Karen,
thanks so much for hosting me here at Coming Down the Mountain! I’m blog
touring to promote my new book, Masquerade: Part Two of the Unchained Trilogy:
Celebrated actress Lavinia Hargraves lives life as a
masquerade. She hides her Negro ancestry to pursue her dream of becoming the
world’s greatest actress. She elopes
with Vernon Hargraves, the owner of New York’s premier theater troupe, to
acquire all that she could ever want: a new life as white, stardom on the
stage, and an abundant supply of money. The secret of her mother's slave-girl
past could easily destroy the life she has constructed.
Masquerade is now available at Amazon. In my opinion, writing the novel was the easy
part. Now comes the hard part—marketing
and promotion! Whether you are
traditionally published or self-published, the majority of the marketing will
fall on your shoulders. I am by no means
a marketing guru, but I’m happy to share a few tips I’ve learned to help you!
There
is no magic formula for promoting your work—at least not one that I’ve stumbled
upon—but I have found that writing more
books and connecting with readers are
two ways to increase your sales. Let’s take
a look at each of these areas:
Writing More Books
First of all, spend more time
writing than promoting. What I’ve read
countless times and seen for myself, is that the best way to sell more books is to write more books! And if you
have an idea for a series, go for it! When readers like the first of a series,
the immediate gratification of an e-reader allows them to effortlessly purchase
the second and third, etc. The books
feed off each other and produce more sales. No amount of blog appearances,
press releases, radio interviews or book signings can beat that. Not that those aren’t great things to do (and
we’ll discuss them next), but the more books you write, the better your chance
of actually selling them.
Connecting With Readers
A
great book to help you connect with readers is The Tricked Out Toolbox, by Tanya Kappes, and two great websites
are Dan
Blank’s We Grow Media and Anthony Puttee’s Book
Cover Cafe. From Dan, Anthony and Tanya, I’ve learned
that, as an author, it’s very important to be
accessible to your readers, and there are several ways to do this:
Create a Website and Amazon Author Page
If
you don’t have a website already, create one soon! With Wordpress and Blogger, this is very
easy to do yourself—For Free! Techie people love Wordpress, non-techie people (like me) love Blogger. Both sites
allow you to set up more than one page, but the most important page to have is a “Contact Page”.
You
can either place a contact form there, or say something like: I’d love to hear
from you! Email me at...
Readers
want to connect, so make sure they can, easily!
And when they email, be sure to
email back!
On
your site, it’s nice to have a page for photos of you at book signings,
readings, conferences, and with family and friends. Readers want to know about you!
A
blog page is included with Blogger and Wordpress sites. But decide how often to blog and do it consistently
(I blog once a week). Other good pages
to create are ones for your bio, novel descriptions, and novel excerpts. Visit some of your favorite author pages and
see what they’re doing. If you’d like to
take a look at mine, click here.
In
addition to your website, create an Amazon Author Page with Amazon’s Author
Central. If readers purchase your book on Amazon, they
can immediately go to your author page to find out more about you!
Social Media
I
have not mastered the art of using social media to my best advantage, but I do
have Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads accounts. Some authors have a Facebook page for each
book. I only have a single author page where I provide info about my books,
blog posts and appearances. Sometimes
readers will look for you on Facebook so they can leave a message or a
comment. Be sure to reply back!
I
do not tweet daily, but when I do, I usually share the progress of books I’m
working on, upcoming publication dates, what I’ve blogged about, or useful
articles I’ve read.
With
Goodreads, you can create a page for each book, and during the first six months
of a book’s release, you can do a Giveaway. This generates excitement for your new release!
Blog Tours, Radio Interviews, Press
Releases
With
the release of a new book, contact bloggers, like Karen, who are willing to let
you share your work with their audience.
In addition, contact radio stations in your area who are supportive of
local authors to see if they’ll interview you. Write a press release for Biblioscribe, a free promotional site for authors.
Live Appearances
Contact
bookstores, libraries, and art centers close by to see if they’ll allow you do
a reading. Reach out to book clubs, near
and far (lists are usually available at libraries). Let them know you’ll be glad to make an
appearance (live or through Skype) for free.
Also, keep an eye out for local book conferences. Whatever live appearances you do, be sure to
Tweet them, mention them on Facebook, and put them on your Goodreads event
schedule. Another good page to create for your website is a “Where I’ll Be”
page.
Promotional Materials
At
this point, the only promo materials I have are business cards and post
cards. Business cards are a must, and
very affordable at Vistaprint. I have my name, email, cell phone and most
popular book title on my business cards.
Always have them handy; you never know when you’ll run into a potential
reader!
