Back in May 2012 I reviewed David Gaughran’s Let’s Get Digital book about how and why people should self-publish. At the time I was still working on my first novel and I was exploring my options for publishing. This work and others encouraged me to self-publish my novel. Now that my first novel is complete, I’m getting ready to release it. Fortunately David just published another book, Let’s Get Visible: How To Get Noticed And Sell More Books. Perfect timing.
While the book is targeted towards self-publishers who have more experience, I found the information insightful and encouraging. David doesn’t promise that if you follow a certain formula you’ll make millions. I despise those types of books. In fact he’s rather honest about his own trials and tribulations and how sometimes he gets jealous of other’s success. What he writes, though, makes sense. The first part of the book explains Amazon’s Algorithms. I know, when I first read that I ran for the hills screaming. Then I made a soothing cup of tea and read this section. Guess what? I understood it. If I can, I know the rest of you can. Part II discusses free giveaways, including when and why to do them. Part III delves into pricing and when to discount your book to gain more visibility. Part IV probes the pros and cons of selling outside of Amazon. The appendix includes an Advanced Author Toolkit
The key message is how to get your book or books visible to readers. Currently there are over one million books in the Kindle Store. And each day more are being added. That’s a lot of competition. David’s book outlines tools and tactics to increase your visibility. But don’t think it’s easy. It takes patience and constant work. What I like most about his advice is that it doesn’t rely heavily on social media and tons of time promoting your work. Let’s face it, writers need time to write. That’s our job. I already know how to procrastinate. I don’t need more excuses.
David Gaughran is an Irish writer, who currently resides in London. One of his passions, 
besides writing, is traveling the world. He’s published a South American historical adventure A Storm Hits Valparaiso and two short stories “If you Go Into the Woods” and “Transfection.” He has a regular column at Indie Reader and his work has been featured in The Sunday Times, the Huffington Post, the Irish Times, and the Irish Examiner.
For those interested in self-publishing I recommend this book and his first book, Let’s Get Digital. If you would like a free PDF version of Let’s Get Digital, click here. Also, his blog is extremely useful. Pop over and say hi. Tell him I, T. B. Markinson, sent you. Keep an eye out for my interview with David, which will be posted later this week.
50 Year Project 
I do love that “I already know how to procrastinate” line. Me to a T! 🙂
It’s so easy in today’s world.
Well done finishing your novel – I look forward to seeing that! What’s it all about or is it a massive secret?????
Lynn 😀
Not a massive secret at all. Soon all will be revealed. Let me know if you want to know more 😉
Absolutely – would love to know more.
Lynn 😀
I’m on it!
Wow, you’ve written a novel! That is so cool. I’m really impressed that you have time to work, travel, blog, read and write a book. I’ll be following your progress closely because I’ve just started writing a memoir and will probably self-publish. Would love to know more about your novel.
Oh, if you’re interested, a woman named Tracey Garvis-Graves self-published her book On the Island and did extremely well (it was later picked up by a publisher). Her website also has some great tips on getting self-published: http://bit.ly/16tSMdz Best of luck to you!
How cool that you are writing a memoir–I love them. I’ll be sure to read it and if you need anyone to read it in the early stages let me know. But please note, I am not an editor or proofreader. I’m just someone who loves to read. And thanks for the tip. I’ll check out Garvis-Graves site. Happy writing!
Thanks so much for the offer! I would love to read yours too. I’m not the best writer, but I am a very good reader. I was once a proofreader too, so have a hard time ignoring typos. I’m sure you won’t have many!
I’ve read the thing so many times and my editor has proofed it twice. Saying that, I’m sure people will still find some. Perfection is not possible I think.
Pingback: Interview with David Gaughran | 50 Year Project
Congratulations, TBM. Well done. I can’t wait to hear more about it.
I’m a professional copy editor and proofreader (among other things) and – yes, you’ll always find some more. As long as it’s well written, the odd typo is not that bad.
It does make me feel better when I read novels that went the traditional way and I spot some errors.
Yes, I feel the same. 🙂 The thing is just, you have to be twice as careful when you self-publish. To be honest, I received a self-published novel and put it aside after one page as it wasn’t edited well but finished another one which was published by a famous publisher and had really grave errors like POV switching within one paragraph, bad dialogue, sloppy structure… I started to forget a bit after some time. Still, I won’t read that author again.
It is easy to turn off many readers by putting a poorly edited book on the market. Hopefully I can avoid that 🙂 Bad dialogue drives me batty. For me, dialogue is a way for the characters to come alive and to show their personalities. I hate when they sound like cardboard cut-outs.