I’ve decided to share some of what I’ve learned about the business side of becoming a published writer. My plan is to post something business related at least a couple of times per month, for the writers that visit my site. Hopefully, some of what I’ve learned will be of use! Today, I’m going to talk a little about promotion…
As an unpublished writer, I thought I knew what to expect when and if I finally sold. I’d done a lot of research, kept up on industry blogs, went to many a workshop at various conferences, and paid close attention to the knowledge my published author friends so freely shared. Even so, when the time came to promote my first release, I found that I hadn’t learned nearly enough.
If I thought talking about myself and my work was difficult, learning to promote my book took on an entirely new level. A sales person I am not. Even commenting on my favorite blogs is not something I do often…so the thought of “putting my book out there” caused me more than a little distress. But considering doing nothing caused me more distress. I didn’t want to be the person who thought to herself, “What if I’d tried just a little harder?” while staring at lackluster sales numbers.
That was the thought that pushed me forward into the world of promotion. For me, promotion is a lot like gambling. What will work? What is worth the time and money, and what isn’t? The truth of the matter is that no one knows what works and what doesn’t. No one can tell you what type of promo will work for you or for your book. To further that truth, something that propelled Author A to the bestseller list might not do a thing for Author B…because guess what? Promotion can only do so much.
I’ll readily admit I have a lot more to learn, but this past year has definitely given me some ideas on where to best spend my resources. This has been an important lesson to learn, because as timing would have it, just as I seriously began to consider what methods I’d use for promotion, my financial resources changed dramatically. So there I was; an about-to-be published author after years of trying with little to no budget for promotion. I researched some more, asked a lot of questions, and came up with some type of a game plan.
Here is where I spent, and continue to spend, my money and resources:
An Author Website: I spent some dollars on my website. Not a huge amount, but I felt the investment was worth it. I wanted it to be professional, to speak toward my brand (the types of books I write), and I wanted it to be unique. What I consider important for an author website is:
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An engaging home page.
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A book page with information, including an excerpt, ISBN numbers, and buy links to the author’s books.
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A place for reviews.
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A bio page with information about the author and a picture.
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An events page sharing where the author will be and when.
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A contact page with an email address that readers, booksellers, the press, and the author’s mother’s cousin’s best friend can contact them.
The above, in my opinion, is the absolute basics. For my site, I also included a blog and a newsletter sign-up page. I learned quickly that just having a website didn’t mean people would be able to find it, so I submitted my website to Google and Yahoo for web crawling, as a first step. From there, I’ve worked to keep fresh content on my site.
A Blog: I knew I wanted to blog, even though the thought of it scared me just a little. Okay, a lot. But somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I understood that having a place to connect with readers was important. While I don’t receive a lot of comments on my blog, my handy dandy stat counter shows me that the numbers of folks reading it are increasing monthly. So I must be doing something right. I also began to blog at a separate site (www.thenovelgirls.blogspot.com) with other authors who had a book debuting in 2009, as well as blogging monthly at the Ohio Romance Writers MySpace page.
An E-Newsletter: Deciding to create and send out a newsletter seemed really daunting to me. I couldn’t begin to understand why anyone would want to receive any sort of an update from Tracy Madison. However, I listened to folks who knew better and went about gathering email addresses, and then sent my first newsletter out electronically before the release of my first book. It was a smart move. I use my newsletter in a few different ways:
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To share information with my subscribers first, before I share it on my website. My hope was that by doing this, my subscribers would find value in staying subscribed. This seems to be working. Whether it’s an excerpt or a subscriber only contest, I believe by offering something that they can’t find anywhere else at that moment, I’m creating a reason why folks should tune in.
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To announce the release of upcoming books.
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To share special events I might be appearing at, or fun stuff that is happening at my blog.
Delve Into Social Networking: At first, I was completely against setting up a Twitter, Facebook, etc., account because I really didn’t feel that I had the time to devote to them. Honestly, this is still an issue I’m working on, but I know that many of my readers have found me both on Twitter and Facebook, so I believe they are worthwhile forms of promotion. What I try not to do, however, is go into sales speak very often. Instead, I use these forums as a way to connect with my readers.
Gather Reviews. Ah! Another scary concept, as I worried about having my book torn to shreds all over the Internet. I realized quickly, though, that reviews were going to happen whether I searched them out or not, so I decided to actively send my debut book to many appropriate online reviewers. By appropriate, I’m specifically speaking to genre. I write light paranormal romance, so there wouldn’t be any sense in sending either of my books to a site that mostly reviews mysteries, as an example. When a book is reviewed, the cover and the author’s website are also displayed with the review, which is a huge reason alone to get over the “I might have a bad review” nerves, at least for me!
Once the reviews start coming in, I make a point to do two things: 1) I send them on to my publisher, so they can post them to my book’s page on their website, and 2) I post them on my website. I also include a few of the more current reviews in my newsletter.
