Image by brody4 via Flickr Authors promoting their book
In today’s publishing environment it is up to the author to promote their book anyway they can. Unless your name is King, Bradbury, or someone as well known, the publishing houses are more likely to ask you about your marketing plan, and how many followers you have.
It’s up to authors
Do you self-publish, try to get an agent, use a publishing company such as Lulu, Book locker, Amazon or someone else? You will need to pound the pavement to get your book sold no matter how you get your book published.
How can authors promote their book?
There are many viral methods of promoting your book.
The time to begin promoting is before you publish the book.
You need to start building a following by creating a website, book trailer, using social media, virtual book tour, talking about the book to create a demand from followers.
Using social media to promote your book
By social media, I am not talking about Twitter and sites like that alone. Social media is anywhere the people congregate. Blogs, someone else’s blog, networking sites, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, building a website for the book, create a blog about the book, or add it to a list of books you have already published.
If this is your first book, you will have to work a little harder. You will have to work at creating a demand for your book sooner rather than later.
Obtaining a review
Once you publish your book, you will need to get reviews from reviewers. You can accomplish this by contacting reviewers, submitting your book to review sites via query, purchasing a promo package from companies, and through social media contacts who may know of reviewers.
How to approach a reviewer Do’s and Don’ts
- Do not send anything before you talk with them to get a feel for the reviewer and the genre they review. Most reviewers don’t review everything and every genre.
- Be professional.
- Never send any kind of PR. As a professional reviewer, I toss it out. Leave it up to the reviewer to write what is an unbiased review.
- Never take a review personal.
- Never contact the reviewer to ask how the review is progressing
- When contacting a review publication, query before sending a copy
Whenever you are promoting your book, always act like a consummate professional. An author is a businessperson, like it or not, writing is a business.
Robert Medak
Freelance Writer/Blogger/Editor/Reviewer
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