How to Sell Your Baby:
A Quick Guide to Promoting Your Books.
By Nandi Berry
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Nandi Berry
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
Author's Note: This book was writing and edited by me. If you do not find typos, bad grammar, and misspellings let me know. Because I must have done something right for a change.
Introduction
“We can be divas sometimes. LOL I can say this because I’m an author and have had my own diva moments.” Roxanne Rhoads when asked about her biggest pet peeve with authors.
So you wrote a book good for you that's a huge accomplishment in and of itself. Unfortunately so has your neighbor, Jo-Bob and everyone in his family including his six toed cousin Marmaduke. In this age of self-publishing and e-publishing it's a lot easier for people to get a book published. Heck look at me!
The trick isn't writing the book it's writing it well enough to A) be read, and B) sell. You need people to want to buy your book, not Jo-Bob or Marmaduke's. Let me put that in caps YOU WANT PEOPLE TO BUY YOUR BOOK.
Now let's get it out there being an author is no picnic, writing a book is actually the easy part. I read a blog post once where an author equated writing and promoting a book with giving birth and raising a child. In ways I agree, only I have to say writing a book was a lot less painful that birthing my kids. Getting the book published really isn't all that hard any more either. So what is the hard part? The hard part is getting your book out to the readers. Getting it to the people who will buy it.
Pounding the pavement, if you will, even if it's the virtual pavement.
You need to promote your book and in doing so you promote yourself. Yup in a way you have to sell yourself as well. I once told my Husband that I felt like a hooker, with the amount of pimping I did. Granted it was a joke but seriously you really do have to sell yourself to sell your books. Remember that nothing will happen over night you need to work at it and be dedicated. If you truly want to be an author you have to keep writing.
I wish you lots of luck and I hope this book helps you sell lots of your own works.
Chapter 1
All right so you've written a book, polished it to within an inch of it's life. Either got a company to contract it or decided to self-published. You've either hired an editor, been assigned one, or found a reliable friend to edit your work. Some how you've got your hands on some cover art.
Here's my first tip don't wait until you have the finished product in your hands or on your desktop.
I had a published who said it's never to early to start promoting. I disagree. I'd start about a month or two, before your release date. If you are with a publisher you never know what could happen. I had a book pushed back so many times I stopped putting up a release date and just wrote coming soon. If you are self-published you have more control over your schedule. So you could probably start when ever you are comfortable. In this chapter I'm going to go over trade vs self-published, blurbs, tag lines, branding, and Google alerts.
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Trade Publisher vs Self-published
I've been down both these roads and if I had to do it all over I'd stick with self-publishing. Why you ask, well I have had some bad experiences with trade publishers over the last few years. I like the control self-publishing gives me. Although it has draw backs, for example I suck at grammar and don't have the money to hire an editor, so my book may not be as up to snuff as one from a trade published who has editors on staff. Over all this is a personal choice you will have to make.
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Trade Publishers-
If you choose this route don't think it will be champagne and roses. Or in this case advances, book signings and tours. Unless you sign with a large publisher you probably won't get an advance. Most publishers in this day and age will require some sort of promotion from you. Some will even require a marketing plan before you sign. The smaller the company the more effort you will have to put in. At least this is the rule of thumb. I did have a publisher that was quite small that did an awesome job helping me promote my works.
The big thing you have to remember is to make sure you do your homework. Look into the publishers check the writer forums Romance Divas and Absolute Write are two of the best. Check Piers Anthony's site he has a great list of publishers. Check Writer Beware another great list. Do online searches of the publishers you are looking into and if possible ask authors who are already with the publisher. Double and triple check everything, there's nothing worst than being stuck in a contract with a publisher that doesn't respect that contract or you. I know this from personal experience.
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Self-publishing
This can be summed up in one sentence. You have to do everything yourself. Ok that's not totally true you can hire people to do some of the work for you, if you have the money. There are companies that will promote your book for you, but be careful. Not to long ago I saw a warning about a company that was pimping themselves as a promoting company, yet all they did was throw your blurb and excerpt up on some Yahoo groups and that was that. So again do your homework and make sure you get your monies worth.
