Traditionally Self-Published with Mica Merrill Rice

From Killer Plots to Killer Marketing with Saleema Ishq

• Mica Merrill Rice • Season 1 • Episode 7

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“Treat marketing like storytelling instead of advertising…” - Saleema Ishq

In this episode, thriller author and TikTok book marketing influencer Saleema Ishq joins me to talk about the craft of writing page-turning stories and how to grow your readership through BookTok.

In this conversation, we dive into:

  • Her latest release, Sisters Arcana, an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller
  • How she crafts a story that keep readers hooked
  • What actually works when marketing books on social media (and what doesn’t)
  • Her best tips for authors on writing and social media marketing

About Saleema:

Saleema Ishq is a former copywriter turned award-winning thriller author who accidentally fell in love with book marketing while launching her debut novel. Since then, she’s sold thousands of books, built a TikTok community of 16k+ readers, and picked up a few awards and media shoutouts along the way (all without burning out or selling out). Now she helps other authors do the same, making marketing feel authentic, sustainable, and even fun.

Free Social Media Kit for TSP listeners from Salmeema: 

Resources mentioned in our podcast:

  • Quill and Cup (women’s writing group): https://www.quillandcup.com
  • Editor Nicole Meier: https://nicolemeier.com

Connect with Saleema on: 

  • TikTok: saleemaishq 
  • Instagram: saleemaishq
  • Website: www.fearlessphrases.com

Have a publishing question? Email me at mica@micamerrillrice.com

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Website: micamerrillrice.com

Instagram: @micamriceauthor

Facebook: @micamriceauthor

TikTok: @micamriceauthor

"Traditionally Self-Published" theme music is written by Landon Bailey and performed and produced by LNDÖ


UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

What's up, plot twisters, and a warm welcome to my page turners, the intrigued readers and listeners who are just stepping into the story. Whatever title you fancy today, I am so happy you're here with us. You're listening to Traditionally Self-Published, where we unravel the chaos of self-publishing and help you write your own success story like a pro. I'm your host, Mika Merrill-Rice, author with a passion for learning and sharing the love. I'm bringing you real talk with publishing pros and indie authors just like me who flip the script and built thriving author careers on their own terms and are doing it like a pro. So whether you're a first-time author or you're a seasoned pro, you're right where you need to be. All right, today we are talking all things scary from someone who not only wrote a psychological thriller but also knows what it takes to navigate the terrifying world of marketing a book through social media. So if you've ever wondered what separates a scary author to one we can't wait to scream about, this episode is for you. you. I'm joined today by Salima Ishq, author of Sisters Arcana, a psychological thriller, and she's also a TikTok marketing influencer who gives you easy and actionable ideas for posts you can create to help grow your author brand. So today we're going to talk about her latest release, Sisters Arcana, crafting a page turner, unraveling the world of TikTok book marketing, and then we're going to conclude with my Inkstarter lightning round and Salima's five best tips for authors. So let's be Bold, Write Smart, and Learn How to Keep Readers Turning the Pages. Welcome, Salima. It's so nice to have you. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. All right. Well, let's get started. I have so many questions for you on your book. So Sisters Arcana, tell me a little bit about your latest thriller. What's the hook that's going to grab readers?

SPEAKER_01:

The hook. I'm all about hooking readers and hooking authors as well on social media. So Sisters Arcana And my hook is two estranged sisters reunite to decode cryptic tarot messages that take them back to a childhood trauma that they are now reliving as adults. Awesome. And where did you get this idea from? All of my stories are inspired by my deepest fears. And truthfully, tarot, tarot cards are one of my big fears. I'm really familiar with Oracle cards, but tarot, the fact that it involves the death card always kind of freaked me out. So I wanted to incorporate that into the story, as well as strange sisters. I have two sisters, we're very, very close. So this big what if that pops into my head, what if we weren't close? What if we weren't in each other's lives? So that was kind of the inspiration for the story. And then it just unfolded from there.

SPEAKER_00:

That's great. Yes, I read the book. And it is like, again, just so unique, because you're blending like this, the tarot cards and this like a little bit of magic. And then you're blending it with this like dual point of view and these different timelines. And it was just so different, I think, than any of the recent psychological thrillers that I've read. So it was a really, really great read for me. So one of the questions, another question that I have, speaking of like, you know, kind of dealing with the dual timelines and the point of views, like how did you balance your plot twist with those believable characters?

