Thsnks for all of the support I received yesterday concerning my son. You'll never know how much it means to me. Writers are the BEST bunch of folks I know for supporting each other. Just to know that you are thinking of us and praying for him, it makes me feel so good. I told him about it and he is beyond words. No words can say, how he feels about the wonderful messages y'all sent!:)
When you write, and we do. You must think OUT of the box and realize there are a host of other things to be done, after you sign the contract. One of those things is a little thing called marketing. There are all types of marketing. But what type of marketing does an author do? Should we prepubbed authors have to think about this? Many authors think that they don't have to do anything. They are under the belief that they did all the work writing the book. The publisher should take care of this. You can't just hand everything over to the publisher. This is a business. You must do everything possible to ensure that your book has every chance to be successful.
Your book is important to you. It's not AS important to your publisher as it is to you. Authors have been talking about building your brand. That is your public character. The identity you want the public to see in you. One of the great ways to do this is to blog. YAY. I'm doing this. Blogging gets people interested in you and in your book. It's the best way to state your brand.
You csn make or have made marketing materials that are inexpensive, think Vista print. Bookmarks are great for all writers. Business cards are another great tool. Get some made up and hand them out to everyone. Book store owners, Librarians, everyone you come in contact with.
Your mailing list. We all need to work on this. And we need to work on it now. Add your kids teachers, doctors and everyone in between. Then when your book comes out, voila, you have a lot of people to tell. More sales(hopefully) and not a lot of work. Doesn't take a lot of time to jot down a name and email or snail mail address. Of course the most important thing is to get the thing finished, Yikes, June is almost here. My goal is to be done by the end of June.
These are things we all need to be thinking of. Thanks for reading. Anyone else have anything to add? :)
Kathleen Y'Barbo, Publicist for Books & Such Literary wrote a blog post entitled, Marketing Matters: Idol Eyes- What American Idol Can Teach Us About Capturing Readers' Attention. If you're not already following this blog, it's a good one. Here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.booksandsuch.biz/blog/2009/05/marketing-matters-idol-eyes-what-american-idol-can-teach-us-about-capturing-readers-attention/
Thanks Amy. I'll check it out. :)
ReplyDeleteRobyn - a blog dedicated to your book is also a good idea. I also have considered other ways to market my book. I have a whole Word document of ideas. : )
ReplyDeleteGreat post, and one hopefully everybody will pay attention to.
S
Lots of good ideas for promoting oneself! Thanks! And that other link looks like Amy put in there looks like a good one too.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes -- very important things here. I can't think of more to add...but will follow the comments to spy other's ideas :D
ReplyDeleteScott, great idea. Hey, write a post on some of your ideas. It would be a great help to writers everywhere. :)
ReplyDeleteBJ, Yeah, the other link from Amy a is a great one. Check it out. :)
Tess, spying is such a cool thing. :) Scott had great ideas and says he has more, too. I think he should blog about them. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat promotion ideas. Still thinking about your son--I hope you get answers and a roadmap of where to go from here.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to be thinking of things beforehand because once it's time for the book to come out, everything that needs to be done can seem way overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about your son, Robyn. Thank you for keeping us posted. This post is a nice reminder about the business side of publishing. I try to advertise my writing at least a little bit to the people around me. In the end, I'm not sure how much this helps when you're trying to sell 10,000 or more books, but I figure we have to start somewhere!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these tips, Robyn! It's good to know I'm at least on the right track by starting a blog! And not only is it helping state my brand, it's also enabled me to make & meet new writer friends (including you!)along my writing journey.
ReplyDeleteHopefully your little guy will get feeling better soon!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas! Very good tips! I think I'd have a hard time selling myself to all the people I know. >.< *am not a sales person, but need to learn to be*
Thinking of your son and hoping the tests all go well. (((hugs)))
ReplyDeleteI'm ambivalent about authors, who are not yet published, making massive marketing efforts; it's almost like putting the cart before the horse. But I do think blogging (as long as kept to manageable proportions) is a viable option in raising one's profile.
I just worry that marketing may become like the tail that wags the dog; that in the flurry of "selling" ourselves as writers we forget what's actually the only important thing about being a writer. And that is...writing.
Angela, Thanks so much and you're right. A roadmap is exactly what we need. Thanks for your good wishes. :)
ReplyDeletePJ, I definitely do NOT want it to be overwhelming, that's why I want to take care of some things now.:)
Davin, you're a great writing friend! And the business side is the side of writing I'll have problems with.
Crystal, I'm glad you include me on the writer friends list! Same here. I love my new friends. And your brand is so important! :)
Danyelle, I'm not a sales person either. That's why I'm going to have a hard time even telling people that my book is coming out. I won't want them to think I'm pushing myself on them. :) Guess I'd better get over that!
Ann, Thanks for the hugs and good wishes, Ann. You're right. You can't let blogging or any other marketing tool get in the way of the writing! :)
You and your son are in my thoughts and prayers, Robyn. This is a wonderful post, full of helpful information and tips. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteHave a good week.
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