When self-publishing check all your options learn who does what and where. See what other authors have done and recommend. Just like with traditional publishers look around and check the different places out. Make sure to read policies and terms of service you never know what hidden fees could be lurking under the surface.
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Cover Art:
It doesn't matter if your published by a publisher or self-published, you need great cover art. Cover art is a huge tool to work with, many readers are self-proclaimed “cover whores” which means they love to drool over covers. An eye catching cover paired with a great blurb is a win win. Sites like Book Cover Lover are dedicated to spotlighting cover art.
Getting a great cover doesn't have to break the bank either, many cover artist offer decent prices for their work. If you can't afford that try making your own, there are many free editing programs my personal favorite is GIMP, I've found it the easiest to use. You can also find lots of free stock photos just do a Google search, also try pubic domain photos. Although with the public domain photos you usually need to add a url where you got it as a reference. Not a huge deal just add it in the credits on the cover page.
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Branding:
Branding is a quick one liner or logo that helps readers remember your name. Something short and snappy is best. Think, “Let go of my Eggo,””Gotta Have It! Pepsi,”or “Mentos the fresh maker.” Statistics show it takes about one hundred times seeing something to remember it. So a reader will need to see your name and brand about one hundred times before they will remember you. It's a good idea to have your brand in your signatures, on your blog or website, any social networking, etc. Places where readers will see both and be able to associate the two.
Here are few ways to boost your branding:
Short names are easy to remember. This is why many celebrities will shorten or change their names. Same goes for authors. Many use pen names not only to hide their identities, but also to make it easier for readers to remember them.
Target the people who will buy your book. This kind of seems like a no-brainer. But if your book is about cooking then target people who love to eat, are interested in food, or homemakers.
Use a variety of sources to get your message across. Don't rely on one source for all your promotions. Use different sites, features, and cross promote when ever possible. This widens your audience, and prospective readers.
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Blurbs:
Blurbs are short, one to two, paragraphs that describe your book. These are usually the first thing a reader sees after the cover. Blurbs can make or break your book. A good blurb can sell your book and a bad one can make it flop. Blurbs need to be interesting enough to grab the reader yet not give a lot of the story away. When writing these think to yourself would I buy this book? If the answer is no or maybe then you should keep working until the answer is yes. If you wouldn't want to buy your own book, why would a total stranger. I highly suggest keeping them short too. As a reader I really hate getting a page and a half to read, just to see if I want to read the book or not. Another thing to remember is make sure the blurb is a fair representation of your book. There is nothing more irksome than to be mislead by a blurb.
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Tag Lines:
Not all books have tag lines but they can help. A tag line is a one sentence line that grabs the readers attention. These are useful in signatures and places where you can only use minimal words to describe your book. A snappy tag line can get the readers attention and draw them to read your blurb or excerpt.
Chapter 2
So you have all of the above, but how are you going to get it out to the readers? Well there are really many ways and in the next two chapters I will be going over both the free and paid. For this chapter we'll be going over the free ways.
The first thing you'll need is either a website or blog. This will be the place readers can find out about you, your published works, works in progress, anything you have coming up, where they can buy your books, as well as reviews and where you're promoting your works. It's really important to keep this up to date, it's extremely annoying to go looking for information on a book and it not be on the authors own site.
Websites and Blogs can actually go either way you can get free site and blogs, or you can pay. Here we'll talk about free sites. Usually free sites will require you to have some sort of advertisement on your site instead of paying. Basically that's how they pay for your site is by having the ad on there. So it's kind of a necessary evil if you choose this route. There are actually a lot of these sites out there if you look in the right places. Next best thing is a blog the two main providers of these are Blogger run by Google and Word Press, both have good and bad points. Starting with a blog is probably best because they can be turned into a site fairly easily. Both providers offer you a way to make multiple pages, which is a good way to organize your works and information.
If your not graphically inclined you can hire a designer for fairly cheap to design a blog. Websites are usually more. If you need you can also find free templates and designs all over the web, so keep in mind how your going to decorate your home on the internet. Also keep in mind that what your site or blog look likes should reflect your work, yet be professional. Cute puppies on an erotic authors site might not be the best idea, but a sexy couple in a loving embrace would instantly let a reader know what they were getting into. Yet keep it tasteful. You wouldn't want full on porn, yet something sensual would work. This goes for other genres as well, for example if you do Science Fiction then use outer space like designs although you may want to forgo aliens unless you were going for humor.
