Now that my novel Hour of Consequence is out in both eBook and paperback versions, I need to start the marketing. I already did the simple stuff, like announcing the books on social media. The more professional stuff is next. It will be my first time with an all-out marketing activity; what wonderful mistakes will I make?
One of the first steps is to send the book to professional reviewers. These are people who review books and then print their reviews in magazines or websites. If a good reviewer can recommend your book to their audience, it can drive sales up quite a bit. When you get several good reviews, it really sets things off.
The trick is to find the reviewers and determine their requirements. You don’t want to get on their bad side by violating their rules. Then you create an appropriate introductory letter and send it along with a copy of the book. Finding them will require an Internet search.
In the past, publishers would send galleys (essentially a copy of what a book would look like after publishing, but made before actual publishing). Today we have print on demand; by the time you have a galley the finished book is only a couple of days away.
If this part goes well, I will have to document all of it for the next time I publish a book. I may even offer it as a service to acquaintances who self-publish.
The next step is to send press releases. This is new to me also. I’m not good as self-promotion, tending toward the subtle side of things. This involves both writing the release and getting a list of targets. The obvious targets are for newspapers and similar from the immediate region. “Iowan author releases second novel” should be the theme.
The purpose of the press release is to get the attention of these publications in the hope that they will want to produce an article about me and my writing. Such articles are free publicity. That’s way better than paying for advertising.
The final and least happy step is looking into buying ads. What does it cost to buy ad space in the major newspapers in the region? Would it do any good? What will it cost to have a graphic designer make the ad? This could quickly turn expensive and may not be worth it in the long run. If the advertising does not generate enough revenue then all the money spent is lost. I wonder how much of that can be written off as a business loss come tax time? I wonder if writing can be more profitable that way.
Those are my next steps. I will let you know how it goes. It would be better still is some reviewer in your favorite periodical lets you know how it goes.