Another Reason to Build an Author Website

Most of you will be familiar with Derek Murphy as a self-published author as well as an influencer within the self-publishing community.  If you click on the graphic I made for his website above, you can visit one of his websites.  He also organizes writing seminars all over the world, some of which are in old castles.  So if any newbies are interested in that, he would be a great mentor to write with.

Derek has another website called CreativindieCovers.com for any of you who are struggling with book cover ideas.  He has a lot of free resources and even templates.

When I was new, I watched hundreds of his videos and learned so much, not only as a writer, but also as a self-publishing marketer.  He has great advice on early marketing techniques for new self-publishers and also other ideas about running Amazon ads and even using the free online book websites.  Be sure to visit his websites and subscribe to his YouTube Channel.

I happened to catch a YouTube Short he posted today-- which I have  posted below -- and it was great advice for those of us who have built up a reader list of about 3,000, and have created a website and are starting to get some reliable traffic.  He has suggested a way to get book influencers to feature your books, and what he says is great advice.  I will post his video and let you hear him state it himself.

As a quick review for the newbies:  The first order of business in promoting your books is to build a reader list, also known as a newsletter.  That should be the first step of any new self-published author.  Put all of your energies there.

Once you have built the reader list up to a couple or few thousand, then you will be able to swap book features and mentions with other authors who belong to the same promotion websites and have a sizeable reader list as well.

The third level of marketing is about building an Author Website.  With a website, you can brand yourself along with your books.  In the video above, Derek is targeting those authors who are already a little further on from their first day as a self-publisher.  But it's important information to keep in the back of your mind.  It will give you a goal to shoot for.

It's important to know any author can build their book brand and author brand by following the steps that have worked for those who came before them.  Derek has been a great leader in the entire self-publishing field.  I hope you enjoy the video!