Talk about thinking ahead. This author was thinking promotion and marketing well before his publication date. Back in 2004, when my first book, Keepers of the Children, was published, I traveled to the BEA in New York to accept a book award. Although I was tickled that my self-published book had won its category and competed effectively with mainstream publishing houses and authors, it did not escape my notice that almost 100,000 new books had been published that year. Today, the numbers are even greater. Shy authors take note: you must excel at promotion in order to stand out in the crowd.
Promotion is everything. I, too, created a website and a blog, and in addition to that, I made about 400 fliers and sent them to various coffee shops and indie bookstores in several states (OH, NC, NY, GA, TN, ND), then distributed them locally (towns love local artists!). Copies of the book were sent out for reviews, and early copies were sold to readers for reader reactions (which, as a reader, I tend to value). Entering contests is also a good way to get some book backing. The next step is to find a larger distributor (some stores will take consider ’small press’ submissions).
All of this has paid off fairly well – people are buying the book, and to my great pleasure, they’re also liking it. But without all that marketing, it would still be where it was when I first wrote my success story for WritersWeekly: in my hands.
Talk about thinking ahead. This author was thinking promotion and marketing well before his publication date. Back in 2004, when my first book, Keepers of the Children, was published, I traveled to the BEA in New York to accept a book award. Although I was tickled that my self-published book had won its category and competed effectively with mainstream publishing houses and authors, it did not escape my notice that almost 100,000 new books had been published that year. Today, the numbers are even greater. Shy authors take note: you must excel at promotion in order to stand out in the crowd.
Comment by Self Publishing — March 17, 2007 @ 10:29 pm
Promotion is everything. I, too, created a website and a blog, and in addition to that, I made about 400 fliers and sent them to various coffee shops and indie bookstores in several states (OH, NC, NY, GA, TN, ND), then distributed them locally (towns love local artists!). Copies of the book were sent out for reviews, and early copies were sold to readers for reader reactions (which, as a reader, I tend to value). Entering contests is also a good way to get some book backing. The next step is to find a larger distributor (some stores will take consider ’small press’ submissions).
All of this has paid off fairly well – people are buying the book, and to my great pleasure, they’re also liking it. But without all that marketing, it would still be where it was when I first wrote my success story for WritersWeekly: in my hands.
Comment by Kristen Tsetsi — March 22, 2007 @ 9:42 am
I am new here. Just now i am starting to promoting a website and reading a stories
Comment by Ebook Publishing Company — November 5, 2009 @ 8:34 am