Offer fun stuff for your readers too. If you write fantasy or sci fi, and either can or know someone who can make desktop wallpaper to go with your books offer it for free. Printables are always a good bet, offer downloadable bookmarks for readers to print off. Offer free reads, it's quite easy to create a short pdf to offer on your site as a free download, some sites like All Romance Ebooks will let you add free shorts to their site. This gives a reader who has never heard of you a chance to sample your work and get a feel for you.
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Now we'll talk about social networking sites. Top thing to always, I mean Always keep in mind is what ever you post on the internet stays on the internet. You may delete it, but it will always be on a sever somewhere, you can never truly delete some thing completely.
There are a lot of social networking sites out there, my suggestion is pick only a few. Social networking is a huge time suck. You have to balance how much you do verse everything else. Use those time sucks wisely and to your advance so that it's not really a waste. Right now Twitter and Facebook are the hot, but you never know what will be the next big thing. I'm not going to get into the different sites because there are just so many and it's really a personal preference which you sign up with. Although I will suggest GoodReads, this is made just for authors and reader.
Remember that social networking is social, you have to keep being sociable. You need to keep up appearances, even if it's an hour a day, people expect a little interaction on the networks. Also keep in mind when using your author account be professional. Every follower, fan, friend, or whatever their called, are possible book buyers. Think before you post, you never know what could offend people, so just be careful.
Many of these sites will let you run an RSS feed from your blog directly to your account. This will save you time in the long run, so you don't have to go through and submit your posts half a million times. A quick secret make a account with a site like Socialoomph.com this will let you schedule posts out in advance so you can set it and forget. Ok, not forget, you need to check in now and again, but it will help in the long run.
The design on your social networking pages should be either the same one or, at the very least, the same style as your website or blog. Keeping a standard theme helps with the branding.
Make sure to add your covers if you can put pictures up. Use the sites to tell readers about releases, reviews, and basically keep your readers in the know.
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Yahoo Groups are another way to interact with readers. All you need to get on these is Yahoo account. At the time I'm writing this you can also sign up with Facebook or Google These are similar to forums, but come directly into your email, when ever someone posts. Like social networking you need to keep up appearances in the groups. Don't drop and dash. Which means don't throw out a promo, excerpt, etc and not come back to see if anyone replies. If some one does reply, talk back. Several groups are set up just for promoting your work, some are more for interaction make sure you know the rules of the groups you join. Some will give warning some don't, all this stuff is up to the owner(s) of the group. When in doubt ask, most of the groups are very friendly and helpful. Some even have Moderators who's job is to help newbies and keep the garbage out of the group.
A good idea with Yahoo groups is to build up a camaraderie with the members, let them get to know you in advance of your book coming out. This way they will know you as a person and be more inclined to purchase the book from someone they feel they know. Make sure to keep it up especially if you want to make a career out of writing.
If you enjoy the groups you can even create your own. This is a good substitute for a newsletter as you can give updates and have a wider audience that a standard newsletter might have.
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Forums fall under the same umbrella as Yahoo Groups. Like Yahoo groups you need to stay active and let the folks get to know you. Creating an account and posting or checking in at least once a week probably about a month or two before your book releases is a good idea. This builds up a relationship and gives you foundation to build on. Some forums like Romance Divas for example require you to have at least fifty posts before you can promote on there. Although your signature doesn't count so this is where that branding and tag line come in. Having these, your website or blog and maybe your title with coming soon or release date will give you some exposure. Although don't over do it, a few lines are more than enough to catch attention.
A few other things you shouldn't do on forums. Post self-promotion in threads or forums that aren't set up for self-promotion. For example self-promotion you disguised as real comments. Pointless inappropriate random remarks just to show off your signature. Starting a new thread about general subject when they are really only about your work. Don't recommend your books when some one is looking for books on subjects, especially if your new to the forum, it's just bad taste. Although they might let this slide if you've been participating in discussions and have already posted relevant and thought out recommendations of other books. For the love of Pete, do not pretend to be some one else and discuss your books. Especially if it's to argue with someone who has spoken ill about your work. You're not going to fool anybody, and it'll just make things worst.
