Marketing Your Self-Published Novel
Writing the Novel was the Easy Part
Because of it's nature, the Internet is a major way of reaching large numbers of people and you haven't even left your office. Sure, your family still refers to it as the den, but you must drill it into their and everyone else's heads that it's your office. That's the first step of solidifying how serious you are about your craft.
Since the economy is extremely tough, many people who had to put of their dream of writing have returned to it. Here's how you can stretch the worth of the Internet for your novel.
Finding your audience is important. Social Networking is number one on my list. Yes, it's true whenever you turn on the news you hear about the horrible side of social networking but there is an upside to it. You get to reach a great number of people who didn't even know that you or your novel existed. Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and now Twitter are the top sites I recommend for this list.
Find all the local events that you can that'll have you for book signing events. Your local library, or a book festival close by your area. Please keep in mind, that the book festivals do charge for a booth. I've seen events that charge $15 to $150+. The rate depends on how many people attend the event and how much you are offered. Sometimes an author has to bring his or her own chair and table.
Once you are set up for a book signing or a book event. Promote the heck out of it, but try not to be annoying most people find constant reminders of the same event ten times in one day annoying and you'll lose friends and potential buyers quickly.
Another major idea is if you have a book then you must have a web site. People are cautious with their money now, so if they're going to buy your book. They need to know what it's about. It is now your job to tell as much as you can to get your potential reader to buy your book without ruining your book. No, you don't need a fancy web site with bells and whistles, but you do need something that someone can google look up and say "Hey, I think I may enjoy this."
If you're not HTML savvy, it's okay. Ask the nearest teenager, or tween if they'll do you a favor give them all the info you'd like on the web site and let them go at it. A little compensation is always helpful. I would advise you to look at the websites of authors your work is most like and show it to whomever is doing the site for you. This way you'll have something similar to what you want and what you need.
Keeping a blog is not a bad idea, either. Again if this is beyond you, it's okay, no one learns this through osmosis, find that same teenager and ask. If the teenager is chatty you may be there all afternoon but "knowledge is power". This way you can promote your work but at the same time have something other and something free to offer potential readers.
Other on-line endeavors such as the upcoming ning.com sites are a big help. They're are many ning sites that offer authors an array of advice and help that you may not have otherwise realized.
My top three:
http://www.booktown.ning.com
http://www.coldcoffee.ning.com
http://publishedauthors.ning.com
Published by Lauren Johnson
My name is Lauren Johnson. I am co-founder of Book Town. Any author, editor or book illustrator can join free. View profile
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1 Comments
Post a CommentGreat advice. Those social networking sites are the new advertisement of the future; aren't they? But I am glad to see you also mention a need for caution about them as well. My article, "Cyber Crime: The Dirty Dozen" highlights some of the men who prowled social sites for victims. Always a good thing to know what to watch out for, as you seek to promote yourself and your book.