Book Promotion Experience

tyunglebower ♦ June 25, 2015 ♦ Leave a comment

Well, it has been quite a week in my writing world so far. Not only did I launch the novel, but I had my short story “The Cave” chosen as one of five finalists in the monthly Writer’s Digest flash fiction contest. (It would mean a lot to me if you would go read it here, and vote for it in the comments! It’s a horror short.)

Most of my personal writing time this week has been dedicated to promotion of the novel. Or, in most cases so far, learning more about promotion of the novel.

I’ve already made a youtube video, which I attached to my Smashwords page. Hopefully someone on youtube will stumble on to it as a result of the many tags I put on it. Who knows?

The point is, I am trying new things. I realize there are all kinds of things that most indie-authors do to promote their work, that I myself am unable to do right now. My budget is not endless. And while I do have some budget to go into promoting, I am attempting to immerse myself in explanations of the free options available to me, so what money I do have can be targeted in the most effective ways.

Self-promotion does not come naturally to me. (Said 90% of every writer and 98% of every introvert.) I’m not ashamed to admit that there will be a natural limit to what I am capable of in this department; a limit most authors can probably surpass. Yet I can’t expect to be as good at it as most people; I can only do what i can to be better at it than I already am. To that end I have focused more mental effort on it in the last few weeks than I have previously.

My approach right now is to be a spokesman for the story as much as I can, and let the story speak for itself. Quotations, overviews, tweets, that sort of thing. I still believe that if I can grab the attention of fellow theatre geeks, I will have success. The book is for everyone, but there is some icing on the cake for those readers who know community theatre, and if most of them recognize what I’ve created, I think I’ll be pleased.

I can very much use your help, though. Not only do I ask you to buy and read my novel, but if you like it, I ask you to tell your friends and other interested parties about it. Word of mouth is still the most effective, (though least predictable) promotional tool of them all. I also kindly ask for any advice you may have in this endeavor. If any the readers of this blog have successfully promoted, or know people who have, I’d love to hear from you.

Until then, the marathon goes on, and hopefully the right person will catch sight of me as I run by!