//Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.//
The opening lines of The Stranger by Camus somehow made me frown and left me bit astonished. The short crisp writing style especially the first half of the novel, the “Americanized” style adopted quipped with simple sentences, it has managed to become the bible of literary readers. Lost in retrospection, analyzing the pains of all the great writers, most of whom got famous or even published posthumously, I wondered what is it that takes to get your art acknowledge?
In this competitive world where millions of manuscripts buried beneath pile of rubble wishes to seek the light of the day, it is essential to be updated about the knick knacks of the trade as merely writing a novel does not suffice. This article aims to provide suggestions, regarding what one can do to make sure their books get marketed, published and acknowledged in the literary circle.
Know your target audience
Writing is a creative process and it is natural to be lost in the transition. However, it is essential to step out it and see your book as a piece of work from the outsider’s perspective. Acknowledging your target audience or readers is one of the most important step towards manifesting the dreams of becoming a published author. Gaining the outsider’s perspective can help determine the interests of the readers and narrow down promotion works to the particular readership, making it tenfold efficient.
Website for your work
In this era of Internet revolution, it is always wiser to make use of the available resources. And what better resource than having the convenience of using website dedicated to the promotion of your book. There are many websites across Internet which would help spread your work on a wider scale. Website like Allauthor.com, which is solely devoted to author promotion is a great platform as it provides various features like personal author profile, interviews, social media promotions and the like. One of the significant way to give maximum exposure to your work is to give slight glimpse of your ideologies to readers. Allauthor provides feature of personalized interviews that a budding writer can use to acquaint themselves with their readers.
Magazines and Newspaper
Print media, has proved to be the strongest medium to get the word across. How often it happens we solely buy a book seeing its review published either in magazine or newspaper? Very. Somehow, getting acknowledgement from print media validates and authenticate your work to a great extent. However, if one is novice it is likely to be ignored by such print medium. It is essential to locate the right people who review books (take your genre into consideration as well) and send them the copy of your book/ manuscript. Send and write to as many newspapers or magazines as possible, you just need one to accept your submission.
Establish your own blog/ website
Coming back to revolutionizing literature and use of Internet, in this age it is crucial to have a blog or website dedicated to your book. Setting up a blog on websites like WordPress is comparatively easy. Websites like Allauthor.com provides option of membership program, where you can also get your own customized webpage. Having readers posting reviews either on Amazon or your webpage is a great marketing trick and works like a charm. Make sure that they rate your book using a five-star system or otherwise explicitly state something about its quality. Put these reviews and quote from them on the website that you made for the book. Employing family and friends’ help is a smart tactic. Your acquaintances might be something you need to uplift your book to the deserved pedestal.
Local Radio and TV stations
Most of the radio stations are in search of local news, so it’s time maybe to treat them with your book’s news. Simply call them up and explain your work, ask for a free slot. Most likely you will end up discussing your book on a radio show. Network affiliated TV stations are slightly difficult to get in touch with but it’s worth a shot. Write to them and let the stars work in your favor.
Book Discussions
A picture says a thousand words…Post graphics included in your book, cover of the book on the webpage or blog; it is bound to attract the attention of the readers. Interacting with readers is the key. Post small excerpts, quotes from your book and hold discussions on it with the readers. Encourage readers to present their thoughts, it will be simulating and help spread the word of the mouth. Form a community of interest around the topics of your book, it will likely boost the sales. The give and take principle applies everywhere. Make sure to review as many books as possible and in the end leave the link to your webpage of the book, so others can do the same. Having a “book signature” is the latest trend, which simply means adding the link of your book whenever you post something. Be it commenting on YouTube videos, or on blogs, or emails, simply leave your book signature and let the curiosity of the mankind do its work. You can create a “book teaser” for your book as well to provide accessibility to the readers. The book teaser tool of Allauthor is efficient in that case>> http://allauthor.com/tool/
Promotion through Twitter and reviews
Reviews are the great source to encourage and guide readers towards your work. They provide credibility and authenticity. Constructive criticism is always accepted by artists so would be beneficial for you as well. Ask readers to review your work on Amazon and on website you created, preferably through five star rating system. One can certainly excerpts from these reviews on the website or blog created to lend credibility to the writings. Twitter is another from of social media which is taking the world by storm. Simply tweet about your work as often as you can to provide maximum outreach. Websites like Allauthor.com creates customized tweets for the authors and post it from their account. You can easily type in your messages to be posted and set tweet scheduler with desired frequency and voila your work is done.
Giveaways
The promotion tactic which is mostly employed and is very efficient, is giveaway or free goodies. Simply select some small items which matches the themes of your book to give away with your book. Having a newsletter of your writing adds professional touch. One can hold quizzes and competitions as well and send a copy of your book to the winners of the competition.
Book stores and libraries
Talk to the prominent book stores and negotiate the profit margin to provide maximum visibility by placing your book on the top shelves. Local libraries can serve as a great medium to ensure right kind of exposure for your book. Hold events and book signing sessions in local cafes, book stores and even libraries. Putting up posters with excerpts and quotes of your book serves as a great promotional idea.
Horizons are vast and opportunities abundant, utilize maximum promotional tactics to outsource your work. After all, you are one right move away towards becoming a published author.
