My Publicity Campaign is Done – Now What Do I Do?

To have successful book promotion you must have effective branding and communication with your target audience. Maintaining relevance after your book is published and the publicity campaign ends is a key aspect to continue building on your brand and take advantage of the investment you’ve made in your campaign. Therefore, if you’re wrapping up a publicity campaign with us, here’s a few tips to keep your book and expertise relevant and not let your (and our) efforts fade away.


1) Use Google Alerts or Talkwalker Alerts To Your Advantage
Set up Google Alerts with key words such as your name and book title to keep track of any media hits that may come up your promotion campaign ends. For instance, if your book is creating buzz in your field and media outlets are continuing to mention you/ your book in articles, you need to catch these as they run. Your ability to stay up to date to the conversation surrounding you or your book is key to maintaining your relevancy in the long-term. You want to be aware of these and use them on your social media and add to your website’s press page.

2) Respond to Social Media Chatter Surrounding Your Topic of Expertise
Use social media tools to keep the conversation going in your field of expertise. Browsing hashtags on Twitter and Instagram, replying to comments, and engaging with trending posts can help with keeping your audience engaged and aware of your online presence. Your social media is the perfect way to showcase expertise in your field and attract more potential followers that might be interested in your book well after its been published. Think of social media as a gateway for your audience to learn about your brand, let them into your ecosystem, build relationships with you and allow that to help sell your book once they’re hooked on your content.


3) Always Be Ready
It’s not unusual for media outlets to request interviews with authors that have expertise in trending, newsworthy topic. Keeping contact with key outlets gives opportunity to add to the conversation whenever your topic becomes relevant in the news space. It is important to stay current on events and chatter happening in the news and be ready to dive right in when the opportunity presents itself. There will always be a consistent way to grab media attention, and the skill to adapt to the changing tide of conversation will greatly impact the long-lasting effects of your book’s publicity campaign.

There will always be multiple opportunities for authors to continue their brand building and continue to sell copies of their book way past the publish date. Maintain relevance in the long-term. Remember that book promotion is a marathon, not a sprint.

PR by the Book is available to assist you along the way in various ways. Here are just a few ways we help:
• Sign up for Author to Influencer Accelerator, learn from 60+ workshops and get built-in consulting with our Founder.
• Utilize one of our Social Media Offerings, having our digital strategist handle your socials or simply provide you with a Crash Course.
• Inquire about our full publicity campaigns: info@prbythebook.com.

Marika Flatt is a 23+ year veteran of the book publicity industry. She speaks (both virtually and in-person) to writers and authors on a regular basis, teaching tools of the trade. Over the years, she’s won multiple awards for her tenacious PR skills, considers “connecting others” to be one of her superpowers and is the Travel Editor of Texas Lifestyle Magazine. She can be heard on “Texas Standard,” the statewide NPR show and is regularly interviewed on TV outlets across Texas. You can find her on Twitter @marikaflatt.

Staying Relevant As An Author

For many writers, the day comes when you think, hey, this is more than a hobby. More time goes by and you decide, you know what? This writing thing is serious business.

You put yourself on some kind of schedule and you decide you’re gonna be disciplined if it kills you. You might get close to all out catatonia as you balance work, family and your writing regimen, but you stay the course and begin to release books.

Without a promotion drive, those books will sputter and sales fizzle. Exposure is critical when you’re unknown and trying to build a readership.

The internet provides unlimited research material that helps us to decide what to do and how to find the best deals.

• Say you need book covers? Fiverr has a host of cover artists that provide service starting at – you guessed it – five dollars. Be warned, that you're hardly likely to get anything for that price, so be prepared to spend more. 

• Need a blog tour host? Google is your go-to unit and if you want to get close and personal, Facebook is a great place to find people who provide this kind of service. Type in book promotion or cover art and potential sellers will pop up.
  
• Looking for someone to run your promotions or host a book release party? Use any search engine or Facebook. Your writing buddies are also a source for checking out service providers. 

• Want to find book clubs to expand your base of readers? Facebook is a good source as well. 

• Have people who like reading your books? Start a group on whatever platform you like best and encourage them to share your work and add others to the team.
  
• Include a free book as a gift for joining your mailing list.
  
• Last, but by no means least, this website is a powerhouse of materials on every aspect of the publishing world, so make use of it.

Gone are the days when we can afford to keep our nose to the grindstone and ignore the reading public until we have a new book for sale. It’s not necessarily the best writers who have repeat readers, but those who find a way to keep themselves relevant and in front of those who are buying books.

Have you made the decision to take your publishing efforts to the next level? Are doing enough marketing? What has worked well for you in selling books?