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All right now we'll talk about chats. Some of the bigger review sites host online chats. While these are not huge exposure, they are fun. Interacting with readers is beneficial, even if it's only a few. You can also schedule chats on Yahoo groups again usually not huge exposure, they can still be fun and let your readers get to know you better. My best advice for chats is have some stuff ready. A blurb, excerpts, links, things like that. Yahoo chats are easier, just draft some emails ahead of time and then send them when your ready. Make sure you have your signature on the bottom of any emails you send, that branding thing again.
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On to newsletters, unless you have time I wouldn't recommend newsletters. Newsletters are a lot of work and only go to a limited audience. The only people who get these are those who signed up for them. Yes they get the message out, but you'd be better off just posting updates on your blog. I really don't feel that newsletters work, yet some people love them.
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This last section in this chapter is going to be on Google Alerts. Ok while these can't help you promote per say, they can help you keep track of yourself. Yes that sounds weird, but I suggest making Google Alerts for your pen name and book titles. This way if you get reviews or surprise promotion, you'll be alerted so you know whats going on.
Chapter 3
On the heels of free online promo, we're going to talk about book blogs. Most book blogs offer different services to authors. Some are completely free others charge for certain things. The majority of book bloggers are either readers or writers or both. These folks love to help out authors, but you need to pay attention to their rules. Not all book bloggers are created equal, each has their own way of doing things on their blogs.
I interviewed several book bloggers before starting this book and their answered varied as much as their blogs. During this chapter we'll hear from them as well.
Most blogs offer services like interviews, guest posts, reviews, cover spotlight or space on the side bar, to post banners, book trailer spotlights, etc. What a blogger offers depends on the bloggers time, and what they choose. Check the blogs policies and look for a name. There's nothing more irritating that getting a email starting “Dear Blogger” it feels inconsiderate. Like you didn't bother looking at my blog before grabbing the email address and shooting a form email at me. Here's a trick the name or at the very least user-name of the blog owner is usually on the bottom of their posts. Use that if nothing else. If you can't find a name try Hi or Hello. These are people too, and think how you'd feel if they emailed “Dear Author, please gimme your book.”
Jess sums it up really well.
“I would say that bloggers and authors should try to work together. Authors ask for reviews that's fine but check the bloggers blog to see if they have a review policy. See if what your offering fits in what they prefer. If not ask for a guest post or author interview or just offer up a giveaway. Bloggers will do what they can if they can. We love books and therefor authors just please understand if we say no. That doesn't mean a door is closed outright. There's always the window or pick the lock or bribe us or something. We're cool like that and most of the time nervous as hell that an author has even approached us.” Jess - Jess resides here http://www.frellathon.com
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One of the question I asked the book bloggers I interviewed was what their biggest pet peeve with authors. I was surprised to see that the one that came up over and over was that authors never commented or replied to comments on guest posts or interviews. I would think this was a no-brainer. You do a post, you comment if nothing more than a thank you for your time.
“I don’t really have a pet peeve when it comes to authors and my blog. It sometimes makes me sad when they arrange to post and then never stop by to say hello but I figure it’s their choice. They miss out on a chance to talk with followers who have shown an interest by commenting. It’s very rarely I come across an author that isn’t helpful and supportive.” Belinda- The Bookish Snob... http://thebookishsnob.blogspot.com
"When an author does a guest post or interview they should comment to every reply even if it's just a quick “thank you for your kind words”? I know they are super busy but I feel if a person takes the time to talk to you in the real world it would be rude to ignore so why should the blogger world be any different. Quick thank you goes a long way." Tena- Crazy Book Slut...http://www.crazybookslut.com
Other things that popped up were not replying to emails. Now we're all busy, but if you want to schedule something on a blog you need to communicate with the owner or the promo spot will slip through your fingers. Same goes for scheduling most blogs have a schedule they try to adhere to. We understand that your busy but it's rather hard to get you in at the last minute. Try to get your request in within a reasonable time frame. Remember we're here to help you promote your book not do the job for you.
