Promoting Your Book

Whether you're self or traditionally published, it's up to you to put in the legwork to get your book out there--to get it talked about, reviewed, and (heck yes) purchased.

I'll admit this one's hard for me. I have such an aversion to authors who are forever Tweeting or Facebooking about their books that my tendency is to do nothing. But nothing doesn't sell books! But how can you find that happy medium?

And what if you aren't on Twitter? Or Facebook? Or blog?

Don't panic. There is a way.

I have two friends who work tirelessly to promote their books. One is traditionally published (Elana Johnson/Simon Pulse) and the other published by a small press (Christine Fonseca/Compass Press). Sure their publishers can do some things for them, but neither of these authors would sell any books if they left it at that. Publishers simply can't do all the hard work or give the constant attention to your promotions as you can. It's considered your job to get out there and sell your book.

What? You didn't realize being an author meant you had to sell books? Hahaha! Um, yes, it sure does. It's ironic, isn't it, that authors tend to be introverted--preferring to live inside their heads--and yet our job forces us to put not only our books but ourselves in the public eye as often as we can? Ironic, yes. Avoidable? No.

This is a topic we could do a whole month-long series on, but instead you've got me for 500 words, people! Okay, maybe more than 500 words, but let's see how much we can pack in to the small space afforded us . . .

These are some ideas that Elana, Christine or I have done (I've tried to show who's done what by using our initials), all in the name of book promotion:

• Online launch party/real life launch party. A/C/E
• Send your book on a blog tour. You can arrange one yourself or hire a book blogger to do it for you. A/C/E
• Take vlog requests, film yourself and send it to be posted (forever and ever to your mortification). E
• Do giveaways. And giveaways. And more giveaways. A/C/E though Christine is the queen of giveaways and is doing one right now with another to follow right on its heels.
• Run Facebook giveaways. C/E
• Facebook chats. E
• Twitter chats (these are often run by the same book bloggers that host tours). A/C/E 
• Twitter giveaways. A/C/E
• Book Bombs. C/E
• Character sketches. C/E
• Short stories or novellas (usually free). A/C/E
• Put your first book free to promote a second book. A
• Create meaningful swag and build a contest/giveaway around it. C/E
• Create a trailer. C/E
• Create a Goodreads presence. A/C/E
• Goodreads giveaways. A/C/E
• Book signings (often set up and arranged by you). A/C/E
• Conference presentations. A/C/E
• Press releases. C/E
• Constantly arrange for book reviews by book bloggers, or readers that you can find on Goodreads or Facebook. Amazon reviews are awesome! A/C/E
• And the list goes on and on.

I'm positive I left stuff off the list, but I know you'll remind me if you see one I forgot! (Please tell me in the comments!)

The point is . . . book promotion is the author's responsibility and the author's expense. Until your book is talked about so often that it gains momentum on its own (by virtue of its awesomeness and glowing reviews), it's all up to you!

So crawl out from under your little introverted author rock and go check out Christine's giveaways and either get out there and promote your book or prepare yourself for the day when its your turn!

Ali Cross is the sensei of the writer's dojo where she holds a black belt in awesome. She lives in Utah with her kickin' husband, two sparring sons, one ninja cat, two sumo dogs and four zen turtles.

She's the author the young adult paranormal romance Desolation series about the kick-butt daughter of the devil and her search for a destiny of her own choosing. Blog | Facebook | Twitter