Ideas for Marketing Your Book: Part 2

Repeat after me:

I love marketing.

I love marketing.

I love marketing.

I’ve read somewhere that if you repeat something for at least 10 seconds, you’ll remember it.  Maybe if you repeat it enough times, you’ll start to believe it as well.   Who knows . . . the human mind is a strange and wondrous thing.

As I mentioned in part 1, you realized once you have made it to getting your book published that the work has only just begun.  Writing your book, editing it, publishing it – that was the easy part.  Those things have a sense of closure to them. 

Marketing . . . well, marketing is like that painful, angst-ridden breakup with your ex – closure isn’t an option.  It goes on and on.   (Tweet this comment)

Ultimately though, marketing brings with it a satisfying end – much like running into that ex months later and seeing that you are 10 times better looking than their current arm ornament and likely more mentally stable.

Here are more ideas for getting you to that ultimate reward.

List # 2 – Send, Send, Send

1.      Send a copy to review sites or book review blogs (I am in the process of putting a list of these sites together . . . stay tuned for that).

2.      Find a top reviewer (I’ve linked to the site for you) of books in your genre on Amazon.com and contact them, asking if they’d like a copy of your book.  Reviewers LOVE free books to read.

3.      Send a copy to local book clubs in your area (and surrounding areas too). 

4.      BONUS:  If the local book clubs have regular meetings . . . set up a “Meet the Author” night with them . . . have a Book Signing while you’re at it. 

5.      If you still have them in your area, send a copy to your local independent bookstore as part of a marketing kit or press release.  Bookstores love to receive advanced free copies and often give them to their employees to read and suggest to customers.

6.      Offer free copies on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest – whatever social media outlet you can get on – as a raffle.  Create fun contests for your readers all while building a contact list to send updates too.

7.      Give away free copies on bookmooch.com.  Ask readers to only mooch your book if they are willing to review it for you on Amazon.com.  You can gain more reviews which will in turn help sell books.

8. College Campuses! Don’t forget your campus bookstore, campus library, campus clubs, writing groups, historical societies, etc.  Especially if your target audience is YA!

Well . . . I have way more marketing tips than I had realized.  I’ll have to make sure I have a Part 3 very soon.  Until then....Happy Marketing!!!

Ideas for Marketing Your Book: Part 1

Ideas for Marketing Your Book: Part 1

Ok...so you’ve written what you are sure is the next NY Times Bestseller, you have a publisher (either traditional or self), now you need to market it. Let’s face it, all the thousands of hours you spent writing it and getting it published was EASY!!!  

The work is in the promotion!! Over the course of the last two years, I’ve collected ideas from hence and yon, as well as come up with a few of my own, that I think would be an excellent help to any author from any genre. 

There are a LOT of ideas, so I won’t drown you with them all at once.  If you are like me, too many ideas means feeling overwhelmed. Feeling overwhelmed means friends will finally come and check on you after days of you not returning phone calls only to find you staring at your computer screen and mumbling incoherent jibberish under your breath while rocking slightly back and forth in a mindless state. 

I don’t want to be responsible for that. 

So...without further adieu...(feel free to imagine a drumroll here)

List # 1 – Oh the places you’ll go....

1.      Donate a copy of your book to your local library...and maybe any local library within a short driving distance.  (Word of mouth is still the best advertising method).

2.      If your book is geared toward children or teens...donate a copy to school libraries in your area.  (Again...word of mouth & we KNOW how teens like to talk.)

3.      BONUS:  If the local school in #2 happens to be a school you attended...set up a “Meet the Author” night with the PTA or one day with the librarian...have a Book Signing while you’re at it. 

4.      Send a copy to your local newspaper OR the regional paper in your area along with a press release.  (Better yet...send it to BOTH).  Be sure to send it to the Attention of the Arts and Variety editor or Local Interest section.  If you aren’t sure who that is...Google it or call the paper, they will point you in the right direction.

5.      Speaking of newspapers... Send a copy to at least one national newspaper (I’d send it to as many as you can afford to send books to) along with a press release.  Again, to the attention of the Review Editor.

6.      Bookmarks!!!  I know...it sounds s little odd, but have bookmarks made with your book cover, title, website info & so on to leave at libraries (local & school), bookstores (they might put them in the bags of purchases for you for free if you ask nicely or at least let you leave them on the counter), any place that might relate to your genre or topic (like churches for religious books) or keep some to hand out like business cards when people ask about your book. They're inexpensive.

7.      Waiting rooms.  If you find books in your doctor’s office, dentist’s office, at the hospital, or any other waiting room you’ve frequented (or choose to stalk for this sole purpose), why not “conveniently” leave one of your own books there in the mix? You never know who will pick it up. (Remember...word of mouth)  This is an excellent opportunity for anyone who wrote a book specific to a field too, such as: nursing biographies, doctor advice, dental, self-help, etc.  (I’ve been in waiting rooms, and I would have LOVED to find something to read besides things related to the office I was in...don’t let that stop you from leaving a fiction book in a doctor’s office).  Heck...leave some bookmarks in these places too!

OK....those should keep you busy for the next week (or so).  I’ll bring List #2 out when you’ve had time to let this one sink in good.  Until then....

Happy Marketing!!!

Talk is cheap...Results are priceless

The other night I was in bed, oddly remembering a scene from my past life. No, not like a different lifetime ago...don’t wig out, from a few years back. YES...that was a different life, I assure you!  

Anyway...back to the scene. I was TRYING to go to sleep and the past life husband was there with his handy dandy notebook (yup, I just made a Blue’s Clues reference) brainstorming…LOUDLY… about a blog he wanted to start for the money pit, I mean race team he and his brother had. So, there I was…half asleep, spouting off half-witted blog titles for him, trying to ignore the ones he was bringing to the table when out spouted something so profound that I actually woke myself from my uncommitted slumber. Don’t ask why I was remembering this...who knows why we think some of the things we think??? The mind is a strange creature. 

Now...for those perceptive few of you reading this (which would be approximately all of you since there are most likely only a FEW) you may have figured out my sleep induced epiphany by now. Yep…it’s the title of today’s blog.

Talk is cheap…results are priceless.

I need to truly take my own advice on this one and stop running my mouth and get serious about my, thus far, half a** efforts to make my dreams a reality.  This is supposed to be a commitment to myself. I don’t know why I continue to sabotage my efforts or let those around me sabotage them unknowingly. I mean...I didn’t used to be such a slacker. 

So....it’s time to put my money (what little I have of it) where my mouth is. Talk is cheap. I need to start seeing some results....after all...I said so myself...they are PRICELESS!!!

Thoughts for the day:

Why doesn't onomatopoeia sound like what it is?

If the #2 pencil is so popular, why is it still #2?