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Reviews are a whole section in themselves. I'm going to say again, read the review policy on the site. Some reviewers are super strict if you don't follow the submission guidelines to a tee you'll be deleted. They won't look at your email, no matter how well written or thought out. No matter how clever you think your letter was, or how great your book. If you don't follow the rules then no go.
Use complete disclosure when dealing with reviewers. If there's something that may offend the reviewer tell them. It's better to get a no I don't think that's right for my blog, than a review where the reviewer was offended by something in your book. This also brings up the subject of bad reviews.
These are a really hard pill to swallow, but you must take them with grace. It'll be hard and you'll need to vent but do it to your significant other, sister, mother, brother, or even your cat. Don't do it on your blog or even worst in the comments of the reviewers blog. This may help ease your anger, but it won't help your sales and in the long run could come back to haunt you. I think this sums up how most book bloggers see authors who attack reviewers.
“I think that if an author gets mad because of a bad review, they are in the wrong profession. Not everything you write is going to be loved by everyone. If we all thought the same about the book, what is the point of having reviewers. An author should never attack a reviewer because of a bad review. Makes the author look bad and it's childish.” Amy Stogner- Amy's Book World... http://amysbookworld.blogspot.com
Make sure to include everything that maybe relevant. Here's a suggestion from Erika over at BadAss Book Reviews.
“Create a Media Zip File. It could contain your book cover, blurb, bio information, links to all your various places (FB/TW/Website/GR etc) Also, where to purchase and links to your books…along with anything else you think might be helpful to the blogger you are talking with. It will most certainly make me that blogger happy to not have to go hunt down everything. I could spend more time reading and reviewing if I didn’t have to go find where to purchase your book, your web address {only to find you don’t have one yet} then I get frustrated, then I look again and find {Maybe this is the blog for this author?, tough to say} then I just give up, send your book back and don’t post a review, because really, it should be easy for me to post your stuff.” Taken with permission from Erika's post Discussion: Indie/Self-Pub Authors ~ Help Me–Help You
I think this is a good idea, perhaps not a zip file to send but make sure all the information is available to the reviewer. If you can save a reviewer five to ten minutes of searching they will thank you. We have lives outside our blogs... kids, family, work, etc just like you. For many this is a hobby, done in their spare time. The quicker they can get your review out the quicker they can get on to the next one, which could also be your book. Hey you never know.
This next tip is more for your own good than the reviewers but don't auto send out your book. Unless it's an actual review site that says to in the submission guidelines or you've worked with the reviewer before. Some reviewers don't like this. It makes them feel like they've got the book, now they have to review it. Sure that gets you a review, but it doesn't mean it's going to be a good one. Some reviewer write by mood or feelings if they're resentful at being force to review your book it may come out in the reviews. Other reviewers feel like their stealing, which means the email just may end up in the recycling even if they want to read it. Which isn't going to do you any good either. If a reviewer is interested in your book they will let you know and if not, well there are more fish in the sea. Another very good reason to not do this is that you're basically giving your work to pirates. If a blog isn't on the up and up, you basically just handed over your work and said post away. I'm not trying to scare you away most book bloggers are good people and a little looking will tell you if a blog is good or not. Just think you've worked hard on your book, don't hand it out willie-nillie.
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I want to take a moment to talk about giveaway or contest. These are awesome for bring in the readers. If promoted well. If the readers don't know you're giving stuff away then they won't come. Make sure to tweet, post, etc every where your readers are. Yes the bloggers will promote too, but you know your readers better than they do.
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Guest posts and interviews, the biggest thing with these is your spelling and grammar. Most bloggers, myself included, don't edit posts from authors. I figure your a writer you should at the very least know to use spell check. Yet I pull up guest post sent to me that give my poor word processor a run for it's money. If you're promoting a book the least you can do is make sure you look like a writer. Spelling and grammar errors should be minimal if at all. If you're running a book tour and have to bang these out fast get some one to look them over before sending them out. The person running the tour may not have time. Also make sure they are appropriate for the blog they are going to.
Someone who runs a “family friendly” blog would probably reject a post talking about sex. This is especially important if you include pictures, make sure they are royalty free or something you created some blogs won't post random pictures that could get them into trouble. Give us some references. Pictures can be copyrighted too, you don't want people stealing your work give the same consideration.