SPEAKER_01:

That's such a good question. I had it formatted to have the dual timelines. And I really leaned into the character development, I knew I wanted that to be a really big piece, as well as this character with mental health conditions, that's also a really big theme. So that's where I started. And the plot twists kind of came about by getting to know the characters. And I feel like I was always one of those writers who, when people would say, Oh, my characters kind of led me down this path, my character's told me this, I was always like, Oh, yeah, sure. But now I get it. My characters took me on this ride. And they're the ones that revealed these big twists and turns to me. So it just kind of came up like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Yeah, I definitely picked up on that. With the character, just the way that like math that she does was, you know, it's it, it was just so well done, very tastefully done. I really liked that. And it really gave me a sense for who she was. um in this book so great job for that thank you um all right so when you did this book did you have in mind that you were ever going to do a series like is there a potential for that or is this just kind of like a standalone story

SPEAKER_01:

that's a question i get a lot because i did kind of leave it open to a potential sequel it's not a cliffhanger um for anyone who has not read it but it does leave some things open i truthfully i prefer writing standalones simply because i feel like when I'm done with the book, I'm closing the book on that chapter and kind of letting my characters go. So I think in the future, there could potentially be a time when I come back and write a sequel or I potentially might have a series. But for now, I kind of let these characters go out into the world and I'm moving on to another story.

SPEAKER_00:

Very nice. All right. Let's talk about crafting that page, Turner. I want to know how you plan this. So you, again, dual point of view. you are doing two different timelines. Is this something that you had to have a process for planning? Or did like, did you sit down and plan out every detail? Or did you just sit and you're like, all right, we're just going?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm a bit of a planter. So I had a plan for how I was going to do every other chapter, approximately every other chapter as a now and then, and alternate back between those two timelines. But other than that, I didn't really have a plan. No, as I mentioned, the characters kind of took me on that ride. And that's how I went about it. But but I did start with a few plot points. I use a seven point arc, which Nicole recommended to me, Nicole Meyer. So I really enjoyed using these landmarks as places that I was writing to, but everything else kind of fell into place and took me on these twists and turns.

SPEAKER_00:

The benefits of having a wonderful editor for sure. All right. How did you structure suspense and your reveals?

SPEAKER_01:

I really enjoy cliffhanger chapter endings. So that was a big thing that I implemented because I want my readers to be constantly turning the page and needing to read one more chapter, one more chapter. So I think that's kind of how I dialed up the suspense. I also use physical, physical feelings and emotions as a big part of that suspense. suspense. I really tried to put myself in my character's shoes. And there's a lot of anxiety, again, mental health that I've incorporated into this book, which is a lot of it is from experience. So I was writing from experience. And so it was easy for me to put myself in my character's shoes and feel that tension, feel that anxiety. But I think that really dialed up the suspense as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I definitely got that. And I, now that you're saying like, about how you did the end of the chapters, it totally made sense because I would be reading and I'm getting to the end and I'm like all right this is it I'm not going to read any more chapters because I'm super tired and I get to the end I'm like all right I can hang because I read it on my my e-reader so it always tell me like four more minutes and I'm like okay I could do four more minutes six more minutes okay I could do six more minutes and it just kept going so definitely appreciated the cliffhangers that came at the end of each chapter to keep going because I think it helps like it it just kept me interested kept me going through the story so When you began plotting out the story, did you kind of have like an ending in mind or did you just sort of build to this of surprise? Just like you were saying, like you let the characters kind of speak to you and they kind of show you where the ending is going or you just kind of had that North Star already there. I

SPEAKER_01:

had a bit of an idea of how it was going to end, what the resolution was going to be, but there was a big twist at the end that I had no idea was coming. So no, I didn't really know when I set out to write this.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But setting was something that I really had to incorporate in my second, third drafts. But when it comes to setting, I really like to write what I know. I enjoy being in the setting in order to describe it. So I set this book in New Mexico, which is where I live on the Rio Grande. So a lot of it was from my experience. And now future stories that I'm writing, I know I need to go to these places in order to really nail the setting and get it right. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

that's awesome. Yeah. don't hear about too many books with the setting in New Mexico. So I thought that was really cool. And it's a beautiful place. I've been to Taos, I've been to Santa Fe. Yeah, so it is really nice. The way you described the setting, the way you described, you know, even like the ground and you know, like the terrain and stuff like that was really nice. Very atmospheric, and it definitely helped paint like a really nice picture. All right, so let's talk about the saggy middle a little bit. So how do you approach the pacing So there is no saggy middle, which by the way, for anybody listening, there was no saggy middle here. It just kept going. But how did you like, how did you keep that pace going?

