So, Full Swing, my first release comes out next week. I’m both excited and terrified. Or maybe that flutter in my stomach is the deep fried twinkie I ate at the festival yesterday. Hmm.
But, I digress.
What I wanted to talk about today was different strategies for promoting books. Shelli and Lori are the mad promo queens and can pimp their wares like no other, but they’re also stay at home moms. That’s hard work, don’t get me wrong, but it also gives them a more flexible schedule during the day for going to chats and loops and other such free forms of promotion. What do the rest of us do who have full-time work outside of the home?
I’m stumped over this one, so I thought I come ask for suggestions. What do you do to promote your work? Or what promotion have you seen that’s particularly effective? What draws you in?
Then there are paid forms of promotion, bookmarks, business cards, postcards, advertisements in print and on websites, etc. But unless you’re The Donald’s new trophy, you may not have a lot of cash to throw around. What are cheap ways to promote? Or is it better to do one big thing and hope it pays off big?
So, today I have more questions than answers as a new author. Promotion is one of the two forms of evil no one warns you about when you sell. The other is edits and revision. Maybe I’ll talk about that next week.
See ya later!
Crystal
August 14th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Yeah, no one mentions the promo part and how freakin’ time consuming it is. I’m a stay at home mom too so I shouldn’t complain but sheesh, it boggles the mind how many places you can go to promo!
Good luck, I’m sure you’ll do fine. Heck the cover alone will sell it…
August 14th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
I’m gonna be SUPER HONEST LOL My last book wtih LSB came out last November. I’ve done almost no promo since it came out, and had no releases, sales haven’t changed much from month to month (and that’s nothing to brag about LOL). The best promo, IMO is to write another book. Unfortunatley I don’t write as fast as I used to.
August 14th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Name recognition when you can make chats and loops is invaluable. I have made bookmarks on my printer which is cheap, have cards and such done through VistaPrint. Since so much of the promotion effort is online, I’d say just getting traffic to your site and the recognition would be the most important.
And *happy dancing*… You’re going to be released! Woooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!
August 15th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
I don’t have any answers for you, Crys. I’m obviously doing something right but I have no idea what lol! I do the usual loops and chats, have a contest or two every month and hope for the best. Just being visible seems to go a long way.