What Now?
Once the excitement passed, that was the first question I asked myself as soon as I released my book. What do I do now? What good is having a book if no one knows about it? Now, I have to market and promote it. I'm taking a month off of editing and writing to do it.
The first thing I did was contact as many book bloggers as I could. Their only requirement was that they had to read fantasy and accept ebooks. I emailed them or filled out their website form. I tried to tailor it to each blogger, but my emails ended up being very formulaic. I introduced myself and my book, offered to give them it to them in any digital format, and thanked them. Most of them were very kind and were able to take my book and review it. A few said no because they didn't have time. Others I haven't heard from.
Secondly, I emailed a few podcasters. This list wasn't as big as the blogger list was. I stuck with podcasts I listen to and podcasters I know. There were only a few writing podcasts while the rest were general geekery. I don't know if they'll ever get back to me or have me on their show, but it was free and there was no risk involve to just ask.
The last thing I did was pay for advertising over on Kindleboards and Kindle Nation Daily. What I paid for was expensive but after discussing it with my business friend, we figured it was worth it. We weighed how much it would cost, the target audience, how effective it was, and how many books I'd have to sell.
The only problem I have is I have no idea how effective any of these will be. To figure that out, I will have to look at that month's sales and see if they increased when the ads went live or when the reviews come out. There's also the problem of time. It's going to take months before any of these things happen and they're going to overlap each other. While my ads are live, book bloggers will also have reviewed my book, and an interview or two will be out. So any one of those things can boost my sales. They can also NOT boost my sales and something like word of mouth can, or maybe I'll go viral.
Over the next month expect a lot of posts dealing with marketing, promotion, and advertising. With exposure and a little luck, maybe I'll sell some books.
Marc Johnson