I
have post cards for each book, again made by Vistaprint. The book cover is pictured on the front,
while the back contains a brief synopsis, the price, where the book is sold and
my website. These are great to have on hand at conferences and readings. If readers don’t want to purchase a
paperback, they can take the card and later purchase an e-book. Also, if your books are only available
electronically, you can sign the card in lieu of a physical book. Postcards can be distributed through
neighborhoods, as well. Remember, no
telling where you’ll find a potential reader!
Hope
these basic tips help you! Do you have
any info you’d like to share to help writers better connect with readers?
Karen,
thanks again for letting me visit at Coming Down the Mountain!
Thank you for this helpful post, Maria! I've done all of these at one point or another, some being more effective than others. It's important to try a lot of different marketing techniques and then find the best fit for each individual and each book. But if we don't try how can we know?
ReplyDeleteKaren, many thanks again for hosting me! Marketing can be hit or miss at times. But as you say, you'll never know what works unless you try it!
DeleteGood tips, Maria! I'm not on Facebook, but I am on several other sites. Physical appearances aren't my favorite so most of my effort is here online. (Fortunately my publisher sends promotional materials to all of the science fiction conventions rather than sending me!)
ReplyDeleteHi, Alex, there are so many ways to promote onlne, live appearances aren't really necessary! And you're fortunate to have a publisher send out promotional materials for you:).
DeleteI have seen the biggest increases in sales when I have a new release. I was surprised to see this held true even when the new release wasn't related to my other books! I have a free short story out, too, and that also helps maintain interest. Good luck with Masquerade! I have my copy, and am looking forward to reading!
ReplyDeleteHi, Jennette! Thanks for visiting me here. Isn't it amazing how new releases REALLY gen up more sales! I've heard free material does, too. It's on my list to write something to offer for free.
DeleteThanks so much for purchasing Masquerade! I hope you enjoy it:).
These are great tips, thank you!
ReplyDeleteHello, Mshatch! You're welcome--so glad you like the tips:).
DeleteAll great tips. I do agree the best thing one can do to market their novel is to write more great novels. People want to know there's more available.
ReplyDeleteHi, L.G., and thanks! Yes, readers are always looking for more;). And if they like your work, they'll spread the word--getting a buzz going also sells more books!
DeleteThese are great pieces of advice. All the best with Masquerade!
ReplyDeleteHi, Shelly! Thank you so much:).
DeleteThese are all very good tips; I'll keep them in mind! I especially agree with the part about live appearances. When I worked in a bookstore, there were certain celebrity authors who only did book signings without saying anything; that is, they showed up to sign books and that was it. I understand that they're very busy, but it's nicer when they can say at least a few things about the book and/or themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi, Neurotic Workaholic and thank you! You are so right about live appearances--even if an author doesn't do a reading, I'd like to hear something about what inspired the book.
DeleteI list all of my events on my website and blog, but didn't think of listing them on Goodreads. I'll have to do that.
ReplyDeleteHi, L. Diane, yes, definitely do that:). Goodreads has lots of great feautures for authors!
DeleteThese are great tips! Thanks for posting these.
ReplyDeletewww.modernworld4.blogspot.com
Hi, Gina, thank you, and you are very welcome!
DeleteThanks for the great tips and links!
ReplyDeleteHi, Pat! You're welcome:).
DeleteThanks for this. I enjoyed reading what you said about writing more books. I agree with you and I find that it's difficult to avoid being sucked into the media frenzy. I love those hours when I'm offline and enjoying the story I'm creating.
ReplyDeleteHi,Cleemckenziebooks-great name, btw;). Yes! Those offline hours writing and creating are the best times!
DeleteHi Maria!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. And you make some valid points too,
All the best!
Thanks Karen!
Nas
Thank you, Nas!
DeleteExcellent tips, Maria!
ReplyDeleteKaren, thank you for posting!
Thanks so much, William!
DeleteThank you so much, Karen for hosting Maria, and thank you Maria for excellent tips on marketing and promotion of self and writing.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you, Karen, for following my Adventures in Writing blog. http://victoriamarielees.blogspot.com
Hi, Victoria, and you're very welcome!
DeleteAwesome tips, Maria. I'm bookmarking them. Good luck with your latest book - the plot sounded quite intriguing.
ReplyDeleteHi, Nicole, and thank you! So glad you liked the tips:).
ReplyDeleteBest of sales, Maria! I'm in the midst of marketing my audiobooks right now. Self-promoting is hard to make a win-win situation. But I am trying. May success as you wish it soon be yours. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi, Roland! Thanks for your good wishes, and best of luck to you in marketing your audiobooks:). Self-promo is hard, but you have to keep trying!
Delete