To published authors only - How do you promote your book?

[dominicgaj]

To any people here who are already published authors, when it came to promoting your book, what sort of methods did you use to achieve this? In particular, which ones were successful? Which ones were not?

As I am about to be a newly published author I have been thinking about this for a while now. I've tried different things and they've all probably worked in varying degrees. After praying about it for some time now, I've just thought of one thing (only yesterday actually) that I think could be a real winner and interestingly, it's one that probably asks me to make a significant sacrifice.

I won't mention it just yet, I'd like to hear other's ideas first, then I'll re-enter this thread later with my thought. I'm really interested to see how this thread goes. :)

[tlm]

I once had a contract with PA and I was left to promote the book on my own. I believe that most companies use a promotional department for this.

Anyway, I learned to set up book events, book signings, meet & greets, or library talks. Then I wrote press releases to publicize these events. I sent the press releases to newspapers and local daytime talk shows. I got publicity from both newspapers and TV interviews. However, I only managed to get local publicity.

[kriswrite]

Dominicgaj is right not to leave this up to the publisher. Yes, publishers will do a BARE MINIMUM to promote your book. But writers must be willing to do a lot of promotion themselves.

At this point in my life, I really only do the basics. But they do work:

* An author website
* A Shout Life account (like My Space, but clean)
* A video trailer, which I created with copyright free photos found online and Windows Movie Maker. It goes on You Tube, my website, my blogs, Shout Life, etc.)
* A blog, which should have prominent links to your website (and vice versa)
* Encouraging folks to write Amazon reviews (only if they are four stars or better)
* Actively seeking sources that might want to review my book. Go beyond The New York Times, though, and seek blogs, newspapers, and magazines that relate directly to the topic of your book.

I used to also do speaking engagements, which are a great thing. Not only do you (usually) get paid for speaking (although it might just be $10), but you can bring your book(s) and sell them. People are excited, having just met a "real author" and will often buy at the engagement when they wouldn't buy in a bookstore.

You can also get to know your local booksellers and encourage them to sell your books.

If your book might sell well in a store that doesn't focus on books, get to know the owner, and sell your books directly to them.

Sell your books on eBay (doesn't work well for novels, but for nonfiction, it works great if you list the book NOT in the book section, but in a category related to your book's topic).

I also recommend going to CAN for lots of great, useful ideas: http://canblog.typepad.com/canbookmarketing/

Also, start a list of readers now. I like to do this with email sign up, but you can do a snail mail list, too. Write a newsletter whenever you have news (hopefully AT LEAST every 2 months), to keep your readers in touch. And use the list to promote your new books as they come out.

Hope this helps,
Kristina

[GentleJourneyAu]

Kristina,
You are always so helpful, generous with your knowledge, dtailed and thorough. Thank you. I have been agonizing over where to put my best efforts. Now I know.

Thanks, Elaine

[dominicgaj]

I once had a contract with PA and I was left to promote the book on my own. I believe that most companies use a promotional department for this.

Anyway, I learned to set up book events, book signings, meet & greets, or library talks. Then I wrote press releases to publicize these events. I sent the press releases to newspapers and local daytime talk shows. I got publicity from both newspapers and TV interviews. However, I only managed to get local publicity.

My publisher is doing some publicity but I am expected to do my share as well. I have found that I quite enjoy it, actually.

One thing I did was that I created a on-line writing competition surrounding the release of my book to generate interest.

Thanks for your other suggestions tlm, they are very useful.

Dominicgaj is right not to leave this up to the publisher. Yes, publishers will do a BARE MINIMUM to promote your book. But writers must be willing to do a lot of promotion themselves.

At this point in my life, I really only do the basics. But they do work:

* An author website
* A Shout Life account (like My Space, but clean)
* A video trailer, which I created with copyright free photos found online and Windows Movie Maker. It goes on You Tube, my website, my blogs, Shout Life, etc.)
* A blog, which should have prominent links to your website (and vice versa)
* Encouraging folks to write Amazon reviews (only if they are four stars or better)
* Actively seeking sources that might want to review my book. Go beyond The New York Times, though, and seek blogs, newspapers, and magazines that relate directly to the topic of your book.

I used to also do speaking engagements, which are a great thing. Not only do you (usually) get paid for speaking (although it might just be $10), but you can bring your book(s) and sell them. People are excited, having just met a "real author" and will often buy at the engagement when they wouldn't buy in a bookstore.

You can also get to know your local booksellers and encourage them to sell your books.

If your book might sell well in a store that doesn't focus on books, get to know the owner, and sell your books directly to them.

Sell your books on eBay (doesn't work well for novels, but for nonfiction, it works great if you list the book NOT in the book section, but in a category related to your book's topic).

I also recommend going to CAN for lots of great, useful ideas: http://canblog.typepad.com/canbookmarketing/

Also, start a list of readers now. I like to do this with email sign up, but you can do a snail mail list, too. Write a newsletter whenever you have news (hopefully AT LEAST every 2 months), to keep your readers in touch. And use the list to promote your new books as they come out.

Hope this helps,
Kristina

I've never heard of a shoutlife account before. I shall have to have a closer look at what it entails

I've actually seen a book video trailer before, I can't remember who or what it was for, but the idea worked well I thought.

I also set up a contact who was interested in reselling my books for a fee. I buy them from the publisher and on-sell them to the reseller (an individual in this case). I sacrifice some of the profit I get through direct sales myself but it helps with another pair of feet on the ground in a different location.

Thank you Kristina for you many varied and helpful suggestions.

Kristina,
You are always so helpful, generous with your knowledge, dtailed and thorough. Thank you. I have been agonizing over where to put my best efforts. Now I know.

Thanks, Elaine

Amen to that!

Finally, I promised I would mention my idea at the start of this thread and here it is:

This may be a particularly useful tactic if you a new published author, but I have chosen to write some short stories in the genre that I am writing in and have placed the first of these on my website for people to download for nothing. I plan on writing more of these in the future.

I'm not interested in earning a royalty from the short story, I just want to use it to create interest in my published work and hopefully result in my potential readership looking forward to the release of the published work when it happens.

I haven't tried this before, or have heard of anybody else trying it but I've tested the water now. If many people start downloading this from the website, then I'll know I might be on a winner. I'll keep any interested people posted on how it goes if you like. Maybe other authors can adopt the tactic as well if it proves to be fruitful.

Jasan.

[TanyaSue]

I recently attended a class on marketing for authors. The teacher was Carmen Leal; the content was based on her book: You Can Market Your Book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932124004?ie=UTF8&tag=inthedai-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1932124004). This book is specifically aimed at christian authors. The author was very successful with a self-published title, selling over 6000 books in nine months, and has now gone on to traditional publishing. Anyway, the class was very helpful, as is the book.

[kriswrite]

Something important that I neglected to mention, I think, was doing interviews. Make yourself available to print, radio, and tv folks - both local and national. This really helps get the word out about your work. Be sure, though, to have a pat and ready answer for where folks can buy your book...and repeat it at least twice in the interview. An easy to remember website address is good, or just tell folks to get it at Amazon. And if you'll be speaking anywhere soon, be sure to mention this and the fact that you'll have books available to purchase. Let folks know that you'll sign their copies, too. Readers love that :)

Kristina