their childhood, in that a psychopathic person would have normally come from some kind of abusive childhood, and uses psychopathy as a way to navigate the world based off of that. It gives the character more back story. More depth.
Professor Kevin Dutton
According to psychologist Professor Kevin Dutton, most psychopaths are split into two categories. Those with high traits and a low propensity to commit violence, and those with high psychopathic traits and a higher propensity to violence.
Those that are of lower violent tendencies are more likely to be characterised by high-pressure positions, such as politicians, CEOs, police officers, lawyers and high-end athletes. These could make for some great characters and some side characters, and maybe even a villain or two in there? Maybe the villain is a top businessman of a rival company that is trying to sabotage the hero’s chances at getting their foot on the corporate ladder? Or even a detective that drinks too much and is emotionally vacant when around other people, but is ruthless and driven to catch the bad guy?
Jack Torrance - The Shining
The psychopaths that are high in psychopathic traits with a higher level of predisposition to violence would be our classical villains such as serial killers, a criminal mob boss and even a soldier that has gone rogue.
Psychopaths make for great foreshadowing opportunities too, as they can be very manipulative. In your story, you can have the psychopath dropping hints and leaving clues for the rest of the characters to find, and then when the big reveal comes later in the book, the reader can connect the dots and have the ‘Oh my god!’ moment that we all love to create when they figure it all out.
Lorna - By Jay Darkmoore
In my dark romance ‘Lorna,’ the main character in the story ‘Christian’ is a psychopath, and he will stop at nothing to not only win the heart of Lorna, his new infatuation but also kill and destroy the lives of anyone that dares stand in his way.
Order it here on kindle unlimited today.
Psychopaths are so much fun to write and can offer a lot of depth to your characters and the story. Even just highlighting certain traits outlined above and giving them to your characters can make a lot of difference to your writing.
Have fun with it and thank you for reading.
But what about other writing ideas? What about being able to break through writer’s block?
Why you should choose independent publishing.
If you’re thinking of Indie Publishing, click this article.
My name is Jay Darkmoore, and as an indie published author of seven novels (at the time of writing), spanning horror, grimdark fantasy, short stories and dark romance, I have dipped more than my toe into the world of self-publishing.
Here, I have listed fifteen reasons that self-publishing has an advantage over traditional publishing, to help you make that informed choice before you commit.
1 – Freedom to write what you like.
You may have heard this one, but the main pull for a lot of aspiring writers to self-publishing is not being constrained to what genre you can and can’t write. You might have a fiction that blurs the line between dark fantasy and action. Maybe you have a historical romance with aliens? Hell, a deep-sea diving book with goblins and werewolves. Whatever your genre, or a mix of genres, you can publish it because there is no specific shelf space that the story must fit into.
2 – Pick your own time frame for publication.
With traditional publishing, you will work to deadlines. This means drafts, editor slots, cover design slots and of course – the book release itself. These can be constraining and can be months, if not years in the future.
With indie publishing, you can decide your own schedule. You can produce work as frequently or infrequently as you like. Want to release three books in three months? Two books a year? Four books in six months then make your readers salivate for the fifth installation? It’s all yours.
And that is a hell of a bonus.
3 – Be your own boss.
If you’re anything like me, then you don’t like being told what to do. With indie writing, you can have your cake and eat it, so to speak. There is only yourself to answer to. You decide how productive you are, how you market and how you go about this crazy thing called storytelling.
You own all your successes and all your own failures.
4 – Market however you like.
Trad publishing will do some of the marketing for you, but not all. Those days are gone when you could get signed, sit back and collect royalty cheques. These days, publishing houses require you to do most of the heavy lifting yourself, and there may be constraints on how you are able to do this.
With indie publishing, this isn’t the case. Want a YouTube channel? Go right ahead. Want a TikTok? Knock yourself out. Want to scream n your neighbour’s roof at the top of your lungs? (Where this isn’t recommended, you certainly can…) Then go for it.
The world is your oyster, and how you reach that world is completely up to you.
5 – Better royalty rate.
A lot of people are drawn to trad publishing because of the advance in royalties you can receive when you get signed, which can be anything up to £10,000. Sounds great right? You can quit your day job and go sipping Pina Coladas in the Maldives.