Don't forget the IWSG Anthology Contest is coming up. Here are the details:

Word count: 3500-6000

Genre: Young Adult Romance

Theme: Masquerade

A Masquerade can be a false show or pretense, someone pretending to be someone they aren't. It can be a ball, a fancy dress party, it can be a mask. Open to interpretation.

Submissions accepted: September 5 - November 4, 2018

How to enter: Send your polished, formatted (Double spaced, no page numbers), previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please include your contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter IWSG group.

10 Great Places to Promote Your Book Online

Hi, everyone! Chrys Fey, here.

A while ago on my blog, Write with Fey, I had an open call for followers to submit questions about writing/publishing/marketing, etc. One of the questions I received was from Alex J. Cavanaugh, the creator of IWSG.

He asked: Where else can I go to promote my books online?

There are countless sites online for promoting books/eBooks, free eBooks, discount eBooks, and just about everything in-between.

Here are my top 10 favorite places to promote:

1. Manic Readers
Manic Readers has a great feature for authors looking for reviews called Review Depot. After you upload your book and your book’s info, all you have to do is click “Request Review.” A new page will appear with a list of review sites. Next to each entry is a box you can check. You can choose several or all by clicking “Check All.”
They also offer paid service and promo. You can even be a guest blogger.
You can see my profile as an example: HERE

2. Authorgraph
Authorgraph is a neat site that allows readers to ask you to sign your eBook. If a reader requests your autograph, you will have to log in to Authorgraph and use your mouse or finger (depending on your device) to sign your name. When you approve your signature, it’s sent to the reader as a pdf. When they open the file they get, they can watch your signature appear on a blank page opposite the cover art for your book.
First, you have to “add your books” to their site, which really just means your book’s info and cover art. Then you can select a widget to put on your website or blog. The widget will only show one eBook, but all of the eBooks you upload will be there for readers to choose from. All they have to do is click on the widget to be taken to the site to request as many autographs of yours as they want. And when they get them, they can even save them to their Kindle (or any device) and start a collection.
You can see my profile as an example: HERE

3. Reader’s Favorite
Reader’s Favorite is the first place I submit a (free) review request when I have a new book coming out. I’ve always had luck with a reviewer selecting my books, and when a review comes in, I like to take a quote from it to add to my book’s Amazon Page under the Editorial Reviews section. Their reviews are detailed and usually have a few great lines perfect to quote. Also, if you get a 5-Star review, they give you an image of a sticker, a seal to show off your accomplishment. You can use the image on your website or even order stickers to put on your books.
This site also runs an annual contest. Each year their contest entry period ends on April 1st. They don’t have strict rules, either, which is nice. You can submit unpublished and published books, recently published as well as books published years ago.

4. The Romance Reviews
This website is for romance authors/books. You can create a profile complete with your website/blog links, your bio, and all of your books. On your profile, your books’ covers will be under the “Books Written” section. If these covers are clicked on, readers can see release date, genre, and summary for your book. There’s also a direct link to your book’s Amazon page. And if you create a profile, they offer you a cute, small badge to put on your website/blog for people to click on it and visit your profile.
The Romance Reviews also offer headline ads. You can earn free credits to put toward your Headline Ads. One credit per month, which means one Headline free every month! All you have to do to get these credits is put their banner on your blog or website. If you go to my blog, Write with Fey, and scroll down, you’ll see their banner.

5. Book Pinning
BookPinning has an interesting concept of pinning your books to their site. It’s free, too! Visit their site and click “Pin Your Book” at the top. Fill in your book’s details, upload the cover art, and submit it. Within 24 hours your book should be “pinned.” Please note, they do not accept books with erotic scenes, extreme violence, or that can be offensive to others. I don’t know how long the pins last, but this would be something good to do for when you have a sale or mark your eBook for free. You can re-pin your books later, but not within 30 days. (Currently inactive - sorry!)

6. Book Daily
BookDaily provides you with a profile featuring your author photo, bio, and a few social media links, but what I really love about this site is what they offer for your books. Under “My Books,” you can easily add a new book by using the ASIN or ISBN for your book. It automatically finds your book and you can approve it. Once you do that, click the gray button that says “continue to step 4.” This is where you can add the cover art, description, and a sample chapter And, yes, you really do want to add the sample chapter. Readers view your sample chapter and then can go to the Amazon page if they’re interested. So, upload all of Chapter One.
A bonus is the fact that you can check your book’s statistics and see how many people have read your book per month. Just a note, the longer it’s up, the less views it’ll get, but most of mine get a few reads a month.
You can see my profile as an example: HERE (Closing July 2018 - sorry!)

