Purple Prose:
book promotion

Regardless of whether you self publish or traditionally publish your book, you will be responsible for promoting it. The problem for many writers is that we’re introverts. We don’t like leaping outside our comfort zone. We inch toward it, ever ready to jerk back when our palms become slick with sweat. We don’t like coming off as an irritation or being perceived as spam. On Facebook, I’ve noticed some people invite all their “friends” to ‘like’ their author page. Most people ignore these invites unless they come from real friends. Other writers/authors only invite people they have a genuine connection with. To go beyond that makes them feel uncomfortable. *waves*

We often struggle to ask for help. We don’t want to put someone on the spot. One way to overcome this is to offer to help a friend promote her book. She’ll be more than willing to return the favor when yours is released. And if you ask for help, let the person know it’s okay if she would rather not. What you want to do might not work for her blog, but she might be willing to help you in other ways.

Another way you can promote your book is by mentioning you are a writer to people you meet. Yes, some people will look at you like you’re poop on their pant leg, but there will also be people who would love to know more about your books and are eager to buy a copy. If they enjoy your book, they’ll recommend it to their friends. Word of mouth is the greatest from of promotion you can get. Just don’t make the mistake of mentioning you’re a writer and pitch your book without an invitation to do so. Not unless you want to see a polite smile before the person bolts.

Does the idea of promoting your book give you nightmares or does the prospect leave you shivering with excitement?

Last month, Natalie Aguirre (Literary Rambles) interviewed Chuck Sambuchino about his new book, Create Your Writer Platform. Natalie was excited about the book, so I had to check it out.

Unlike other promotion-based books I’ve reviewed, this book doesn’t focus solely on social media. Chuck talks about what platform is and why it’s necessary. He shares twelve fundamental principles of platform (the book is worth it for this chapter alone), and he discusses platform for fiction and memoirs. Topics also include choosing the platform avenues that will work for you, as well as information on the use of websites, blogs, newsletters, non-fiction articles, public speaking, and social media. At the end of the book is a section with author case studies that showcase what several authors did to make the most of their platforms.

Create Your Writer Platform is one of those books you don’t have to worry about being out of date before you finish reading it, because Facebook decided to add another feature, or because there’s a new social media site that’s suddenly become popular. And it’s one of those books you’ll want to review again and again.

* * *

If you’re interested in learning more about crafting YOUR social media strategy, the YARWA (YA chapter of the Romance Writers of America) is offering a month long workshop during April. This workshop is for both the newbie and individuals experienced with social media. For more information, please check out their website. You don’t have to be a member of the YARWA or RWA to register.

Have you given much thought to your writer platform?

I’ll see you in April, when I return to blogging after spring break. XOX

For many writers, once we’ve made the decision to pursue a writing career, we become so focused on finishing our book, we often don’t think about what comes afterwards. And with more options available to us than a few years ago, it’s important that we look at the big picture, no matter where we are in the pursuit of publication.

How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! By L. Diane Wolfe is a thorough guide that will benefit writers, no matter where they are in the writing process. It covers everything you could possibility want to know about writing and beyond. In total, there are eighty-four chapters, each ranging between two to three pages. Topics cover all aspects of traditional and self publishing, social networking, marketing, and promotion. And with each topic, the book explains everything you need to know so that you can make the choices that are right for you and your project.

Chapters include:

• Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishing

• Going the Traditional Route

• Business Setup (i.e. what you need to know if you’re self publishing)

• Developing a Website

• The Media

• Reviewers

• Where to Send Review Copies

• What to Expect From Reviews

• Newsletters

Because each chapter is short, you won’t find the level of information that you might find in a book or online workshop focused on that specific topic (for example, writing newsletters). But it is a great resource for figuring out what you need to do to succeed. The book is also filled with links you can click on for additional information on various topics. This makes the book invaluable, regardless of which publishing route you choose.

Have you thought much about promotion, regardless of where you are on the publishing path? (and that includes those of you writing the first draft of your first novel).

Note: I’d like to thank L.Diane Wolfe’s publisher for providing me a copy of the book for the review.

Available February 5, 2012
Publishing/Marketing, 214 pages
$14.95 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-9827139-5-2
$4.99 Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-9-0
Available in all Ebook formats

Barnes and Noble -
Amazon -
Amazon Kindle -

©Stina Lindenblatt

Unless you’ve been wandering lost in a desert for the past year, you are aware that the publishing industry is rapidly changing. With it, the number of self-published, small press, ebooks, and traditionally published books being published each week is dramatically growing. What does this mean? More people are trying to gain the reader’s attention. The same reader we want to check out our own new release.

