.jpg)
Miriam’s Surrender released last week and now I’m in the
throes of promotion. Actually, I should have been promoting prior to the
release, and I did, but I had some family things going on at the same time and,
well, there’s only one of me and only 24 hours in the day, so, promotion frenzy
continues.
Most of what I did involves appearing on people’s blogs, in
the hopes that their readers, who aren’t my readers, will see my book, or read
my blog post or interview and want to buy my book. It’s a fun way to meet other
people. I’ve furiously answered a myriad of questions about myself, talked
about why I wrote the book, and sent lots and lots of info about it.
I worked with my graphics designer to design book postcards—on
one side, there is information on the book and on the other side, there is a
recipe that goes with the story. Last time, when I wrote The Seduction of Esther, there was a recipe for hamentaschen (Purim cookies); this time, there is
a recipe for Matzah Brei (Passover egg dish). My thought is that if someone
collects all of them, they’ll have a cute little cookbook by the end of the
series! I send them to everyone I know.
Additionally, I’m working with Goddess Fish Promotions on a
blog and review tour, once a week for three months. Last time I did a tour that
was every day for a month and it was overwhelming. I’m hoping this will be more
manageable and also result in sales. Goddess Fish is associated with LASR (Long
& Short Reviews), which usually generates some sales for me, anyway.
Finally, I’m trying something new, which so far, is not
particularly successful, but hopefully will be in the long run. Before I was a
writer, I was in public relations and I worked on many publicity campaigns for
a variety of clients. The goal was long-term exposure. So, I’m trying some of
my skills out on myself, and sending information out to publications, not only
about my book, but on larger issues, like diversity in romance. Hopefully
someone will be inspired to write about the issue either now or in the future
and will think of me. We’ll see.
Well, those are my strategies. What are yours?
Love the idea of the recipe postcards - that's new and different!
ReplyDeleteI must admit I wonder about the value of blog visits, as I've never noticed any spike in sales after any blog visits I've done. I did some in Feb and March, when Irish Inheritance came out, and odd ones since then, but apart from one in July, I've done very little promotion since the end of May - and yet the book has continued to sell steadily. I have no idea why!
I've definitely noticed changes in sales with blog visits--not all of them, but some.
DeleteI like your long-view outreach idea, Jen.
ReplyDeleteThe best advice seems to be to write the next book.
And there's always that, Ana! :)
DeleteIt's my sixth book that has taken off, but it has only had a very minor impact on sales of my earlier books :-(
DeleteLove the idea of recipes on the postcards. I've done postcards, but nothing so fancy. Just the cover on the front and the blurb and purchase info on the back.
ReplyDeleteWith my latest book, I decided to do a 'no promotion' experiment and see what happens. So far, I don't have any sales numbers to look at, so we'll see how much I've shot myself in the foot so to speak by sitting back and doing nothing.
Debra, I'm coming to the conclusion that the price is the all-important thing! My publisher reduced the price of Irish Inheritance to 99 cents - originally for the St Pat's Day week, but she left it at that. As she said, we won't get rich at that price, but at least it is being read - which, in the end, is what we want, isn't it? I'm not selling millions, just a few hundred, but it's meant that this book has stayed around 20,000+/- in the Amazon rankings since last April. It even got to 4 digits (8,512) last week, the highest ever -and that's 7 months since it was first published.
DeleteMy Esther book is priced at $.99 also, and had a sales boost, but then nothing. So as far as my books go, I don't know what it all means. But I'm not giving up yet!
DeleteI'm still at a loss to explain my sales. Maybe when it gets to a certain point in the rankings, Amazon promotes it in their emails to people who have bought something similar? I really have no idea!
Delete