“Hmph,” he grunted and signed off from the marketing pages, frustrated beyond belief. “Sales,” he muttered and rolled the word on top of his tongue: “Sales. Sales. Sales. Sails… Must blow to the sails, somehow!”

We have now arrived to this point, which will cover a lot of our time, promoting and marketing as our hair is reduced to a a few greyed-out spots and our foreheads are transformed into a rut-filled crop field. So how did we get there?

At this point a reminder of the Pt.1, which is worth reading for the whole story, unless you have done so already.

After a couple of proof paperback copies(tone tweaks by the artist), I launched ‘Harmsleave‘ in the beginning of May, one happy morning. It took a review of 1.5hrs by the marketplace for the book to go live. The ebook and paperback version spent two weeks in separate pages until they were linked by my manual request(it should have been automatic, taken the identical metadata). Additionally, I made a minor tweak into the market page and it took a week’s review before updated status was live(of course the original was live all the time). But Alas! in the end, I still can’t see the tweak there. Also worth mentioning is that you can’t create the author pages before you have a book there to market.

But these are only technical details. In average, things have gone smoothly and service has been good. It’s one of the pros in indie career, the deadlines are in your head. What matters is our attitude while running this show. By now it is clear that what I said in the end of Pt.1, about the feelings of doubt over the quality of our work, the very core of our operations, the reason why we fight, it should by now be pushed aside. How do we do that?

It’s easy. The creation, our baby, is now out there. After all the work we have done, after all the $, £ , € whatever invested, the stupidest thing you can do is to start distrusting your book at this point. The closest you can do about its quality is to adjust the marketing navigation point towards the core audience, find the bait, the right search words the audience will use to find the goods etc. This is where I’m now at. What ever quality my book carries, my audience is out there, I know it.

Now, one interesting point about internet writer communities. I have read a few indie books and been lucky with their qualities: I have reviewed them and mostly given 4-5 stars, in all my honesty. I do not butter up people, it’s the last thing I do and in the genes of us elder Finns. So what then? What I am saying, now that I have my own book out there, I am definitely not expecting anyone returning the favor. We may like each other but it does not mean our books are automatically as good. So, be honest, people. No need to touch the works at all. But remember that reviews are gold, even one star ones, when explained in depth. And if after a few pages you feel like throwing up, just leave it. My five cents, this is no business for petty writers who swear eternal vengeance, wasting a good opportunity to live and learn.

Ah, but back to business. I see the marketing invoice just beeped in. I need those sails running.