Elana Johnson blogged last week on how we’re starting to suffer from a social media hangover. Promotional activities (blog tours, giveaways, interviews) that used to be effective are now turning people off. Some readers still enjoy them, but most don’t bother to read the posts. I don’t. Katie Mills also talked about this change. Based on comments from their posts and other places, as well as personal experience, this is what I’ve learned:

• Covers are important. If your cover looks amateurish, no one (other than your mom) will be interested in your book. When you send the JPEG file to be used on another blog, make sure you send one of high resolution; otherwise, it will look blurry and amateurish.

• A compelling title always tromps a dull one.

• Make sure your blurb is tight and interesting. If your blurb is dull and vague, I’m not going to read your book. I’ve seen a number of self-published books lately with great covers and boring blurbs.

• Don’t irritate people with your promotion. As we all know, this is a serious issue with Twitter and Facebook. If you want people to pay attention to your new release, then please avoid spamming. If you DM someone who just followed you back, you can guarantee they WON’T read your book (or blog) if you tell them to.

• Use Goodreads wisely. Goodreads is a great way for people to find out about your book via word-of-mouth. Plus, fans of your books can check the site for the release date of your next novel. It’s also a good way to invite your “friends” to your book-release party. However, I often delete the announcements (unread) unless I’m excited about the book or the author is a friend of mine.

• Word of mouth is your best promotion. Not long ago, a blogging friend mentioned Easy by Tammara Webber on her blog. We started talking about the book. Because of that, I bought it and read it right away (even though my TBR pile is out of control). I then told my CP, who also read it even though her TBR pile is as bad as mine. We both love the book and have told others about it.

• Be selective with your blog tours. You are better off having your book reviewed on a major book blog (if possible) than swamp your blogging circle with a blog tour. According to the comments on Katie’s and Elana’s posts, most of us avoid reading posts that are part of a blog tour, especially when a number of the blogs we follow are part of the tour. The exception is if the topic is of interest to us. Then we stop to read it.

• Keep your promotion small, unless you can spread it around so it’s not hitting the same people again and again. Every so often, subtly remind us about your book. I might not buy it right away, but the reminder later on might be all I need to pick the book up. This is more effective than over promotion, which tends to turn some people off a book.

• If you’re going to do an interview, KEEP IT SHORT. Most of us don’t have time to read to a 750-word plus interview, unless it’s by our favorite author. Personally, all I care about is the book. Write a great story and I’m sold.

• Make sure your book is professionally edited. Later next year, I plan to release a New Adult novel I’m currently working on, and plan to have the book professionally edited (that includes structural edits, line edits, and copy edits). Why? Because I want the word-of-mouth to be good. Need I say more?

• Start working on your next project. The best promotion for your last book is your next one. I loved Easy so much, I had to read the first book in Tammara Webber’s Between the Lines series. I’ve already read the first two books and can’t wait to read the third one.

• Remember the purpose of social networking. The key word here is social. This is your chance to make genuine friendships. Friendships that could eventually lead to positive word-of-mouth about your book.

How do you decide what books to read? Are there any forms of promotion that especially turns you off? Do you have any other suggestions for getting your book noticed?

source

Social networking is a wonderful thing. It enables us to make new friends, find beta readers and critique partners, keep up-to-date with new books and publishing news. But when misused, the outcome can be frustrating for all.

We all hate spam. Some authors believe that as long as they aren’t telling you to buy their book, they aren’t spamming. But what about the following?

Thanks to the sales of my book, my kids can now go to college.

My book is #17 on Amazon and still climbing.

I love it when fans write to tell me they adore my book.

When a dog is abducted by pirates . . . . [link to Amazon inserted here]

Translation:
Buy my book
Buy my book
Buy my book
Buy my book

Once in a while these tweets aren’t bad. Authors have to promote their books after all. But if someone checks out your profile and the majority of your tweets are like the above, the person might not follow you. One of my friends saw tweets similar to these by one author. She ended up unfollowing the author. Why? Because she felt the person was self-absorbed.

During WriteOnCon, agent and YA book blogger Pamela van Hylckama Vliegsaid, "1 out of 10 tweets should be self promo. No more!" Numerous people on the forum agreed with her. They unfollow authors who violate this unwritten rule. Remember, never underestimate the intelligence of your follower (like in the case of the above tweets). The moment you do, you've lost them.

For examples of authors who use Twitter wisely, check out:
MaureenJohnson
JohnGreen
JaniceHardy ‏

Is there anything that you’ve seen authors do on social network sites that irritates you?

