Today’s world of cyberspace has opened up many new avenues for authors and writers to be published, but it has also created the need for those same authors and writers to promote their own work. While you can get your work published today without the assistance of an agent and self publishing is on the rise, if no one is reading your work, none of it does much good. The promotion of your work can be quite costly, but there are avenues out there in which your work can be promoted for little or even no money from already tight budgets. I asked several writers and authors that I know about their self promotion experiences and discovered a slew of helpful information that I would like to share here.
In the world of digital promotion, many avenues have become available to writers that simply didn’t exist before the Internet hit the scene. Gary Val Tenuta, author of The Ezekiel Code, advocates online promotions that are basically free to promote his work. He mentions My Space, Facebook, and social networks, such as my own, Writer’s World, where one can make connections and get the word out by investing a little time, but not touching the pocketbook. He also has used banners and video trailers, but warns that when using these methods, you should shop for those that are reasonably priced and make sure that sites they are placed on will be cost effective. In other words, be sure that the sites where you place them will generate enough traffic and produce enough interested readers to make it worth your effort. The idea is to create exposure for your work; as much as possible for as little out of pocket as possible. The placement of video trailers in particular, must be well chosen, as they are more expensive and if they don’t reach your target audience, will not be very effective. Val Tenuta states, “For example, one of my trailers on YouTube has been viewed something like 26,000 times the last time I checked. But I can tell you nowhere near 26,000 people have bought my book! LOL! I think I know the reason behind that. I think the vast majority of people who surf YouTube are probably in the age range of 12 to 25 and are not typically into reading books. If it doesn’t move, have music and plenty of visual treats then they’re not particularly interested. They are the video generation and I get that. On the flip side, however, I think video trailers can be very effective in the right place.”
Maria Schneider just published an article ranking the social media networks by the amount of traffic generated from them to her Editor Unleashed site. According to Schneider, the social sites that generate the most traffic for her are Twitter, Stumble Upon, Delicious, and Facebook, in that order. Cynthia B. Ainsworthe, author of Front Row Center, recommends hitting every social site that you can, “The time I invest every day yields 2 or 3 book sales per month.” To generate traffic and/or books sales, Val Tenuta recommends posting synopsis, taglines, blurbs and possibly video trailers on your personal pages of social sites. I would add to that links, since my published works so far are short stories, poems and articles. (When Heather Hummingbird comes out, that will change.) Published author Scott Martin Locke suggests using the web to your advantage. He recommends Elemental Publishers, which allows him to link all of his recent and archived writings in one place.
For Twitter, Val Tenuta’s advice is, “It’s not a good idea to just continually post blurbs about your book without ever posting anything else. People will soon tire of it. They’re likely to feel bombarded with your “buy my book” routine. To avoid that response I post other little “tweets” (as they’re called) in between my promo tweets.” This advice is echoed by freelance writer and author of The Urban Muse blog and Museletter, Susan Johnston, who says to be sure and include conversation in your Twitter posts and really interact with the other members of the community.
Johnston also recommends creating an e-mail signature, which is something that I have done, placing links to my work right in the signature. The only problem I have found with this, is that length is limited and I have reached my limit, so when I have new links to add now, I must decide which links to include and which ones to leave out. Since all my creations are like my children, this will be a difficult decision to make.
Short story author, Art Rosch, on the other hand, is leaning away from the social networking sites and publishing on Authonomy (produced by HarperCollins), where other writers critique and respond “in a polite way”. Rosch claims that, “The world of book writing is in a state of utter confusion, no one really knows what to do. Not publishers, not agents, nor writers.”, and I think that we all can relate to that. In additon to my blog posts here and my articles on Southern Colorado Literature Examiner, I use publishing sites such as Triond for short stories and poems, and Hubpages or Hellium for articles and opinion pieces, all of which pay a minimal amount, which is a nice plus. (Hellium requires that you read and rate the work of others, which can be very time consuming.) Rosch recommends reading The Truth About Writing and On the Survival of Rats in the Slushpile, both by Michael Allen. Another good ebook you might want to try is Marketing Your Book Profitably, by J.A. Faulkerson.
Novelist, Lee Murphy says that “going to conferences targeted to your subject matter, actively participating in message boards (not just to plug your book, but PARTICIPATE and make friends), and doing internet radio interviews have been sure-fire for me.” These are not areas which I have explore as yet, so I’ll have to take Murphy’s word for it, (and so will you). Again, we see that making connections is an important key.
