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Wednesday 5 June 2013

Eye Opening Tips for Promoting Your Novel



Build Book Buzz

This article is from one of the blogs I read regularly because they publish such useful information. I never tire of reading tips to improve my marketing skills:- 

BUILD BOOK BUZZ direct link


6 surefire ways to promote your novel
By Sandra Beckwith

The biggest mistake most novelists make when promoting their books is believing that it's all
about book reviews. Wrong. Book reviews are valuable and securing them should be on any
author or publisher's book promotion to-do list, but your novel deserves more widespread,
long-term, and ongoing exposure than it can get through reviews alone. It deserves to be
talked about month after month - as long as the book is available for purchase.

Here are six tips for helping you see the publicity and promotion value in your fiction so that
you generate the ongoing buzz your book deserves:

1. Find the nonfiction nuggets in your manuscript and use them to create newsworthy
material for relevant media outlets. 

Is your heroine a jilted wife starting over in the
workforce as - let's say - an account executive at a high-flying packaging design firm who
finds love with her client at a consumer products company? You've got publicity opportunities
with the packaging and marketing trade magazines. Is she a radio jock? The female morning
drive time personalities would love to interview you by phone. What about locations, products, 
or services in your novel? A story set in a national park or a convenience store gives you news 
pegs for exposure in the relevant trade magazines. A character's obsession with a little known 
beverage brand could get your book into that company's employee newsletter. If you're writing 
your novel now, work in some nonfiction nuggets you can capitalize on later.

2. Use your content to identify promotion allies.

Is your protagonist an athlete in awheelchair? Connect with groups such as the 
National Wheelchair Basketball Association or the National Wheelchair Softball Association. 
What about the professions of the people inyour book? Does it feature a secretary? Contact the 
Association of Executive and
Administrative Professionals. There's an association for just about every profession.
But don't just send them a note that says, “I've written a book your members will love.” Send a
copy of the book with a letter outlining promotional possibilities and what's in it for them. You
might offer to speak at their national meeting, do a Q&A for their member publication, or offer
a discount to members.

3. Leverage what you uncovered while writing your book.

Did you learn about a period in
history or a specific region? Use this knowledge as a springboard for publicity. The author of a
historical romance novel set in New York's Hudson River Valley, for example, can write and
distribute a news release announcing the top romantic and historical attractions in that 
region or pitch a local newspaper or regional magazine on an article about the area's most 
romantic date destinations. Your goal is to be quoted as an expert source because this would 
require using your book title as one of your credentials.

4. Support your book with a good Web site designed by a professional.

Your Web site has to be as good as your writing. It also has to contain information that 
convinces us that your books are worth buying and reading. It doesn't have to be slick, but it 
does need to be very well-written, attractive, useful, and enticing. We will assess your ability to 
tell a good story by your ability to communicate on your Web site, so the writing is crucial.

5. Get social.

Focus on one or two social networking sites - Facebook now has more users
than MySpace - and master the most effective and appropriate ways to use them to promote
your book before spreading yourself too thin on several sites. Once you understand how the
process works, expand to others and use new technology tools and resources such as those
at TweetDeck and Ping.fm to streamline your information sharing across your networks.

6. Share the love.

Help us connect with you by blogging about your writing process and
experiences. Get excerpts up on your Web site and read portions to us via podcasts so we
can get a feel for your writing and decide if the story is appealing. Give us enough online - on
your Web site, blog, and through podcast download sites such as iTunes - to convince us
we'd like your book.

There's no question that promoting fiction is harder than promoting nonfiction - but because of
that, it's also more rewarding.

You have permission to reprint the article with this required author credit:
Sandra Beckwith offers a free book publicity and promotion e-zine at www.buildbookbuzz.com and teaches the
“Book Publicity 101: How to Build Book Buzz” e-course.


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