Hold Contests. People love contests. They love winning stuff, even if the prize is relatively small. I’ve tried a variety of contests, from the standard “leave a comment for a chance to win,” to holding a scavenger hunt type of contest to promote the release of my second book. I’ve found that both work well, but I’ve definitely had more interest in the month-long scavenger hunt.
The benefits to having a contest are many: you can gather email addresses for your newsletter subscriber list (assuming you state that by entering, their email address will be added), you can connect to your audience in a fun way, you can (hopefully) pique their interest about your books.
As to prizes, I’ve given away signed books from author friends, Borders gift cards, signed copies of my debut book for the second book’s release, as well as a variety of smaller, goodie bag “promo” types of prizes (such as bookmarks, notepads, etc). Honestly, it doesn’t seem to matter what the prize is. People just like the opportunity to win something.
An Internet Presence: A lot of what I’ve already discussed falls into this category, such as reviews, contests, blogs, etc., but there are other avenues I’ve found helpful in getting the word out about my books. Some of these are:
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Advertise on websites that support the genre of my books. For me, these have been sites such as Fresh Fiction, Night Owl Romance, Romancing the Blog, Smart Bitches, etc. Fresh Fiction, in particular, offers a variety of promotion packages for authors that I’ve found especially helpful in the creation of my newsletter subscriber list.
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Guest blogs and interviews at the above type of sites, along with review sites, author sites, and other romance reading blogs. This is a great way to connect with possible readers, and to begin to form an audience within other social networking sites.
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I’ve also taken the time to add my website addy to other romance reading related sites. There are several, such as Romancing the Blog, that will do so just by sending them the link.
The goal with all of the above is to get my cover(s) and name out there as much as possible, which should draw increased traffic to my other online presences. Remember, in marketing they say it takes around seven times of a potential buyer seeing a product before they make that purchase.
Introductions to Booksellers. This isn’t always as easy as it sounds, especially for me, but it’s proven to be beneficial. Every time I visit a bookstore, I make a point of finding out who sets up the book signings and introducing myself. I’ve found that most booksellers are very interested in local authors, and never have I walked away feeling anything but positive. With my second book, I’ve taken the time to contact booksellers outside of my immediate area by offering to send them promo material, such as bookmarks. Again, I’ve found nothing but kindness and a willingness to help.
Attend Book Signings. I was petrified before my first book signing with thoughts of “What if NO ONE buys my book?” But I’ve since learned that book signings are important, and not only for the reason most people think. Yes, it’s terrific to have a stellar signing where tons of books are sold, but the best reason for having a signing is to advance your relationship with the bookseller. They’ll be more likely to remember you and hand sell your books when customers are looking for your type of story.
Promo Items. There is a lot of controversy over which promo items (if any) really sell books, and there really isn’t any clear cut answer. With my debut book, I didn’t purchase any promo items at all, but relied heavily on the cover flats my publisher sent me for book two. However, I’ve recently entered into the world of promo items, and I’ve discovered that bookmarks are much better in the hands of booksellers than sitting on a table at a conference, and I’ve found that as long as I don’t go overboard, I can find some great items to give away as prizes without spending a heck of a lot of money.
Post-It type pads, for example, are awesome because you can easily separate one pad into two, three, or four (thank you to Tammie at Night Owl Romance for this idea!) I also spent a little money on having a few custom coffee mugs with the covers of my books printed on them to add to some of my giveaways this past month. My advice is to go easy on purchasing promo items until you see what works for you, your audience, your promo plan, and your books.
The above ten points are what I’ve focused on this past year, and while I cannot claim to have had wild and crazy sales, I do know that some of my promo is beginning to pay off. I receive emails from readers who state they “saw my book” on “X” site, and “had to pick it up.” I’ve found new readers through my contests, both at my site and at others. Most importantly, though, is the knowledge that I’ve done the best I can with my current level of resources, and therefore, I’ll never have to wonder, “What if?”
Contest News!
This month, I’ll be holding two contests: one for the readers of the blog, and one specifically for my newsletter subscribers. And yes, if you’re a reader and a subscriber, then you could possibly win both contests! Here are the details:
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Newsletter Subscribers don’t have to do anything but be subscribed! On September first, I’ll randomly draw one name from my subscriber list, and that person will win a book of their choosing from Dorchester Publishing!
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The Blog Contest is simple. I’ll randomly select one person from all of the comments made throughout August, and that person will also win a book of their choosing from Dorchester Publishing! Each comment gives you another entry, so don’t be shy.
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OR, either winner can, instead, choose a signed copy of either of my books or a custom A TASTE OF MAGIC/A STROKE OF MAGIC coffee mug. Their choice!
I’d like to have a more active blog and newsletter list, so subscribe and comment!
Don’t Forget!
This week at The Novel Girls, we’re talking about the Writer’s Diet. Stop in and see what each of has to say about our dietary habits…and share your own!
