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!
Honestly? You've got a popular blog (two, actually), and you'll have a functioning web site. You're active and visible at conventions.
I don't think you *have* to do more than you're already doing. Heck, some authors don't even do that much, and they seem to do just fine.
The promotional things I've had the most success with were the ones where I was having the most fun. Go figure. Whether that's the princess contest we did for the book launch of Stepsister Scheme, or the Photoshopping contest a while back, those were the things that people really seemed to get into.
Don't kill yourself trying to be SuperPromoting Author Extraordinaire.
Though if you wanted to do some sort of joint contest with an author who has a mermaid book coming out in October, that could be fun ;-)
thoughtful
February 10 2009, 19:15:45 UTC 8 years ago
I don't think you *have* to do more than you're already doing. Heck, some authors don't even do that much, and they seem to do just fine.
The promotional things I've had the most success with were the ones where I was having the most fun. Go figure. Whether that's the princess contest we did for the book launch of Stepsister Scheme, or the Photoshopping contest a while back, those were the things that people really seemed to get into.
Don't kill yourself trying to be SuperPromoting Author Extraordinaire.
Though if you wanted to do some sort of joint contest with an author who has a mermaid book coming out in October, that could be fun ;-)
February 10 2009, 19:20:33 UTC 8 years ago
February 10 2009, 19:23:41 UTC 8 years ago
Wait, we've got the same people, don't we ... okay, then we should just e-mail.
February 13 2009, 15:11:37 UTC 8 years ago