Category: Book Marketing

Book Marketing, book reviews, indie author, indie books, Romance Author

Is It Worth Sending Free Books to Influencers?

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As a small-ish indie author, there’s always this annoying little question lurking in the back of your mind.

Should I send out free copies of my book, even though my budget is already clinging on for dear life? Or should I just let nature take its course and hope the right readers find it?

The temptation is always there. You see other authors go viral after one amazing influencer review, and suddenly it feels like maybe that could be you too. One post. One reel. One reader screaming about your book in the right corner of the internet.

But the risk is there too.

Because sometimes, you send your books out and nothing happens. No review. No post. No mention. No movement. Just your precious little book disappearing into the void while your bank account looks at you like, “Really?”

“And let’s be honest, it is hard out here for indie authors.“

Books that are back in stock.
Books that are back in stock.

Since AI entered the creative space, the market has been flooded with low-quality books, which makes it even harder for genuine authors to be noticed in the sea of new titles. Sometimes it feels like swimming against the current, or walking through the wind with leaves smacking you in the face from every direction.

Ads are not always an option either. Especially when you’ve already exhausted your budget on editing, formatting, cover design, proofs, paperbacks, ISBNs, and all the other things people forget about when they say, “Self-publishing is free.”

“It is not.”

Signed copies and book bundles

And God forbid you want character art, bookmarks, PR boxes, or merch to help attract future readers and make your book feel special.

So then the question becomes: is sending your precious baby to book influencers actually worth it?

Honestly? If you send it to the right ones, yes. But that is the key part. The right ones.

I see a lot of authors make the mistake of sending their books to reviewers who do not even read their genre. Or they send books to creators they do not follow, do not interact with, and have never supported, then hope that person is going to suddenly rave about their work.

“Don’t be that author! I mean it!“

Book influencers are readers first. If someone has built their account around cosy fantasy, why are you sending them dark romance? If someone only reviews traditional publishing titles or the same trendy books everyone else is posting about, they may not be the right fit for your indie release. That does not make them bad. It just means their account is probably built around what performs well for them.

“And that is where follower count can be misleading.“

A huge following does not automatically mean a creator is the best choice for your book. Sometimes those big accounts are drowning in book mail. You can see it in the constant unboxings. Stack after stack after stack. And as much as it looks impressive, you have to be realistic. Are they actually going to have time to read your book? Or is it likely to become one more title in a very pretty pile?

No shade to bigger reviewers, because many of them work hard and genuinely love books. But smaller reviewer accounts are often the ones who will actually read your book, talk about it properly, and shout from the rooftops if they love it.

They might not have fifty thousand followers, but they might have a small, loyal audience who trusts them. They might actually read indie books. They might interact with authors. They might understand how much it means when you send them something you created with your whole chest and your very traumatised bank balance.

That matters.

So, is it worth it when your budget is so low that it is basically in hell?

There is no guarantee.

Sending out a book will never promise you sales, reviews, or visibility. But there are definitely creators out there who will honour the fact that you sent them your baby. Readers who understand the indie struggle. Reviewers who genuinely want to support smaller authors. People who do not just want the most hyped book of the month, but are excited to discover something new.

Those are the readers worth looking for. Not necessarily the biggest accounts. The right accounts.

So before you send your book, do your homework. Watch how they review. Check what genres they actually enjoy. See if they support indie authors. Look at whether their followers engage with them properly, not just whether the number at the top of their profile looks impressive.

Because when you are working with a tiny budget, every copy matters.

Send your book with intention, not desperation.

And remember, your book is not less valuable because you are indie. It deserves to be placed in the hands of people who might actually love it.

What’s your opinion on the topic? I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences below!

xoxo Ava

Award-Winning Author, Award-Winning Series, Book Marketing, indie author, indie books, paranormal romance, Romance Author, romance books, shifter romance

New Year, New Me? An Indie Author’s Honest Look at Writing, Burnout, and Business

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Every January, we all seem to make the same promises to ourselves. Eat better. Be more organised. Read more books. Start fresh. Reinvent ourselves. For me, this year’s version of that promise looks a little different.

I want to get better at book marketing.

That sentence alone feels heavier than it should. Not because I don’t care, but because over the last few months of 2025, I genuinely questioned whether I should keep writing at all. Not because I’m out of ideas. I have more stories in my head than I’ll probably ever have time to write. And not because I’ve fallen out of love with it. Writing has never been “just a hobby” for me.

The truth is simpler and harder to admit.

Writing has cost me a lot over the last five years. Time. Money. Energy. Emotional bandwidth. And the return has not matched the investment.

I was told early on that if I wanted to maximise sales as a new author, I needed to write a series. So I did…

I wrote multiple books, built worlds, developed characters, and stayed consistent. What I didn’t learn was how to actually get those books into readers’ hands.

I assumed that posting on social media would be enough. That visibility would somehow translate into sales if I just showed up often enough.