Wrong. You may get the advance, but you won’t earn a penny until your book sales make that back. And that is with your 10% royalty rate for the face value of the book.
Now, take indie publishing (I only publish via Amazon, so I can’t speak for the rest), but you can earn up to 70% of the face price of the book in royalties.
So, if you sell a book at £10.00 –
Trad - £1.00 - £1.50 royalty
Indie - £3.50 - £7.00 royalty.
There is absolutely money to be made in the indie game. More money, for fewer sales, and if that doesn’t torque your jaw…
6 – Experiment with genres.
If you published your teen YA vampire series with a trad publisher and then decide you want to write post-apocalyptic sci-fi, your publisher might freak out. They might not agree to publish the new book and demand you stick to your current genre. You can be writing yourself into a box that you can’t get out of.
But with indie, that choice is completely up to you. It allows you to be as free and as creative as you wish to be.
7 – It’s faster.
If you submit the final draft to a trad publishing house in January, your book may not be on the shelf until October or even the following year, meaning that after you have been paid your advance and have spent so long writing the story, it won’t be in your reader’s hands for months, if not years! So, you won’t earn that royalty payment back anytime soon.
With indie writing, you decide when you publish, and you can start gaining royalties in just a few days.
8 – You’re in control over just about everything.
You have control over the book cover design, the blurb, the sales copy, the online description, the royalty rate, the scheduling, and the release date. You oversee the project from the first press of the keys to when you hit submit on your outlet.
9 – Financial clarity.
Trad publishers will sort the money side out for you, meaning that you won’t know if you’re making a dime until you get that royalty cheque through. Not only that, you might not even know in what format these books have come from or from where. Is it from your YA vampire series or your paranormal romance series? Is it from audiobooks or from your paperback or eBooks? You won’t know what to expect to come through the mail until it lands on your doorstep.
With indie publishing you can clearly see how much you are making, when it will be paid and through what sales and what format, which will give you a great indication of how to write, what to write and what to invest your time and money in.
10 – You retain the rights to your books.
With traditional publishing, you enter into a contract which you are obligated to, or they will drop you. If you do not honour that contract, and they drop you from their publishing house, then you no longer earn money from the books you have written and are being sold if you do not own the rights to them.
With self-publishing, you have complete control over the rights to your work in whatever format you have them in. This means you are free to write whatever and however you like.
11 – Work as much (or as little) as you like.
This is paired with number 3 of Being Your Own Boss. If you don’t like working mornings and you are more of a night owl, then go right ahead. If you can only write in the mornings and want to dedicate the afternoon to marketing and advertising, then the world is yours to play with. If you don’t like working weekends or on Tuesdays or past 4 pm, then you pick your own hours.
With no publishing house looming a deadline above your head, you can write as much, or as little as you like. This is a three-headed beast though, as you have to worry about burnout and procrastination.
12 – No Gatekeeper.
Who has the final call on a story idea or an ad campaign? You do. Who has to be consulted if you want to translate your stories to different languages and submit them to marketplaces abroad? Only you. Have a new idea? It’s your decision to make.
No relying on the current market or ongoing trends. It’s all up to you.
13 – Traditional publishing is still an option.
If you go traditional first and sign them to five books and then exit the contract, then as I mentioned before, you are going to lose the rights on those books. But if you indie publish first, and then decide to go trad, then you keep everything.
14 – Experimentation with advertising.
A traditional publishing house may require you to advertise or market to a specific audience or niche, be it the over 60’s or women under 30. They may have specific platforms and methods by which you have to do this. But with indie, you are free to experiment in whatever way you like, however you like.
15 – You learn to be a master of the craft.
With indie publishing, there are going to be setbacks (the same with any business venture). This means that you will learn how to market better, write better, edit better and produce better content. Without having other people doing some of the heavy lifting for you, you have to get good and get better with time. Meaning that with enough practise, you will become a hell of a self-publishing badass.
Writing as a Single Parent
There you are, folks! My 15 reasons why you should self-publish. If you liked this article, then share it with someone that is thinking of going trad and wants to know about self-publishing, or save it to your favourites bar on your desktop and have it to refer to in the future.