SPEAKER_01:

That a lot of that was in edits too. I think my subsequent drafts draft one was really, I was skipping a lot throughout. I know that I had my structure of then and now my chapter set, but I would just simply skip a chapter. If I felt like I I didn't, wasn't in the zone to write that or wasn't really in the right mindset. So draft two, draft three, that's where it was really fine tuning that middle. Um, that's where a lot of the twists and kind of red herrings popped up and I incorporated them there. So that is what I did. Um, I don't know how, what, what is your, what do you do?

SPEAKER_00:

I, I think, um, I think just like having fun with it, trying to have as much fun with it as you can but also just like like you said you can't stop at the first draft you have to keep going until you kind of enjoy your book I think as writers I'm sure you will probably agree you will get to a point where you really like your book you're never going to fully love it because you're always going to look at it and think I could have done that a little bit better but I think like if you can get through the book and you read it and you're like really genuinely kind of excited about it then And I noticed I said kind of, I think that's when you've nailed the middle. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

no, that resonates. Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. And I actually just, I just recorded my audio book. So I had to read my book over again. And I still there are parts that stick out to me like, oh, I could have done that better. But overall, it Yeah, it was ready.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. So I know a lot of like indie authors opt to hire somebody, a lot of them actually opt to record it themselves. Some don't do it at all, but what did you find was the hardest about recording your own book?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I'm still in the process. It's not out yet because the recording part was not as challenging as I expected it to be, but it's listening to my voice now and going through to make the edits that is really

SPEAKER_00:

painful. So I think that that's been the most most challenging part awesome and I know we didn't this is like not like a question I was going to ask but since you haven't like put it out there yet when do you think that you'll put your audio book out there like when can listeners be ready to listen to Salima's voice on her own book

SPEAKER_01:

oh I was thinking about doing it as a one year celebration for my one year pub day December 12th so

SPEAKER_00:

awesome Look

SPEAKER_01:

out for

SPEAKER_00:

it in December. All right. Let's go to TikTok influencing. So for those that don't know, Salima has a giant following on TikTok. This is actually like I found you first through your editor. Then I started looking for your socials and you have this huge following on TikTok. So TikTok influencing. This was like huge for me because TikTok is such a huge platform for books, the book talk community, obviously. And but it can be very intimidating as well. And I think that you do a very good job of like breaking down tips for authors, things that they can do to like easily record stuff that doesn't take any time, stuff that doesn't require a face. So let's go into how you do that. So how did you start using TikTok for book marketing? It

SPEAKER_01:

was all an experiment. I was really curious about TikTok after a quilling cup education And so I think my book had just published when I got onto TikTok and it was just all experimentation for me. I started posting and I noticed that people were getting really creative, but people had a lot of questions. So I just started talking about my experience, indie publishing, things I wish I'd known when I first published. And then because I enjoy marketing so much and I loved talking about marketing my book, that's kind of what I did. but I fell into and started creating content around that.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. What types of content do you think connect most with readers?

SPEAKER_01:

That's a great question. I think authentic content. TikTok is, in my opinion, a little messy, a little chaotic, which I love. It's just really raw and real. So people can show up with no makeup on. People can show up in their pajamas, going for a walk with their dog. And really giving that sneak peek behind what it's like to be an author and what it's like to publish a book or write a book.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Do you think that the focus should be like selling books directly or more building brand awareness?

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely building brand awareness. I do work with authors who have TikTok shops where they sell their books themselves. And while those can be very successful, in my opinion, in my experience, a lot of aspiring authors and authors have found a lot of opportunities with building their brand and their community, making connections with readers, finding ARC readers, and then ultimately bringing them into their circle, bringing them to maybe other platforms or their website where they can buy their books.

