What Does $99 of Visibility Actually Buy an Indie Author?
When you’re an indie author, you don’t just write the book. You run an entire business model.
You edit it. Format it. (Or find an awesome formatter that makes your indie book look trad! More on that in another post.) Publish it.
Track the ISBNs, the copyrights, the LCCNs, the PCNs.
Manage metadata, research comps, and troubleshoot distribution.
You watch foreign exchange fluctuations shift your royalty totals by a penny (this one really did surprise me!).
Somewhere in the middle of all of that, you try to figure out how readers are going to find your work.
All while drafting that sequel. (A writer’s gotta write!)
Every release becomes both a creative project and a business decision.
This week, I’m leaning into the business side.
I’m running a Goodreads giveaway for my dark fantasy novel, Beware the Raven. For $99, Goodreads allows authors to give away up to 100 eBook copies and promotes the listing within their platform for a two-week period.
Ninety-nine dollars isn’t a fortune. But it’s not nothing, either. The question is: is it worth it?
If you’re on Goodreads and want to follow along with the experiment, you can enter the giveaway here:
or (BUY a copy of Beware the Raven here)
The Stage I’m In
Right now, the book has a handful of reviews.
That’s not unusual for an indie release, especially one that’s building organically through local events, libraries, word-of-mouth, and small online communities.
It’s enough to show that real people have read it, but it’s not enough to feel established.
And whether we like it or not, readers look at review counts. After all, books are an investment. An investment of time and of money.
So I started asking myself:
What moves the needle at this stage?
Why Goodreads?
Goodreads occupies an interesting space in the book ecosystem.
It isn’t a retailer. It isn’t traditional social media. It’s more like a massive, ever-evolving catalog of reader intent.
When someone enters a giveaway, the book is automatically added to their “Want to Read” shelf.
Why is that a big deal?
“Want to Read” adds signal interest. And interest signals relevance. The more reliance a book has inside the Goodreads system the more visible it becomes.
Will that immediately translate to sales? Probably not in a dramatic way. However, it does show me where reader curiosity is building.
And at this stage, curiosity is valuable data.
What I’m Actually Measuring
This isn’t about giving away books just to give them away.
I’m curious about a few specific things.
How many people actually enter.
Whether my “Want to Read” numbers move in a noticeable way.
If reviews start to tick up over the next month or two.
And whether there’s any lingering effect after the giveaway ends.
None of this is dramatic. It’s incremental.
That’s what most of indie publishing looks like. Small risks, small data points, and small adjustments.
You try something. See what happens. Then you tweak it for next time.
And in between all of that, you keep writing the next book.
The Marketing Reality of Indie Publishing
One of the more surprising parts of publishing independently is how much of it feels like running a small lab.
You experiment with pricing. Adjust cover messaging. Test different ad platforms. Show up at local events. And learn how metadata affects search.
Most of the time, you’re making decisions with partial information. Because of that, patience becomes part of the process.
Sometimes results come quickly. Often they take longer than you expect.
If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like behind the scenes of a small press, this is it.
It’s steady work. Iterative. Quiet. Small improvements layered over time.
Why Now?
The sequel is in development, so I’ve been thinking a lot about the foundation of Book One.
If another installment is coming, I want the first book to feel settled and steady. Strong enough to support what comes next.
That means more visibility, more readers discovering it, and more signs that the story is reaching beyond my immediate circle.
A Goodreads giveaway felt like a reasonable step in that direction.
Will it move the needle in a dramatic way? I honestly don’t know.
But part of this process is choosing a lever, pulling it, and watching what happens.
If You’re Curious
If you’re on Goodreads and enjoy dark, atmospheric fantasy — or stories that explore grief, loyalty, and the uneasy spaces between life and death — you can enter the giveaway here:
👉 Enter the Goodreads Giveaway here
It runs through March 1.
And whether you enter or simply follow along, thank you for being part of this process. Building a book this way takes time.
Indie publishing isn’t only about writing stories.
It’s about learning how to help those stories find the readers who are meant for them.
I love hearing from readers. If this post resonated, feel free to email me at tonya@dragandflypress.com. I read every message.