You are the best person to promote yourself. You know your work. You know who likes it. There is a lot you can do in your daily life to promote yourself without a huge amount of added stress. Creative people can have business smarts too.
1. Know your readers
Find out as much as you can about who buys your books. Know about their age, location, occupation, income bracket, primary and secondary interests. Know what they read, what their hobbies are, what groups and associations they belong to.
2. Understand your genre’s market
Know what the trends are, which trends your work can take advantage of, who your competitors are, which recent publications relate to your own.
3. Go live
Get your own website, promote your website, update your website regularly. Put your website address on your book cover. Keep track of who your online visitors are.
4. Become internet savy
Join news groups, list serves, and web rings.
5. Research online
Conduct regular searches on your market and competition with the major search engines. Bookmark important relevant sites and revisit them regularly.
6. Give readings
There are creative ways to do this cleverly: keep up with where they are happening and who is putting them on. Know about who attends them and try to reach your target market.
3. Do book signings
You can organize these yourself: volunteer to do a book signing for a local cause as a fundraiser: use your author’s discount to contribute to the cause from your sales.
4. Sign your books
Go into bookstores carrying your books, and offer to sign them. Make sure they then add a sticker to the cover saying ‘signed by the author’.
5. Always carry a business card
Make up a special new business card with each publication which features the front cover of your book, plus an email address. This puts some limit on contact abilities, while creating a visual memory of your latest work.
6. Network at every opportunity
Make the most of all contacts, friends and work acquaintances.
7. Become known
Get in the media: radio, tv, newspapers, magazines.
Become an active part of your community. Volunteer.
8. Create a database
Develop address and email files for sending promotional material.
9. Use your expertise
Become an expert in your field: judge a contest, start your own contest, write a review.
10. Share your expertise
Teach a class, give a workshop, volunteer at a community organization.
11. Use all of your areas of work as possible vehicles for self-promotion
Consider all of your daily activities and question whether they include some venue for promoting your work.
12. Develop a confident public persona
You should be your own best sales-person: learn how to talk about your work in public with a professional manner. Practice with supportive friends, take a public-talking workshop. Consider revising your appearance to fit the part.
13. Revisit authorial.com for more strategies and contacts!
