Road to the Shelves: Promotion
January 1, 1970
April 2004 Newsletter from the desk of Karen BrichouxContents:
*News
*Article: “The Road to the Shelves: Promotion”
*What I’m Reading
News:
*Congratulations to Gigi, who won the February drawing for a signed ARC of SEPARATION ANXIETY; and to Joan, who won the March drawing. There’s still one more drawing in April, so if you haven’t entered the contest, go to my website, http://www.karenbrichoux.com, for details.
Article: “The Road to the Shelves: Promotion”
Promotion happens in several stages. The first stage is when the author and the publicist mail out scads of Advance Reading Copies to reviewers, book stores, media, and other interested parties. The second stage is setting up advertising. And the third stage comes after the reviews are in and the author and publicist send out postcards and reminders immediately before the release of the book.
Right now, SEPARATION ANXIETY is in the second stage.
What with all the mergers and changes in financial situations, a lot of publishing companies simply aren’t able to provide advertising for all the books on their list. They pick a few good candidates for top promotion, then work their way on down to the bottom. There just isn’t a lot of money to go around. So advertising often becomes the job of the author.
Authors have about as much money as church mice. Poor church mice. Very poor church mice. So any advertising the author does has to reach a wide audience of dedicated readers.
Because I write women’s fiction, it made sense to look for a magazine that would promote my book in more than one place, have a wide readership among women, and which would also mention the book in more places than just my advertisement.
I chose RT BOOKCLUB--a fan magazine for readers of romance, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, general fiction, and erotica which reviews numerous titles each month. I chose RT because the magazine was already planning on reviewing SEPARATION ANXIETY, and I knew they would post the review on their website and also allow me to submit a short “spotlight” for possible inclusion in the magazine. An advertisement in RT meant that readers of the magazine would not only see my ad, but would see the book mentioned in two, possibly three, other places. And as every youngster on Madison Avenue knows, repetition is good!
Advertising isn’t the only way to promote a book. There are other, probably cheaper, perhaps better, methods. If you’re an author considering promotion here are a couple of good places to start:
http://www.bluemooncommunications.com/pr_writers.htm
http://www.gabrielleluthy.com/articles.html (Scroll down to the listing for marketing and promotion.)
What I’m Reading:
THE BLIND COLT by Glenn Rounds. One of the best authors for “animal fiction.” He captures the feel of the badlands beautifully.
MASTER OF MORGANA by Alan Campbell Maclean. In 1950s Scotland, a young man signs onto a fishing crew to solve the mystery of who tried to kill his older brother.
JIM DAVIS by John Masefield. A fun smugglers’ romp off the coast of early 19th-century England.