While you’re here, why not sign up for my newsletter for a free book?
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.
- Jay Darkmoore
10 Ways to Market as a Self-Published Author
10 Tips to market your self-published books
Hello everyone! Jay Darkmoore here - Self-published author of the dark fantasy series ‘Everlife Chronicles,’ and horror series’ such as The Space Between Heaven and Hell, and Tales from the Inferno.
Being an indie writer is tough, yet very rewarding. The progress is stagnant and slow, to begin with, and it can often be overwhelming when you have to think of all the work you have to put in be it from writing, building an audience, or content marketing to Vlogging, marketing, keywords, etc.
Your mind can easily become overwhelmed to the point where you sit there in a dark corner rocking away, wondering why you ever thought trying to do this task yourself would be a good thing. Luckily, I have compiled a list of tools and tips that can help you in your writing journey, putting them in a nice list that is easy to follow.
I have done a lot of research on this topic so that you don’t have to. If you wish to find more tips and tricks from me, then I ask you to sign up for my mailing list on this website. You can find it by clicking here.
1 – Write more books.
Have you ever wondered the reason why people follow you and read your books? It’s for that exact reason – You have written something that the reader had devoured and loved so much that they want more from you. Like after a great first date, you want to see them again. This is why writing more books and more material is so important.
10 Horror Tropes That Have Been Done to Death
At the time of writing, I have five books out of over three different series in two genres. My readers love that I write in a series, and through doing this I am able to give first-time readers a back catalogue to purchase and devour, as well as pointing existing readers to my mailing list and websites for the exclusive content I offer, while I am busy creating my next installment for them.
Writing more books allows you to expand on your skills as a writer and delve into different genres too. It allows you to hone your craft more easily, and listen to what your readers want next whilst still being true to yourself.
2 – Write in a series and bundle your books together.
When you have someone that has enjoyed your work and they are hungry for the next book in the series, it is great if you have a few more books for them to enjoy. Plus, if they liked the first one (maybe they got it at a reduced price or a free promotion), then they have already said YES to one of your products. If they then see another book in the series at a slighter higher price, then they are much more likely to say YES to that too. If they buy the next one and see the whole six or seven book collection for a much-reduced price than buying them individually, then you have a new and true fan that will read anything you put out because you have given them so much enjoyment. Write more books, write a series, and put them together.
3 – Paid advertising.
Advertising is going to be the backbone of your marketing. You can spend as little or as much as you like, with Amazon offering pay-per-click advertising, which varies depending on the niche and keywords. Genres like ‘Horror,’ would cost more per click, whereas niches like ‘Big Foot Monster Porn’ (Trust me, it’s a thing), would be much less. There are also Google and social media ads like Facebook and Instagram, as well as traditional media like newspapers and radio. However, the traditional media is more of the shotgun method of advertising and less about the targeted ads that will put your book in front of your target audience which social media and Amazon can offer.
Myths of Traditional and Indie Publishing
Also, market yourself through your content whenever you produce a Vlog or an email campaign. Do this sparingly, however. People don’t want to see you screaming at them ‘BUY MY BOOK!’. Instead, target the right audience and engage with them with your content, and maybe when they have learned about you a little, throw a book or a pitch in there. It’s a tightrope, and not always guaranteed to succeed just because you throw money at it, but it can yield great results if you play around with it a little.
Also, a bonus tip – Do keyword research and try to find your niche. It is better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond.
4 – Utilize different platforms.
I touched on this one above – Build an audience on different platforms. I currently use Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, YouTube, and TikTok. I use some more than others, but I post regularly on each one, utilizing hashtags and keywords that keep the algorithm happy.
Each comes with its benefits. Facebook for articles, links and videos, as well as to speak to your fans through the direct message and comment action. Instagram is brilliant for those that are visually-minded. YouTube and Spotify are great for people on the go, as they can let the audio play whilst doing other things like cooking or relaxing.
Media is there to be taken advantage of, and if people like what you’re putting out, then the platform will show more of it to more people. Throw in some advertising in there too, and whoa, you just went global.
