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Above my desk I have a cork board that holds some of the badges I wore between 1978 and 1987. The badges were the inspiration for the title of my latest book: Badgeland. Political badges - or campaign buttons as they are known in the U.S. - were very common throughout the 1970s and 1980s. We wore our badges on our chests with pride like twelfth century pilgrims who bought pewter badges to demonstrate their devout status. Below is a brief summary of the badges which graced my denim jacket from 1978 to 1987.

If you are looking for advice as an Independent author I can really recommend the Two Indie Authors podcast. In this podcast the best-selling indie authors, David B. Lyons and Robert Enright talk about about being an independent author. I have found the podcast to be open, honest and refreshing. The authors cover a lot of ground including why they chose to be Indie authors, the tools they use (big shout out to Vellum), how they market their books and discuss numbers (including their costs and sales). The discussions are in-depth, each podcast is about an hour long and there are no adverts that you have fast forward through. Their episodes so far have covered: How they became full time authors How they market their books How they write their books The costs of self-publishing The numbers that matter, particularly advertising costs and returns What to include in your front and back matter Audiobooks In each episode they also interview experts and authors for their tips and advice on being an Indie author. What are you waiting for? Go check it out. Two Indie Authors

I initially became an Indie author through my own impatience in the summer of 2020. I had written a book about Labour's catastrophic performance in so-called Red Wall seats at the December 2019 UK election and was keen to get it published. When I spoke to potential agents and publishers I was amazed that even though the book was written, it would take up to two years to get it published. I was convinced the book was of the moment and there would be far less interest years down the line. Determined to get the book out to the world I read about Amazon KDP publishing. It seemed it was possible to publish the book on Amazon as an ebook and as a paperback almost immediately. Enthused I purchased a licence for Vellum (software that formats and produces your book in the correct format for both ebooks and physical books), imported my Word document and learnt how to use the software in a day or so.  I asked my favourite graphic designer to design me a cover and uploaded all of my files to Amazon. After a short review and approval process my book was available to buy on Amazon. I did a little of my own marketing, sending the book to various blogs and journalists, and paid for some very limited Amazon marketing. To my surprise the book quickly became the bestseller in its category, selling four thousand copies. In retrospect despite employing a developmental editor, I should have engaged a copy editor and/or a proofreader. I am now a little embarrassed at some of the typos that crept in, though I did update and upload the files when I came across errors to correct them. In my rush to get the book out I didn't do enough rigorous editing. Thus when it came to my second book, a political memoir which wasn't time critical, I decided to rectify these mistakes and gave myself almost a year after the first draft was complete to edit, review and improve the book. I sent the book to over twenty friends to read and review, many of whom picked up various errors. I also employed an editor and a proofreader to ensure the book was a professional Indie book. Professional Indie Publishing I think I first heard about professional Indie publishing from James Altucher. While replying to a post on Quora he explained why he had chosen to Indie publish his book and why it was important to be a professional Indie publisher . One of the major roles played by publishers is to provide some form of quality control over books. The danger with Indie publishing is that people can and do publish some very low quality books. However, when the Indie publishing is done professionally it is impossible to tell the difference between a book from a traditional publisher and a professional Indie book. I agree with Altucher when he says that being professional means employing editors, copy editors, proofreaders, and graphic artists, and investing similarly in marketing. The Benefits of Professional Indie Publishing Speed to publication. The additional layers of quality control from research to editing to proofreading do add time to the process but Indie publishing is so much faster than traditional publishing. Control. You have more control of the whole process including matters such as the cover design and the final content. Revenue. You receive a much higher share of revenue. For example, if you go exclusive on Amazon Kindle you receive 70% of the revenue. Challenges of Professional Indie Publishing There are challenges of self-publishing. Fundamentally you are responsible for publication, quality control, marketing and accounting. Publication involves the formatting of your book. This can be done with existing software tools. As I mentioned I personally use Vellum which produces ebook formats for Kindle, Nook, Kobo etc., and ready to print paperbacks and hardbacks. Professional quality control requires you to employ an editor and a proofreader at a bare minimum. Please do not make the mistake that I did on my first book of thinking you can proofread your own work. In the case of my second book Badgeland, I worked with an editor on the first draft. I then had over 20 beta readers review the edited book. They were not proof reading but they picked up many issues. For the proof reading I created a style guide based loosely on a guide for Pluto Books, which produce political books, for example percentage numbers were formatted as 30 percent, dates were formatted as 16 March 1987, film, book and song titles were italicised, and newspaper headlines were contained in single quotes. I engaged a proofreader to spend two weeks on the book before making my final changes and uploading the files to Amazon. Amazon also allow you to produce a proof copies of the paperback to check before finally publishing the book. Marketing is the biggest challenge for most Indie authors. Publishing houses will have marketing teams who will seek to get your book in front of the right reviewers, organise your book launch etc. As an ex-marketer I personally loved the challenge of marketing the book but it doesn’t suit all Indie authors. I have provided some guidance and advice in my blog post about developing a book marketing plan. The key things are: Build your own email list of friends and supporters. Over time this will grow and allow you to keep in touch with your supporters. You can incentivise people to give you their email by providing them with bonus chapters or updates. Ask people to post reviews of your book on Amazon, you can also do this at the end of your book itself. You can also look at review sites such as Independent Book Review or Reedsy Discovery . Offer the book to relevant blog and review sites in advance of publication. Create an author website where people can read about your book, find out more about you and sign up to your email list. Test advertising on either Amazon or Facebook or both. It is essential that you understand your target audience. For example, if you know what books they read you can post your Amazon adverts next to those books, or if your demographic is women over 50 you can target them on facebook. The Key is to start small and review how well your ads are working. Look at promotional sites such as BookBub where they may promote your book after publication as part of a discounted promotion. You can submit your book for a featured deal.

