“PROMOTION,” THE AUTHOR’S MIDDLE NAME BY MARY L. BALL
It’s finished. Staring back at you is the manuscript you have labored over for countless hours and several sleepless nights. No one will ever see the tears and sweat that went into your writing, but you know it’s there. The last hurdle of this journey is making people aware that you are an author. Stop. Did I say last hurdle? Actually, it should have been one of the first steps. During your writing process, as you struggled along pecking out the perfect story, you should have established a website. There are plenty of free sites available and while they’re not favored, having a no-cost website host is better than not having any home at all for your fables. A blog is also a great way to post information about your “coming soon” book. By putting little bits of your creative work upfront it lets people become familiar with you, and the stories you enjoy producing. These are just two easy ways to begin marketing your novel while still searching for a publisher.
When the contract is signed and the book cover is staring back at you, then the real work of campaigning for your book begins. Unless you have a famous name or some other reason to be well-known, prepare to do a lot of promoting. Every author has to dawn a salesman suit and market their novels.
The accessibility of e-readers and tablets that accept any book format has made reading and surfing an everyday pleasure, increasing booklovers everywhere. This digital craze also has made advertising easier. To get the word out about an e-book you can sit at home or anywhere there is Wi-Fi and surf the Internet to find blogs that will let you add a blurb or excerpt about your novel. The conventional way to market e-books include searching for websites of interest to add the book title or seeking out places that host interviews.
As popular as e-books are, there are still people in the world who prefer paperbacks, so if your work of fiction is also a paperback then you will need to market a different way. Reaching the community, local book stores and surrounding areas takes a tad more work, often requiring you to get into your car and spending hours on the road talking to people face to face.
Even with all the obstacles of getting your name out and building up a fan base, the desire to be a productive author will outweigh the challenges. Below are some tried and true promotional avenues anyone can utilize.
The easiest of all is social media. All those public sites scattered about on the internet help make telling people about your novel effortless. The information highway is full of community places that let people share everyday events. Facebook, Flicker and LinkedIn are only a few available. Other gathering places involve many topic centered websites that have forums. Find some that cater to what you write, such as romance, inspirational or fantasy; all these groups offer ways to shine a light on your literature.
Most important is review blogs. It is important to get friendly with reviewers. Search for blogs that do reviews on your genre. Send an introductory e-mail asking for a book review. Don’t forget to ask friends and colleagues to post reviews on sites such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Videos are great attention grabbers. Just create an account and submit a video–most are free. You Tube is very popular, but many others exist such as Book Trailers, God Tube, Daily Motion, Met Café, Christian Book Videos. The list is long–just searching “Book Trailers” will offer hundreds of places to park a two or three-minute flash about your book. All these ideas offer online exposure.
Google has a great way for you to get ideas for promoting. It’s Google alerts. Set up a few key words and Google will email you a summary when someone searches the internet for things with those main words. You can use that information to become part of talk forums and blogs. These small things add up to your book title reaching more people.
Think about making a presence in person also. It’s important to have business cards made letting people know about your novel and how to order. Hand these out at every opportunity. If you are friendly with any business owners ask them if you can place a flyer somewhere in the store with a blurb and ordering information on it. Participate in signings and festivals where people gather. Carry a few copies of your novel with you. Every chance you have to talk about your book is a potential sale. If your publisher offers print-on-demand (POD) novels, they aren’t likely to get into major chains stores, but POD titles can be listed in Ingram’s catalog. This will make it possible to visit local, independently owned shops. Present a promotional package to the store manager and ask them to order a few introductory copies to see how sales go, or offer them some of your on-hand copies.
As a debut author, learning the ropes for promoting e-books has indeed been daunting, it’s a daily lesson in marketing. No matter how your book is published–self, small press or with a big time publisher–the author is still responsible for getting the word out about their novels. At times, it’s a challenge to juggle writing that next manuscript with promoting the latest book. A true writer must remember the only way to survive in the world of fiction is to find a happy medium between promoting and writing, while keeping a positive attitude knowing that one day it will get easier. 
Remember never spam your novel. It’s not good marketing, and it will turn people off.
Mary L Ball
Mary is giving away a free paperback copy of Escape to Big Fork Lake to one lucky winner who comments this blog entry!
* Winner to be drawn on Saturday 9/8 before noon. Please either include your email or check back to see if you are the winner!
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