So as I sit here, a safe seven months from my release date, I'm watching various friends and acquaintances as they madly dance through the steps required to promote and advertise a new book. It's important, especially for newer authors, to do something beyond just saying 'I have written a book and my mommy says it's awesome' when they have something hitting the shelves. (Although 'I have written a book and Seanan's mommy says it's awesome' seems to carry a surprising amount of weight for everyone but me. Does anybody else out there have a tattooed, foul-mouthed mother who'd be willing to fill that particular role for me?)
So the question becomes, what works? Book giveaways are obviously good things, but also somewhat self-limiting, as I sort of want people to buy things. (Oddly enough, I don't feel like earning back my advance all by myself.) Competitions are also good, providing the prizes are interesting -- and heck, prizes are just lovely things to offer. So what do you think would be a good idea? What kinds of promotion would you like to see? We have seven months to put even the strangest of plans into motion, so sing out!
Cassandra Clare is tormenting her followers with outtakes: the stuff that might have happened but didn't, and thus will appear nowhere in the book but is fascinating to read anyway.
I'm planning to take a page from Kelley Armstrong's book and do online tie-in fiction for the book(s) where it makes sense. Definitely InCryptid, probably Toby.
I have a cunning plan for a short story of mine that I wrote for the love and not necessarily with publication in mind, but if it's published I have one of the necessary tools already: the punch line involves a website. I now own the proper domain. On the website, ideally, there will be a little movie, just as it would have been if the story were actually real. Because the story is not actually real, it will also link to either a copy of the story on a separate page, or something like an author page to give context. Muahahah.
thoughtful
February 10 2009, 19:14:20 UTC 8 years ago
February 13 2009, 15:11:25 UTC 8 years ago
February 13 2009, 17:10:55 UTC 8 years ago
February 14 2009, 02:08:52 UTC 8 years ago