The one thing we all want as Indie authors is that Amazon orange 'bestseller' tag. It not only does wonders for your self-esteem but for your marketing and promotion. To give yourself the best chance of achieving the this accolade you need to choose the right Amazon categories. In this post I look at how you can analyse the Amazon categories using Publisher Rocket. Publisher Rocket is a software tool that costs around $100. Having seen it recommended by many authors I decided to take the plunge and buy the tool. I am pleased I did, as it has helped me to choose the Amazon categories for my next book. Choosing the right category is critical to your chances of achieving that coveted 'bestseller' tag. As an Indie author you can only choose two categories initially, though it is possible to add more categories later. I was looking at categories for my memoir about coming of age as a young socialist in the 1980s. The obvious category was Biographies and Memoirs. However, according to Publisher Rocket I would need to sell 4,700 books a day to be a best seller in that category. I am generally an optimistic person but selling over 4,000 books in a day is out of my league. I decided to leave that category to Prince Harry and Michelle Obama. I then searched for relevant categories for my book. Below are the results.

The aim of a book blurb is to sell your book, not to describe it or summarise it. You don’t want them thinking TL:DR - too long, didn’t read. To prepare the blurb for my memoir, Badgeland, I read lots of articles about writing book blurbs, reviewed lots of Amazon book descriptions and even bought a Kindle book on writing blurbs. The consensus from my research was that a blurb should be kept short, around 200 to 250 words, and have four parts. It should also be easy to read and fun. The structure of a book blurb What I took away from my research was that a blurb should have four paragraphs as follows: Para 1 - The hook. This is where you seek to grab attention and encourage the reader to keep reading. Para 2 - Where you introduce your character. Stories are about characters. Where you set up the conflict and show what’s at stake. This paragraph should end on a cliffhanger e.g. the challenge they face or have to overcome. Para 3 - Where you set out what is going to happen as a consequence of the second paragraph. Set out what other complications may prevent the protagonist achieving their goal. Again end with a cliffhanger. Some people argue this should always be presented as a question. Para 4 - Explain what the book is and why a reader should buy it. Below is my attempt at a drafting a book blurb following this guidance Para 1 - Hook Steve Rayson believed working-class people had everything to gain from socialism. The only problem was they didn't agree with him. I have introduced the main character in para 1 rather than in para 2. Many hooks are much shorter but I feel this sets up the story. Para 2 - Introduction, stakes and cliffhanger In 1979 Margaret Thatcher was threatening to change Britain forever, and not in a good way. Determined to defeat her, Steve joined the Swindon Labour Party, pinned protest badges to his chest and marched against mass unemployment, apartheid and nuclear weapons. His radical generation was going to change the world but he would learn the hard way that the popularity of the Clash and the Jam was not a good predictor of General Election results. I am conscious I don’t really end on a cliffhanger here but hopefully the humour helps to pull the reader along to paragraph three. Para 3 - Complication and cliffhanger Bewildered by Conservative election victories in the 1980s, he had to reassess what he had been taught by his badgeland comrades. What do you do as a young socialist when your dad’s mates in the working men’s club buy their council houses, drive Austin Metros (a British car to beat the world), read The Sun, and vote Tory? He would come to realise that politics isn’t all it seems at seventeen. I hope this gets across the core complication in the book, namely that the world was more nuanced than the black and white way I saw the world at seventeen. The memoir is fundamentally about coming of age and how my view of the world changed as I grew older. Para 4 - The explanation, the story, the benefit Badgeland is an insightful, warm and frequently hilarious memoir about coming of age, politics, class and social mobility in the 1970s and 1980s. It is a deeply personal account of loss and renewal that will resonate with everyone regardless of the party they support. My draft blurb is reasonably short at 207 words. I am hoping this leaves room for improvement and also for some quotes about the book. I am conscious that on Amazon only eight lines appear on the book’s page. This is followed by a ‘read more’ button, which reveals the rest of the book blurb. It is the old equivalent of the text that appears above the fold. In my case I estimate this means the blurb will finish with my line about top ten records by the Clash and the Jam not being a good predictor of General Election results. Final Amazon Book Description My final book description for Amazon was as follows: "Steve Rayson believed working-class people had everything to gain from socialism. The only problem was they didn't agree with him. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher was threatening to change Britain forever, and not in a good way. Determined to defeat her, Steve joined the Swindon Labour Party, pinned protest badges to his chest and marched against mass unemployment, apartheid and nuclear weapons. His radical generation was going to change the world but he would learn the hard way that the popularity of the Clash and the Jam was not a good predictor of General Election results. Bewildered by Conservative election victories in the 1980s, he had to reassess what he had been taught by his badgeland comrades. What do you do as a young socialist when your dad’s mates in the working men’s club buy their council houses, drive Austin Metros (a British car to beat the world), read The Sun, and vote Tory? He would come to realise that politics isn’t all it seems at seventeen. Badgeland is an insightful, warm and frequently hilarious memoir about coming of age, politics, class and social mobility in the 1970s and 1980s. It is a deeply personal account of loss and renewal that will resonate with everyone regardless of the party they support."

