Once your book has been edited and you are getting ready to publish, one of the most important things you can do is create pre-launch buzz for your book. As a self-publisher you are not only responsible for writing your book, you are responsible for the marketing. The most important things you should remember are it is never too early to start, and the more self promotion that you do the more likely it is that you will create interest in your book.
Before you publish, it is important to have someone else look at your manuscript. Beta readers can help with content and editing, and some people have a professional editor look at their work. This is an excellent time to create pre-launch buzz for your work. Here are some ideas for this phase of the process.
Create Social Media buzz.
Establish a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkdIn, etc.
Announce a cover reveal.
Create a poll–Who would win in a battle between a dragon and a wyvern? This gives the reader the knowledge that the book is about mythological beasts and will probably contain magic.
Do a character interview–An interview for a mafia Don might include questions such as: How many people have you killed? How does your moral code compare to those around you? Are you a likable person? How do others see you?
Release quotes from your book. The quotes could give insight about the book’s topic, so a book about magic might include some sort of spell. The quotes might also give insight into a character’s personality or their motivation. If you release a quote, you might want to use a background. This site contains templates for all sorts of backgrounds, including holiday themes. https://get.promorepublic.com/bad-redhead-media/
Announce Giveaways–These could include signed copies of your paperback–remember Amazon allows you to request advanced copies. You could also give away ebooks.
Have drawing contests for your readers and post the winning pictures on your social media pages and blog.
If your new book is a sequel, you could have a quote contest. Who said this? The first person with the correct answer would win.
Announce the book on your blog.
Create Street Teams. These are people who will hype your book on social media platforms. Recruit your street team from among your friends, family, and followers on your social media accounts. After you recruit them, it is important to vet them. To do so, ask them a variety of questions:
On what social media platforms do you have accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, LinkdIn, Reddit, Youtube, Tumblr, etc.) and how many followers on each?
Are you on any other street teams?
How would you like to see my book promoted?
What were the last three books you read?
A MONTH BEFORE LAUNCH
Recruit ARC readers with a Call To Action. The CTA is an agreement to have them review of Goodreads, Amazon and all the sites where your book is available. In order to have a Goodreads author page you must have a published work with an ISBN number, so your reviewers will have to wait to post there until your ISBN has been verified and your author page goes live.
Recruit Bloggers as ARC readers. It may take some time since most bloggers have long waiting lists, but they may also have long Subscriber lists so it is worthwhile to work with them.
Contact Youtube book reviewers. Youtube book reviews are growing in popularity and more young people are following them. If your book is written for a teen or twenty something audience Youtube reviews could be quite helpful.
*A note before you read this next section. I do not advocate paying for reviews to put them on Amazon or any other website. Paid reviews are unnecessary and in most cases, the site they are posted on will remove them if they discover that they are paid reviews. The sites below charge for their reviews, but the reviewers are professionals and an Indie author would look to them to have a chance of getting their books to a much larger audience. One more note, trading reviews is also a bad idea. If a trade is discovered, the review will be removed.
Some people ask about getting their books into libraries and bookstores. Locally, you could provide free copies to those locations, but if you are looking to take your book nationwide you may have to pay to have your book professionally reviewed. The sites below charge authors a fee to have their book reviewed, but their reviews are seen by book buyers and librarians across the country, and in some cases even beyond that.
EDELWEISS
https://www.abovethetreeline.com/
NETGALLEY
https://www.netgalley.com/
KIRKUS
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Before you decide to pay for a professional review, I suggest that you read the reviews of the sites and look into the experience that other authors have had with them. You might also want to consider other ways to spend the hundreds of dollars that the site will charge for the review. Remember, just because your book gets a good review does not guarantee that you will see an increase in sales.
Once your book has been published, you might want to consider doing a Goodreads Book Giveaway. Goodreads allows its users to mark books as To Be Read. Once a reader does this, Goodreads will notify them of contests and sales on that particular book.
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Hooks
The beginning of your story is probably the most important part of your manuscript, because you have to convince people to keep reading. In order to get a publisher or an agent, you must sell them on your story, and they will only read a part of the story before they make their decision. That is why you have to write a great hook. The hook sells the reader on the story and makes them want to continue reading. So, here are some great hooks.
Start your story with the description of a place. This does not sound like it would hook the reader, and does not sound very exciting, but it works. A great example is the Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien begins his book with the description of Bilbo’s hole and tells the reader how it differs from the average hole. Once you read the description of the hole, you learned about hobbits, the next thing you knew you had a wizard drawing pictures on the door to the hole, and a company of dwarves coming for dinner.
Begin at a life changing moment for your main character. This could include coming of age stories where the character has to step into adulthood because of a tragic event.
Present the readers with a mystery. Keep them wondering about a character’s motivation for doing something. Tell them about something they do not understand. Everyone in town knows about the house at the end of the street—well, the reader doesn’t and if you paint a great picture of that house they will want to know.
Create sympathy or hatred toward the main character. Everyone who read Cinderella felt sympathy for the poor girl. Her stepmother made her do all the work, while her stepsisters got to do whatever they want, including going to the ball to meet the prince.
Begin with your main character in a state of confusion. They could awaken or come to consciousness in a strange place. Perhaps they woke with a gun in their hand or blood on their clothing and have to piece together what happened.
End the first chapter with a cliffhanger. Many agents will take one chapter of your novel, and if you impress them with your writing and leave them at a point in the book that is unfinished, they may want to see more. What happened when the girl opened the door? What sort of terror is lurking in that dark basement?
Start your story with the description of a place. This does not sound like it would hook the reader, and does not sound very exciting, but it works. A great example is the Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien begins his book with the description of Bilbo’s hole and tells the reader how it differs from the average hole. Once you read the description of the hole, you learned about hobbits, the next thing you knew you had a wizard drawing pictures on the door to the hole, and a company of dwarves coming for dinner.
Begin at a life changing moment for your main character. This could include coming of age stories where the character has to step into adulthood because of a tragic event.
Present the readers with a mystery. Keep them wondering about a character’s motivation for doing something. Tell them about something they do not understand. Everyone in town knows about the house at the end of the street—well, the reader doesn’t and if you paint a great picture of that house they will want to know.
Create sympathy or hatred toward the main character. Everyone who read Cinderella felt sympathy for the poor girl. Her stepmother made her do all the work, while her stepsisters got to do whatever they want, including going to the ball to meet the prince.
Begin with your main character in a state of confusion. They could awaken or come to consciousness in a strange place. Perhaps they woke with a gun in their hand or blood on their clothing and have to piece together what happened.
End the first chapter with a cliffhanger. Many agents will take one chapter of your novel, and if you impress them with your writing and leave them at a point in the book that is unfinished, they may want to see more. What happened when the girl opened the door? What sort of terror is lurking in that dark basement?
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