I came across a conversation on LinkedIn this morning. One new author posed a very open-ended question, “What is a must have in your Book Promotion Plan?”
The answers, of course, varied a great deal — depending on their backgrounds, genres, etc… But here are some of the highlights.
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You need to be connected everywhere: Twitter and Facebook in particular. Engage people with YOU – why you wrote the book, subjects that are close to your heart, small parts of your day. Link with many, talk to many but do not sell in bald pushy ways. It’s about being out in the world, making people engage with you but in a crafty way, you will be building up anticipation for your book.
—Julia Bohanna
I’m not sure whether you have “webinars” in your marketing plan… but depending on your genre, I suggest doing webinars regularly, using Google+ Hangouts. I have had great success with webinars and when people are getting valuable content on the webinar, most of them usually don’t mind buying the book, right off the bat (at the end of the webinar). You can even give a bonus (chapter, video?) for buying your book right after the webinar.
—Raam Anand
Creat[e] a tribe of friends and substantial, meaningful connections before you promote a book. … Promote others you believe in — they are more likely to promote you if you have done it for them.
—Karen Sanderson
The three elements I’d throw in would be settling on measurable objectives, deciding on (and sticking to) a reasonable budget, and pooling resources with fellow authors.
A measurable objective could be something like raising page views on your blog by 5% per month, acquiring 20 Amazon reviews in the next 60 days, or arranging 5 local bookstore events. If you exceed or meet those objectives, great. If you fall short, you can reevaluate your methods.
—Jim Snowden
I, of course, added another comment about the importance of an author website. If you have ideas you’d like added to this list, post them in the comments box below. Otherwise, I will continue to add to this list as interesting comments come in.