Promotion: Stage 2

This week we are going to cover stage 2 of promotion. If you remember, last week I divided promotion into three stages.  Stage 1 consisted of the time before your work is published.  Stage two is right when your work is published. Of all the stages, this one is the most fast paced, sort of a whirlwind stage.

By now, you've set up a bunch of author's pages, perhaps created a trailer and/or expanded your network of authors, readers and reviewers. You've joined a few social networks and if you've published previous books, you may even have some sort of fan base that you keep in touch with.

Now that your book has been released, it is time to pull out all the stops. My experience in particular has been with ebooks so much of this is directed towards them. Book tours, blog hops, character interviews, author interviews, internet banner ads, magazine ads and of course book signings are just a few ways to promote your book.

So where do you start? Well, the easiest way to start would be your known network. Do you have critique partners or fellow authors you work closely with? What about any writing chapters. Once you move past your network, the internet is a very handy tool for researching current blog hops or blogs to host your book tour. Finally, you can always work to host a blog hop yourself, bringing fellow authors in and giving them the opportunity to promote their books as well.

For newbie authors, you may want to talk with your editor or publisher for tips on how to best market your book (this is assuming they don't assist you with this which is more and more common these days).  Many times, publishers may have guidelines on how much of your book you can share in excerpts, blurbs etc.

The lesson to take away from this is that you need to be open to options. Be proud of your work and talk it up. It sounds strange but if you don't believe in your work, why should others? Next week, we'll move onto stage 3 of the art of promotion.  Happy writing this week!

Filed under: Business, Marketing, Toni Kelly