In my guest post over at Writing.ie, I highlight the importance of building a platform before you publish your book or, if you’ve already published your book, getting one going as soon as you possibly can. I built my platform accidentally, by writing about my passion (Tudor history) on a blog and then setting up Facebook and Twitter pages, but boy am I glad that I had that in place before I published my books. A platform is vital whether you publish traditionally or self-publish, and that’s why publishers and agents ask you about how YOU can market your book.

Not convinced?

Well, do you think it’s easier to create buzz about your book and get the word out if you have a blog with 24,000 unique visitors per month and a subscriber list of 5,500, or by starting from scratch? Hmm… I’m not saying that to dishearten anybody or to show off, I’m simply stating a fact and showing that a book’s success is not usually down to Lady Luck but to hard work. Blogging just three or four times a week can make a huge difference in marketing your book, try it and see.

You can read my guest post over at Writing.ie by clicking here.

Check out my author’s page at Amazon – click here – for details on both my books. Here’s hoping for another great month!

You can check out my interview at http://sandrabyrd.com/toberead/the-anne-boleyn-collection/

Sandra is the author of one of my favourite Anne Boleyn novels – To Die For – and the upcoming The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr which is due out on 5th June 2012.

Here are the Amazon US and UK links:-

The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown – The Kindle version from Amazon.com
The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown – The paperback version from Amazon.com
The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown – The Kindle version from Amazon.co.uk

I’m more than happy to ‘virtually’ sign and add a message to your Kindle copy. You can request this through http://www.kindlegraph.com/

Reviews and Likes

Once you’ve read The Fall of Anne Boleyn it would be wonderful if you could spare a moment and leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Reviews are so important to new authors and it only has to be brief – every little helps! I read every single review and really appreciate the effort.

You can also help by clicking “like” on the book’s Amazon page. Thank you so much!

Thank you for all the support you gave me with my first book, The Anne Boleyn Collection, and I hope you like The Fall of Anne Boleyn as much.

The Fall of Anne Boleyn Blurb

During the spring of 1536 in Tudor England, events conspire to bring down Anne Boleyn, the Queen of England. The coup against the Queen results in the brutal executions of six innocent people – Anne Boleyn herself, her brother, and four courtiers – and the rise of a new Queen.

Drawing on sixteenth century letters, eye witness accounts and chronicles, Claire Ridgway leads the reader through the sequence of chilling events one day at a time, telling the true story of Anne Boleyn’s fall. The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown is presented in a diary format, allowing readers to dip in, look up a particular date, or read from start to finish. Special features include mini biographies of those involved, a timeline of events and full referencing.

Claire Ridgway, creator of The Anne Boleyn Files website and author of The Anne Boleyn Collection, continues her mission to share the real truth about Anne Boleyn.

Book Extras

On the book website – www.thefallofanneboleyn.com – you will find the following book extras:-

• Interactive timeline of the events of 1536 – Check daily for new events.
• Chapter notes and references
• Full bibliography
• Cast list
• Information on the places mentioned in the book
• YouTube videos on Anne Boleyn
• Gallery of photos
• Q&A with me
• Printable timeline

The Book Trailer

At The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown website you will find:-

• An interactive timeline – I will be adding events as they happen, as we countdown to the 19th May 1536. Today’s event “Chapuys Bows to Queen Anne Boleyn” is there.
• Information on The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown book
• Bibliography – A full bibliography of the sources I used in writing The Fall of Anne Boleyn. It’s split into primary and secondary sources.
• Cast list – List of the main characters involved in the events of 1536.
• Printable timeline
• History Research Report – Sign up to receive this report and also to be informed of the book’s release.
• Author bio – That’s me!

The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown Blurb

During the spring of 1536 in Tudor England, events conspire to bring down Anne Boleyn, the Queen of England. The coup against the Queen results in the brutal executions of six innocent people – Anne Boleyn herself, her brother and four courtiers – and the rise of a new Queen.

Drawing on sixteenth century letters, eye witness accounts and chronicles, Claire Ridgway leads the reader through the sequence of chilling events one day at a time, telling the true story of Anne Boleyn’s fall.

The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown is presented in a diary format allowing readers to dip in, look up a particular date or read from start to finish. Special features include mini biographies of those involved, a timeline of events and full referencing.

Claire Ridgway, creator of The Anne Boleyn Files and author of The Anne Boleyn Collection, continues her mission to share the real truth about Anne Boleyn.

