How can you get readers know about your books and you as an author? To advertise and have a publicist is a great idea but expensive. I believe the best marketing tool money can't buy is word of mouth and the internet. If you spread the word about your book and represented yourself in an intriguing way, readers will be eager to buy your book. When they do, they tell others about it. If you get enough readers to like what you write, then your efforts will pay off.
- Talk to people about your book
The purpose is to build friendly relationships. Talk to anyone about your books and you as an author. Visit bookstores, small, large, whatever, if the store holds book signings, go and attend if you can, ask how you can conduct one and introduce yourself to the manager, the sales people and anyone in the bookstore. If you're like me, you read many books each year make sure to buy them from the bookstore you visit, and be a known face at that bookstore to the workers. Make sure also to bring a professional Marketing Plan as well as reviews, press releases, and a copy of the book.
-Reviews and Interviews
Spread your name and books over the internet. Book review sites are many to choose from. Here are some of the sites that are most visited by readers and authors: Long and Short Reviews , Night Owl Romance, Once upon a romance, Coffee Time Romance, Romance Junkies, Romance Reviews Today, Manic Reviews, Bitten By Books, You Gotta Read Reviews, Novel Spot, and not to forget of course Romance Alley and many more…
Reviews and interviews help keep your book and you as an author known and noticed. Make a file for all the sites you sent a request to, and make a spreadsheet of all the places that mentions you and your book. Some do author interviews or profiles; add your book and information about you as an author. Have a presence on the internet.
-Groups/Loops
Register in few forum writing groups and discuss books and tips. Try to be active but careful, being active on too many groups is exhausting and may take you away from your writing. So, register in few that you can handle and wouldn’t overwhelm you. Contact writers groups or libraries in your area and offer to attend the discussion meeting to talk about writing, or answer questions.
-Promo Materials
Bookmarks, postcards, flyers can help keep your book title in front of readers. There are many websites that offer affordable rates and you can make the design yourself, however, be original in some way and creative to stand out. Ask bookstores if you can put some of your bookmarks near the cash register where customers can pick them up. Anywhere you go, keep some promo materials in your purse, you never know who you will meet.
-Your Own Website
If you don't already have an author website, what are you waiting for! A website is a crucial part of your marketing. There are websites that offer easy step-by-step to start a website and you can design it the way you like. Be careful, your design must be intriguing enough to attract readers. Don’t clutter it with info and pictures and make it like a circus, be creative, visit author’s websites and see what you like about some of them and ask yourself what did I like about this website? Be creative to stand out.
Your readers would want to know more about you. Post reviews, offer visitors an enticing "free reads" scene or first chapter of your novel or anything that’s connected to the setting, theme or characters. Add some fun subjects, like recipes, or information about relationships—make sure it’s related to your writing.
-Book Trailer
Creating a creative book trailer is one way to promote a book to readers. This type of promotion can make a sale, or hurt it.
When making the trailer, it’s very important to keep in mind a book trailer is like any marketing strategy, it should be carefully planned. The artistic skill and marketing talent are the foundation of creating a successful video that will present your book in a fascinating style.
Few points you should consider as you create your trailer:• While I create book trailers, it is important to make the trailer short, not more than two minutes, so the trailer won’t bore the viewers.
• Words used are so crucial to the success of your video; it shouldn’t be more than one short sentence per frame, to be able to read it comfortably. I work with authors to come up with tweaked sentences or words to convey the right amount of information, enough to capture the reader’s interest.
• How you construct your video is essential when you are marketing your book. If your video isn’t fascinating enough, it can hurt you more than help you sell your story.
• The use of suitable video effects/pictures is essential part in making your trailer more professional, it’s not how many effects/pictures you use, but what and how you use these effects/pictures.
• The trailer should give a different peek into the story, and compliment the blurb, not repeat it. One of the mistakes I see, in my opinion of course, is that some authors use the trailer as a blurb, and the mistake in using a blurb in the trailer is that you are giving the readers one chance in liking what they are watching, and if they didn’t find it intriguing, you lost them. From your trailer readers need to get to the blurb to learn more, then to your story to know the answers.
Using the trailer as stage one, and the blurb as stage two that’s two chances the reader may comeback and buy your book, which is the final stage you want the readers to reach. Just like a book cover, some readers if they are not attracted to it, they leave the book, some go to the blurb, and from there they will buy the book, or not.
Same works for the book trailer, you must attract readers enough to get them to your story, and if the book trailer failed to attract readers, and wasn’t up to their standards, then you lost the sell. Cluttering the book trailer with many words will put readers off.
Book trailers and book covers fascinate me, and graphic design always drew my attention. Many readers are visual they like seeing a moving picture and if that interest them enough, they will read the book blurb.
There are many marketing ideas you can find on the internet and forums, or by asking your fellow authors. Use anything and everything to promote your books and spread your name, but make it professional. It’s hard work but to see your books out there recognized, read, and enjoyed is worth it.
Technically, writing is demanding and hard work, but the joy we get from writing is like breathing fresh air every time we start a new story, like a new hope, or new life just started. No matter what I say, it’s not enough, but let me tell you this: Writing completes me and I write to bring joy to my reader’s lives and mine as well.
Whether you are new or a multi-published author, I wish you the best and all success. If you have a new idea on how to market a book, please by all means share it here with all of us.
Keep writing!
Suzannah Safi
Romance Author, Promoter, Graphic Designer
Author of: Worth Every Breath...Available from www.thewildrosepress.com
This Time You Are Mine...Available from www.champagnebooks.com
Behind a Closed Heart...Free Read.
Owner of Romance Alley www.romancealley.suzannahsafi.com
Owner of Book Trailer Design www.design.suzannahsafi.com
Join Romance Alley Group on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=149457335046
Join Romance Alley on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Romance-Alley/136815520825
Join Romance Alley on Twitter http://twitter.com/RomanceAlley
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment