How Not To Promote Your New Book

I have both brick and mortar books out there, as well as independently books. What do they have in common? That I flailed around in promoting them all! There definitely is a way to promote books, and a way to not promote them. One way leads to sales, the other does not. 

What we are going to talk about here applies to new authors, as well as authors with a few books under their belts. Until we take a good look at how we promote our work, we are not going to see good results. Probably the worst mistake that we can make is starting to work on our promotions too late. I have made this mistake more than once. What I am looking at for the future is to start putting together a plan for promoting my books when I am about half-way through writing them. 

I am going to develop a marketing plan at this time that includes starting to talk about my WIP on my author blog (this blog), on my social media sites (including a dedicated author age on Facebook), and in my newsletter (you can sign up for that here). I am going to contact people that I would like to review my book, and line up where I will be sending copies (written and digital).

Something that is still in the thinking stages with me is pursuing awards. I would like to do that, and I think that it would increase sales, but  I have yet to research how this would be done.

You need a website. I have a website now that includes all of my work (Tarot and writing). Before my next book comes out, I will be bringing up a site dedicated to my non-Tarot books. I developed my first website on my own (and it shows!). My new website will be developed by Blue Host (I have found them very easy to work with). The one thing that I am absolutely against is having a single page that just streams down. I want dedicated pages for a bio, a listing of all of my non-Tarot books, and a page dedicated to each individual book.

Spread out how you promote. I will be doing blogs, writing articles for LinkedIn, and placing commentary on Google +, Twitter, and Facebook. I will be doing at least one video for You Tube, and I may also be doing Facebook ads, although I have never worked with them before.

Which brings up the subject of money. Once you look at where you are considering promoting your book, set a budget for yourself. You can always expand your budget if need be, but set an initial budget so that you can some financial guidelines to work with.  

There is a need to brand yourself. We do this through the name(s) we write under (I choose to write under my own name), the genres that we write in, and how we present ourselves. I am looking at using the same background/banner for my website, my Facebook page, and my newsletter. 

We need to continue our branding through how we write - the focus on our author bio, the short blurb for our book (often referred to as an elevator speech), and a more detailed version referencing our book. We need to make our talking points reflect who we are as writers, as well as making our work interesting enough to draw in potential readers/fans. 

Final words: recognize that you are responsible for doing your own promotion. Hiring someone to do it for you may not be cost effective, and you may not be promoted in the manner that you wish to be. Promote wisely!

(c) September 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.  

When Less Is More

I wrote a book entitled Surviving The Holidays. I had a great time writing this book, and hoped that it would help many people. Sales are so low as to be in the negative category. Is promotion (or lack thereof) part of the problem? Yes, it is. I need to learn more about promoting my books. I also need to know how to develop a game plan that will get my books out there. 

We are soon coming into the holiday season (November/December) again. This time I am going to do something different to promote my book - I am going to put each of the chapters out as a separate e-book. My reasoning is that people won't have to pay as much (which should encourage sales), and they can purchase only the chapters they are interested in.

I am also going to place a blurb at the end of each e-book that encourages readers to leave a review, and place a link to a page that lists all of the separate chapters from my book. 

If you would like to see an excerpt from "Surviving The Holidays", I am including one in my August author's newsletter. You can sign up for my newsletter here: bonniecehovet.com. 

(c) July 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

Promoting Self-Published Books

I don't know about other authors, but promoting my books is not one of my favorite activities. I was very naive when I published my first brick and mortar book - the publishing company was very easy to work with, but it came as a complete surprise to me that I had to do the promotional work along with my pubisher! What the heck? 

I self-publish now, so I know that I have to do the promotional work myself (or hire a company/individual to do it for me). I don't have a lot of money to devote to this, so I do the promotions myself. They really aren't doing all that well. I know more about what I don't want to do than what I do want to do. Number one on my "Don't want to do this" list is blog hopping, or being featured on someone else's blog. 

My biggest quibble about posting on another author's blog is the time involved - you need to vet the blog, see what he style of writing is, who their audience is, and write for them. You will need to interact - i.e. respond to any comments left on your article. There are pro's to working with other authors and their blogs, though, including placing your book as part of a "swag" pack, allowing other authors to gift their followers with ARC's (Advanced Reader Copies) of your book, participating in a joint give-away, enhancing your reputation through association with another well known author, and gaining access to a larger audience for your work.

Next week I am going to talk about author interviews, and why they are important.

(c) May 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited iwthout written permission of he author.

Countdown ...

I am in the process of coding my second Tarot book, and sending it in to my editor. Since this is my second book, I am a bit calmer than I was the first time. I think writer's will always worry about things like "Have I said this right?", or "Should I have included more (or less)?" We even stress over things like punctuation, especially if we are writing in a niche field.

None of this is what concerns me right now. it is the little things that I need to put together and send with my manuscript, like:

1. About the book - long description and jacket copy.
2. Short description for backlist catalog.
3. Author bio (catalog).
4. Author bio - (jacket).
5. A concise summary of the book.
6. A description of the book's breadth.
7. A tantalizing tidbit that will grab the readers attention.
8. Keywords, for Internet search, indexing, category selection, differentiation.
9. Two copies of the backup files.
10. Update marketing survey and contact list.

I am very happy that I have all of this to do, but at the same time I have the concern that I will miss something. As authors, we do the best we canb. Then we take a deep breath, drop back ten, and punt!

(c) April 2012 Bonnie Cehovet