Publication day

My new horror novel, The H-Index, is coming out on the 1st September. As an indie horror writer all of the promotion comes down to you. But luckily there are so many services willing to take my money to do it also! Some of these are better than others. Here’s what I’ve tried:

Amazon ads – mixed results. Probably broke even on what I spent and what I got back on my last book. Will try again with more refinement for this one.

BookBub – you can set up campaigns in here, discounted and promoted. It didn’t really produce any noticeable upturn last time, but I think I may have a better idea of how to use it this time around.

BookSirens – you can give away free ARCs (Advance Reader Copy), so people can read it for free on the condition they leave a review. I got a few reviews this way last time, so will see if it works again. If you want to have a read and review for the H-Index, please do!

Books of Horror Freeview – an offshoot of the excellent Facebook Books of Horror group, where you can offer an ARC in exchange for a reviews. I had a few takers this time.

Draft2Digital – this is really a distribution platform. From here I have placed the book with a variety of ebook shopfronts.

IngramSpark – like Draft2Digital, a useful platform for distributing the physical copy into bookstores and library databases. No idea if it will work yet.

Kindle Unlimited – a lot of authors have success with this, because if you are a Kindle Unlimited member it lowers the barrier to the “I’ll give it a go”. It requires a 90 day exclusivity period though, so you can’t put it in those other platforms for that time. I did this with The Recluse Rules, but I haven’t for the H-Index. My plan is to do it for the next book, as there will be three then in the Cursed Coast series, which is often a draw for KU readers.

I can’t say any of these have propelled me to the New York Times bestseller list (given the blurb on book covers, I sometimes feel I must be the only author who isn’t a NYT bestseller), but I think that is as much down to my learning how to play those algorithms as their effectiveness. I’ve deliberately not used a few, where discussion groups have suggested they are not worth the investment.

I’m also going to do some promo over on my personal and vinyl Instagram accounts (10 days with a relevant album).

And then there is this blog of course! So here is where you can order the H-Index if you so desire (it’s only £0.99 so what have you got to lose?):

Apple, Smashwords, etc

Barnes & Noble

Amazon