|
How to publish your own book
How to choose an e-book publisher
How to write a business plan
Ways to promote your book
Find a freelance writing job
Ways to promote your book
You have just finished writing a book and it has been published. So, what’s the next step? For authors, writing a book does not mean the end of your job as an author. You still have to make sure that it reaches many readers. In other words, you have to make sure that your book gets the attention that you want from the readers. If you want your book to be popular, you have to actively promote your book. “How do I go about doing that?” you might ask in confusion. Don’t panic as I have listed some helpful guidelines for you to go about promoting your book.
1. Press Release – Some publishers would offer press release for the books that they publish but some don’t. If your publisher doesn’t, you could look into the idea of asking your editor or the PR consultant of the publisher to write a press release for you. And if your publisher does offer a press release, apart from the publications that the publisher is sending the press release to, you could add your own list of publications that you want to target for getting the press release. You could also send the release to daily newspapers as well as some newspapers have a special column for announcing new books. In this way, you will gain popularity for your book.
2. Reviews – You could contact writers from magazines that publish book reviews to review your book. It would be great to directly contact the book reviewers themselves. If your local newspaper carries a column dedicated to book reviews, you could contact and inform them about your book and let them write a review on it. In this way, you are getting publicity for your books.
3. Website – If you own a website yourself, you could announce to your visitors about your book. Each time someone logs on to your website they’ll read about your book and this is another sure way to gain popularity for your book.
4. Talks – Another way that you could promote your book would be to hold author sessions in your local library. Contact the library and tell them about your interest to hold a talk about your book. Who knows, through this you could even get people to read your book? And to make it more interesting you could also advice people about your success as an author.
5. Free Copies – You could opt to give free copies of your published book to the media organizations. By giving these to them, you are gaining fame, as the organizations might do a write-up of your book & feature it in their publications, which could be newspapers, magazines or newsletters. Another source whom you can give the free copies are bookstore retailers who could find your book interesting enough to sell in their stores. You could also give the free copies to other publishers whom you are planning to sell an upcoming manuscript.
6. Promotional Materials – Flyers, brochures and booklets on your published book would very helpful in assisting you to effectively promote your book. If you are getting together in a writer’s group meeting, you can simply hand out the flyers. If you are holding talks or conferences, you can give out the flyers to the audience. You could also distribute the flyers to those who might be keen to purchase your book. Other sources that you could pass the flyers are bookstores and even to outgoing mails. In this way, most would be alerted about your book.
7. Word of mouth – You could inform your friends, relatives and neighbors about your book. They would in turn inform their friends and acquaintances about the book and the word spreads.
8. Appearances in Bookstores – This is another great way to promote your book. You could first contact with the bookstore about your interest on holding a talk at the store. If they agree, you could happily go on and plan the talk. Most authors would take this opportunity to introduce the book to the readers. You could also come up with an autograph session in the bookstore as well. Appearances in bookstores will be informational for aspiring writers as they could ask you for tips on writing a book.
9. TV & Radio Shows – Do you know that you could gain popularity for your book with television shows? Many regard published authors as celebrities and thus there is a high chance of you securing an appearance in a local TV show as a guest. You could contact the producer of the TV show and ask if they would be interested to have you on the show. An appearance in a TV show is a very good chance for you to promote your book and at the same time win publicity for yourself as an author. Likewise radio shows are another good source for promotion of your book. Many radio shows hold interviews with authors and you could enquire with the local radio station about your interest to appear in the show. Many listeners would be interested to find out about your success as an author and thus there is a great possibility of you appearing on the show.
10. Popular Reviewers – You could be a fan of a popular columnist or a reviewer and you want that person to take note of your book. How? Simple. Contact the reviewer and tell them about how you enjoy reading their work. Do remember to describe yourself and tell them about your published book. You could also send them an autographed copy of the book & enquire if they would be interested to review your book. The chances of the writer reviewing your book might be slim if they get a huge pile of books to review each month. But if you get a positive reply that you will be getting a review of your book, be glad. Some writers tend to be aggressive and coax the reviewer to give them a very positive review. This is unadvisable, as it could be insulting to the reviewer & might even lead to the reviewer in not reviewing your book at all. Thus, be thankful that the writer has noticed your book & wait for the fair review.
Written by Anusuya Vethanayagam
|
