The Self Publishing Show

In this episode we've included a great conversation with the author of smash hit crime thrillers, Clare Mackintosh. Clare is traditionally published but the lessons she's learned about rewriting, editing, and Facebook fan interaction have a lot to each Indie and Self Published authors, so we thought it would be a valuable conversation to bring […]

Can you imagine the day that all your efforts at self publishing – the hard work writing, promoting, and planning your books – finally pays off? Today's episode is one author's story about how that has finally come about. After writing for just over 5 years and self publishing a number of books, Adam Croft […]

It's difficult to talk about marketing for self publishing and indie authors without the name of Bookbub coming into the conversation. That's because Bookbub is a very effective and powerful platform for getting indie authors notices in the very niches their readers love. On this episode of the Self Publishing Formula James and Mark host […]

There are many, many things that go into a successful book launch. For a self-published author it can be enough to make your head spin. That's why it's such a great thing to have an experienced and successful self published author like Mark to walk you through his own best practices and mistakes. That's exactly […]

It's always beneficial and encouraging to hear from someone who started from nothing and built a successful writing career from the ground up. Even more so, it's encouraging to hear the story from a person who is following the exact same procedures and school of thought that you've adopted. That's what you'll hear in this […]

Why would a successfully self published author like Mark Dawson openly share his income and expenses for his self publishing business? It's not to brag and not to put himself a peg or two above others. It's to show you what's possible. Really, Mark's a regular guy just like you who is learning how to make Indie publishing work for himself. He wants you to come along for the ride and learn how to do it for yourself.

On this episode you'll hear what "it's possible" looks like - and this particular report covers one of Mark's lower income months. Still, the figures are quite impressive for a guy who didn't know anything about the business side of self publishing before he started.

Mark's eager to share some of the advertising he's doing to promote his books and the mindset and reasoning behind the particular promotional channels he's using to get his books into the public eye a bit more. You'll get some insight into the lessons he's learned in his self publishing journey and are encouraged to apply them to your situation to make your book sales soar as well.

As you listen to Mark's report keep in mind that the money he spends on advertising and promotions is not just to sell books. He realizes that some promotional channels are showing a net loss on paper, but that's only when you look at sales that resulted from the promotion. His goal is not always immediate sales. It's just as important in many cases to spend money to get email subscribers, because those people turn into book buying fans later on and often work their way through Mark's entire catalogue, showing the profit on the "back end" so to speak.

So enjoy this month's earnings report and feel free to shoot us an email if you have any questions about what we share.

• [0:23] James' introduction to this episode and why he and Mark do it.
• [1:24] The U.S. figures.
• [2:32] Why book commissions are what push things into a profitable place this month.
• [3:57] UK campaigns and figures.
• [7:36] Tracking advertising purchases.
• [8:30] Mark doesn't need to advertise to get sales, so why is he doing it?
• [9:53] Mailing list efforts for the month.

When Mark Dawson first started seeing success as a self published author he was a bit late to the game when it came to interacting with those who were showing interest in his books. The best they could do was to buy his book, read it, then search Amazon for any other books he might […]

Today's guest is one of the most prolific and hardworking Indie authors out there. All it takes is a glance at Bella Andre's catalogue to realize that this woman knows how to do what it takes to get books written! Success has come with over 50 bestsellers to her credit, and, during this chat, you're […]

The book promotion piece is one of the most vital but neglected aspects of being a self published author. Today's guest, Ricci Wolman, is not an author herself but IS a marketing specialist who has made a career (and a business) out of helping authors successfully promote their books. She is founder and CEO of […]

In the second part of our London Book Fair special, Mark and James get to talk to key providers in the digital publishing space such as Draft2Digital, Reedsy and Byte the Book as well as indie publishing guru and author Joanna Penn. And in additional interviews you can hear how four young authors are progressing […]