I recently gave a presentation to the Bucks County Romance Writers group about “Marketing Outside of the Box: Bringing your Book to Life and Keeping it Alive,” and it stirred up some common misconceptions about just what an author can and can’t do to promote her book. Mainly, there is a pervasive belief that promotion is entirely up to the publisher, and the actions of the author can make no difference one way or the other in the success of a novel.
Okay, I think that used to be true to some extent. But these days a few things have changed. First of all, all publishers are doing less and less for their authors. They tend to put their marketing muscle and dollars behind that huge book at their house that got the big advance…mainly because they don’t want to lose their shirts on it. And for the rest of the books? Well…. You get in their catalog. Advanced Reader Copies get sent out for reviews. Um, and? Well, good luck to you!
I equate it to throwing spaghetti onto the wall and seeing which bits stick. If a book gets a starred review and happens to win a major award, then cool. Otherwise, push it aside for the next batch a mere 3 months later. But if a book is beautiful enough for a company to accept it and to spend a year editing and producing it, isn’t it worth putting a bit more effort into? And if an author has poured her heart and soul into that work, isn’t it worth the author’s time to do whatever she can to be sure that the book doesn’t go quietly into the night?
Publishers are now banking on just that. Why waste their precious resources on things like booking signings and sending out press, when the author could do that herself? Clever, right? Now this isn’t exactly a spoken policy, and authors don’t all do this, but I think if you have a book out, or coming out, you need the whole eyes wide open approach, and you need to get busy.
You will have to work with your publisher to let them know what you’re doing. At the outset, you should have a frank talk with your publicist at your publishing house about what you would like to handle, and how to do it without stepping on toes, or repeating what they do. You might find at first some resistance to having you handle some things, but since they aren’t handling them, what the heck? I think they are afraid that some authors may represent themselves badly, but once you show that you are professional and courteous, and once they have moved on to the next season’s lists, you’ll probably see that they are glad of what you are doing, and will be happy to get occasional “keep you in the loop” emails about what’s going on.
There’s a notion out there that you should take a good part or at least some of your advance and hire a publicist with it to get the word out. Nice. But what if you actually need the money for like, say, living? And what can you really get with that money that you can’t provide yourself?
photo by Pat Achilles
I decided I could promote WHAT I MEANT… on my own, and I have done this quite successfully at almost zero cost. Yeah, it takes tons of time, but I’d already spent tons of time writing the thing, right? And I have two things that a publicist does not: 1. Absolute passion for my book. Remember, no one (not even your mother) will love your book the way that you do, and be driven to promote it the way you will; and 2. I have unlimited access to the author! I can quote her in releases and features, book her at appearances, and connect her with readers in a positive way.
Just a few years ago, having passion and author access wasn’t enough. You needed contacts. You needed a huge budget to print up ad materials, posters, bookmarks. You needed to go out on tour. You needed to cozy up to book reviewers. Today, contacts in the media are readily found online. Okay, I’m not talking Oprah, I’m talking newspaper folk, radio folk, bloggers, book reviewers, etc. Easy to find. Easy to send a personal note to, or a feature story to about an upcoming signing (with images of yourself and your book cover attached, of course).
And these days, it’s also easy to book signings yourself. I’ve done SO many signings over the past few years, and I’ve booked every single one myself. Forget the cold call. Personally go to every bookstore within driving range, and introduce yourself, drop off info on your book (which you have printed up beautifully on your computer), and chat with the manager, asking if they would like to do a signing with you. I’m sure if you were willing to travel, you could email stores in different areas and book a string of signings that way, and ta-da! You’re on tour. This will cost you in terms of travel expenses, of course. Remember that independent bookstores will be your most ardent supporters, so be sure to build your relationships with them (and shop at indies, and include a link to indiebound.org on your website so folks can buy your book through them!).
I tell booksellers that I will send out press to area media about the event, and wow, are they happy to hear that. A few weeks before any signing, I create a nice feature story about the event and my novel, and send it out with pix. I ALWAYS get coverage. So if you don’t know how to format and write a press release, a public service announcement and a feature story, learn. Now. The library has books that will show you how.
