SET UP A CONFERENCE WITH YOUR PUBLISHER'S PUBLICIST
With your basic battle plan outline in hand, now is the time to talk to your publisher. Set up a telephone conference with your publisher’s publicist. Find out what they will do for you. Since your book’s budget is not set in stone at this time you might get a bit more out of them especially if they see you are enthusiastic and willing to take an active part in promoting your book. You do not want to plan anything that will duplicate their efforts or worst interfere with their sales people efforts to get your book into the bookstores. Their sales people are putting together a catalogue of their Spring or Fall list. They have already decided what the price will be and have an idea what the first printing will be which in turn will dictate how much time and money they invest in promotion. They have done this thousands of times and there is little you can do to change. Except for a SELL-IN tour.
If you are planning a book tour on your own let your publisher know about it. Ask what can they do to help you in each city.
Don’t be disappointed if your publisher does not plan a book tour for you. Well it’s okay to be disappointed but don’t get depressed over it. See Book Tour below.
Do Keep your agent informed about your publicity plans.
Ask your publisher how large is the first run, the number of books they plan to print. Ask when is the publication date. While they will give you a publication date, it is not set in stone but can be used as a good yard stick to begin your publicity campaign. Ask about press kits and posters.
DESIGN YOUR WEB PAGE
Today every author needs a personal web page. People who invest time and emotin in your books want to know more about you. Your web page is a way to give them more information make them part of your, what I like to call ‘family-fan base.” Visit other author web pages to cull ideas. A basic web site should have a minium of four pages. The lead page should have a picture of the cover of the book near the top and gripping text from your book. Your site should have a biographical page about you, and a page to gather information from your fans – a guest book for them to sign-in.
If you have a interesting hobby or skill, especially one that either relates to you book or will bring in people to your site, you might want to make a separate page with direct links to you book and bio page.
Make a list of all the all relevant web pages you want to link with. Web rings may be helpful.
Don’t get into a chat room just to promote your book. You will wear out your welcome and create resentment.
Showing posts with label bookstores. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bookstores. Show all posts
Monday, June 21, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
CHAPTER II BLOG POST # 11
A media blitz takes a lot of coordination and planning.
The ideal publicity campaign will begin with a bang the moment your book makes it to the bookstores shelves. There will be lots of ink, radio and TV spots. While the biggest push will be in the first three months, a well planned campaign should last an entire year. Success in the first three months will keep you book on the shelves hopefully for years to come.
FYI: The eternal paradox. To keep your books on bookstore shelves you have to move them off the shelves.
Decide What Type of Promotional Campaign is Right for You
If you have targeted your core readers then this should be easy. What type of publicity campaign is best for your book? A local interest book on Fishing the Back Lakes of Polk County, Florida would not merit a national publicity campaign but it would a regional campaign. A book on global warming would be, well, global.
Budget, time, drive and audience identification will determine which campaign is best for your book.
The three types of promotion campaigns:
1. Local.
Your regional city and the outlying towns. Your county even your state. In most areas you will be pleasantly surprised at how many bookstores, libraries and schools are within a two hour drive; and how many daily and weekly newspapers there are.
2. Regional.
New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest. Prairie states, the Northwest. Be sensitive to seasonal migrations. New York and Boston empty in the summer and most book signings and media appearances can be a waste of time.
3. National.
From sea to shining sea and beyond. A national book tour may include a few selected national cities or an ambitious cross county undertaking The major houses have identified certain cities that are ‘book buying’ cities, like New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington D.C. (Especially for geopolitical stories) and areas like the Southeast. There are the second tier cities Boston, St Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and seasonal areas such as Florida in the winter, and Cape Cod and the Jersey Shore in the summer. Book well in advance especially for seasonally sensitive areas.
FYI: For Florida writers. There is a curious demand for Florida novels in the Los Angeles and New York markets.
The ideal publicity campaign will begin with a bang the moment your book makes it to the bookstores shelves. There will be lots of ink, radio and TV spots. While the biggest push will be in the first three months, a well planned campaign should last an entire year. Success in the first three months will keep you book on the shelves hopefully for years to come.
FYI: The eternal paradox. To keep your books on bookstore shelves you have to move them off the shelves.
Decide What Type of Promotional Campaign is Right for You
If you have targeted your core readers then this should be easy. What type of publicity campaign is best for your book? A local interest book on Fishing the Back Lakes of Polk County, Florida would not merit a national publicity campaign but it would a regional campaign. A book on global warming would be, well, global.
Budget, time, drive and audience identification will determine which campaign is best for your book.
The three types of promotion campaigns:
1. Local.
Your regional city and the outlying towns. Your county even your state. In most areas you will be pleasantly surprised at how many bookstores, libraries and schools are within a two hour drive; and how many daily and weekly newspapers there are.
2. Regional.
New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest. Prairie states, the Northwest. Be sensitive to seasonal migrations. New York and Boston empty in the summer and most book signings and media appearances can be a waste of time.
3. National.
From sea to shining sea and beyond. A national book tour may include a few selected national cities or an ambitious cross county undertaking The major houses have identified certain cities that are ‘book buying’ cities, like New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington D.C. (Especially for geopolitical stories) and areas like the Southeast. There are the second tier cities Boston, St Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and seasonal areas such as Florida in the winter, and Cape Cod and the Jersey Shore in the summer. Book well in advance especially for seasonally sensitive areas.
FYI: For Florida writers. There is a curious demand for Florida novels in the Los Angeles and New York markets.
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