Authors love talking about the craft of writing, but most absolutely hate publicizing and promoting their work. In many cases, it’s due to a case of my newly coined expression, Promo Paralysis. Let’s simplify things right now, so you can start exposing your books for additional readership and profit.
Sit down and brainstorm all possible angles for publicity. I can hear you from here, moaning, “But it’s fiction. There ARE no angles.” Sure, there are. You just haven’t ruminated long enough. Consider:
Where is the story set?
I set Simple Tryst of Fate partially in Argentina. I contacted the PR company promoting tourism to the country to see if they’d want to publicize the book. Similarly, a friend of mine set a novel in Bethany Beach, Delaware and contacted local bookstores to see if they’d like to do a signing event.
Does the story touch on any issues?
Slashing Mona Lisa (now retitled Murder Worth the Weight) featured a Chamorro (from Guam) protagonist who fought against fat shaming and promoted body positivity. I contacted media outlets that catered to Chamorro readership, and also to every Facebook group and publication I could find that championed body positivity. To my surprise, even Weight Watchers gave me an online review, which amazed me because the book wasn’t particularly complimentary to any weight-loss organization. I also timed the release so it could feed off the release of similar body-positive movies and television shows like Shrill, hoping to capitalize on their momentum.
To launch the book, I held a dessert party at a local venue and joined forces with my friend, Barbara Noyes, who runs the Penguin Plunge, an organization that fundraises to help sick children in the Hudson Valley. (In retrospect, I should have thrown a similar launch in conjunction with local body positivity groups; hindsight is 20/20!) She invited her mailing list, and I donated a portion of every sale made during the event to the cause. I’ve held other events where I recruited local vendors, whose wares were tangential to the book (i.e. mortgage brokers for a book set in the world of real estate.) Their donations covered my costs for the launch, and each vendor received a few minutes to do a sales spiel for my attendees. Win-win.
Does the story cover a particular demographic?
My first book, Expired Listings, was set in fictional Rock Canyon where a serial killer was knocking off all the unethical real estate agents in town. I found another author who had written about murders in the real estate community. Coincidently, our books came out at a time when there’d been a recent rash of real-life real estate murders around the country. So, I contacted industry publications and explained how our books put a spotlight on this tragic trend, and discussed how unsafe the industry could be. This angle resulted in features in major real estate publications like Inman. Hudson Valley newspapers wrote articles that touted us as local authors. We also sold lots of books when we exhibited at a small real estate conference. I’m delighted to say that a few real estate coaches started recommending my book to their students.
No real hook? Borrow publicity outlets from fellow genre writers.
Like Expired Listings, my most recent book, Deadly When Disturbed, also deals with the real estate community but didn’t have that same “dangerous industry” hook. So, I checked the Facebook pages of fellow domestic thriller and mystery writers and contacted every podcast and blog who had featured their work. I ended up with great interviews from well-known media outlets in my genre.
Be generous.
I had four books come out during COVID when no one was doing book launches. Two of those were Saving Grace: A Psychological Thriller and The Queen of Second Chances. To counter this lack of publicity, I started doing video interviews for Author-Groupie.com, where I interviewed other authors of adult fiction who were also having books coming out during the lockdown. I would do a small promo of my book before each interview, but then 100% of the interview was about them. I posted the interviews on YouTube and on my Facebook page and my website. We all ended up with some decent publicity and I made friends in the process.
Find reviewers.
You can sign up for a blog tour like those offered by Partners in Crime, or you can put your book up on NetGalley (I’ve found an affordable co-op program!) and similar review sites. You can also purchase lists of social media influencers, blogs, and YouTube channels in your genre.
Nonfiction—it’s easier!
My first nonfiction book, Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse, was called the autism travel bible. It was the first of its kind and therefore, I knew people would want to talk to me if they just knew the book existed. Here’s what I did:
Podcasts: Found all the podcasts that dealt with autism, mental health, ADHD, travel, parenting. I discovered that adopted children and also those with Down Syndrome may have autism or ADHD, so I contacted those podcasts too. I ended up sending out around 1,000 pitches and doing about one hundred podcasts. There are companies that make this research affordable and include email addresses.
Print Media: I researched all of the special needs publications and offered to write a free article based on my book for them. All the stories have to have a slightly different angle, but I made it work. It’s also how I got to sell an article to Costco Connection (15+ million readers!), and they published it in several editions around the world (including the UK, Australia, and Canada.) I also sent postcards to the five hundred top libraries in the country, as well as children’s museums.
Broadcast Media and Other Outlets: I went even further when publicizing my latest book, Vacations Can Be Murder, A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to New England. (Again, it’s a first-of-its-kind type of book, so it’s of interest to the media.) Along with the podcast route, I also researched the largest media outlets (radio, TV, cable, newspaper) for every city and town covered in the book, as well as those that touched on true crime and the paranormal (the guide includes ghost tours and haunted restaurants/hotels.) I discovered affordable resources that make this information available. I wrote to regional publications to see if they’d like to print an excerpt of the book that covered their area. I contacted gift shops in every city mentioned in the book, along with historical societies/libraries, public libraries, tourist boards, and chambers of commerce. (AI can actually help you compile a list, but it’s going to take some work on your part to complete it.)
In the end…Yes, doing your own publicity is as exhausting as writing the book but do you know what? It’s also fun, if you’re the kind of person that loves the hunt. And it’s been successful. I’m getting a healthy amount of publicity. Does publicity always equate to sales? No. But neither does advertising, and this is much cheaper. Be prepared for that eventuality but keep on going. One day, you’re going to strike oil.
If you’re interested in learning more, I offer affordable publicity and marketing consulting in addition to editing and book trailer creation. You can find all the information at http://www.dmbarr.com/suggested-development-editing.html.
Dawn Barclay
Dawn offers developmental and copy editing through SuggestedDevelopment.com, and ghostwrites personal histories and corporate profiles through LegacyQuest.net. A member of ITW, she has served as president of Hudson Valley Scribes, vice president of Sisters in Crime-NY/TriState, and the newsletter author/board member of the NY chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Follow her at www.dmbarr.com.
Very useful and so positive! You do make it sound fun. And I can attest to the success of author groupie interviews :-). I will need to brainstorm my next one for sure…
Don’t have very generous of you to give us all of these tips! And there’s so many areas I didn’t think of having fun thank you. Sincerely, you are an amazing wealth of information!
Dawn, thanks so much for sharing these great tips! It’s given me a lot to think about–and plan for–before my next launch.
These are just far enough outside the box. Kuddos and thank you.
This is fantastic, Dawn. It’s easy to tell someone to “be creative.” But your specific examples make the goal of developing a book promotion plan sound achievable. (I especially love the idea of putting AI to work to develop one or more targeted lists of contacts.)
Definitely some creative ideas here! Great encouragement for thinking outside of the box when it comes to marketing. Thanks, Dawn!