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I'm going to end this section with these tips. When looking at book blogs take into consideration does it fit your book. Look over past reviews can you take what the reviewer deals out, bad or good. Look over guest posts and interviews, get an idea of what the blogger is looking for and make sure you're ok with the questions that might be asked in an interview. Make sure the blogs on the up and up, how long has it been up, does the blogger post daily, weekly or once in awhile? A respectable blog will have a review policy and a way to contact them if you have questions. Do they cross post their reviews, post on other sites like GoodReads or Amazon?
Check for things like that before submitting your book for a review or requesting a feature.
Chapter 4
Now we'll get into paid venues, there are actually a lot of these out there but you should shop around and make sure you're going to get the most bang for your buck. There's no point coughing up three hundred dollars, for a cover ad that only three people will see. Weigh the pros and cons and make sure the gain outweighs the price.
Earlier we talked about websites if you decide to pay for your site you can get your own url. Many people tote this as necessary. Yes it makes you look more professional, but can you afford it. A website is a long term investment, your paying anywhere from five to two hundred dollars. Of course this depends on bandwidth, storage and upkeep. My suggestion start small, see how your books sell and then you can see if a paid website is in the cards or not. With places like Bogger, and WordPress, you can buy your url and upgrade your blog to a site. Consider this before jumping the gun.
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Cover spots. First thing you need is an eye catching cover, without that these will be wasted. A cover spot is someplace you can have your cover posted. Blogs and Review sites will offer spots on their sidebars usually for a price which is dependent on the length of time you want it up for. When considering these compare the price and length of time as well as the sites stats. Is it worth the money. Sites like Night Owl Reviews and Coffee Time Romance get lots of hits and are totally worth the price they charge. Spending one hundred dollars on a shared cover spot in Romance Times probably not, but that's what they charge.
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Book Trailers. Basically this is a thirty second to two minute commercial for your book. Many promotion companies offer to make these. They can run you anywhere from five to fifty dollars. You can also make your own, but will probably need to fork over the cash for royalty free music and pictures. Most authors post these on Youtube, some bloggers will feature them as well. The jury is still out on weather they are effective or not. Yet it is an avenue to consider when looking at promotion.
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Book tours. There are many book tour companies and more popping up every day. Check out what they've already done and what blogs they use. Make sure the company keeps up it's end of the deal, before contacting. In this case cheaper may not be better, you might actually get what you pay for. Shop around and find the companies that offer what you need.
“It’s not always about price- sometimes, sadly you get what you pay for. If you go for uber cheap chances are you’ll get an unprofessional service to match. In the past year that I’ve been doing tours I’ve already seen many tour companies come and go- in this short time frame. This isn’t an easy job. It takes time, effort, dedication and you have to know your way about the book world.” Roxanne Rhoads- Author & Owner of Bewitching Book Tours
Take the time to do your homework and find the company that is best for you and your book.
You can do Book Tours on your own, but be prepared to put in a lot of time. You have to recruit blogs to host your tour, create a schedule, write guest post and/or answer interview questions as well as promote.
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Promotion Companies. In the end if this all seems to overwhelming, and you have the money, you could hire a promotion company. There are a bunch around but just like the book tours be careful which you hire. I've heard horror stories about authors hiring companies and they actually ruined their names. Spamming instead of actually promoting the work and not doing the work they were hired for. If this is the road you're going to go down then make sure you know what your getting into. Check out the company, contact authors they've worked with, check to make sure they did the job and did it right.
Chapter 5
This chapter is going to be on spamming. What is spam and I'm not talking about the stuff that comes in the can. Spamming, simply defined, is the repetitious sending of the same messages over and over. Most reconsigned are the ones to enlarge your penis or coerce money for some business offer that's totally bogus. Although my favorites are the business proposals saying I'm a business genius, clearly they don't know me. Any way what happens to these messages... deleted. Yes right into the circular file they go.
It's super easy to become a spammer as an author, and we're probably some of the most guilty of this offense. The most noted way I've seen of this is through Yahoo groups. Sending the same excerpt over and over, mass emailing groups on promo days. After awhile you see that author or title and automatically delete them or it. Vary it up use a couple different excerpts, if possible. Don't post every single promo day. If you join multiple groups some may have promo on the same day, do group A on one week and then group B the next.