I am delighted with its success and with the emails I’m receiving every day from people who have enjoyed it, it makes all the hard work worth it.

Thank you to everyone for the continued support and encouragement!

You can find out more about The Anne Boleyn Collection at the book website – www.theanneboleyncollection.com

As you know, The Anne Boleyn Collection went live on Amazon on the 16th February 2012 and today, 13th March 2012, it got to number one in the Biographies & Memoirs>Historical section of the Amazon UK Kindle store.

At this moment in time, I have sold 1459 copies of my book, so I am incredibly happy. It is a wonderful feeling to see your book on the No.1 spot and know that it’s being read by so many people. I never dreamed that this would happen with my first self-published book and it’s been a wonderful journey so far.

Here are today’s Amazon rankings too…

Amazon UK Rankings

Amazon UK Rankings

I logged into Create Space and KDP this morning at 10.30 Central European time (so today had only just begun) to learn that I have sold a total of 1024 copies of my book in just 3 weeks. Seeing as 100 copies was my aim for the first month, I am completely blown away. Ecstatic just doesn’t cover it! The bubbly is in the fridge chilling and I will be enjoying it later!

Now, I could get all big-headed and diva-ish about this achievement (and probably will after a glass of bubbly), but I realise that The Anne Boleyn Collection is actually a team effort. Obviously I did the writing and research, but it’s thanks to followers of www.theanneboleynfiles.com that this book got written and it’s thanks to the Tudor history community that the book has sold so well. Anne Boleyn Files followers gave me the idea to publish this collection of articles (thank you to Dr Linda Saether!) and encouraged me all the way. Once the book was published, they then spread the word and I’m now in the middle of a virtual book tour hopping from Tudor blog to Tudor blog, which would not be possible without the kindness of those bloggers. It’s been an amazing journey and I’m still humble enough to know that I have been blessed with a loyal following.

So, what happens now?

Well, I’m continuing with my virtual book tour, which is so much fun, and I’m just finishing up on book two. I will also be continuing blogging on here about the progress of  The Anne Boleyn Collection and my experiences with self-publishing. You can also catch me on The Anne Boleyn Files blogging about all things Tudor.

For information on The Anne Boleyn Collection and my virtual book tour, please see www.TheAnneBoleynCollection.com

As I live in the virtual world, i.e. I am a blogger, I thought it was only right and fitting to do a virtual book tour. I really don’t have the finance in place or the time to do a proper book tour with book readings, signings and appearances, so I’m doing it virtually. Next week, I am going blog-hopping. I am visiting a different Tudor blog or Facebook page each day for an event or giveaway. The best way to explain this is to share my schedule with you:-

• Monday 5th March  The Tudor Tutor – I’ll be answering questions from Barb’s blog and Facebook followers and giving away a signed copy of “The Anne Boleyn Collection” plus a set of Henry VIII and Six Wives drink charms.
• Tuesday 6th March Let Them Grumble – I have written a guest article on Anne Boleyn for Libby over at her Let Them Grumble blog. I’ll also be offering a signed copy of my book and a pair of Anne Boleyn earrings from our “The Tudors” range. See Libby’s page tomorrow for details.
• Wednesday 7th March Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History – Over at Sarah’s Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History blog, I have written a guest article on Anne and George Boleyn and will be offering a signed copy of my book plus an Anne Boleyn B necklace or A necklace.
• Thursday 8th March Queen Anne Boleyn Facebook page – On the 8th March I will be answering questions posed by Sylwia’s followers and giving away a signed copy of “The Anne Boleyn Collection” plus an Anne Boleyn scarf.
• Friday 9th March On the Tudor Trail – Natalie will be interviewing me over at her On the Tudor Trail blog. I will also be giving away a signed copy of my book and an Anne Boleyn wine stopper.
• Monday 12th March NEW DATE The Everything Tudor ‘Tudor Book Blog’ – Elizabeth from Everything Tudor and The Tudor Tattler will be interviewing me on her Tudor Book Blog and I will be giving away a signed copy of my book along with an Anne Boleyn tote bag.
• Tuesday 13th March (to be confirmed) Legendary Women – I will be dropping in to the Legendary Women website as part of their Women’s History Month with my guest article on Anne Boleyn. I will be giving away a signed copy of my book and a Tudor themed prize. More details to come…

This virtual book tour is a win-win situation for me and the bloggers involved. I get publicity for my book and the opportunity to connect with their followers, and they get free content for their blogs and publicity via my blog. This was easy for me to arrange because I had already built up good relationships within the Tudor history blogging community, but you could easily connect with blogs by doing a Google search for your subject area. You could offer to write guest posts, do a giveaway or offer bloggers the opportunity to review your book. You could even come up with something more creative, it’s up to you.

