Easy Ways to Promote yourself…

OrganicBooksBlog.jpgBy Maria Vassilopoulos – Organic Books. 

 
When I worked as a bookseller, there were three main ways I would get asked for books by customers. One was if a certain celebrity or known person had written a book, people would come in and already know what they wanted – for example, the new Jamie Oliver or *insert celebrity’s name here’s* biography. The other one was by title or cover, some customers would actually ask for “that red book” or “that tractors in Ukraine book”. The last one was for children’s books and centred around the age suitability of chapter and picture books, “is this ok for my *age* child/friend’s child to read?” kinds of questions.

It’s important to think about these questions when promoting your book and others that customers may ask. Also, it’s paramount to make sure that the booksellers know about them too. I only recommended books I knew something about.

By something I am meaning any extra information or activity that goes with the actual book, including launches, events, media coverage (big or small) and the main gist of the plot. This helps when people walk into bookstores wanting booksellers to tell them about good content.

On the celebrity front, you may not be on Strictly or have your own TV show but you may have a popular blog, Twitter account or website. You may be known in your local area for doing something good for the community or being part of the local newspaper, a national magazine or an international charity. You have your own story to tell and that needs to reach the consumer via online and the physical bookshop environment.

There are many ways to do this that are not costly and the first is working on your digital presence – can people find you easily? Are all your sites linked up and tied into Google? Are you reaching out rather than waiting for people to find you? Are you emailing bookshops and showcasing your extra content?

Think of your story. Who will want to read it? Is is literary or a bit of fun? Do you have a niche audience or a very general one? Is there anything you could produce to make it easy and cheap for bookstores to promote you? At this stage think postcards, bookmarks, badges – they can be printed in small quantities if you walk into a printer shop or equally make them at home. Use the book cover and images on these items as you already have the artwork and all you need to do is get it resized.

Talk about yourself like you are part of the deal. That way you will be remembered. There are still a lot of printed books out there, customers do really ask the questions I wrote in at the beginning. These people are the ones that you need to answer.

 

About Maria – I have worked with books for 10 years, selling, stacking, event hosting, marketing and even making posters of them!  I have double-stacked shelves at home and want to offer advice to authors that may need some clarity on the book trade from time to time – you are not alone!

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Read more at http://organicbooksblog.com/

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Laura
I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.

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