Blogger: Kathleen Y’Barbo
Location: The Woodlands, Texas Publicity Office
Weather: Warm and sunny
As with any type of marketing, learning how to tailor your appeal to fit your audience is key. Well before a book releases, the in-house publicity department has decided to whom a book is most likely to appeal. Based on this key information, decisions are made on everything from what a cover looks like to where marketing efforts will be placed.
Likely this isn’t new information to the writer who has attended a conference or two. Most know a book goes first to editing, then to marketing and then out into the world. Would it surprise you, however, to know that well before a book lands on an editor’s desk its author should be working on a plan for promoting it?
How, you might ask, do you promote a book that’s not yet a book? The answer lies with your agent. He or she is the best source of ideas on the topic, so take the time to discuss options before creating the marketing plan, which is a key ingredient to include in a book proposal. Books & Such agents are wonderful at discerning where a book will best fit in the market. With that information, the agent and author can discuss ways to reach that group, be it through blog tours, book signings, or some other means of publicity.
Next week I’ll talk more about the elements of a marketing plan. In the meantime, what are you doing to plan for the day your not-yet-a-book hits the shelves?
Good morning Kathleen,
I’ve only thought about this for one of my books. Since it is geared for Christian women, I thought networking through local churches and their women’s groups could be a possible avenue for marketing. I also could visit some women’s retreat centers and market there.
I have no idea on how to market the other two. Those require more thought.
Have a great day.
Irene
Great advice! I’m learning lots on this blog, and will look forward to the elements of a marketing plan.
Right now, I am
1) Praying a lot for wisdom, favor, and the chance to put this marketing plan into action,
2) Building the network of people that I already have with the various forms of media that are available to me,
3) Praying some more,
4) Reading blogs like this one to help me come up with workable ideas,
5) Praying some more,
6) Making my manuscript as solid as possible (as well as my query and my proposal) while working on building my resume in the writing world, and
7) Praying even more!
Thank you so much for this blog! It’s very helpful and encouraging!
-Kristen
I set up a blog tour group for children’s books. I figured I might as well help children’s writers promote their books. I want the children’s market to thrive, after all, because then there’s more chance I’ll be able to sell my books.
There’s a side benefit to tour, though. I dread reviewing books I hate, so I thought a lot about that. But I never thought about what would happen when I reviewed books I love.
That’s been interesting. The authors I love feel kindly toward me. One author offered to hook me up with her agent. Others have offered their undying gratitude. One sent me a lovely gift and told me she wants to take me to Hawaii. heh heh
I hate to network. But I love to read and discuss books, so reviewing them is a good fit for me. And in the process I’ve been networking without trying. I’m meeting bloggers, authors, and children’s book lovers.
I actually have quite a list of different things I’ve been doing to plan for my book. The way I’ve come to see it, is if I build my audience now, then when it actually hits shelf I will have readers at the ready to pick it up.
One thing I’ve found is, for my book, teens are extremely accessible when you know when and how to reach them. Being the same age as my audience, I’ve focused on getting people familiar with by book through a few websites, such as Gaiaonline, Facebook, Twitter, and by things such as blogging and drawing pictures and posting them on Deviantart. When an audience is familiar with a book, I feel that they are drawn to it and have a greater interest because they’ve heard of it before.
When I go to a bookshelf, oftentimes I’ll be drawn to a book because I feel like I’ve heard of it before. I want to do the same by getting the word out far enough before hand the reader feels a sense of curiosity enough to want to read it.