Publicist’s Tips to Promote your Book Even After Your Launch

Audra Jennings is the Senior Media Specialist for The B&B Media Group, a full service publication relations agency. For the past 9 years, she has worked with both debut and experienced authors.

What are the three most important things a debut novelist should do to get the word out?

1.       Social networking

2.       Visit area book stores so that you can talk to sales people. Then, they will be better able to tell shoppers about your book.

3.       Reach out to book clubs in your area. Everyone has friends and relatives in other areas that they can spread the word to.

Be patient, it often takes several contacts to get a response from media.

Be active in promoting your work, especially in the social media world. Make your presence known on Facebook, Twitter and your blog. Network and connect with your readers. Also connect with other authors as they can be some of your greatest supporters. If their readers see them connect with you and recommend your book, you’ll gain their readers.

Set-up Google alerts so you can see when reviewers post about your book. Visit the blogs and comment, thanking them for their review. It connects you directly with readers and can get conversations started.

Don’t expect to be able to get top placement for your book right off the bat. For example, just because your book is a lot like something Oprah picked for her book club, doesn’t mean that she will want to feature your book in the next issue of O. Prime coverage such as that is dependent on a lot of factors.

Be strategic about what you do. Focus on ways to reach your prime reader first. Although, books may appeal to lots of different groups for lots of reasons, focus on ways to reach the greatest number of people first. If you try doing too many things at once, it can dilute your efforts.

Don’t think you need to do a lot of book signings – they often aren’t as profitable as you would expect.

Know who the other authors in your genre are. Many authors don’t read a lot of other authors so that they won’t write similar stories, but at least know who the other authors out there are.