By Clarissa Johal
You know who you are.
The author that writes in your little hidey-hole, but doesn’t like to get out
and promote yourself. I’m not judging I get it. Somehow, the cleverness that
rolls off your fingers, doesn’t translate when you meet people face-to-face.
Okay, so let’s talk
about what you can do as a writer via armchair when it comes
to book promotion.
I’ve been promoting my
paranormal novel BETWEEN since December 2012. I’ve concluded that “getting out
there” may be more effective, but (fear not!) there are online things that work
too.
Facebook
I love connecting with
people on Facebook and consider them friends. Set up an author page and put
yourself out there in the cyber-world. But remember—nobody likes a 24/7 book
promoter, so mind you don’t overdo it.
Arrange a guest
post/interview/review with a book blog
Find a blog that falls
in your genre and read through the posts. If you like the blog, email the owner
with your request. Most are happy to set something up.
Run a special promotion
or contest for your book
Donate your royalties to
a charity. My birthday is in July
and I decided to donate 100% of my July royalties from the sale of BETWEEN to
two animal shelters. They agreed to set up a small display with my business
cards, “Proceeds from the purchase of this book during the month of July goes to
this animal shelter,” and I agreed to promote the shelters. It was a win-win
situation for everyone.
Run a contest where the
winner gets to pick the name of the main character or setting for your next
book.
Be creative!
Sign up for a blog hop
Blog hops are
everywhere! Look for one that falls in your genre and sign up for it.
How it works: Write a
post for your blog, cut and paste an HTML code generated by the blog hop
organizer at the end of your post (in HTML mode) and voila! You’re part of a
blog hop. A reader can “hop” through the participant’s blogs via the links
generated at the end of the posts.
*Most blog hops require
a giveaway, which you arrange yourself.
Create a Goodreads
author account
Goodreads offers two
great options for authors; book reviews, and advertising. Join a group
specializing in your genre. If your book needs reviews, offer R2Rs (read to
review) of your book via the group. Set up an ad campaign on Goodreads to
advertise your book. Here’s the link: http://www.goodreads.com/advertisers .I’ve garnered over 100 readers who put
BETWEEN on their shelf “to read” by using the ad campaign.
Here’s something to
ponder too. When doing any promotion, do your research. A group composed of all
writers who promote to other writers, makes no sense whatsoever. Not that
writers don’t read—but they’ll be promoting themselves just as hard as you are.
Unless you’ve made promises to cross-promote to readers (and everyone complies)
this doesn’t work. Be smart.
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Clarissa Johal has worked as a veterinary assistant,
zoo-keeper aide and vegetarian chef. Writing has always been her passion. When
she's not listening to the ghosts in her head, she's dancing or taking
photographs of gargoyles. She shares her life with her husband, two daughters
and every stray animal that darkens the doorstep. One day, she expects that a
wayward troll will wander into her yard, but that hasn't happened yet. STRUCK
Coming January 17, 2014 from Musa Publishing BETWEEN, a story of the
paranormal. PRADEE, a young adult fantasy.*Second round finalist in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award Contest 2012. Author website: http://clarissajohal.com/
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