Don't send unsolicited emails, saying buy my book, to anyone you are not close friend or family to. These could land you on a blocked list.
Some people might find an email like this to be spam.“I just signed a new contract for Insert Title with So & So Publishing.” Some don't and would congratulate you.
This might be considered spam by some.“I just finished building/ updating my website. Check it out at http://imaauthor.com and let me know what you think.” Or “I just added my new cover for Insert Title to my website check it out.” Others might check out your site and give you feed back. These things depend on the person receiving them. A lot of the time you really need to use your best judgment. Best rule of thumb is if it'd bother you then don't do it.
Spamming is actually super easy to do on places like Twitter where you can send the same message over and over. Also if using the sites I mentioned above to schedule out your tweets or posts then be careful not to over do it. Same goes for posts on places like Facebook or Google+ posting messages like “Check out my novel Insert Title released by So & So Publishing” maybe construed as spam if sent to often and frequently.
Spamming won't help. Yes I said that a person needs to see your name around a hundred times, to learn it. But lets face it seeing it ten times in a bad context will let them remember to delete you if your annoying. Make sure your perspective readers see your name in a positive light and remember your name for your books, not spam.
Chapter 6
If you're an indie or e-published author the majority of promoting you'll do will be online, because that's where the market is for your books. Even if you're published in print you'll still be doing a vast majority of your promoting hunched over a computer, either social networking or hitting the blogs again because this is where the readers are.
Here's the thing offline promotion probably won't be cost effect unless you go to conventions or possibly book signings. Although I've heard varied accounts on book signings, some go really well others the author is devastated. Signings tend to depend on how well you and the store manager promote the event. I've heard the same from book readings, actually the only small publisher book readings I've heard of going extremely well are ones erotic authors have done in sex toy shops. So consider this when deciding your marketing plan. So right now we're going to go over the most suggested offline promotion.
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Business cards are recommended by a lot of books and sites, but how well do they really work? Starting out I made my own cards even if you buy they're relatively cheap if you check out places like Vista Print. Who offer free business cards you just pay shipping. I was told early on to leave your business cards everywhere, doctors offices, dentists, etc. Which I did, after asking of course, most don't have a problem with it depending on what you write. Be prepared to have aversion if you write something like, Erotic GLQT books. In that case you might want to have two versions, one for fans that is risque and one that is plainer to offer in places it may offend. Also think before you ask, if you write Serial Killer Thrillers then you probably don't want to leave your card in a pediatric office or OB/GYN. Yet if you write children's books either of these places would probably be appropriate.
You can also get swag from places like Vista Print too. Swag is basically bookmarks, pens, postcards, calendars, etc with your name, brand and cover art or titles on them,. Hosting giveaways with swag, or sending it to places who will include it in giveaways is a good idea to get your name out there, readers love getting stuff. If it's stuff they use everyday like pens or bookmarks they may even carry it with them and even more people will see it in passing.
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Another thing that is possible is local newspapers and interviews either on TV or the radio. While these may only get out to local folks these people maybe more likely to want to read a book from some one a) they know or b) out of shear curiosity about what another local would write. Depending on where you live this could be a very small audience or large. It also depends on if you want people knowing what you write. If you are concerned I'd suggest going the newspaper or radio avenue at least no one can see your face with those.
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If you do have a print book in stores go into your local bookstores and offer to sign some of their stock. Or offer them some signed bookmarks to hand out or business cards. Book buyers are your target audience, so it only makes sense to offer stuff at bookstores.
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Charity raffles for schools, churches, etc. Offer up a swag basket with your book or a gift card to where they can buy your book. Don't just include book stuff, think about what other people might want a Bath & Body kit, a goodie basket. Try to incorporate a theme with your book, say if you wrote a Culinary Mystery add cooking utensils and a cook book.
Chapter 7
The end! Not really this book should be just the beginning. Get hitting the pavement virtually or otherwise. Have I covered everything you can do to promote your book? Hell no. There are a lot of things I don't know, didn't cover, and new ways coming up all the time. I'm not a marketing guru or even a PR Rep, I'm just a gal who's been in your shoes. I've done my best to give you a foundation to build on, it's your job to sell your book.
