Tag Archives: book marketing

Marketing 101: How Conferences Taught Me to Plan a Wedding

I’m getting married in a little under two weeks, and a few nights ago I had my first anxiety dream about my upcoming wedding. It went like this: my wedding and the American Library Association Annual Conference (ALA) had been scheduled for the same time. I was arranging books at our exhibit booth in my wedding dress, and when I tried to leave to head to the altar, an author appeared for her signing. She demanded that I stay and fix the lighting, which she said was not flattering. I woke up in a cold sweat.

It doesn’t take Freud to figure out where this dream came from. As any marketing person can tell you, conferences take an immense amount of work, planning, and mental energy. As it turns out, weddings do too. The good news is that I’ve learned a lot in my eight years of planning and attending conferences that helped me stay sane throughout the wedding planning process—and there’s a lot that wedding planning can teach about conferences, too. Here are a few tips that I’ve found to be true for both events: Continue reading

Marketing 101: Six Tips for Leveraging Your Contacts

Marketing 101: Six Tips for Leveraging Your ContactsWhen asked for a list of key contacts who will support their upcoming book, many debut authors panic. “I don’t really know anyone,” they will say. But the truth is that most authors already have a large network of people at their disposal who will gladly assist in promoting their upcoming book: their friends and family. While these people probably can’t purchase a whole print run alone, a book can benefit from their support in some essential ways. Knowing the best ways to approach this group and maximize their impact is the key. Continue reading

Marketing 101: The Best Social Media Platforms For Authors

This post is part of an ongoing series at The Open Book answering MARKETING 101: The Best Social Media for Authorsquestions about book marketing and publicity.

One of the questions I get most often from authors—both new and
experienced—is, “Which social media platforms do I have to be on?” There are a lot of ways to answer this question but I want to start by addressing the question itself, which is often phrased in exactly this way. The answer is: you don’t have to be on any social media platforms that you don’t want to be on. Social media can help you connect with new readers, raise your discoverability, and sell books, but it can also be a drain on your time, attention, and ideas. Social media is not for everybody, and not every platform is for every writer. So the first thing to do is let go of the guilt and pressure you feel to be on every social media platform that exists, posting content in real time. Almost no authors can pull this off and it’s not worth losing your sanity to attempt it. Continue reading

Marketing 101: How to Prepare for Your First Conference

This post is part of an ongoing series at The Open Book answering questions about book marketing and publicity.

With the 2015 American Library Association (ALA) conference just around the corner, many first-time authors are probably starting to get nervous, wondering what’s in store for them. Going to your first trade conference, book event, or signing can be incredibly daunting. It marks a transition from the very private and solitary process of creating a book to the very public process of interacting with readers directly and getting your book out into the world. This is by no means easy, but being in a public space with your book can be incredibly rewarding. Here are a couple things to keep in mind as you make the transition:

Continue reading

Book Marketing 101: What to Put On Your Author Website

This post is part of an ongoing series at The Open Book answering questions about book marketing and publicity.

In our last Marketing 101 post, I discussed what to do while waiting for your book to release. One of those recommendations was to refine your online presence. Today I’ll drill down into more detail on that point, focusing on the place where your online presence starts:
your website. Continue reading

Book Marketing 101: Five Things to Do Before Your Book is Released

This post is the first in an ongoing series we’ll run answering questions about book marketing and publicity.

So, here you are: you’ve gone through the long, grueling process of writing draft after draft of your book. You’ve gotten an agent, who then sold it to an editor. You’ve revised and revised, until finally it’s ready to go to print. And now…you wait.

Authors often ask me: What can I do while I’m waiting for my book to come out? Here are five of my top suggestions: Continue reading