5 – Build a brand email list –
This one is a tried and tested way to make some guaranteed sales, and fans and to shine a light on your reader’s day. You can build anticipation for an up-and-coming new book, and you can entice those on the platforms above to sign up to your email marketing list by promising them a free giveaway opportunity, or exclusive sneak peeks at new releases. This is your way of collecting your own group of fans and followers.
Be consistent with your email campaigns. I have tried sending daily emails and weekly emails. I found that every day was too spammy for my followers, and it made me become a little too much. But then when I dropped to weekly, I found the open rate massively increased. But the key is to be consistent. That way, your readers will look forward to getting that new email from you every week and hearing about your new video, new blog post, and new content. Throw an email address in there and connect, or maybe a social media page too. Your email list is your own private flock of readers that will follow you wherever you go.
6 – Free promotions.
Free promotions are a great way to attract new readers into your world and by putting links to your mailing list and website at the back of your free books, you’re likely to attract a lot of new people to your material.
I find that with Amazon KDP enrolment, I am able to cycle my books through a 3-month period of free download and every month my social media and mailing list grow. It’s good to have a ‘dead book,’ in which I mean this is the book you sacrifice in the series and make it free whenever you can, in order to draw those readers to your content in exchange for them signing up to your channels and offering them the next book in the series at a reduced rate to really get them hooked.
7 – Upsell new titles.
As mentioned above, when you have someone download and love the free instalment in the series, offer the next title in the series for a reduced rate. They have already invested their time in reading your story and have signed up to your emails, so the next book for a smaller price is much more tantalising. Follow that up with a bundle, and boom – You have a reader for life.
8 – Free copies and ARC copies.
To capitalize on your mailing list, offer your readers and followers free copies of your book for an honest review in an Advance Review Copy. Set your new book for pre-sale and order some books to send out to those on your mailing list for a review and a promotional post online, or send them an eBook copy for free through email. It will get your ratings right up there and will make it more likely new readers will download the story when it gets put for free (thus repeating the cycle above) or they are more likely to buy when they see it already has a tonne of good reviews.
9 – Collab with other writers and readers.
I really enjoy doing this because not only do I get to speak to other people that are crazy like me, but it also allows us to share audiences. We are not in competition with each other, dear writer. We should work together. This is because we cannot possibly fulfill the appetite of those voracious readers all by ourselves, so therefore we collab together and make the reading world a better place.
I enjoy doing this through Instagram Live each week. It’s great fun and a great way to hear what other people are doing and pass on your wisdom and knowledge and talk to each other about your projects that are coming up.
10 – Be consistent
This is the biggest one of all my friends. Be consistent with your work. Produce books regularly and engage with fans. Be consistent, as people love patterns and predictability. Make them look forward to Sunday, Wednesday, the first of the month when they know that you will be releasing something to them or posting something else online or sending out that email.
This is a long slog of a career, and they say it takes ten years to become an overnight success. We compare ourselves to those that we see have made it straight away, but we don’t see the hours and hours of content creation they did before making their first sale or book signing. Be consistent. Dreams don’t happen overnight.
If you would like some further reading, then please check out my other blogs, and look at my own books, and YouTube channel and podcast. The links are all here.
Books I have found useful on this topic –
Write, publish, repeat – Johnny B Truant
Self-Publishing – Joanna Penn
On Writing – Stephen King
Thanks for your time.
- J
5 Myths about Traditional Publishing VS Indie Publishing.
Five myths of traditional and indie publishing busted!
Being an indie writer is tough. I have found it to be slow, arduous and difficult for pretty much the entire time I have been doing it. I have often wondered if I should just try to get an agent and get my work published traditionally. I mean, that’s how real writers get their name out there, right?
Being an indie writer is essentially being a business person too. It’s finding the current trends, how the algorithm works on the platform you publish on, and also finding alternative places to put you work, and lets face it, people will always take things form you for free rather than spend their money.
Places like ‘Royal Road,’ or ‘Wattpad,’ are great for getting your work out there for nothing, but ultimately (and sadly) free doesn’t put food on the table or pay the bills. So I can see the appeal as to why this sort of business venture would put someone off who essentially just wants to ‘write the book and be done with it.’ However, I would like to share my thoughts below –
Reasons why being an indie is better than being a traditionally published author –
This is very subjective. We only hear about those that end up on the New York Times best sellers list, or those that make the front of Forbes. These are anomalies, and authors like JK Rowling and George RR Martin aren’t your everyday writers, and you also don’t see that they spent the last thirty years trying to get somewhere in their craft before they made it to the top of their game.
