Whenever I read other author's refer to their books as though they were children, well, I just thought they were weird. I figured maybe those writers were the same kind of people that dress up their chihuahuas in little fluffy outfits.
Now I get it.
There's the inception. The dream before the first word ever hits the page. The hoping and wishing and wondering exactly what your book will look like.
There are false starts. You get partway in and for what ever reason, this time, it just wasn't meant to be.
Then, you've finally created a book. You are so excited that you want to scream it from the rooftops. But you have to find someone to 'deliver' it. And then you have to wait.
Publishing book gestation time can be a year or longer. You tell your friends and family and everyone anxiously awaits the event. And waits some more. By 7 or so months in, everyone's pretty sick of hearing about it.
If I'm sticking with the pregnancy theme, I'm at the point where my belly is big and I'm waddling to get around. I'm ready for this thing to be here!
But am I really? Have I done all the groundwork? As a first time author, I have no idea what I'll need. I hear other expectant authors talking and I'm still clueless.
What's a blog tour and when do you have one?
What should you do at a launch party? Do you play pin the bookmark on the book?
How do you get the word out once it's here? Should I hand make little birth announcements like I did with my two girls?
Just under 4 months until the big moment and I'm not sure I have everything in order. I could sure use some advice from anyone who's been here before. Or if you haven't, maybe you have some cool ideas to share?
Horror stories welcome too.
When Adam Sidwell (recent quest blogger) launched Evertaster, he had a facebook lunch launch. The idea was to get as many people as possible to buy the book during the designated lunch hours (12-2 I think it was). The book was discounted on Amazon during those hours. Since hundreds of people participated, the book was boosted to "top seller" in its genre. He had a facebook page for Evertaster where he and friends and family invited as many people as they could to the launch. I participated by buying the book during that time and on facebook I invited other people to participate as well.
ReplyDeleteI just posted a list I made this last week in preperation for my own book launch in September. Here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://ldswritersblogck.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html#5552747537499855583
I’ve been published for a year and a half. I’ve had, er, I mean I’ve published 5 separate titles. ;) Even so, I don’t necessary consider myself an expert, but that’s because the market keeps changing so fast that the things that worked in the past might not work now. Know what I mean?
ReplyDeleteI love the FB lunch launch idea from Katie. I haven’t tried it, but I will next time. Good idea! Anyway, I haven’t seen that blog tours work, however, it might be a good way to get your name out there. I’ll warn you now, blog tours are a lot of work. The idea is getting other blogs to post either a guest post, review your book, or interview you. So it’s lots of posts to write and questions to answer. Launch party? I’ve never done one...I’m boring...plus I don’t see how that would help anyone notice you in a digital world. It might be nice thing to do to celebrate with close family and friends if you want though.
The things that worked for me are:
Start out with a low sale price. I pushed ebook first, then print. It seems to work better that way.
Have an amazing cover. No, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but first impressions are everything.
Do Giveaway Hops via I am a Reader, Not a Writer. She has over 8k followers! This will increase your followers too. http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/2012/07/2nd-annual-back-to-books-giveaway-hop.html
Do a Goodreads “first reads” giveaway for the print version. A lot of my readers found me on Goodreads first.
Send your book to book-review bloggers with a high number of followers. But make sure they’re someone who might like your book. I checked them out on Goodreads first to see if they tend to be picky. (This one didn’t seem to help much in way of sales, but it did in reviews. It should also help get your name out there.) Also, many book bloggers will let you sign up to do a free interview.
I noticed it helped my sales when I promoted other writers, or reviewed books for other writers. Must be a Karma thing, not sure. :D
A free promo on Amazon works amazingly well. However, it’s not as useful if you only have one book out.
Blog regularly, have a website, tweet, but don’t be spammy, and have a FB fan page.
Hope this helps get you started! ~Cheri (sorry this is so long)
Great ideas so far. I love the lunch idea. Heck anything with lunch is a good idea. I will check out the other links ladies. It sounds, just like with real kids, the work is not over with the birth. sigh.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading the great ideas and the fun post. Thanks.
ReplyDelete