Hi Writers,

I've been reading a chapter about what happens after you get a book published from an inspirational book Chapter After Chapter by Heather Sellers. Heather is a very nice author (I've met her on several occasions) and has some great, down to earth advice about what to expect.

Heather of course advises planning to make time for readings, workshops, lecture and interviews, but she also advises that "this kind of basic publicity is not, as is commonly thought, the job obligation of the publisher, your editor, or their publicity team. It's your book. It's your job."

Wow. It's tough to hear it in those terms (especially, when as a marketer I like to think I do as much as I can for the authors I work with), but Heather is right. Hopefully your publisher has a marketing and publicity team that will do what they can to promote the book in it's early stages, but a lot of the book's success will depend on your own promotional efforts. Being realistic about how much effort you'll need to do on your own can make a big difference in the experience you have marketing your book. If you expect your publisher to fly you around the country for book signings, you're bound to be disappointed. On the other hand, if you work with your publisher and communicate with them about the efforts you are putting forth on your own, they are more likely to try to help out any way they can.

Check out Heather's book... it's full of great writing advice and will help you stay excited about the craft. 

Also visit her website: www.heathersellers.com

 

Being very prolific can help you promote yourself. Write as much as you can and try to get published everywhere you can... and in saying this I mean not just writing in your main area of interest. Try sending out articles, essays, short stories and editorials to newspapers, magazines and journals that publish any subject that you're interested in writing about. Even if you ultimately are mainly interested in writing in a specific genre or format, getting published in other places will help you establish your name and make connections. Any writing opportunity should be considered a good writing opportunity... I wouldn't advise "saving your talent" for only one thing. Bottom line: get published wherever you can. The more you get out there, the more (and better) opportunites should follow.

In today's fast paced world it's easy to be quickly forgotten if you don't keep up with constant change. An important part of marketing your work is staying up to date. If you're promoting your book or trying to promote yourself as a freelance writer you need to present yourself as an authority on the subject areas you write about. Make sure that you keep up to date with the latest news in your subject areas and that you stay active on any forums or message boards that you belong to. Make regular blog postings to keep your audience reading and update your website frequently to keep people coming back for new content. If you send out press releases or media kits, make sure that you update them to include information about your latest accomplishments, appearances, or clippings of your most recent articles.

Hi Writers,

Sorry for the brief lapse in postings. I've had a cold for the past few days and am afraid that anything I might have posted would have sounded a little uninspired.

One of my intentions with this blog is to begin with simple marketing strategies and build upon those ideas to offer you more specific solutions. I've been reading a marketing book by Ilise Benun and Peleg Top of the consulting firm Marketing-Mentor.com. This particular book was written with designers in mind, but as I've said marketing is communication and the ideas in the book are great no matter what it is you have to market (which leads me to another thought, just like with your writing, look for your marketing ideas all around you--my book on monsters has actually been selling really well at a local car-wash of all places... how weird is that?)

But I digress. The book I'm reading, The Designer's Guide to Marketing & Pricing, discusses simple, effective and inexpensive marketing tools that you can use to get started: Networking, E-mail Marketing, Online Presence, Cold Call, Promotional Piece 

Let’s explore how each of these tools may be used by a writer to market their work.

Networking

Try to attend a couple of events each month. Writing conferences, writing workshops or book clubs are a great place to start. If you write about a particular topic try to attend meetings or conferences related to your subject (for example, let's say you write historical fiction, perhaps attending a genealogy group meeting might be a good idea).

E-mail Marketing

Maintain an email list of contacts, family and friends and send them email updates about your work. If you have a book out, let them know how it's doing. If you an article published somewhere, let them know when it's going to come out. Keep those close you informed and chances are they'll help spread the word for you without you even having to ask.

Online Presence

I won't belabor this since I've talked about it in previous posts. Let's just say that a blog or a website is essential. If you don't have one, start one. If you have one, make regular posts (he says after taking 4 days off from posting).

Cold Calls

Ick. Maybe you hate doing this. I know I do. But, even as a writer you can use this. Call up your local newspaper, area college newspapers, local radio and TV stations. Let them know about your book. Even if you have a publicist who says they're doing this for you, calling them up can't hurt. Of course, be polite. Be patient and courteous. If you charm them, maybe they'll be interested in doing a feature on you.

Promotional Pieces

Make yourself business cards and carry them with you (especially if you do freelance writing.) You never know who might need something written or edited. If you attend a conference maybe make some flyers that showcase the things you've written or have your website or blog address on them. And make sure you put all your info on there (urls for website or blog, email address, list of books you've written, etc). I recently created a flyer with all kinds of great info: all my available books, my website, my blogs, and I forgot my email address (boy, I felt stupid). Oh, and one other thing... your book. If you have a book, it's the best promotional piece you have. Don't be stingy with them. Send out as many review copies as you can afford to (target newspapers, magazines, radio stations, bloggers, or any other media you can think of that might have an interest in your topic.)

These ideas are great way to kick off your marketing plan, even if you have limited resources starting out. I'd love to hear your comments about these ideas: if you've had good luck using one of these kinds of tools, or if you have another cheap marketing tool that's worked well for you.

Good luck.