7. Book Buzzer
BookBuzzr has many different tools for authors. Add your book using your ASIN or ISBN number and input whatever info and links you want. You can then create widgets by following their instructions, which includes uploading a pdf and selecting how many pages you want to display. These widgets include: BookBuzzer Flipper, Mini Book Widget, Author Page Widget, and more.
They provide a free trail that allows you to test out their widgets. After that, it costs $9.99 a month to keep the widgets active, but you can cancel at any time. However, your profile, with all of your books, will always be there regardless if you subscribe or not.
You can see my profile as an example: HERE

8. Wanton Reads
Do you write romantic fiction? Then this is the site for you. When you submit your book’s info and all of the buy links, they also ask you to answer this question: What Inspired You To Write This Book? I like that because it provides additional insight that other promo sites don’t feature.
Aside from submitting your book, you can also do an author interview. And it’s easy, too. All you have to do is fill out the form. They ask you questions about writing and publishing. One of their questions is: Do you listen to or talk to your characters? What’s better? All of this is free!

9. Ask David
Ask David provides a Twitter promo service for a fee. You create a tweet and they send it out to their followers. They also have a free eBook promo. You can also become a member with a fee of $15. The membership lasts for six months, which is ample time to help you decide if this membership works for you or not. Members get many benefits such as a book promotion page, notifications of new reviews, and features on their site. New members also get the eBook Guerrilla Publishing: Revolutionary Book Marketing Strategies by Derek Murphy, Ph.D. for FREE!

10. Awesome Gang
Awesome Gang has a page full of websites that let authors submit their books for free promotion. Here’s the link: HERE Awesome Gang even allows you to submit to their site for free, which is listed as the first option on their page for free promotion.

Here are additional sites for you to check out:
Book Goodies – Submit a free author interview to be posted (forever) on their site. They also offer paid promo services for a small fee for free, permafree, and bargain books.
Book Angel – Submit your free and bargain books. (Submit Amazon UK links since Book Angel is UK based.) No fee!

If you do a Google search, you can find way more sites than these. Explore them and have fun!

For more information like this check out:
Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You From Idea to Publication by Chrys Fey

Chrys Fey is the author of Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication. Catch the sparks you need to write, edit, publish, and market your book! From writing your novel to prepping for publication and beyond, you’ll find sparks on every page, including 100 bonus marketing tips. Fey is an editor for Dancing Lemur Press and runs the Insecure Writer’s Support Group’s Goodreads book club. She is also the author of the Disaster Crimes series. Visit her blog Write With Fey for more tips.
@ChrysFey
Website

Author Promo Tips with Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group

Today the Insecure Writer's Support Group is glad to welcome Mark Gottlieb, a literary agent for Trident Media Group. Trident Media Group is the #1 ranked literary agency on Publishers Marketplace. We're discussing query letter deal breakers, audio rights, and author promotion. Welcome, Mark!

1. What mistake in query letters are deal breakers for you?

There are many mistakes that I’ve seen in query letters, but I will name just a few that would absolutely deter me from requesting the manuscript from an author.

- Submitting queries for novellas, short story collections, poetry or textbooks will usually turn a literary agent off, as most literary agents do not represent such things. Publishers tend not to buy from literary agents in those areas in the first place.

- Word count is also very important. Traditional book length is 80-120K, and commercial fiction tends to be in the 80-90K-word range. Going outside of normal book-length will not produce good results for an author querying a literary agent for a shot at going into major trade publishing.

- Writing within struggling genres such as cozy mysteries, erotica, or urban fantasy is also another way to turn a literary agent off in the querying process. We tend to be weary of that at Trident Media Group.

2. You used to hold the position of audio rights, which doubled the annual sales volume for Trident Media Group. Why should writers pursue audio rights for their books?

Once an author has a portfolio of books with publishers, audio can end up comprising around 10% of an author’s overall income, and that is nothing to scoff at. Audio books are also another entry point for readers to discover an author. Most audio book listeners are loyal to audio books but sometimes overlap with a general reading audience preferring to read from text. Certain readers that may be elderly or disabled, or just plain too busy to sit down with a book might also prefer to listen via audio recording.

3. Trident Media Group excels in supporting its authors and marketing its titles. What can authors do to further promote their books?

Beyond what a publisher or a literary agent can do in marketing/promoting and author, it is important for an author to understand that they are very central to this process, since ultimately readers will want to hear directly from the author when possible. I encourage clients to build author websites, blogs and to beef up their social media presence, via sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, Reddit Author AMAs, etc. Performing readings/signing, speaking at conferences/workshops and reaching out to local publications and libraries is key, as is appealing to highly established authors for advance praise. Writing to online blogs/podcasts/YouTube channels, etc. for review/interview attention is also very good. Sometimes I might even recommend a book publicity firm to a client, but that can cost a couple thousand dollars/month in the few months leading up to publication. Ultimately, there’s no small drop in the bucket, since everything an author puts into marketing/promo, they will get back in sales of their book, especially if the book falls into the right hands of a major publication, celebrity or film/TV company, which can be marketing gold.

