I spoke at the Baltimore Book Fest and I spoke about critique groups, beta readers and marketing.
I currently have many peers who have new books coming out within the next 9 months. And let me just say, I've done tons and tons of different things in the last 2 years to promote my books. You know ... get the word out.
Here are somethings I used that worked the best and that I saw the largest returns.
BLOG TOURS
Oh my I tell you bloggers are the best source of encouragement, buzz builders, and help for getting your books talked about. I can't say enough about working with book bloggers. They're gems!
SOCIAL MEDIA
Let me tell you, now that I have been in the book business awhile, it would surprise you that many older publishers are just know starting to see the benefit of using social media to get the word out about their books. I just wish I would have jumped in the social media pool a lot sooner because it's a lot of fun. Some of the most powerfel ways to spread the word is Twitter, FB (maybe Google+ may give them a run for their $) and blogger to name a few.
BOOK REVIEWS
This is a silent helper. The more book reviews you have, the more the internet book browser will purchase your book. Not to mention it shows how the word is getting out. Since many people have to read your book before someone actually post a review.
COVER
This is definately a must. Covers are very subjective because what I like, someone else may not like. But book covers is the first draw to getting someone interested in your book. And to change a cover can be costly to the small publisher in more ways than just the cost of a new artist to come up with a cover.
DIRECTED MAILINGS WITH FOLLOWUP
I've been able to get my book in bookstores and libraries by mailing a selected list a marketing plan, media kit and ARC. Then I have my marketing person follow up with a visit. It's garnered us sales.
ANOTHER ONE FOR THE ROAD...
Publishing the next book within 1 year.
NOT EVERYTHING WORKS FOR EVERYONE...WHAT WORKED FOR YOU?
LM I Love you! :) I'm a Public Relations student helping a fellow writer with her published MG, Athena's Curse. (www.athenascurse.com) and I've really been wanting to help her more, but public relations doesn't cover books. So this really is helpful, and I'm glad I'm finding my ideas are correlating with what you've noted as most helpful! Thank you for your wonderful knowledge! :)
ReplyDeleteBook expo's and signings are working best for me. I've used some of the same things you've mentioned though: blog tours, trailers, appealing covers, reviews, social media, etc.
ReplyDeleteLM, very helpful--especially the one about the press kit to bookstores etc.
ReplyDeleteI ditto Catherine - I need to get working on a press kit. Especially for the local stores.
ReplyDeleteI'm super-excited about my blog tour -- and I think Goodreads has been doing a good job of slowly spreading the word, even without many reviews yet. The cover has been attracting ppl.
I'll have to tell you after my first year of sales. ;) But these are fantastic tips, many of which I've been doing!
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