For most other writers, the literary world is a struggle. They don’t make much of a living, and they are tied to contract that can be very difficult to try and get out of.
Through traditional publishing, when you are signed you will earn an advance of maybe a few thousand, but then you earn nothing until that advance is paid back by way of book sales. Then when you eventually do earn that back, you are likely to get between 5 and 0% of the price the book is sold for.
Where as if you make it as an indie, that amount massively ramps up to 35 – 70% if you sell on Amazon or through other mediums. In a nutshell, you earn as much as you work, research and market yourself.
Wrong. In this day and age, as well as the publishing company owning their authors work, they still have to do a lot of self-promotion and marketing themselves. Granted, probably not as much as indie authors, but they still have to do a good chunk. So, traditional authors get their books published, earn a fraction of the list price AND still have to market their own work? Hmm.
Myth 3 –
Indie Authors don’t get into book stores.
Wrong. Sorry to break this to you guys, but book stores are sadly on their way out. Unless it’s a huge store like Barnes and Noble or Waterstones, then your local indie book stores are really struggling to survive with the introduction of Amazon and other online book retailers. That said, when you walk into a book store, you are met with thousands of books at your fingertips. Do you really think that every one of those books is traditionally published? Plenty of indie authors state that they have managed to get their books into brick-and-mortar stores.
Fifty Shades of Grey anyone? Exactly. One of the biggest books of the 21st century was an indie published book and it was everywhere. So, that my friends, is a myth completely busted.
Myth 4 –
The indie publishing market is saturated.
No, no, no!
I don’t believe this. I believe that the indie publishing world is filled with writers that think they will become an overnight success, or, they publish the book with the intention of being an indie, and don’t realise that it’s is mostly about the business of writing as much (or if not more so) the actual writing of the books.
With being an indie writer, you are not just an author. You are a business too. You are the owner of your craft, and you are trying to sell products to customers. It’s that simple. You create a product and you’re trying to sell it to customers. Now, is there a lot of competition? Fuck yes. But those people that want to write a book probably never do, and those that write one book will not write a second. So, if you manage to get a few titles under your belt and build a small following, then my friend, you are ahead of 95% of the rest of the kerb. So, you’ve gone from having 100% of the market against you, to only 5% in competition, and that’s not to mention the markets and the niches out there available. So, when you think about it, not much competition and saturation there if you keep working and keep producing. But that’s the thing with this game – You CANNOT expect to be an overnight success, and you must know that this takes a lot of hard work and graft before you see any kind of results. But, stick with it. You will get there, you just have to want it enough.
Myth 5 –
Traditional published authors have the freedom over their work
Wrong.
If you are a big name like Stephen King or Michelle Paver, then yes you can pretty much go wherever you like in the publishing world. For us first time authors though with little or no following, we must take what we are given. Essentially, you become a product to a company. Your book is now an asset to be sold and marketed. How many times have you had a publisher or an agent turn around to you and say something like ‘we loved the book, but its not the market right now.’ That’s because these agencies are companies are businesses. They are in to make money and to survive.
If you go against what the publisher says, you can be dropped and they will own your book. If you write something that they don’t want you to write, then they can drop you. If you don’t want to write crime or sci fi anymore but the publisher wants you too, then you better look for a new publisher.
You have much more freedom as an indie. You can literally write and sell whatever you like and however you like. You can dance around the living room on ticktock if you desire. You can go start a channel on YouTube, you can secrete your bookmarks and stickers in the backs of other books in bookstores if you wanted too. It’s down to you to establish what will benefit or harm your brand, and you have only yourself to answer too if it all goes wrong. Freeing, isn’t it?
So that’s it everyone. I hope that was useful to you and hopefully busted some of those myths that you have heard floating around the writing world.
If you want to check out some of my work, then head over to Amazon and search Jay Darkmoore. Alternately, click the link here.
https://linktr.ee/Jaydarkmoore
Get in touch!
Thank you for your time –
Jay Darkmoore.