Maryglenn McCombs, book publicist, spoke at the recent Florida Chapter of MWA meeting. These are my notes from her speech.
“Publishers are looking for authors who have platforms.” How do you get one?
- Join professional writers’ groups and get involved. Besides the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, Maryglenn mentioned Crime Writers Association of North America, Independent Book Publishers Association, and StoryCircle.org.
- Attend conferences and get connected with other people in the industry.
- Ask your writer friends for endorsements. Make sure they are recognizable names in your genre.
- Write a good book.
- Have a professional product so that you’re taken seriously.
- Also: Write a blog; comment on other authors’ posts; become active on Facebook and Twitter; share news and interesting articles.
Maryglenn mentioned that an off-press date is when the printing is finished, but it’s different from the release or pub date when the book is available for sale. If you can do it, time your pub date with an event or holiday. For a historical, you can set the release date around an event or a particular date in history.
Aim for review coverage at or after the book is available for purchase. Reviews any earlier are not helpful. The exception is trade media that serve bookstores and libraries.
Readers read. Radio people listen. TV viewers watch. So how do you reach the readers?
“Book promo is a marathon, not a sprint.” Three to six months ahead of your pub date, send info to syndicated reviewers, consumer print media, trade media, and larger online outlets such as:
The Freelance Star
The Bismarck Tribune
Mysterious Reviews
Mystery Fanfare
Stop You’re Killing Me
Promote your book for up to one year after its release. Target local media, alumni groups, newspapers where you grew up, niche markets relating to topics in your book, other groups where you’re a member, media in the town where your book takes place.
Share your news if you win an award, your book goes into a second printing, or you sell more rights.
Have available advance reading copies in print and digital formats; a jpg of your cover in 96 dpi and 300 dpi; a professional headshot; a website with your contact info; a one-page press release or media sheet with your book’s data; a 175 word or less story blurb; web links, and an author bio. “Brevity is the soul of wit” for press releases and pitches. Also prepare your elevator pitch.
To find reviewers, look for similar titles and Google them for reviews and media coverage. When contacting reviewers or press people, cast a wide net. Do your research ahead of time and address the proper person by name. Be polite, but also be persistent. Follow the submission rules on blogs and review outlets. Be accommodating to their requests. Do not ask a reviewer to send you a copy of the review. It shows you’re not reading her posts. Follow their sites and leave comments to maintain a relationship. Send a follow-up thank you for a review and ask the reviewer’s permission to use quotes from it. What counts is how you react after media coverage. Always say thank you, even for a bad review. i.e. “It’s feedback like this that will make me a better writer.”
What Works
Print Media
Launch Parties
Steady Media Coverage
Personal Contact with Booksellers
Starred Reviews
Winning Awards or Being Nominated
Big Endorsements
Your book put on “Best of…” Lists or Gift Guides
What Doesn’t Work
Radio Tours
Bad Covers
Lengthy Book Tours
Book Trailers
Mass Mailings
Swag and Gimmicks
Asking Readers for Amazon Reviews
“Buy my Book” Social Media Tactics. Share your real news, research tidbits, history of a region, writing tips. Work on social media for up to thirty minutes twice a day. Be engaging and play nice.
Seek “evangelists” or fans who will tell everyone about your book. But don’t let them manipulate posts online as that’s unethical. You want people who will tell their friends and book clubs about your work, hand out your bookmarks, and recommend your titles.
Disclaimer: These statements are my interpretation and any errors are my own.
Here I am with Kathryn DePalo and Kat Karlton aka Karen Kendall.
Interesting, although it seems geared toward those traditionally published. Would have loved to have been there to ask about indie publishing tactics, and how they differ from the traditional. The speed of indie publishing is totally different from traditional.
I thought a lot of the advice could be applied to both indie and trad pubbed, minus the big media outlets. Having a professionally designed product certainly applies to indie authors. We can do online launch parties either way and need to build our reader lists. The speaker did imply up front that, in her opinion, it’s still more difficult for indie authors to gain respect.
Thank you, Nancy for sharing. This is very useful! Nancy
http://www.NancyRavenSmith.com [email protected]
I’m glad you find these tips to be helpful.
Thank you for sharing this, Nancy!
Hi, Frankie. Glad you could stop by!
As always your blog is cutting edge, up to date and spot on. Nancy, thanks for the marketing tips.
You are welcome. And thanks to the speaker for sharing these tips with us.
I am fairly new to your blog, but I love your writings, and I think you are such a talent. Keep up the good work, so we can all keep reading.
Thanks so much, I appreciate the feedback!