How To Promote
Your Work Effectively
Many people think that writing the manuscript is the hardest
part of the journey, or that it ends upon final editing and production. They
are dead wrong. In fact, the hardest part of being an author is selling to the
different mediums available. When it comes
down to it, your “Baby” is your pride, blood, sweat and tears, who better to
advocate it’ merit than yourself?
This is where time management comes in. Most authors are
doing edits on other works, or working on new books, in various degrees of
being finished. In between dead-lines, researching the next work time has to be
made to promote what’s yours. So…Your
book is ready, about to hit the sites, and you’re just now beginning to
promote. STOP.
When your book is in final stages, promoting is important.
Sites that allow excerpts and book covers are always looking for what’s coming
soon. Go ahead and give a heads up to alert the readers, so that they too can
budget the next book they want to buy.
Mediums
Blog Talk Radio-
Quite a few authors and other professionals in this industry have blog talk
sites. Inquire around to find who is
looking for guests and the genres they’d like to interview.
Video Trailers –
There are artists and mediums that create video trailers for authors. If your
pub house doesn’t have one in house or on contract ask around to find out who
makes them and the fees they charge. The range is from fifty dollars to
one-hundred-twenty-five dollars. There are also links that teach how to do one
on your own-broken down in simple step by step instructions.
Blog
Hold a blog once a month let everyone know what’s going on
in the corner of your world.
www.multiply.com
WebSites-
Depending on your budget, websites are a great way to showcase your work and
show what’s coming up soon. There are web designers who build from scratch, or
sites that are easy to set up and free.
Yahoo Loops
Trinity and her co hosts have daily lists on what loops are
accepting promo and on what days during the week. Although they have the lists,
it’s a good idea to read the rules before posting.
Posting Covers on
Loops
Upload your book
cover at www.tinypic.com
Get the html website
code and copy it.
Go to the yahoo loop
site you wish to paste it at.
Click on Rich-Text
Editor
Scroll to the bottom
of the page
|
View
HTML Source
|
Click the above box
and past the code into the body of the post.
Unclick the box after
pasting it and your book cover will show.
Then you can paste in
your blurb and excerpts.
If you find it’s
too much for you or you simply can’t find the time- hire out to promo sites.
There are many promo sites out there here’s a few
http://honeybunnypromos.blogspot.com/
Promote Yourself
On
Yahoo Loops
Review Sites – Google your genre. My list is too long to
include.
Your Personal Blog
Peer Blogs
Review Site Interviews
Yahoo Loop Interviews
Yahoo Loops looking for Book Covers to paste on their
home pages
Chats
Interacting with readers and authors during Blog Tours
Paste Your Third Party Distributor Sites
Facebook
Twitter
Myspace
Multiply.com
Vista Print - When I have spare change I take advantage of
their ‘free items’ and pay only for shipping and handling. I try to order 500
business cards at a time. Then I pick a generic postcard from them and use it.
Instead of paying for the back to be inscribed with blurbs or book covers on
post cards. I use the ‘free’ stamp and have my website inscribed on it and
stamp it instead J
I’ve
taken cards to urban clothing stores, coffee houses, night clubs, the library,
Laundromats, etc. find out in your area where you can leave your promo
material. I do it once a month while I’m out doing errands.
Contests
Hold a contest every
other month or whenever you have a release going out. Keep in mind--- you have
to keep track of e-books won. Ask your pub to inscribe the winners name and
email addy on the pdf for tracking purposes.
Have small gift
baskets of things found cheaply in your area as special contests. Chocolate is
always good!
Example- I’m from Kansas, The Wizard of Oz is big here, and
there are tons of tourist things for it so it’s a fun theme once and awhile.
Chocolate is always
good too.
Ask your fellow
authors to mail you promo cards and business cards so that you can promote them
too.
Send promo items to
Review Sites.
Personal
Newsletter
Search Google for free banners and
graphics or purchase one!
Use your word
program to create a News Letter and save it as a pdf file.
Email me and I’ll walk you through it
www.mahalialevey.com
5 comments:
Love your book cover for Shut up and Kiss Me! VERY hot!
Mahalia, I think you've pretty much covered everything in the way of promoting. Well done.
Thanks Renee. I got some hits on my facebook for the post. Glad to have helped others!
I love your book cover. Thanks for all this information about promo. I'm printing this blog. Very useful stuff.
Hales, I agree that the promotion part of our job is tougher than writing a book.
Love your new book cover.
Wow. Thanks for so many new ideas in promoting. I thought I was doing well but see I need to add quite a bit. Jean
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