Promo Part Deux

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Before we get to the promo part, lets do a little promo…….
Dorothy, who commented in the last post, has a book about Soul Mates.

Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez is off to host the Hispanic Heritage Awards. I’m gonna pick up her book with the gift card I got for my birthday. Why? Because I like her blog. :kiss:

Adrienne Kama has some FAB pics of Baltimore on her blog. And I love the photo of her playing the guitar.

And last night I finished reading Holly Black’s Tithe. It’s a young adult book touted as a Modern Fairy Tale and I think it is. Even though the female protag is only 16, there’s something very timeless about the story itself.

Ok Promo Junk…….Let me preface all this by saying I’m no expert–far from it. The point of throwing this out there is to share information and ideas and maybe help demystify self-promotion for anyone else who’s spent time out there stumbling around in the dark like I did.

1. Set yourself up a simple database in Excel so you can keep track of what you’re doing, where you’ve been and what works/doesnt etc…….Excel is your friend so don’t be afraid.

2. Many of the sites I listed yesterday will do free interviews. Does this help? I dunno, but I have one scheduled for December. Many of those places will also list your contests and newsletters for free. A database can help you keep up with that.

3. Romance Junkies will promo a book giveaway/contest for free on their reader list. Is it worth it? Considering they have over 1000 people on their list, I’d say yes. I did this and gave away two copies of Lynette. One winner had already read it, so I told her I’d send a copy of OIABM when it comes out. :heythere: I love the RJ list because they’re VERY author friendly.

4. JERR will also do a contest in their newsletter (which currently has over 1500 subscribers). So while you may get a bit of double-dipping between JERR and RJ, you’ve just exposed yourself to over 2000 people. :yell:

5. You can send your book out prior to it’s release for review (another thing no one ever told me). Not all places will take it, but so far most of the places I’ve sent OIABM out to were happy to take it early. I figure this is one of those, if you don’t ask, you never know things. A huge thanks to Kate for the head’s up on the PDF Software

6. Many of the places I listed will also post your cover for a small fee. Does it help? Let’s take a look………

I have Lynette’s cover up at CLR. Now they can’t track clicks or views on the main page but I also have the cover on the Erotic Romance Review Page. In the last 14 days 534 people have seen that cover. 4 of them clicked on it. That’s not even 1% (though to be honest the point isn’t just to get people to click on it, it’s to get people to SEE IT).

Hmmmmmmm I’m thinking out loud (be afraid). Lets round it off to 500 in 14 days. And lets say I’ve got that cover on 5 sites. What happens if readers see your cover 2500 times? Do they eventually go buy the book? Or do they just get tired of seeing the same damned covers over and over again.

Remember…in order to get word of mouth, you have to get people to buy your book. So is it worth the 5.00/mo per site (some sites are 10 and some do banners but we’re gonna use 5 cuz it’s an easy # and I suck at math). Is it live or is it Memorex? Is it name recognition or is it overkill? One of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard is from Mike at LSB (and I’m gonna paraphrase here) but you have to do what you’re comfortable with as well as what fits in your schedule and budget. Not all of us have 30.00/mo to have someone do our promo for us and after doing promo for a couple of months I’m not sure I’d want to spend the money just to have someone spam the lists for me.

Thoughts???

Tomorrow…I think I might cover group and tag-team promo.

9 thoughts on “Promo Part Deux

  1. I think the contests you’ve mentioned aren’t a bad idea. It’s a decent way to get your name out there.
    I’ve heard a LOT of negative feedback about the promo people who spam the lists with an author’s books. (Not about the people themselves, but the actual spamming.) Many people avoid that author’s work because the spamming annoys them and the author that’s getting the publicity is automatically grouped in with that annoyance. I don’t know how true this is, but I can see it being the case. I know that when I see them on a lists that I skip them entirely.

  2. You’ve provided a great brainstorming opportunity here, Cece! :memememe:

    I like your database idea, it’s very wise. After a few books have been released, things can get mixed up pretty fast.

    I agree with Mike that each of us has to do what we’re comfortable with as well as what fits in our schedule and budget. For me, it’s been the cost-free efforts that have netted the biggest return as far as sales and recognition. But then, it’s different for everyone. For instance, I’m very comfortable talking in front of groups (because I’m such a ham LOL), or “talking” online, so, because that’s one of my strengths, I expend more time and effort in that area. Some writers are shy or quiet and aren’t comfortable with public speaking or talking with readers online (chat lists, blogs, etc.) and for them, paying other websites or people to get the word out would clearly be a better option.

    That’s why it’s so helpful when authors share ideas about promotion because there are always a few gems we can take away from the discussion to try on our own. We can learn what we’re most comfortable with and what our individual strong points are, and then tailor our marketing strategies so they’re more effective.

    Thanks for posting this super topic! :heythere:

  3. Cece, Great advice. :heythere: Merline Lovelace, who has fifty best sellers to her name, keeps an Excel database with her projects [both published and in the works] when sent out, when revised, released, royalties, etc. You are such a savvy gal, always keeping up on the latest news. How do you do it?

  4. That’s why it’s so helpful when authors share ideas about promotion

    Which is EXACTLY why i brought it up! :woot:

    I’m NOT comfortable getting up in front of people. An online class–maybe but I have no idea what I’d do a class on or how to even put one together. I don’t feel qualified.

  5. JOrdan I LIKE doing contests, though I haven’t found a happy medium to them. November’s contest will be different. For December I’d like to give away some more Dancehall stuff. I haven’t decided. It’s such a hectic season I might skip it.

  6. Caroline if it weren’t for Excel I’d be lost and I’m like the most NON-anal person in the world. 😎

    I have one for all my Boudreaux characters (including birthdays, hair, height, eye color etc).

    I have another for promo stuff. Another for queries. And yet another to track page count on WIPs (that I don’t use as much as I should 😳 ) I never thought about tracking sales but that’s probably not a bad idea.

    I guess I’m so UNorganized, that if I don’t keep the really important stuff (you did notice I have no spreadsheet for housework or cooking) under control, I’d never know what the heck I was doing! 😯