It didn’t. And watching the numbers barely move, month after month, chipped away at my confidence in ways I didn’t expect.

I got discouraged. Quietly. Internally. I didn’t announce it. I didn’t rage-quit. I just started shrinking back, wondering whether the sensible thing would be to put the pen down and walk away.

But here’s the part I had to be brutally honest with myself about. My low numbers are not because my stories are bad.

Bad stories don’t win awards. They don’t resonate with readers who do find them. They don’t get kind messages from people who stayed up too late turning pages. The problem isn’t the work. The problem is that I don’t know how to get people to read it.

And no amount of aesthetic Instagram posts has fixed that.

What I’ve realised recently is that I’ve been avoiding something inevitable. Something uncomfortable. Something a lot of creatives struggle with.

Treating my writing like a business.

I know how that sentence lands. Art isn’t supposed to be a product. Stories are personal. They come from somewhere real. And the idea of packaging creativity into funnels, strategies, and marketing plans can feel soul-destroying.

But here’s the reality I can’t ignore anymore.

If I want writing to be my career, I have to stop treating it like a passion project that magically pays off one day. Wanting to live off your art means learning how the industry works. It means understanding visibility, positioning, marketing, and yes, sales.

Avoiding that doesn’t make me more authentic. It just keeps me invisible.

So maybe this isn’t a “new year, new me” moment after all. Perhaps it’s a “same me, but braver” one.

“In 2026, I’m choosing to put my imposter syndrome aside. I’m choosing to step out of the shadows and learn the parts of this journey I’ve been avoiding. Not because I want to turn my stories into soulless products, but because I want to give them a fair chance to reach the readers they were written for. This year, I’m treating my writing as the career I’ve always wanted it to be.”

Award-Winning Author, Book Marketing, indie author, indie books, Romance Author

INDIE BOOK MARKETING – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

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When I started writing back in 2020, I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that I wanted to write the story that was brewing in my head. During the lockdowns, I was presented with more free time — aka more time to read… again. It didn’t take long for my love for literature to rekindle, not that the flame ever died… small children can just take up most of your time, but I digress.

During that time, I came across a type of literature I didn’t normally read. I was more of a thriller, religious sci-fi, epic fantasy girl — and then I fell in love with romance. The spicier kind. That’s when my characters really started to form in my mind. Fast-forward to now, I’m a romance author with multiple titles under my belt (some even recognised in the literary world), but one thing has remained the same since I started this journey… BOOK MARKETING struggles.

I don’t know how to market or promote my books to save my life. That would be fine and dandy if I were writing as a hobby. Although I appreciate every copy sold and every review I’ve received, at this point, writing really is a very expensive hobby. Like many other indie authors, I’m using the platforms that are supposed to showcase my work in the most budget-friendly way — but I haven’t cracked the code of “going viral”. Don’t get me twisted, this is not a pity post. I’m not here crying over my inadequacy or social-media illiteracy… I did and still do put in the work to understand the algorithm. But as for getting visibility — I just don’t know what to do or how to do it.

“Writing is expensive when no one sees you.”

One thing I am confident in is my stories. I’m not cocky, but I know I’ve got something good going on here… if only people would see it. And yes, I hear what seasoned authors say: “invest in Facebook ads, run Amazon ads…” but the issue? I can’t. I don’t have the budget. Not generating enough sales, page reads… revenue. Because let’s be honest — KU doesn’t always pay off, and we need to sell hundreds of eBooks just to cover the basic costs of our publishing process (no, sorry… publishing is not free, even if the platform uploads your book for free). People are also more likely to invest in physical copies only after they’ve read something of yours they already like… and with the cost of living doing what it’s doing? Yeah.

“We need to understand that we are all in this together. There’s no reader without the author, and there’s no author without the reader.”

So where does that leave us as creatives? We’re paying for everything — editors, cover design(Yes, pre-made covers are cheaper), formatting (be that software or a person) — and sometimes there’s just nothing left for anything else. So what do we do as indie authors who have depleted our finances and still haven’t cracked the code to going viral? Do we keep going and accept that our stories might only ever be read by a few (and risk not being able to afford the quality editing and art we know those stories deserve), or do we give up and live with the voices of our never-written characters?

It really is a cold world out there. I haven’t decided yet… maybe because I haven’t hit rock bottom and still have a few coins — and a bit of hope — to spare. But here’s what I do know: there are so many writers out there with incredible stories who will disappear into the ether not because they’re not talented — but because they just don’t know how to market. If that’s you… Don’t bow out just yet. Keep writing. Keep showing up, even if it feels exhausting, even if it feels like no one cares. Keep learning. Keep experimenting. Because maybe we don’t need to go viral — maybe all we need is for the right couple of readers to find us… the rest can grow from there. And who knows — that whisper could still become a roar.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are based on my personal experience as an independent author. I am not sponsored by — nor affiliated with — Amazon, Facebook, or any of the platforms referenced, and individual results may vary.

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