When it comes to promoting your book, you need to think beyond the ordinary book store reading.
Really, you should think beyond the traditional book tour. Your goal is to get your book into the hands of as many potential readers as you can. But people don’t find out about books only on the bookstore shelves anymore. There’s the Internet, and blogs, and weirdo subcultures, and niche groups, all to tap into. It’s a whole new world out there. So take advantage of it.
So what works? Here are some tips I’m happy to pass along to you.
These are all things you can do yourself. You don’t need a publicist or a publisher’s PR person to open doors for you. Get on the phone, send out some emails, press the flesh, and get your promotional campaign rolling.
Think outside the bookstore. Bookstore readings are fun. But if you can appear at more targeted organizations related to your book, all the better. If your novel is about World War II, then send out an email blast to related book groups, Meet Ups, organizations and their various and associated conferences and hoedowns that specialize in that time period. If your book is about kids with allergies, find specialty shops, natural food stores, and parents’ groups where you can appear.
Go back to school. I’ve had a lot of success appearing at high schools, colleges, libraries, teen centers, youth groups, writing centers, and adult education centers. I offer a variety of talks — sometimes regular readings, but sometimes PowerPoint slideshows, writing workshops, “what it’s like to be a writer” Q&As, etc.
Be an expert: Any speaking engagement where you can appear as an expert in a topic related to your book is good. Same with moderating or being on a panel, or pitching yourself to local media (TV, radio, or as a op-ed contributor) to weigh in on some trending issue or news item.
Don’t just read. Book events are more fun when your event is as much a party or performance as it is a reading. Partner with musicians, or fellow writers. Rent a back room of a bar, or offer prizes or discounts for anyone who attends. Ask a related local business, school program, or club what they think would attract people to your event.
Scale your presence. Sometimes you’ll be asked to speak in front of 500 souls. Sometimes your “event” is just five people sitting in a circle. Sometimes you’re given a table to sit at with a stack of your books, and you’ll need a big splashy banner, a “Meet the Author” sign, and basket of goodies to get people to stop by.
Be prepared to present. Make preparations for the variety of appearances you’ll be wanting to make. Type up bullet-point lists of topics you want to make sure to hit during an interview or a lecture. Pack your PowerPoint with interesting images related to your memoir, novel or idea books, and prepare a few versions: one long, one short, one for adults, one for kids. Come up with flexible plans and props for each potential situation.
Hit the Internet. For every niche topic that relates to your novel or nonfiction book — video games, Korean cooking, PTSD, New Orleans — there’s going to be leading blogs, reviews, journals, and other publications. Make sure those editors know about your book. Ask if they’d review it, or offer to write a guest post.
That’s just the tip of the proverbial promotional ice cube.
Happy promoting.
Learn about Writing the Risky Personal Essay with Ethan at #Muse 15, this year’s Muse and the Marketplace Conference for writers! The conference runs May 1-3. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to meet and learn from authors, editors, agents, and other publishing professionals.
A journalist, memoirist, critic, poet, teacher and geek, Ethan Gilsdorf is the author of the award-winning travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, he publishes travel, arts, and pop culture stories, essays, commentaries and reviews regularly in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Salon, Wired, GeekDad, PsychologyToday.com, BoingBoing, and WBUR’s “Cognoscenti,” and has published hundreds of articles and essays in dozens of other magazines, newspapers, websites and guidebooks worldwide, including Playboy, National Geographic Traveler, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Washington Post and Fodor’s travel guides. Gilsdorf is also a book and film critic for the Boston Globe, and film columnist and contributing editor for Art New England. His fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in Poetry, The Southern Review, The Quarterly, Exquisite Corpse, The North American Review, and in several anthologies. He received his BA from Hampshire College, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University. As a poet, he is the winner of the Hobblestock Peace Poetry Competition and the Esme Bradberry Contemporary Poets Prize. Gilsdorf frequently appears on TV, radio and Internet media, including PBS Off Book, WGBH, WBUR, The Discovery Channel, the French TV network Arte, and several nationally-syndicated National Public Radio programs and in documentary films. He lectures at universities, schools, libraries, film festivals, gaming conventions, writing conferences and book festivals worldwide. Gilsdorf is co-founder of GrubStreet’s Young Adult Writers Program (YAWP), and teaches creative writing at GrubStreet, where he serves on the Board of Directors. Follow Ethan’s adventures at www.ethangilsdorf.com or Twitter @ethanfreak.