SPEAKER_00:

Very nice. And what are some of the mistakes you think authors make when marketing on social media?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, a couple of the ones off the top of my head are not being consistent. I think that authors think that they can post once a month and that they're, platform is going to grow and consistency is really important. That doesn't mean that you need to post every single day, but you need to have a consistent schedule or not even a schedule. I see authors that get really caught up in the numbers of view counts and thinking that they can post just a couple of times and that their posts will go viral. And that certainly can happen, but consistency is really the most important thing. And that doesn't need to be posting every single day, but that needs to be posting consistently and not looking at your view counts or your follower counts and focusing on using it to connect with people and again build your brand it's kind of like a portfolio even because then when people discover your book they're going to look you up on social they're going to see your tiktok your instagram and that's where they'll follow you and follow your journey

SPEAKER_00:

i need to follow your advice i could have used you like a year ago because i had no i'm like i am going to post one tiktok video it's going to go super viral and then i'm never going to touch it again it definitely does not work that way but yeah still learning um but learning from the pros learning from the very best and I'm happy to have you here to help us along all right I'm here for yes for sure all right so you you obviously spend some time like um doing your your videos um and maybe you batch those or maybe you do them like every day but how much do you dedicate to content creation versus like your writing do you like what's your schedule for doing marketing videos or whatever videos you do on TikTok versus your actual writing?

SPEAKER_01:

I spend a lot more time writing. I'd say it's about 25% social and marketing and then 75% writing because that's what fills my cup. While I love marketing, I know that that is my priority is writing the books. And I know a lot of authors feel that way, which is why when they tell me, oh, Selima, I spent three hours on this post and it got 12 views. I'm like, we don't need to be spending that much time on it. Because as I mentioned, TikTok is kind of raw and imperfect. And that's what I know that as authors, we, we have that editor brain, we want everything to be perfect that we put out there, but it really doesn't need to be. So I do batch my content, like you said, I'll sit down, usually in my car, usually when I'm parked in my driveway, and film like six videos. And that can take me maybe 20 minutes. And then I'll just edit it really quickly and post them.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. I really appreciate that advice because I think you're right. I think that we as authors do spend a lot of time editing. I know that I get super frustrated because I'll spend like a ton of time on a single video, like maybe like an hour, and then it won't get that much traction. And then another one, I think I made like a silly video. I'm like, all right, this looks good. This is like a fun little, you know, audio clip I'm gonna use this and I'm not even gonna say a word I'm just gonna be doing something at my computer and it got like over a thousand views and I'm like okay so clearly I need to rethink like what I'm doing I love that you just mentioned that it is messy it is imperfect it's not meant to be like this polished I don't know almost Instagram feel because I feel like Instagram maybe is a little bit more polished and TikTok is a little more like just get on say something and then let it be all right so what about us thriller authors Like, do you have any specific marketing approaches that maybe work better for us since we're in spooky season officially? So I got to know, what is it for thriller authors?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, leaning into the spooky season, I think, you know, countdowns to Halloween are perfect. And even when we're not in spooky season, just leaning into the suspense. They say you only have the first three seconds to hook your viewer on social media. So make that three seconds really grabbing with a suspenseful hook, with stock video, stock images, with the audio, really bring in the feeling of that spooky, unsettling premise or twist and lean into that. That's what I suggest for all of my thriller, horror, mystery authors.

SPEAKER_00:

All right. How about cross promotion? So this is a question I actually know nothing about. So I will, you know, maybe do like a post on TikTok and then I might save that down to my my phone and then repost it on Instagram but do you recommend that or do you recommend maybe doing different things personally it feels a little overwhelming but you're the expert so you tell me do you cross post what you put on TikTok everywhere else

SPEAKER_01:

I do to a point so I look at TikTok again as kind of this just throwing ideas out there and seeing what lands um and then the TikToks that do well I will typically take to YouTube and to Instagram like you mentioned Instagram is kind of a little more prim and proper. Aesthetics are a little bit more important on Instagram. So if it doesn't align with my grid, I might not post it or I'll put like a cover photo over it. But you don't really need to do that. But I will create carousels specifically for Instagram. The only thing that you really need to know is don't post from Instagram to TikTok. TikTok is not like that. But you can post from TikTok everywhere else. And then you're working smarter, not harder. You're repurposing your content And to that end, I'll also repurpose captions. If I have a caption that I really liked on TikTok, I'll turn that into a carousel for Instagram, or I'll just take that and post it on Facebook. So just repurpose, reuse everything because it's all content and it's all important.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. I love that. That's great advice. Um, what about services or materials that can help authors who'd like a little extra help? I know that I personally have bought your materials. They were super helpful. Um, But I I'm sure you have a treasure trove of other things that you offer. So tell us what those materials are. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