How many of you have followed back someone on Twitter, only for the individual to send you a Direct Message to tell you to buy his book? For me, this is an instant #promotionfail. Every time this happens, I de-follow the individual and it’s guaranteed I won’t buy the book.

I’m a member of a support group for writers. It’s an awesome group, except for one problem. One individual, prior to the launch of her novel, spammed the Facebook site with daily reminders to pre-order it. Instead of creating excitement (and potential sales), she annoyed a number of the members. One even suggested a better way to do this, so to avoid our inboxes being filled with spam. The writer chose to ignore this, and continued spamming the site.

So what’s a better way to get your book seen among the onslaught of others?

Support Other Authors

I love what Susan Kaye Quinn did last week. Her self-published book, Open Minds (which I’ve read and thought it was great), was launched yesterday. Instead of annoying everyone with her “Buy Me, Buy me” message, she put a post together promoting upcoming (or recently released) books. These books are either self-published or published through a small press. Other authors have done the same, thus increasing their likability factor ten-fold. There’s something appealing about supporting authors who give to the writing community by promoting other books and not just their own.

Form a Support Team

The online banding together of several authors to promote each other books* is another way to help you promote yours. Face it, promoting your book is a scary experience. Working together as a team helps to give you a boost of self-confidence, because you’re not going it alone. This concept has also become popular with traditionally published authors involved in book signing tours.

Having a bunch of blogging (or Facebook or Twitter) friends is an awesome way to go. They are usually more than happy to get the word out about your book. It’s one of the many benefits to social networking (as if you didn’t already know).

Widget Love

One of my favorite marketing approaches, when it comes to promoting books, is the countdown widget, which you and your blogging buddies proudly display. Due to a blogger who displayed the above widget on her site, I became excited to read Jessie Harrell's book (I’m such a cover girl). Since I tend to skip over blog tours, this is a great way to grab my attention (if you have an amazing cover and widget).

What things annoy you the most when someone is promoting her book? What do you love the most?

(*note: this isn’t necessarily the same as a group blog)

<<<3

Be sure to check out Susan Kaye Quinn’s book launch. A great way to see what works is by studying what others have done. :)

If you’re looking to spice up your writing, check out today’s QueryTracker.net blog post on rhetorical devices. They’re my new best friend. You’ll be surprised at how many you already know.

And now for my guest blogger, Marie Rose Dufour. Drum roll please . . . .

<<<3

Contract! Yes! Whoo-hoo! Open the champagne, baby, because someone liked your work enough to offer you a contract. Week, months, and sometimes years of work is now going to be validated in print. My husband and I celebrated on the waterfront, toasting to my hard work for this book over.

Not! What I didn’t realize at the time was that writing the actual book was the easy part. The hard part came afterwards and it’s called promo, promo, promo. In this economy, more and more publishing houses are relying on the author to promote their own books.

So here are some tips on promoting your book:

• Create a budget (I know this sounds unreal but real advertising costs money. If you are a first time author, it’s all about getting your name out there.)

• Create a “promo folder” on your computer with a jpeg of your book cover, blurb, excerpt, head shot, and purchase links. (Having everything in one folder is a timesaving in case someone last minute asks you to blog, or interview you. You just pull up the file.)

• Make sure you are “social networking” (Facebook, My Space, Twitter). You want to use these for some free advertising.

• Design promotional items (A big thing in the romance circles right now is trading cards. I hear they are big at conferences. Think of these as your business cards.) (Yes. I love using these as bookmarks.)

• Arrange to do guest blogs! (Just what I’m doing now. And I’d like to thank Stina from the bottom of my heart for hosting me today.)

I hope someone finds these tips helpful. It was wonderful guest blogging here today. Please leave a comment and e-mail address and I will pick a person to win a copy of Fated Mates. Enjoy!

Book Blurb: We know that we are no longer alone in the universe. Descendants of Earthly ancestors have returned to find the other halves of themselves, their destined mates.

Dragon, a scarred Serralian warrior drawn to the planet of his ancestors, never believed the Goddess had a mate for him but no matter what he believes, he’s unable to resist the pull of the planet deep within in soul.

Liz, a curvy teacher who escaped an abusive marriage three years earlier is afraid to take another chance on love. Tired of being a
bystander in her own love life, she participates in an ancient ritual to identify Serralian mates. Taking that chance changes her life forever. Can these two people overcome their pasts to become each other’s true Fated Mates?

Author blurb: Marie Rose Dufour is a first time (and hopefully not the last time) author. She writes erotica for Secret Cravings Publishing. Her first book, Fated Mates was released last month. She lives in Rhode Island, USA with two very curious cats and a husband who swears he’s the inspiration for all of her heroes. Her book is available through her publisher and Amazon.