Many of the writers and authors that I asked agreed that one thing that should not be done online is to promote so strongly that people feel your work is being forced upon them. (This can also be construed as spamming and get you banned from a site.) Take the time to make contacts and get to know a little about each person, rather than making your very first contact with someone a “buy my book” or “read my article” type of message. If you know a little about the person, you will have a better idea of what their interests are, so the article, story or book that you do pitch will be more likely to be of interest to them..
Colorado Springs mystery author, Beth Groundwater used a month long Blog Book Tour in the promotion of her latest novel, To Hell in a Handbasket. For those of you that don’t know what a Blog Book Tour is, it is where, “Instead of traveling hither and yon making personal appearances to promote a new book release, instead an author visits online web logs, or blogs, from the comfort of his or her personal computer at home and posts articles as a guest on those blogs.” Groundwater says that the key to a successful Blog Book Tour is planning; gathering a list of potential host blogs, keeping an organized spread sheet of tour dates, links and points of contact for hosts, topics, photos and due dates. Promotion of the tour is also crucial, listing tour dates on all of your social network sites and sending e-mail notices, so that people will know that your Blog Book Tour is out there and will make a point to read your guests blogs. To increase reader response, Beth ran a contest with every comment to any of her blog posts in May earning a chance to win autographed copies of both of her Claire Hanover Gift Basket Designer Mystery series books: A Real Basket Case and To Hell in a Handbasket. As Groundwater says, “There’s no reason to go through all the work of writing the articles if you aren’t going to tell people about them.” She recommends two sites for those thinking of doing their own Blog Book Tour: The Blog Book Tour Website, and The Blog Book Tour Guide. (A list of the guest blogs on Beth’s Blog Book Tour).
Even though we seem to swim in the cyberspace ocean these days, traditional marketing strategies are not dead. Beth Groundwater still did a good, old fashioned book tour, complete with personal appearances, in addition to her digital promotion efforts. Cynthia Ainsworthe recommends local book signings, as well, along with other personal appearances such as judging beauty pageants, etc…and word of mouth from loyal readers.
Published writer and illustrator, Sue Midlock emphasizes the value of a well written query letter, which promotes both you and your work before the publishing stage. There are still publishers out there who require an old fashioned query letter, to be sure. Sue’s advice for writing queries is to be confident, know and follow submission guidelines, and don’t be surprised if you get rejected. “Stephanie Meyer, before her big break with Twilight, was rejected 20 times.” Make sure to address the person you are contacting, pitch your story to sell it, and sell yourself by highlighting all of your positive attributes. Art Rosch recommends a site called QueryShark, where a writer can learn how to write a proper query and agent Janet Reid, who runs QueryShark, occasionally will pull a manuscript out of the “slush pile” to represent.
Cynthia Ainsworthe suggests that you might try getting a professional press release or obtaining and agent, just like in the old days, although these options are a bit more pricey. While Lee Murphy included attending conferences in his worthwhile promotion methods, he also cautions that you should be careful in your selection of promotional venues that are expensive and may not prove to be cost effective. He tells of spending $800 on a booth and extra book copies, etc… to participate in The Los Angeles Times Book Festival in order to make 12 books sales over the entire weekend. Murphy says it was one of those things that he just had to learn from experience, but learn, he did, “My philosophy today is, if I can’t afford it, then I do not need it.”
Whatever methods you choose to promote your work, be sure they are aimed at your target audience, (in other words, people that will actually want to read what you’ve written). Get to know people when networking and let them get to know you, then steer them toward your work. This is the principle behind book signings and other personal appearances, as well. No matter the method, the idea is to get out there and get exposure for you and your work. Don’t spend more than you can afford, especially if you don’t know how well it will pay off. If your purse strings are tight, look toward some of the less expensive or free methods of promotion. While we all must learn from experience, we can also learn a lot from one another, so listen to what those who have been there have to say.
Promotion in Cyberspace
Gone are the days when an agent is required
To sell a book or get a writer published or hired.
We do it all ourselves now,
Which can make us quite tired.
These days we turn to cyberspace to hold all our labors.
We network and pitch our work, and cash in on favors.
We search for a market for our work
In which it will be savored.
It is a lot of work these days to make our work be seen.
It must stand on its own merit, polished to a sheen.
We must learn the new tricks of the trade
Or appear very green.
But our readers may know us better, than they have in days of past,
And once they find they like our work, their readership will last.
So get your work out to the world,
Don’t keep it behind glass.
Copyright ©2009 Kaye Lynne Booth
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