I have a couple of different digital offerings. I have my author visibility vault with over 100 ideas, content ideas. They some of them are faceless content ideas, because I know there are a lot of authors out there who don't show their face or write under a pen name for privacy. So there are plenty of ideas to do that aren't face to camera. I also have my A plus content templates that you can use on Amazon for eight plus. And I do take consultations and work with authors one-on-one as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Salima, we have made it to the ink starter lightning round. Who is your favorite thriller author or inspiration? I

SPEAKER_01:

look to Lucinda Berry for inspiration. She is a child psychologist and just incorporates so much mental health and suspense. I see you nodding. Are you, do you like Lucinda Berry too?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my gosh. That's how I started my new year's this year was saving Noah and it wrecked me. I'm like, Oh

SPEAKER_01:

my gosh,

SPEAKER_00:

she's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01:

All

SPEAKER_00:

right. Last book you read that you could not put down

SPEAKER_01:

near the bone by Christina Henry. It's more of a horror thriller. I'm kind of dabbling in horror, but I really enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. What about fast and furious plot twist or slow burns for life?

SPEAKER_01:

Fast and furious all the way.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, definitely. I am down for that. Okay, matcha tea or cookies during your writing sesh?

SPEAKER_01:

Matcha! I'm

SPEAKER_00:

a matcha girly. Awesome. Wildest thing you've ever researched for your books now that are going to live on your browser search history forever? Probably

SPEAKER_01:

how much water it takes for someone to drown.

SPEAKER_00:

We say this, but we say it with a smile. We're like a little bit salty and sweet. I love it. All right. One word that describes your ideal reader.

SPEAKER_01:

Inquisitive. I really like readers to want to feel like they're unraveling the story along with the characters.

SPEAKER_00:

Very nice. All right. And we're going to wrap this up with your five best tips for authors. So here you're going to share five tips. Anything that you want could be marketing or book. What can our authors do that are listening to the show that they can put into action today to help elevate their writing to the next level?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I have a couple of a combination of writing tips and marketing tips. My first one is lower the bar. I know this might sound kind of counterintuitive, but I really like just using open the document as my every day I open the doc. It's super simple goal and opening up your manuscript every day could be a sentence. It could turn into a thousand words. but lowering that bar has helped me a lot with my progress. Number two, treat marketing like storytelling instead of advertising. I like thinking about it as an extension of our creative storytelling. And I think that if other authors looked at it that way, it might make it a little bit more fun, a little less painful. So that's my suggestion. Number three, create content for readers, not the algorithm. So think about your ideal reader every time you put something out there rather than what is this going to be trendy? Is this going to go viral? Is someone going to go, hey, that book looks really good. I'm going to put it on my TBR. Number four is master one platform before going on all of them. I always tell authors start with one or two that you feel comfortable with or that you know that your ideal reader is on rather than trying to post everywhere unless you're repurposing and cross posting. And number five find your people I know that we can both kind of speak to having a community of writers and surrounding yourself with like-minded writers and readers having that encouragement and the accountability helps so much makes the whole process so much less lonely as well

SPEAKER_00:

I totally agree it's something that I wish I would have had six years ago when I started finding Quill and Cup for me has been huge finding all of our little Hedgie sisters in there has been fantastic So I agree. If you're out there and you are just starting out, finding a community of writers is the, I think, like the biggest step you can take because you can have a place to be your messy self and ask questions. So this was awesome, Salima. Thank you so much. A couple of things I want to do before we close off today. Where can listeners find your books?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, my books can be found wherever you find books.

SPEAKER_00:

I know. Awesome. And how can we follow you on TikTok and other platforms?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I'm Salima Ish. I'm at Salima Ish on all platforms. But yeah, most active on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. And then do you have any upcoming releases or events you want us to know about? I

SPEAKER_01:

don't have a date set yet for my next release, but my audio book of Sisters Arcana will be out this

SPEAKER_00:

winter. Awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much, Salima. Lima, this has been so much fun. I am so glad to finally meet you like face to face. Yeah. And yes, I hope I wish you the success with your audio book. Again, Sisters Arcana is out everywhere. If you want to get it at your indie bookstore, you want to get on Amazon. She's everywhere. You want to get her book and you are going to love this unique read. So thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to this episode of Traditionally Self-Published. If this episode helped you subscribe leave a review and share with your author and reader friends like and be sure to check the first episode where I share a bit about how this all came to be and why building a helpful community is so important until next time be bold write smart and keep turning those pages music