Nadia Janice Brown's Blog - Posts Tagged "book-promotion"

What is lunacy? It is for authors to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.

What is your strategy for success?

Those who aspire to being bestselling authors must have a plan, and their success must be on purpose. You must be strategic and be willing to analyze what works and what is ineffective. The writing industry does not afford you the opportunity of going without direction. And if you don’t know by now, planning how you will promote your book should begin before your book is in print! Authors should research the marketing process ahead of their book’s publication. Book promoting is a game of chess—your moves (decisions) must be contemplated and thought through thoroughly in advance.

Here are ways you can create buzz for your books: (This takes into account that the author has created a good book and is continuing to improve in his/her craft.)

• Be innovative in your marketing approach
• Submit your book to major book awards that provides monetary prizes
• Apply for writing grants
• Submit your book review to prominent book reviewers

The mind is a powerful instrument and can get you what you desire.

It is not about working harder, but being able to promote your book more effectively. The keys to marketing are the abilities of authors in being innovative and their abilities to maximize their exposure (how best authors can generate exposure). Authors must use their imagination to expand their fan base, establish a writing career, or to become a bestselling author. This will require authors using their creativity and their ability to think outside of the box to generate the kind of exposure they desire. For example, author Seth Harwood used free audio podcasts of his novel and built a huge fan base online. His novel is now published with Random House. It is important for authors to also look at nontraditional ways to selling books.

Authors should concentrate on submitting their novels to major book awards; apply for writing grants, and submit their books to prominent reviewers. These suggestions should be implemented throughout your book marketing process. In other words, don’t settle for the small stuff! This is not to say, that you can’t or should never do anything else. But a majority of your time should be spent doing the type of marketing that will give you the best chance to create a book worthy book.

Marketing Myopia: I have said it before and I will probably say it again -- marketing the same way again and again, or marketing too little, is maybe the biggest mistake a business can make.

The point of marketing is to expose new people to your business. But if you continue to market the same way, only the same eyeballs will see your ad. By trying some new tricks, by adopting some low cost shoestring marketing techniques, you ensure that new people will learn about your business.

By Steve Strauss, AOL Small Business

Tips for Aspiring & New Authors



1. Create a marketing plan that includes a budget and your marketing strategy (how you plan to promote your book). Remember to write down your marketing plan.

2. Make it easy for readers to purchase your book on your Web site by adding a direct link to your Amazon page and/or to your bookseller.

Example: www.amazon.com

Not: www.amazon.com


3. Research! You must do your research. How do I submit my book to contests? How do I apply for writing grants? How do I promote my book? How do I find an agent? The Internet can help you find the answers to your questions, so you must spend time researching and learning about the book marketing process.

4. Have long and short terms goals. Why? Goals keep you focus and enable you to accomplish things you wouldn’t otherwise by being aimless. What are your goals for this year? What are your goals a year from now? Be sure your goals are realistic for the time frame you make them.

5. Go Big! Promotional resources are good, but are limited in the exposure it creates. Submit your novel to prominent book reviews: Publisher Weekly, The New York Times Book Review, The Library Journal.... Be sure to contact the appropriate department or person before sending your books.

Follow Me On Twitter
I recently joined twitter and would like to meet some Goodreads friends. I tweet mostly things that are writing related or can be useful to authors. Don Wallace who is a writer/actor/producer and my cousin starred in "Blue", a movie he wrote and produce in 2008. Check out a clip of it on my Twitter page .