Question and Answer Friday
Anyone have any questions about promo this week?One I'd like to discuss is time management and promotion. I just spent over an hour working on promo when I'd rather be writing....how do other people handle it?
posted by MJFredrick @ 11:24 AM
5 Comments:
Where do you start? Website, virtual tour, blog? and when is a good time to start? Should you wait until your book is in print or start when it's about to, like pre-publicity?
Before you sell you should do a survey of websites. Find the ones you like, the ones you think are most effective. As soon as you sell you should select a web designer (or be starting on designing your own)because it takes time to get it a website up. I've heard it over and over that a website is your most important marketing tool. Next week Vivian Lund, who designed the Wet Noodle Posse website, will be a guest blogger and will have more to say about this.
You really have to start promoting BEFORE your book comes out. You can do a lot - send ARC's to online review sites, for example. Court booksellers, librarians, reading groups. Your publisher will do some of this but you can always do a little more.
That is some great advice. Thank you so much for posting it. I'll be looking forward to reading Vivian's guest post.
Margay:
I got some very nice web traffic for my site from an ad I placed on Smart Bitches. Their ads run from 40 or 50 bucks to 120, I think. I considered it a really good investment, but they book up fast. That's something to consider, too.
I have a question. Is it okay to contact a review website that has had my book for some time and ask when they think they might be reviewing me? There must be three or four sites that have had my book for several months.
To answer the posted question -- I try to look as promotion as part of the writing 'job.' As in any job, there are tasks that have to be done, some more fulfilling than others -- for me, it was doing the filing. I hated it, but it was part of the deal.
So, I figure I'm at my 'writing job' when I'm plotting, brainstorming, doing promo, etc. As long as it's 'writerly' it's helping meet my writing goals.
I know my writing has been low on the list lately, but I've produced a batch of chapter books, updated my website, written a column for a guest blogging spot, and I'll be appearing at an "Ask the Author" at a local library.
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