Self-Publication: A Success Plan for the Indie Writer

Self-Publication: A Success Plan for the Indie Writer

Reading and writing in
Laung Praubang, Laos

To facilitate indie book-writing success, there are many things that you should do before releasing your first book.  Developing a social platform is paramount.  It is also important to have a website where you can house your books, blogs, and related multimedia creations.  It is an excellent idea to start an email subscriber list before your book release.  Readers who have subscribed to your email list may be willing to provide pre-release book reviews.  These reviews can give you ideas for last-minute book edits and they can be used in support of your Amazon portfolio. 

Twitter is an absolutely incredible way to meet top-notch writers and to increase awareness of your work and the work of writer’s you admire.  It is a good idea to release your book cover and summary before releasing the book itself.  This will help you to increase reader awareness and get your book “on the radar” prior to the book launch.

I have spent a fair bit of this weekend working on my indie writing platform.  I have been following at least five new people a day on Twitter, and making sure to engage in dialogue with at least one of them per day.  This has been very cool because I have become acquainted with some travel writers that are doing simply incredible things with their lives.  After having read and watched some of their work, I have become very excited about the potential for my own creative work through my book-writing platform. 

In particular, I am very much looking forward to creating a few video-casts for my readers.  Of my foreign friends, some very talented artists have generously expressed an interest in supporting my video-casts with their music and videography.  I have the scripting on paper already and I have the software needed to develop the final video product.  I think that video-casting through YouTube and Vimeo may someday be one of my favorite outlets for social engagement with my readers.

Upcoming Book Release -
WORLD TRAVEL: Escaping the Rat Race

Earlier today I used Abobe Illustrator with a few of my travel photos in order to create a book cover.  I set up my domain name and email address with Network Solutions (my email address is lillian@lillianpierson.com).  I have switched my hosting package over from my other domain name, but the changes have not finalized so I am not able to make edits to my website just yet. 

I am primarily going to run my website on Word Press.  I will develop the site myself; until I have gotten established enough in my writing to justify the expense of, perhaps, hiring a professional developer.  I am anxious to make the website changes so that I can have my work consolidated at one reliable and personal web address.  

Today, I will also sit down and make an overall plan for my writing work.   This plan will include daily goals and long-term goals.  It will also include scheduled time for things in my life that support my personal brand.  What I mean by that is, I want to make sure that I stay very active in all of the things for which I stand (ie; Environmental Stewardship, Technology, Writing, Spirituality, International Travel, Social Justice, Freedom).  These are the areas where I believe that I have the most to give, so it’s important for me to stay strong in them.

I did not come up with all of these ideas on my own. Quite to the contrary, I have the great fortune to stand on the shoulders of the giants who have come before me.  I have spent a lot of time listening to the insightful podcasts of self-publisher Joanna Penn (www.thecreativepenn.com).  Through these podcasts I have become familiar with the spectacular works of other travelers and indie writers, such as Chris Guillebeau, Alastair Humphreys, and Jane Friedman.  Joanna Penn and these other writers are hugely inspiring to me.  I am very grateful for the things I have learned from them already.


Twitter:                               LillianPierson
Facebook Author Page:      www.facebook.com/Lillspot
Email:                                 lillian@lillianpierson.com