Promo Planning, A Necessary Evil, or is it?

Today I’m pleased to welcome my friend and a terrific author, Marilyn Meredith. You’d do well to listen to her advice about promotions. She has a knack for finding what works. It’s good to hear from you again, Marilyn, and congratulations on the new book. Be sure to read about the "character naming contest" at the end of this post, too.

 Once in a while, I’ll see a post or comment where an author says all I need to do is write a good book, I don’t have to do all this promo stuff.

My answer to that is, really? How on earth is anyone going to find out about your “good book” if you don’t tell anyone about it? Even the big names still do promo—William Kent Krueger who won many mystery awards for his amazing Ordinary Grace still does promo including book tours. 

When you are an unknown or little-know author, you sure better let people know about your book. And you better get your name out there so people have a clue who you are.

Not all manner of promotion works for everyone, and my best advice is to do that which appeals to you and you enjoy doing.

When should you start? Before the book comes out. Yes, that’s what I said. Start posting to Facebook what you’re working on. You don’t need to write much, just enough to make readers curious. You might do the same on Twitter. 

Speaking of Twitter, I know I don’t use it to the best advantage, but for some authors, that’s their main promotion. 

If you want to do a blog tour—obviously one of my favorite marketing tools—you need to begin before the book comes out because it takes time to secure the bloggers willing to host you, arrange the calendar, and then write all the posts. Be sure that each post is unique and has all the necessary information included. Yes, you should get started before you have a cover and links to buy. You can plug them into your posts later. 

Once your blog tour begins, then you have to let people know each day where you are visiting by notifying all the lists you are on, Facebook, Facebook groups you belong to, and yes, Twitter. Be sure to respond to each person who comments on every blog post.

Set up some in-person events. If you have bookstores close by, arrange book signings. For some, bookstore signings are great—for others not so much. In most cases I like to find other venues to sell and sign my books such as giving talks to writer and service groups, book and craft fairs, and holiday events at churches, art galleries, etc.

If you can, go to conferences and conventions, make friends with readers. Sure it’s fun to hang out with fellow writers too, but making a friend of a reader might turn that person into a fan. And because word-of-mouth is powerful promotion, if a reader likes your books, he or she will tell others.

 

So my answer in a nutshell is, yes, promotion is necessary—and it’s not really evil at all.

And of course this blog tour is about promoting my latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, 

Not as it Seems.

If you have other ideas about promotion, please leave a comment. 

--Marilyn Meredith

Sage advice, Marilyn, and thank you for generously sharing your thoughts. Marja

Not as It Seems Blurb:

Tempe and Hutch travel to Morro Bay for son Blair’s wedding, but when the maid-of-honor disappears, Tempe tries to find her. The search is complicated by ghosts and Native spirits. 

Character Naming Contest:

Once again, I’ll name a character after the person who leaves a comment on the most blogs.

Tomorrow I’ll be stopping by Paty Jager’s blog http://patyjager.blogspot.com to tell Why I Write Mysteries and in Particular the Deputy Tempe Crabtree Mystery Series.

Bio:

Marilyn Meredith now lives in the foothills of the Southern Sierra, about 1000 feet lower than Tempe’s Bear Creek, but much resembles the fictional town and surroundings. She has nearly 40 books published, mostly mysteries. Besides writing, she loves to give presentations to writers’ groups. She’s on the board of the Public Safety Writers Association, and a member of Mystery Writers of America and three chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Central Coast chapter.

You can check out Marilyn's blog at  http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

See her website at http://fictionforyou.com/

~ * ~

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw's website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com