Marketing Tips and Tricks

Marketing Tips and Tricks:

Instead of talking about "tricks" I'm just going to give you a list of ideas on how you can promote your book.

Traditional promotion:

v Promote the book through book signings, radio trailers, television interviews and magazine reviews.

v Print and distribute business cards and promotional book marks.

v Display posters outside major book stores.

Online Marketing:

v Personal website

v Author interviews on blogs

v Advertize on Goodreads, Face book, Twitter and blogs.

v Advertise with online magazines, reader sites and forums.

v Display a quote of the week from the book.

Contests:

v Hold an online art contest with Deviant Art. Deviant Art is one of the largest art communities in the world. This contest will entail having the artist render work that relates to the book for example: “What do you envision riding a dragon would be like?” or “Draw your favorite character from the book.”

v Other contest could include essays on “What does freedom means to you?” or “If you could travel back to the crusade era what three things would you want to take with you and why?”

Conventions, Fairs and Tournaments:

v Work with committees to become a featured author at Dragon-Con, Conduit, Comic-Con, The Arizona Renaissance Festival, Utah Renaissance Festival And Fantasy Faire, Camelot Days Medieval Festival ( these are great for fantasy books)

v Below is a link to a list of fairs and festivals:

http://www.renaissancefestival.com/festivals/list.php

Schools:

v Present school assemblies and talk about the importance of reading and writing. Show up in costume, the kids love it!

Being sensitive to the hard economic times:

v Making e-books available to the modern reader is a great way to provide a low cost book, with almost no overhead cost to the publisher. In many cases, because there is little overhead costs, e-books bring in a higher profit to publishers.

Visibility in book stores:

v Cardboard book shelves add a tremendous amount of visibility and can be placed at he entrances of book stores.

See link for example:

http://www.kingdom.com/PowerRack-Tape-and-Book-Display-System-9-Cavity-p/cbrack.htm&adcode=INTMMN0902

v Print large posters to hang in the store front windows.

Fundraisers:

v Groups such as school cubs and private organizations often sell food, event tickets, coupons and books to raise funds for their programs. This is great advertizing and a fun way to distribute the book.

Companion products:

v Make t-shirts, books marks, coloring books, paper dolls and character designer dolls.

Companion products are a great way not only to advertize but also to bring in multiple sources of income.

Book reviews:

v Have reviews written on author blogs, Booklist ,Foreword Magazine, Horn Book Review, Kirkus Reviews ,KLIATT ,Library Journal ,Publishers Weekly ,School Library Journal, Foreword Reviews.com ,Midwest Book Review .

Release Date Strategy:

v Have the release date at the end of November so that we can hit the Christmas crowd.

Audio Books:

v Audio books are a convenient option for busy readers who enjoy listening to stories while they perform household chores or exercise. Dramatized audio books are great while traveling especially on long trips with children.

Networking:

v Networking is the key to success.

Book Signings:

v Bringing candy in a dish and large posters will help attract the consumer.

Mailing list:

create a mailing list you can get one at Bravenet.com

Internet Contest

To be efficient

Other people advertize on websites and send a page full of the links to the publisher or author who ever has the most link by the deadline wins a free book, coloring book, t-shirt and to have their book reviewed by the editor of a publisher.

What are some of your ideas?