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The Three 'tells of book promotion 9/30/2013 6:29:44 AM
Early pre-publication buzz helps sell more books Are you like me? Do you have a great idea for a story, essay, article, book or series so you scribble the thing, tweak it to death, massage it a bit more then shove it out the door like a kid late for school only to watch it flounder around looking for the bus full of readers? Do you do that, too? When I was in Journalism school, way back in the twentieth century when there were journalists who could reasonably expect to make a living writing things, I was taught the three ‘tells’ of good journalism: Tell them what you’re going to tell them; tell them; then tell them what you told them. So now that I’m a freelance writer, with a book of my own and several attempts at others, what did I do? That’s right; I forgot all about the three ‘tells.’ That’s just silly. Consider your new book a piece of news and go from there. Here are some tips:
In Austin last week I attended the Greenleaf Book Group first annual author summit. It was a great conference, filled with high-quality speakers, beneficial information, terrific networking opportunities and much more. Plus it was in weird old Austin, so what’s not to like? One of the important takeaways from the Greenleaf summit was the emphasis on pre-publicity for works in progress, and the necessity for announcing a new release. Here are some startling, perhaps sobering figures. According to the folks in Austin there are 3,000 (yes, thousand) new titles published EVERY DAY in America. Every day, three thousand new books gush into the river of available content, like lost children on the first day of school looking frantically for the school bus full of readers. So what’s an independent author to do to get ones own book recognized, perused, considered and bought in that flood tide of new titles? Well, the three ‘tells’ are as good a place as any to start, partly because few authors make this critical move. Few authors think to put their own title, a soon-to-be-book-release out there in view far enough in advance, if at all. Heck, I didn’t announce The Sky Behind Me until a week after it was published!
Here are a few useful guidelines: According to Marika Flatt, founder of PR By The Book. Got platform? Yes, the ‘P’ word. It’s all about platform these days, so at the very least set up a G+ account, a FaceBook page for your book, a Twitter account. Post on Pinterest if you have cover art. Make regular announcements on Reddit and whatever other social media you have access to. Start a blog about the book at least 5 months before launch date. Establish a website early. Any website should have these key pages: Blog, Press, About the Author, About the Book, Appearances, Reviews, Contact. If you have cover art it could make a good background for the site. Post the work to NetGalley. It’s free to sign up, and offers a great tool to have early reviews of your book. List your personal contacts and social media friends and acquaintances, then contact them all with regular updates. Offer a free (fill in the blank) for the first (or first ten) readers etc. Consider a virtual book tour, and announce its pending date. Blog reviews about other authors’ work and ask them to return the favor using PDfs or galleys. Post these interactions to your social media sites and your website.
The bottom line is, get started early–six months pre-pub is not too early–and keep the postings coming. If you have the ability and resources, hire a publicist to either handle all the above or walk you through the process. The important thing is to avoid what I usually do, write the book, publish the thing, then start telling the world about what a wonderful, compelling, gripping and vital piece of literary art it is, as the bus full of readers disappears into the distance. Speaking of the journalistic rules, yet to come this week will be other vital promotional and editorial tips gleaned from the Austin summit. Stay tuned for hints on word of mouth promotion, branding, differentiation in the marketplace (do you have a favorite water?) and much more. See you then.
