Where to promote my book? - Page 3

Tony_A20 · 03-21-2011, 01:46 PM

Promoting your book, means like everything else, you have to find an audience. Promotion and marketing involves having someone, or some venue, which already has a wide audience, to mention your book. In the world of the Internet and e-books, an author needs a website as a base for promoting their work. Any mention of their book can then be directed to a specific location for further information, download, or purchase.

Getting other people to mention your writing is the difficult step in promoting a book. They need a reason. If you're a beginning writer without a recognized name or reputation, there's no reason for other people to pay attention to you. So self-promoting a book is an uphill battle.

A writer can prowl the Internet browsing forums, blogs, and other areas in the hope of posting information and a link to their website and their book, but this is a long slow process with little payback. Having a book mentioned in a newspaper or on the radio is possible. The program producers, journalists, or personalities may be approached directly, and provided a copy of the book with a polite request for their review. But this approach could also have you arrested as a stalker. At present, I don't know of any Internet-based critics who might review e-books and publish a review.

Word-of-mouth is an excellent method of promoting a book, however there is one condition: the book has to be good. Most new writers lack the skill and craftsmanship necessary to write a really good book, one that will generate a grass roots swell of interest and sell itself when read. Most experienced writers have the same problem.

From what I've read and seen, it's more a question of luck: being in the right place; at the right time; and finding someone of influence to read your book. So, all an author can really do, until until a reputation is acquired which will draw readers and interest publishers, is to make their books as widely available to as many people as possible. And the way to do that is to give it away for free.

Only a very few authors have an innate talent for storytelling, and the craftsmanship and knowledge to write books which are instantly popular and eagerly awaited by publishers. Everyone else should remember that no amount of promotion will sell a bad book.

This post might be of interest:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...01#post1460601

Frida Fantastic · 03-24-2011, 03:07 AM

Make sure your promotions are targeted. I feel so bad for all the authors with no direction that sink their time in facebook and twitter with all their hours getting lost in the void. Figure out your likely audience/niche, find out where they are (message boards, blogs, special interest magazines), release samples there and make it easy for people to google you up. Don't advertise to other writers, don't do general advertising. Target well and let word of mouth do the rest, don't spend time on social networking if you don't know who you should be networking with.

While you're excited about releasing a new work, think about what else you can write in the future. New works promote the old work well, and e-book buyers devour entire backlists. Whenever you're doing promotion, think about the opportunity cost, think about the time you could have spent writing and making a new product. I wish you luck!

CHunter_Author · 04-02-2011, 09:03 PM

I agree with Tony_A20 on a lot of what he said.

As writers, we have to bring the goods. A good product will find the light.

03-21-2011, 01:46 PM	#31
Tony_A20 Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 25000 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Kindle 3	A Few Thoughts about Book Promotion Promoting your book, means like everything else, you have to find an audience. Promotion and marketing involves having someone, or some venue, which already has a wide audience, to mention your book. In the world of the Internet and e-books, an author needs a website as a base for promoting their work. Any mention of their book can then be directed to a specific location for further information, download, or purchase. Getting other people to mention your writing is the difficult step in promoting a book. They need a reason. If you're a beginning writer without a recognized name or reputation, there's no reason for other people to pay attention to you. So self-promoting a book is an uphill battle. A writer can prowl the Internet browsing forums, blogs, and other areas in the hope of posting information and a link to their website and their book, but this is a long slow process with little payback. Having a book mentioned in a newspaper or on the radio is possible. The program producers, journalists, or personalities may be approached directly, and provided a copy of the book with a polite request for their review. But this approach could also have you arrested as a stalker. At present, I don't know of any Internet-based critics who might review e-books and publish a review. Word-of-mouth is an excellent method of promoting a book, however there is one condition: the book has to be good. Most new writers lack the skill and craftsmanship necessary to write a really good book, one that will generate a grass roots swell of interest and sell itself when read. Most experienced writers have the same problem. From what I've read and seen, it's more a question of luck: being in the right place; at the right time; and finding someone of influence to read your book. So, all an author can really do, until until a reputation is acquired which will draw readers and interest publishers, is to make their books as widely available to as many people as possible. And the way to do that is to give it away for free. Only a very few authors have an innate talent for storytelling, and the craftsmanship and knowledge to write books which are instantly popular and eagerly awaited by publishers. Everyone else should remember that no amount of promotion will sell a bad book. This post might be of interest: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...01#post1460601 Last edited by Tony_A20; 03-26-2011 at 04:34 AM. Reason: Add link

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03-24-2011, 03:07 AM	#32
Frida Fantastic SF/F book blogger Posts: 270 Karma: 502030 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Vancouver, Canada Device: Kindle 3	Make sure your promotions are targeted. I feel so bad for all the authors with no direction that sink their time in facebook and twitter with all their hours getting lost in the void. Figure out your likely audience/niche, find out where they are (message boards, blogs, special interest magazines), release samples there and make it easy for people to google you up. Don't advertise to other writers, don't do general advertising. Target well and let word of mouth do the rest, don't spend time on social networking if you don't know who you should be networking with. While you're excited about releasing a new work, think about what else you can write in the future. New works promote the old work well, and e-book buyers devour entire backlists. Whenever you're doing promotion, think about the opportunity cost, think about the time you could have spent writing and making a new product. I wish you luck!

04-02-2011, 09:03 PM	#33
CHunter_Author Zealot Posts: 118 Karma: 503896 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Bronx, NY Device: iPhone	I agree with Tony_A20 on a lot of what he said. As writers, we have to bring the goods. A good product will find the light.