One of the biggest challenges facing Independent authors is marketing. So many of us like to write but shy away from self-promotion and marketing. Unfortunately, if you are an Indie author a solid marketing plan is as important as the book itself. No one is going to buy your book if they are not aware of it. I have set out below how I have approached developing a marketing plan for my upcoming book Badgeland. I started putting this plan together three months before the launch of my book. I think in retrospect I should have put this together much earlier and thought about how I would market the book at the very start of the writing process. 1. Audience You need to understand the audience for your book. I started writing my latest book for my grandchildren. I didn’t really think about who might buy the book. It was only when I finished writing that I reflected on the potential audience. Ideally you would think about this a lot earlier than I did. My book is a blend of memoir, politics and social history. My thoughts on the potential audience included: People who grew up at the same time as me, and particularly those who were also in the Labour Party Young Socialists and wore the same protest badges. People interested in politics, specifically Labour Party and left politics in the 1980s. The book is set in Swindon, the University of Bath and in the Greater London Council. Thus it might also appeal to people who live in Swindon, who were or are students at the University of Bath, or who worked at the GLC. The book is a memoir and might also appeal to people interested in coming of age stories. Finally, the book is about social mobility and my transition from a working-class lad in Swindon to a London graduate and ultimately an entrepreneur. So it might appeal to people interested in these topics. 2. Where does your audience hang out and what do they read? If you are to get your book in front of your audience you need to know where they hang out. Each of the five audiences I have listed above might hang out in different places. After some searching I found there is a niche Facebook group for people that were in the Labour Party Young Socialists in the 1980s. I also found much bigger groups interested in Swindon and Bath University. On Reddit there are many communities dedicated to the Labour Party which might be interested in my story. On Twitter I managed to search and find people who were also active in the Labour Party in 1980s and a few who also worked at the GLC. I am planning to post or advertise to these audiences to see if I can tempt them to try my book. The audience for my book will include the readers of similar books such as ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ and ‘No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy’. Thus one option is to buy Amazon ads and ensure my book appears alongside those books. A large section of my audience will read left publications such as The New Statesman, Left Foot Forward and Red Pepper. Thus I will pitch my book to them and seek a review. It is highly unlikely but I will also pitch my book to major publications and newspapers. If you don’t ask and all that. One section of my audience will probably read the Swindon Advertiser, while another may read the Bath Echo or Bath Chronicle. Thus it will be worth pitching my book to these publications for review. 3. Core Marketing messages Once you know your core audience you need to draft key marketing messages that will appeal to this audience. This starts with the title and particularly the sub-title of your book. You can review the book descriptions of similar books and analyse what keywords and phrases they use. One way to sharpen your focus is to write the Amazon book description and back cover blurb for your book. Ideally this should be 200 to 250 words. It needs to start with a hook to draw the reader in and finish with a paragraph which explains what the book is. It’s core purpose is to sell the book, not summarise it. I have written a separate post on how I developed my book blurb . You can also read reviews on Amazon and GoodReads to see how reviewers describe the book. 4. Keywords What keywords are your audience likely to search for? This is closely linked to your core marketing messages. I started by reviewing reviews of similar books and considering the words and phrases they use. Some of the keywords I identified were Labour Party, working-class, social mobility, coming of age, 1980s and memoir. I drew up a shortlist of possible keywords, Amazon allows you to use seven, and then I analysed these using Publisher Rocket to assess how many times they are searched for each month and how competitive they are. Publisher Rocket uses a scale from 1 to 100, with a 100 being the most competitive. The results for my keywords were as follows.