With color printers, you can make your own publicity info. Printing bookmarks through a company is pretty cheap to do, but I haven’t done this. Personally, I’ve never bought a book because I’ve gotten a bookmark… I’ve created great signs on my computer and brought the file to Staples, and had them create large posters, mounted on foam core, that I display on an easel at my events. This is all nickle and dime stuff, folks.
As you market, you need to think of who your audience is, what is your book’s angle, and how do you reach your audience in an unorthodox way? You don’t want to be a spammer, or to spend a fortune creating junk mail that ends up in the circular file. My approach is to be the anti-spammer, meaning that I make an effort to contact people personally. And I use their name in my note. It takes a lot of time, but I don’t care. I’m asking for their time when they read a note from me, aren’t I? It’s old school, and that makes it retro and charming.
Author J. A. Konrath is a gifted promoter with a personal touch. His website (which he’s changed since I first found it) is loaded with advice on how to personally make a difference in the life of your book, especially if you follow the link to his tips page. Start with Self Promotion for Authors Tip 6 by clicking here, and read on from there, going to more tips at the bottom of this page. His ideas are wise and witty and absolutely on target.
Aside from making personal contacts, another “outside of the box” way I found to reach my audience of teen readers is through workshops that I offer them to help teen scouts earn badges they need for important awards like the gold award. It’s been unbelievably successful, and I’m in reprint again! Because they were unusual, my workshops were also featured in Publisher’s Weekly’s Children’s Bookshelf and at shelfawareness.com, so remember that a quirky promotion can be news in itself.
Since my book features a biracial character who is half Indian, I contacted the international publication of India Abroad, and they ran a huge cover story about it. I also contacted lots of great people who write about the mixed race experience, and they were really responsive. I was featured at AsiansofMixedRace.com, did a podcast with Mixed Chicks Chat, and in the UK, WHAT I MEANT… was a featured book on the site Intermix.com.uk. I also contacted librarians via email who were in areas with high concentrations of Indian populations. The best part of all this has been the personal relationships that I’ve built with all of these talented and wonderful people and their organizations. In the end it’s not just about selling a product, it’s about becoming a part of a community. You are building a future in the book-reading world.
So, what angles are in your book? What organizations out there would be interested? Can you write for their newsletter or blog, relating your personal experiences that tie into your book? Can you create a great presentation for their chapter meetings? Give an inspiring speech at their conventions? Give an honest piece of yourself to your readership, and they will respond to you.
This post would be woefully remiss if I didn’t mention a bunch of on-line stuff. First of all, your website. You have to have one. That’s all there is to it. But you can do what I’ve done and easily make your blog your website. It does all I want it to do, plus I can control it myself, plus it’s FREE! Then if you purchase your domain from a site like bluehost.com, they have a free redirect service. In my case, everyone who types http://www.marielamba.com arrives here. Can’t get any cheaper and easier than that, folks.
You have to get onto facebook.com. The best feature on this is the event invite. Create invites for all of your signings and appearances, and invite folks. Pimp up your invite with added pix, links, and remember that once someone rsvp’s, they can then invite all their friends to the event too. This has worked out amazingly, especially when I tell bookstores with facebook pages to do this. My last event was able to send out over 500 invites! A few days before the actual event, you can go to the invite page and message all invited with a cheerful reminder note.
Twitter.com can work in tandem with your invites, and press, etc. Build up your follow list with librarians, booksellers, publishers, editors, reviewers, readers. Then post on twitter links to your facebook events, or any online press you get. Keep it short. If you leave at least 40 characters remaining, folks can easily retweet it to their buds. And you can shorten your links by going here.
Don’t be a shmo. Also use these sites to promote other writers, other events, to praise books that you’ve read. Balance is key, and you are part of a wide-spread community, so share the love.
Reader-oriented sites offer a great way to connect with your audience. Create an author page. Friend folks who have read your book. Friend folks who have read a competitor’s book and suggest they check yours out! Here are the sites I spend time on: librarything.com, shelfari.com, goodreads.com. Librarything and goodreads also let you post your events. Also, join indiebound.org and friend all your fav bookstores.
