You've written and published your work. Now, comes the hard part. The most difficult part of Indie Publishing is successfully marketing your book so that it sells. Let me start by staying I am a very shy and timid individual. I would probably be selling more books if I had that "Go get em" attitude, but I don't. I just want to write the story, publish it, and then watch it sell. It simply does not happen that way. Gaining a good web presence and making your name known to other authors so that you can gain sales is very difficult. Here are a few tips that you should find useful.
Social Networking: Open up a Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn accounts under your author name. This is very tedious and hard work because it demands a few hours of your time. You'll need to visit each of your social networking profiles at least a few times a week, and update your profile.
Start a blog: I recommend Blogger or WordPress. Make daily or weekly posts regarding your book or other subjects to draw in your readers. One way to drive traffic to your blog is to read and review other indie authors.
Participate in forums: Try the Kindle Boards, Amazon Discussions and other forums that support Indie Authors. You don't necessarily have to promote your work, but reply to a few boards with the link to your book to gain presence.
Book Trailers: A good book trailer goes a long way in the indie world. Amazon now allows you to upload up to 8 videos to help promote your work. I've made a few trailers myself, but the quality isn't the best. I have also contracted some that make good book trailers however, it can be costly. If you visit fiverr, you should be able to find someone that will make you a quality book trailer for $5.00.
Blog Tours: I haven't done any myself but, while doing some research on blog touring; I definitely believe that it works. You should visit various blogs and ask if you can do a "guest blog". I'm planning on doing some myself and I will definitely post updates to let you know how it is going.
