I’ve been thinking a lot about how to promote Women of the Way, Embracing the Camino. Coincidentally this week, many bloggers are opining on this topic.
Behind Closed Doors posts 5 Ways To Successfully Advertise and Market Your Book For FREE or Less Than $6? In her article, E. F. Johnson discusses using KDP Select Free Promotions, Pay with a Tweet, Fiverr, Winders Live Movie Maker, and Facebook Fan Pages.
- I decided not to go with the KDP Select because it is exclusionary; limiting the sale of the ebook to Amazon. Additionally, writers that I know are not very excited with the program, stating that they would have earned more without it. As an author, you must decide if the lower earnings outweigh the potential for higher exposure.
- The first time I saw a promotion to Pay with a tweet I was skeptical. How could I determine if the campaign was successful; I could track the number of tweets, but what would that do for me in the long run?. Though some promoters might get a flash increase in traffic, I do not see Pay with a Tweet as long-term promotional tool. That same day, I read the Firepole Marketing post “Is Pay With a Tweet” an Ethical Marketing Practice? The comments are interesting; what do you think?
- Though I have not yet used Fiverr, I have heard other writers discuss the benefits of using this site, not necessarily for promoting a book, but for getting someone to do various task. I went to their webpage and searched on “promote book;” and receive 546 matches. This is a definite possibility for someone who wants to spend the time researching the candidates, looking at their work, and hiring the right person.
- Like E.F. Johnson, I used Windows Live Movie Maker to make the book trailer, which in now on YouTube. I think a movie trailer is a useful promotional tool; a trailer that goes viral can really boost sales.
- Facebook fan pages can only help sell books if you get fans to “like” the page…that is the trick. To help me do this, I use FansFlood. It requires adding a line of code to your webpage or and then offering a gift to people who “like” your page. Simple and effective. (See below for an example.)
Firepole Marketing discusses”Don’t Swim Upstream: 7 Strategies for a Flop-proof Book Launch.” In this guest post, Toni Tesori suggest that timing is all-important in promoting your book and that having a prepublication launch strategy can make all the difference in the successful promotion of your book.
Another way to promote your book is to get great reviews and awards. The Creative Penn posted How To Get Amazon’s Top Customer Reviewers To Review Your Book. Guest blogger Laura Pepper Wu suggests ways to “ask the ‘Amazon Top Customer Reviewers’ to take a look at your book” and what the Top Customer Reviewer award is all about.
To learn more about promoting a book, I joined LinkedIn groups for writers and authors . Some discussions are on this very topic and many writers offer tips for successfully launching and promoting a book. I have made contacts with reviewers; joined in discussions on how to successfully promote a book; how to make book trailers; and participated in “I’ll like yours if you’ll like mine” groups to promote each others’ works. This later takes a lot of time when hundreds of others are looking for the same. I participate in a limited group, which keeps the floodgates closed. Otherwise, the request can be overwhelming.
As you can see, this week I have been learning about the art of promoting. There is so much I don’t know. As I read and listen to other promoters, I realize that there is a plethora of choices and decisions. I try out things and I reject what does not feel right for me. Sometimes this rejection comes after paying for a “solution,” only to find out that the effort is not worth the cost. There are a lot of marketers who promote themselves as guru’s when they only really want to sell you their product; others are really helpful. When I find them, I am grateful.