Booktour.com is an amazing site. Create an author page, and type in all of your appearances. They will automatically send out your appearances to a huge number of online sites. And, I also suggest you go onto your book’s page at amazon.com and click on your author page. You can now add a picture, a bio, and link your blog posts here. PLUS booktour.com will make sure that your appearances appear there as well.
Linkedin.com is a more professional site, meaning you can’t just friend, or connect, with everyone. But join some groups, like one for bookstores or libraries or publishing, and then you can use that connection when you invite someone to connect to you. Create a beautiful profile, and link your blog to it so that the content is always interesting and changing. They give you a really simple way to do this.
Now, back to the human side of things… Involve your friends and family everywhere to help you in your promotion. Like I said before, I’ve never bought a book because I’ve gotten a bookmark, but I have bought a book because someone recommended it to me. I think J.A. Konrath wisely pointed this out on his site, and it really stuck with me. So do encourage folks to write reviews for barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, and on goodreads and shelfari. Enlist this army of supporters to request your book be purchased at their libraries (most library sites allow this on their online sites, and require a library card number). Have them visit their local bookstores and put your book face out, instead of just spine out. Hem, hem. This comment may get some flak from the industry that actually pays to have a title face out on a shelf so it’ll get noticed faster, but if Aunt Minny quietly goes into a bookstore and does this, no harm, no foul I say.
One more thing. There is definitely power in numbers. If you can create a group of writers who will blog together, or do panels and talks together, you can turn any event into something noticeable and special. I’m a proud member of the Philly Liars Club, and it has been an incredible journey. We support each other, and we are able to support independent bookstores through our special truth tour events. Are there other debut novelists that you can link up with? Other authors you know in your genre who could do a panel with you at the next huge convention? Power in numbers, baby!
So you can see there is a lot that you can do, most of it while sitting at home in your jammies in front of your laptop. After I gave this talk about marketing (not in my jammies), the members of the Bucks County Romance Writers group all wanted to know when I actually found time to write. I told them that in the last two years I’d done all this promotion, AND written two additional novels. I encouraged them to get to work.
I’m pretty sure they will.
“They say it’s your BIRTHDAY!” Yup, it’s true. Today is the official publication day of GREEN GREEN: A Community Gardening Story!!! It’s my debut picture book, co-authored with my husband, Landscape Architect Baldev Lamba, and illustrated by the phenomenal artist Sonia Sanchez. School Library Journal calls it, “An attractive read-aloud for beginning lessons on gardening.” This book is available everywhere books are sold. To purchase it, please contact your wonderful local bookstore — they will be happy to help you! Or, to order online, click here for a number of choices.
And thank you to the many folks in my life who continue to support this wacky writer! My family, my wonderful friends, my network of amazing writer buddies…my community! You’ve all helped me grow. 🙂 And thank you to the fabulous network of bookstore friends, librarians, and schools who are sharing GREEN GREEN! And to readers out there? Adults who take the time to sit with a child in their lap and make a book come to life for a child? Wow. You are the real heroes of any book.
For the past 7 months, my buds and I at the 
So, on Saturday, December 12th, a bunch of two-timing liars takes over Farley’s Bookshop and Canterbury Tales Forever. We’ll be simultaneously throwing a festive book signing party at the two bookstores in one day. From 11 a.m. straight through to 7 p.m. on that day, visitors will find two of these low-down liars at both indies signing their novels, giving away holiday goodies, and spreading excitement about shopping in our local independent bookstores.
Liars shuttling between the two stores that day include: New York Times bestseller 
Farley’s Bookshop in New Hope has been an important part of the surrounding community since it opened in the 1960s. The store is owned by book-lovers James and Nancy Farley, and folks who helped the store start up include Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers of PBS fame) and James Michener. Today, Farley’s exudes the feel of an old-time bookshop. “This store has everything,” says author Kelly Simmons. She points out that Farley’s has the title selections that those big box stores do, and that their children’s section is unrivaled. “But Farley’s also has a charm that those big stores definitely do not. Plus its staff is so approachable and knowledgeable about books. And then there’s the store cat, Butter. You have to love a bookstore with its own cat.”
Marie Lamba, author 