Think outside, inside and around the box. Nothing I've put in this book is a hard fast rule. Use what works for you, junk the rest. Just remember that you're trying to sell your baby, your book, and nobody knows what's best for it but you.
Chapter 8
Resources
Resources Mentioned:
Forums:
Romance Divas http://romancedivas.com
Absolute Write http://absolutewrite.com
Websites:
Piers Anthony's site - http://www.hipiers.com/publishing.html
Writer Beware- http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/
All Romance Ebooks-http://www.allromanceebooks.com
Socialoomph - http://socialoomph.com
Vista Print
GIMP
Articles:
Discussion: Indie/Self-Pub Authors ~ Help Me–Help You- http://badassbookreviews.com/discussion-indieself-pub-authors-help-me-help-you/
Social Networking:
GoodReads,
Youtube
Blog Tour Companies:
Bewitching Book Tours- www.bewitchingbooktours.blogspot.com
Blogs:
Amy's Book World -http://amysbookworld.blogspot.com
The Bookish Snob- http://thebookishsnob.blogspot.com
Jess resides here -http://www.frellathon.com
Badass Book Reviews- http://badassbookreviews.com
Crazy Book Slut - www.crazybookslut.com
Resources Not Mention:
Websites:
Indie Book Reviewer- http://indiebookreviewer.wordpress.com/
Book Blogger Directory- http://www.fsbmedia.com/book_blogger_search.php
Book Blogger Directory- http://bookbloggerdirectory.wordpress.com/
Book Blogs: (In no particular order)
Fang-tastic Books -http://www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com
Roxanne's Realm -http://www.roxannesrealm.blogspot.com
Bitten by Paranormal Romance- http://www.bittenbyparanormalromance.com/
Close Encounters with the Night Kind- http://www.closeencounterswiththenightkind.blogspot.com/
Chaos Coffee and a Bookshelf - www.chaoscoffeeandabookshelf.com
Reading Between the Wines - http://readingbetweenthewinesbookclub.blogspot.com/
Ramblings From This Chick- http://ramblingsfromthischick.blogspot.com
Romancing Rakes- http://romancingrakes.blogspot.com
The Book Garden- http://the-book-garden.blogspot.com
Under the Covers- http://underthecoversbookblog.blogspot.com
Romancing the Book- http://www.romancing-the-book.com
Alaskan Bookie- http://alaskanbookie.blogspot.com
Pimpin Reads- http://jowannashotromances.blogspot.com
Book Review Sites:(A small list to get you started, sites I've dealt with, don't let the names fool you most will take books other than romance)
Romance Junkies- http://www.romancejunkies.com/
Night Owl Romance- http://www.nightowlromance.com
Dear Author- http://dearauthor.com/
A Romance Review- http://www.aromancereview.com/news/index.php
Dark Diva Reviews- http://www.darkdivasreviews.com
Coffee Time Romance- http://coffeetimeromance.com/
Black Raven Reviews- http://www.blackravensreviews.com/
Joyfully Reviewed- http://www.joyfullyreviewed.com/
Book Tour Companies:(I'm only including companies I've worked with and vouch for)
Pump Up Your Book- http://www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com
Goddess Fish Promotions- http://www.goddessfish.com
Nurture Your Book- http://nurtureyourbooks.com/website/
Bookish Snob Promotions- http://thebookishsnobpromotions.blogspot.com/
Writers Marketing Services- http://www.writermarketing.co.uk
Yahoo Group:(These are groups I'm in to help get you started)
Midnight Seductions- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MidnightSeductions
Promotions Any Day- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PromotionsEveryDay/
ebookChatters- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebookChatters
About the author:
Nanny is a stay at home mom, wife, friend, lover, reviewer, blogger, and a really long list of other stuff.
She's been writing for several years under various pen names.
You can visit her online at her blog http://gnbstacks.blogspot.com
or follow her on Twitter http://twitter.com/GNBStacks
Other Books by Nanny:
Surf's Up
Dancing the Nutcracker
Both are available for free on Smashwords.