4. What is your average day like as a literary agent?

The interesting thing is that there really is no average day in the life of a literary agent, or at least there shouldn’t be, for when a literary agent’s days begin to stagnate and look the same, then that person’s career is in trouble. Every day that I walk into the office, I think of ways to try to reinvent myself in a way to make myself competitive, while improving the careers of the authors I work with in creative and innovative ways. Every day should not be about drudgery—life is an adventure. Of course there are a few things typical to most every day in the life of a literary agent, such as reading query letters, meeting/calls/lunches/drinks with editors and publishers as well as clients, pitching manuscripts to publishers, meeting with film/TV companies to adapt books for the screen, attending conferences/workshops, looking for new talent, etc.

5. Describe your ideal project and/or author you’d like to work with.

An ideal project would carry an important social message or moral to the story, and while not only being beautifully written, it should be accessible or have some aspects of commercialism to the writing, even if it is literary fiction. I also look for authors that have good writing credentials such as experience with writing workshops, conferences, or smaller publications in respected literary magazines. Having awards, bestseller status, a strong online presence/platform, or pre-publication blurbs in-hand for one’s manuscript is also very promising in the eyes of a literary agent.

Bio:

Mark Gottlieb attended Emerson College and was President of its Publishing Club, establishing the Wilde Press. After graduating with a degree in writing, literature & publishing, he began his career with Penguin’s VP. Mark’s first position at Publishers Marketplace’s #1-ranked literary agency, Trident Media Group, was in foreign rights. Mark was EA to Trident’s Chairman and ran the Audio Department. Mark is currently working with his own client list, helping to manage and grow author careers with the unique resources available to Trident. He has ranked #1 among Literary Agents on publishersmarketplace.com in Overall Deals and other categories. Trident Media Group



Question to Readers: What is your favorite way to promote your books?

IWSG ANTHOLOGY UPDATE:

Hero Lost

Mysteries of Death and Life

An Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology

Can a lost hero find redemption?

What if Death himself wanted to die? Can deliverance be found on a bloody battlefield? Could the gift of silvering become a prison for those who possessed it? Will an ancient warrior be forever the caretaker of a house of mystery?

Delving into the depths of the tortured hero, twelve authors explore the realms of fantasy in this enthralling and thought-provoking collection. Featuring the talents of Jen Chandler, L. Nahay, Renee Cheung, Roland Yeomans, Elizabeth Seckman, Olga Godim, Yvonne Ventresca, Ellen Jacobson, Sean McLachlan, Erika Beebe, Tyrean Martinson, and Sarah Foster.

Hand-picked by a panel of agents and authors, these twelve tales will take you into the heart of heroes who have fallen from grace. Join the journey and discover a hero’s redemption!

Release Date: May 2, 2017

Developing Contacts to Promote Your Book

Before your book is released, develop contacts in the following areas:

Your Target Audience and Online Presence

Start creating a target audience profile:
What age, gender, location and income bracket?
Interests and hobbies?
Where do they shop and go for entertainment?
Involved in organizations?
What are their primary social sites?
What ‘s your involvement online?

Online Contacts

Those that attract your target readers -
Websites & blogs
Community sites
Forums & groups
Book sites & others

Where can you place your book and subject matter where it will reach the most potential target readers?

Media Contacts

Relevant radio stations, TV stations, and newspapers.
Online media - news sites, newsletters and magazines, and radio/podcasts.

Consider book’s topic and angle -
What makes it unique?
Is it relevant to current events?
What about you or your book will make people healthier, wealthier, sexier, save them time, or entertain them?

Physical Contacts

Traditional outlets - bookstores, libraries, and schools
Non-traditional outlets - all retail possibilities
Professional possibilities - businesses and organizations

Other Contacts

Reviewers
Media releases/PR agents
Fairs, festivals, & shows
Personal contacts

The more prepared before a book’s release date, the more chances for success.

What other contacts would you add to the list?

Insecure Writer's Support Group Post Day - We Are Here to Help!

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts today are Sheena-kay Graham, Julie Musil, Jamie Ayres, and Mike Swift. Please be sure to thank them for their time and effort to make all IWSG members feel welcome.

Don’t forget we have an awesome Facebook Group.

Every writer is at a different stage of the journey and no two paths are identical. We do have a few things in common though – we all fight insecurity and we all need support. We’re looking for guidance, encouragement, and answers to our questions. We can find all of that here online, through the IWSG postings, the Facebook group, and the resources on this website.

If you need assistance, just ask! Need a critique partner? Ask for one during the monthly posting, here anytime, or in the Facebook group. Need some promotional tips? Check out the marketing page here or ask any of the awesome writers in the group. No question is too dumb. (Trust me!) If there is anything we can do to help, let us know!

What do you need help with today?