Importance of promoting yourself

[Larry]

Importance of promoting yourself
If you’re going to get bigger cash advances you have to prove to the publishing world, agents, editors, publishers, distributors, booksellers and book buyers that your manuscripts are worthy. That LOTS of people will buy them. Not hundreds of people or even thousands, but tens of thousands. That’s when publishers will sit up and take notice.
Other arguments I frequently see are: I’ve done the hard stuff, the writing, now it’s the publisher’s turn to print and promote my masterpiece; Even if my first book doesn’t do that well, there’s always a second book and other publishers. Besides, I already have the cash advance.
If you sit back and wait for the publisher to promote your pending masterpiece, it’s virtually guaranteed to go nowhere in sales, perhaps not even breaking 100 copies sold. If that happens, your publisher won’t even consider a second book. After all, if you were a publisher, would you consider a writer on whom you’ve already lost a bundle of money? I doubt I would. Of course, that leads to the third part of the vicious cycle I described, that of no further advances. Excerpt from Self-Promotion for Authors

[Kempton]

I agree, if you don't promote your book, no one will. I am just starting to learn about self-promotion with my book, THE COMMITTEE, which I published through Amazon's kindle program (http://www.amazon.com/The-Committee-e...). The hard part is finding where to start and what are the best venues to promote oneself. Any ideas are welcome!

[Larry]

Oh, I so hate to sound self-serving, but with an opening like that .... :-))

My book Self-Promotion for Authors not only has what I distilled from many years of highly successful book and product publicity, but also successful tips from a dozen authors including several winners of major writing awards. The book is available as a trade paperback or an economical Kindle version.
But no matter what, it will be hard work. Decide what your target market is then select your promotional venues accordingly. Best of luck.

[Larry]

Kempton,
Just followed the link to your Kindle Book. Wow, if the book is as good as the writeup you should have a winner! Refreshingly different angle on a serious topic.
Be proud and work hard.

[David]

The problem I find with promoting my book, is that I end up spending more time doing that than actually working on the next part. Sigh.

[Lauren]

I had an idea and wondered if my friends at Goodreads would be willing to help me out. Four months ago I paid to have a book trailer made. It turned out great. In the 4 months I have had 840 visits and 24 comments. I may have made some book sales through it – that’s hard to tell.

I asking if all of you would please click onto this site:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQorTk... , and, if possible, leave a comment. That would help me rise up the Youtube ladder. Additionally, I’m requesting that you share the website address onto your Facebook page, Twitter, blogs, etc.

I don’t believe that a book trailer could possibly go “viral” – that only happens to people who burp the Star-Spangled Banner. But it would be a great experiment. Obviously, this request is not completely altruistic – it’s possible I may get some sales out of it. But, we could then all help each other in the same way, since we are all in the same boat.

My thanks to those of you who do this and please let me know your book’s name (website, Amazon link- if you’re an Amazon Associate, etc).

[Lauren]

Hi Everyone,
My novel is women's fiction. Written by a woman (me) about two women's relationship - first as mentor/student, then much later as stepmom/stepdaughter. They lean on one another's strengths to overcome challenges in both their lives. It's called "Once in Every Generation."
I wonder if there is a way to see if anyone on Goodreads (in any category) is reading it?

[Reena]

Lauren,

Yes. If you go to your Author Dashboard, it should list all your books and how many are currently reading it. Click on the currently-reading link and it'll pull up the names. You'll only have the currently-reading link visible if folks have actually toggled the book on their list as currently reading.

Reena Jacobs

[Nicholas]

Book One: The Growing Dim Project

Lauren,

I would love to help you out with your YouTube video, the fact of the matter is that I don't have a youtube account.

As far as questions about using goodreads as a promoting oneself site, this is exactly what I do. I use goodreads as my primary site to interact with readers, see who's downloading and receive feedback from other authors. I do not have a personal website, my theory is "why would I when there are already thousands of readers here?"

I use this site for many things, blog, advertising, a Kobo giveaway I did in July, and the list goes on and on. Don't get me wrong, I use other venues like indiebooklounge.com to post articles (the trick there is to get them to post your articles just before the weekend starts), but I have found that goodreads to be my most beneficial site (thus far).

Also with every post on any given forum make sure you have a link to your book AND your profile.

Thanks,
Nicholas A. McGirr