I am really excited about this virtual book tour! It will be great to meet and interact with new people. Fun, fun, fun!

What do I mean?

Well, I began researching and writing about Anne Boleyn and Tudor history in February 2009 – THREE YEARS AGO. I set up The Anne Boleyn Files blog on the 17th February 2009 and started blogging regularly on that, sharing my research and writing articles about Anne and the Tudors. I had always been a writer but the motivation behind The Anne Boleyn Files was to share and educate, not to use it as a platform for marketing a book. I had absolutely no idea on that day in February 2009 that anyone would ever find the site and start following it, but they did, and as a result of that I then set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

When “The Anne Boleyn Collection” was released on the 17th February 2012, the three year anniversary of The Anne Boleyn Files website, I had built up quite a following. Here are the figures:-

• 24,700 People per month on www.theanneboleynfiles.com (170,000 page views per month)
• 4,793 followers of my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/theanneboleynfiles
• 236 regular followers on my RSS feed
• 3,124 twitter followers on twitter.com/#!/anneboleynfiles
• 313 Youtube subscribers
• 70,596 views of my Youtube videos

So, when The Anne Boleyn Collection was released, I could announce it on my website, Facebook and Twitter, I could publish the video trailer on YouTube and I could also email my subscribers. I had built some buzz by telling people about the book and so people were waiting for its release. I had a market and my market knew me and my work.

During the three years of running The Anne Boleyn Files, I had also built up good relationships with other Tudor history bloggers and writers, so they were happy to spread the word about the release of my book and I am very grateful to them for doing so. I do the same for them and for historians and authors so I guess it’s a case of reaping what you sow.

From my reading on Self-publishing, I knew that it was important to get some reviews as soon as possible, so I offered members of The Anne Boleyn Fellowship, my membership site, the chance to beta read and review the e-book version. They were very excited about doing so, which was nice, and three of them got their reviews on Amazon within 24 hours of the book’s release. Lovely people!

As you can see, this book’s success was three years in the making. It wasn’t good luck or a fluke, it was the result of hard work and lots of sacrifices along the way.

Does this mean that someone who hasn’t got an established market cannot publish their book and enjoy success? No, of course not, but what I would say is that you cannot publish your book then sit on your bum watching the sales flood in, you need to get out there and market it. Here are some ideas:-

• Get blogging – You can set up an easy to use WordPress blog for free and there are lots of templates to choose from. If your book is about a particular subject then blog about that or blog about your self-publishing journey. Do it regularly, around three times a week and before you know it you’ll have an interesting and informative blog.
• Build a list – I have a list of email subscribers who downloaded my “welcome basket” which consists of three reports to do with Anne Boleyn and Tudor history. They subscribe by entering their name and email in a box on my website and I contact them with news/articles using icontact.com. Could you write a report or offer a sample chapter of your book to build a list?
• Use social media – Get on Facebook and Twitter! I use Networked Blogs on Facebook to automatically post an extract of my blog posts from The Anne Boleyn Files on to my Twitter feed and my Facebook page. People can then click on the link to read more.
• Get involved in Goodreads – Goodreads is a community of booklovers, readers and authors. I was already a member as a reader and was able to upgrade to an Author page when I published my book. Readers rate and review books, join discussion groups, become fans of authors, enter giveaways etc. As an author, you can publicise your book, offer copies/signed copies for a giveaway, interact with your readers etc. It’s a great community.
• Shelfari – I’m new to Shelfari, but you and your readers can use it to add “extras” to your book – character details, synopsis, quotes etc. – and these then get linked to your Amazon listing.
• YouTube – Can you make a trailer for your book and put it on YouTube? Why not get someone to interview you?

Those are all good starting points and good luck!

P.S. Two books I’d highly recommend on self-publishing are:-

• Self-Printed: The Sane Person’s Guide to Self-Publishing by Catherine Ryan Howard
• Dollars & Sense: The Definitive Guide to Self-publishing Success by Carolyn McCray, Amber Scott and Rachel Thompson