With my first publication, it was a small, specialised and generally friendly market: one where even reviewers who slate your work are likely to run into you at the next convention and give some decent feedback, and you spend you time chatting to competitors about joint ventures, successes and ways to promote the entire market. Out in the open market things are less friendly and more competitive. My book is going to be one of thousands published this year, and that means I need to promote it.
As the sort of person who, if I got a chance to shout my name from the rooftops would rather whisper it while hiding behind the chimney, I find self-promotion challenging. It is very difficult to fight the urge to let the book be released, do very little promotion and just say that if it is good, it will sell.
This is how you guarantee a flop. To be honest I suspect that is partly why it is tempting: if anything goes wrong, if my research has failed me, if there is a huge clanger in the plot, if the book is actually horribly written, not many people will see it. Unfortunately it is also how you can guarantee you won't get another book published.
To counter this I keep telling myself that the book deserves better than me hiding under a blanket and pretending it didn't get published. The publisher has sunk significant funds and time into it, in the belief it is a good book and they are counting on it to sell. People don't buy books they've never heard of, and with the book publisher being Canadian that gives me another obstacle to overcome - people in Britain can't order a book they've never heard of.
So I'm compromising: hiding behind my PC screen for the illusion of privacy and meanwhile setting up as much of a web presence as I can and telling everyone I've ever met on any forum that I've written a book. Doing all these wonderful things they keep talking about: book trailers and banners and buttons and blurbs. I can only hope that will be enough.
And here's my gratuitious ad for today: http://www.squidoo.com/Firestorm.
It's my book. It's hopefully great. Please buy it when it comes out.
(Doesn't that sound like a confident, driven, self-promoting author? No? Oh well...)
Showing posts with label book promotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book promotion. Show all posts
Monday, 14 June 2010
Sunday, 13 June 2010
First Novel Nerves
Oh dear. At the moment my brain is working in fits and starts at best. The final version went back to the editor yesterday, and now I am left extremely nervous.
Instead of working on my other novels, I find myself torn between frantic promotion setup and reassuring my cat that he is in fact furry and can purr while trying to relax. I think he thinks I have gone crazy.
The issue is that because I used to write horror, and have a range of non-fiction article out under my name I've used a pen name to avoid confusion. Now I need to consider whether to link all the blogs, videos, twitter etc to a new set of accounts under that name, or whether to add it to my own feeds. Frankly, if I put it solely under my own accounts it will get lost in the traffic very quickly, so I'm currently working on a "best of both worlds" set up.
If my nerves will let me...
Writing presence for now
Also a Youtube, Google site (until the website is set up), and forum are present, although content is limited at this stage.
Instead of working on my other novels, I find myself torn between frantic promotion setup and reassuring my cat that he is in fact furry and can purr while trying to relax. I think he thinks I have gone crazy.
The issue is that because I used to write horror, and have a range of non-fiction article out under my name I've used a pen name to avoid confusion. Now I need to consider whether to link all the blogs, videos, twitter etc to a new set of accounts under that name, or whether to add it to my own feeds. Frankly, if I put it solely under my own accounts it will get lost in the traffic very quickly, so I'm currently working on a "best of both worlds" set up.
If my nerves will let me...
Writing presence for now
Also a Youtube, Google site (until the website is set up), and forum are present, although content is limited at this stage.
Monday, 17 May 2010
Marketing plan
While I wait for the publisher to dot the i's and cross the t's so we can push ahead, I have a few things on the go:
1) Finish another book - manuscript #4, although I have a few ideas drifting around for revisions to manuscript #2.
2) Promotion.
It's a little early to start marketing the book itself, but what I am doing is assessing the best places to send out review copies, gathering media packs and contact details. In general I'm looking less at the book trade and review sites (since the publisher knows what they are doing with those) and more at interest and online groups that would be related to the subject. Since sending out review copies is costly I need to make sure the review copies are carefully targeted.
E-books are easier to send out and remove print and shipping costs, so they do open up other options. Unfortunately they are easily pirated, so it is a case of making sure they go to reputable sites.
Book trailers are useful but costly ($350 for a basic thirty second trailer) so I'm having a word with a few friends in media to see about other options after identifying the best online and offline networks to send it to. There are several media networks and portals I can get banners and buttons onto at low cost, which would also be targeted.
I identified most of these before I submitted the manuscript - now it's just a case of firming up figures and working out which are the best ones to use that will be the most effective with an overseas publisher.
It's worth mentioning that the obvious free promotion areas I have available (forums, websites, personal connections) have already been identified and all I really need is a book to promote on them.
1) Finish another book - manuscript #4, although I have a few ideas drifting around for revisions to manuscript #2.
2) Promotion.
It's a little early to start marketing the book itself, but what I am doing is assessing the best places to send out review copies, gathering media packs and contact details. In general I'm looking less at the book trade and review sites (since the publisher knows what they are doing with those) and more at interest and online groups that would be related to the subject. Since sending out review copies is costly I need to make sure the review copies are carefully targeted.
E-books are easier to send out and remove print and shipping costs, so they do open up other options. Unfortunately they are easily pirated, so it is a case of making sure they go to reputable sites.
Book trailers are useful but costly ($350 for a basic thirty second trailer) so I'm having a word with a few friends in media to see about other options after identifying the best online and offline networks to send it to. There are several media networks and portals I can get banners and buttons onto at low cost, which would also be targeted.
I identified most of these before I submitted the manuscript - now it's just a case of firming up figures and working out which are the best ones to use that will be the most effective with an overseas publisher.
It's worth mentioning that the obvious free promotion areas I have available (forums, websites, personal connections) have already been identified and all I really need is a book to promote on them.
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