Marketing fiction can be more challenging than non-fiction. You can make it easier by adopting techniques used by non-fiction writers. Yes, these marketing methods work for novels, too. Tie your book to a hot news story. One client’s novel about the oil industry came out right when gas prices were spiking. He used that as a hook to land lots of radio interviews and create … [Read more...]
What Turns a Novel Into a Success Story
“It’s a small world,” people say, but I prefer the old Persian saying, “The world is round, who knows when we’ll meet again?” Somehow I find an active world more appealing, more positive, than a small one. But regardless of the choice, I recently came to experience the profound meaning of such expressions. A few years ago, I wrote a review for “Digging to America,” by Ann … [Read more...]
Get Creative With Your Book Trailers
Book trailers are popping up all over the internet, promoting both fiction and nonfiction books. In most cases these book trailers are similar to movie trailers - sliced together footage of pictures and film clips, often with a voiceover. Movie trailers probably work best when they include footage of a film star that we all want to see in a movie. We may not even care what … [Read more...]
Make it Easy for Book Clubs to Discuss Your Book
You're a book author and you want to promote your book. You have a website where you have downloads of your first chapter or chapters. Have you also made available discussion questions for book clubs to use? Book groups can be a good target market for your book, especially if it's fiction. But given how busy people are, it's helpful for readers to know that if they … [Read more...]
How to Plan a Virtual Party
Planning a Virtual Book Launch, a Virtual Book Birthday or a Virtual Book Tour are great compliments to a book marketing campaign. They are free, effective, and can stick around in the blogsphere forever to immortalize your book and marketing efforts. Anyone can throw a Virtual Party for any reason and the set up is fun and free. CREATE A PARTY WEBSITE Do this at least … [Read more...]
How to Promote a Self-Published eBook
One of the most-asked questions I get from writers who have never written and published an eBook before is, "How would you promote a self-published eBook? Where would you go to even begin selling a product that hasn't the backup from a traditional or otherwise publisher?" Well, that's two, but many writers balk at attempting to play publisher. If they only knew it's not as … [Read more...]
Selling Fiction Books
It used to be that an author would send his manuscripts off to publishing houses where, if he was lucky, the novel would be plucked from the slush pile and accepted for publication. Of course, it often took submitting the book to many publishers, perhaps over the course of years, before the novel found a home with a publisher. And many authors never saw their works in … [Read more...]
Selling Fiction Like Non-Fiction
Marketing a novel can be more challenging than a non-fiction book. You can make it easier by adopting some of the techniques used by non-fiction writers. Yes, they work for novels, too. If you have a good hook, a press release can get you coverage in the media. Also, distributing press releases online allows you to get around the media gatekeepers and take your story … [Read more...]
Let Your Characters Market for You in Social Media
Does your heroine have a Twitter account? Why not? Posting to social media sites in the voice of your characters gives you another way to interact with readers and get them involved in your story. This works especially well for series characters, where the character’s relationship with the audience builds with each book. Social media can speed the process along. Here are … [Read more...]
Fear Not the Short Book Description
For a lot of authors the five most terrifying words they will ever hear is “What is your book about?” It’s not because they don’t know what their book is about. It’s because their book is about so much they don’t want to leave anything out. The answer usually starts with a giggle and “Oh my gosh…” thrown in here and there. It’s uncomfortable for both the speaker and the … [Read more...]