really appreciated this post! I have my first coming out in the Spring and I've been scrambling to cobble together a marketing and social media strategy. lots of food for thought here, thank you! And, I'm checking out your book because I'm a parent and I love comedy :)
This is fabulous advice, thanks for sharing! I’m on my second edit of my fiction novel and honestly I never thought I’d get this far. The idea of moving forward to someone actually reading it is so overwhelming!
For some reason, the algorithm showed me this post even though it’s from over 18 months ago. But I’m not ageist when it comes to content, so I read it. Also, I’ve had several books published over the past 13 years, and I was curious to see how your experience compared. The truth is, there’s not a huge amount an author can do to move the needle in terms of promotion. So much comes down to whether or not your publisher gets behind the book, and communicates that enthusiasm to the market. They pick one or two books per season. The rest are simply dumped. In my experience, the best thing an author can do is to get pre-sales. Beg friends and family to pre-order, come up with clever pre-sale incentives—whatever you do, if you can get lots of pre-orders, this shows the publisher that they should pay a bit of attention to you. Basically, 100 books sold before the publication are worth more than 100 books sold after.
Alright, you’ve convinced me to acknowledge the 21st century and give TikTok another tilt.
The Awards process feels odd, doesn’t it? Like gambling, without all the allure and free drinks. Though the same goes for submissions and grant hunting, I suppose.
Wishing you luck on TikTok. I have not been on it much lately but then sometimes periodically check back in.
And agreed on awards. I feel like one of the bigger surprises with having a book come out is just that things I always assumed sold a lot of books don't necessarily do that. Definitely a lot of gambling analogies with writing I guess.
I am happy we did too! I think just learning about all the marketing stuff in that group was helpful too and also just talking to other authors in a similar space was helpful too.
Yes, and I think Sue's fundamental optimism and positivity is a nice counterpoint during the whole book marketing process, when I tend to veer into the darkness.
I appreciate you saying what doesn't work probably more than what does because so few people address this topic.
I feel like it's definitely helpful to hear about both sides!
really appreciated this post! I have my first coming out in the Spring and I've been scrambling to cobble together a marketing and social media strategy. lots of food for thought here, thank you! And, I'm checking out your book because I'm a parent and I love comedy :)
Thank you and congrats on the book! It is definitely a lot to figure out and feels to vary by different books so hard to sort through.
Thank you for that article. God help me...I've got to do all that!
Wishing you luck (but maybe you can also skip some of what I did!)
This is fabulous advice, thanks for sharing! I’m on my second edit of my fiction novel and honestly I never thought I’d get this far. The idea of moving forward to someone actually reading it is so overwhelming!
I get that! I am also trying to just get started on writing a novel so you are further along than me :)
These are such great tips! It reminds me of our conversation at Mom 2. :) Keep it coming!
It was great to get to talk to you about some of this stuff there! Looking forward to hearing more about your projects too :)
Great stuff Julie!
Thank you!
Very useful post -- thanks! Will be saving and revisiting. :-)
Of course -- glad to hear that!
For some reason, the algorithm showed me this post even though it’s from over 18 months ago. But I’m not ageist when it comes to content, so I read it. Also, I’ve had several books published over the past 13 years, and I was curious to see how your experience compared. The truth is, there’s not a huge amount an author can do to move the needle in terms of promotion. So much comes down to whether or not your publisher gets behind the book, and communicates that enthusiasm to the market. They pick one or two books per season. The rest are simply dumped. In my experience, the best thing an author can do is to get pre-sales. Beg friends and family to pre-order, come up with clever pre-sale incentives—whatever you do, if you can get lots of pre-orders, this shows the publisher that they should pay a bit of attention to you. Basically, 100 books sold before the publication are worth more than 100 books sold after.
So true on the marketing and that largely being outside an author's control, unfortunately.
Alright, you’ve convinced me to acknowledge the 21st century and give TikTok another tilt.
The Awards process feels odd, doesn’t it? Like gambling, without all the allure and free drinks. Though the same goes for submissions and grant hunting, I suppose.
Nicely done.
Wishing you luck on TikTok. I have not been on it much lately but then sometimes periodically check back in.
And agreed on awards. I feel like one of the bigger surprises with having a book come out is just that things I always assumed sold a lot of books don't necessarily do that. Definitely a lot of gambling analogies with writing I guess.
I'm happy we connected in Sue Campbell's marketing program! No idea how many books it helped sell, but it was a lovely group.
I am happy we did too! I think just learning about all the marketing stuff in that group was helpful too and also just talking to other authors in a similar space was helpful too.
Yes, and I think Sue's fundamental optimism and positivity is a nice counterpoint during the whole book marketing process, when I tend to veer into the darkness.
True!
Great post, Julie! I am always curious about the best use of our time, money, and energy when it comes to marketing so I appreciate this!
Thanks, Liz! I know, I'm always trying to figure it out too and I think it's hard because it probably varies by author and book.