Book Promotion

shadowbooks · Post by **shadowbooks** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 7:32 pm

Hey everyone

I'm not sure if anyone is interested but i'd thought i'd start a thread to discuss book promotion. I've certainly gained alot of experience and have done alot right and alot wrong. If anyone is interested leave a reply and i'll start talking about it (i'd write some now but it's late and will take a while so I want to make sure people are interested!).

Anyways, hope all are well,

Darren

Bread Butterbeard · Post by **Bread Butterbeard** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:31 pm

I would be intrested in what you had to go through and the steps of it

Dead_Technology · Post by **Dead_Technology** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 9:42 pm

I would definately read. I'm sure it would be insightful and benificiall to myself and the other forum members looking to pursue writing seriously.

shadowbooks · Post by **shadowbooks** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:09 am

Sorry about the wait on this!

Anyways, one of the best promotional tools i have found is myspace.com - a good profile and networking has really allowed my writing to reach new audiences. Has anyone else tried myspace?

Basically, I would start by building a good page - maybe look for some other writers to see what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Once your page is made it is simply a case of finding people who might be interested in reading your work and adding them as friends. I have about 3500 'friends' on myspace, each of whom i leave messages on their page. The messages are large graphics of book front covers with a small tag such as "thanks for being my friend" - the graphic links back to my page. Recently i launched a free ebook on myspace - full pdf file etc that people could download and left all of my friends messages about the ebook with its front cover as the main graphic. This way my friend sees the free product i am offering and so do people visiting their page - if nothing else its a great way to create recognition for your name, but also drives people to your page and sets up a pattern where by they are willing to follow links you send in order to read your work.

All sounds a bit cynical and it does feel a bit false but this approach is alos very personal (and required alot of work) becuase you will get alot of mail and alot of messages regarding either your work or friend requests etc and it takes alot to keep up-to-date with this - but it is also alot mroe personal than mass advertising or anything else and can be quite fulfilling.

Has anyone else used myspace as a marketing tool?

D

eleika · Post by **eleika** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:25 am

No, because the general impression (at least in the places I hang out) is that MySpace is a ditzy place where teenagers lurk. A realm more emo than even Livejournal - and that's saying something.

Then again, if that's the target audience you're going for, it just might be the ticket.

The web is certainly a great promotional tool. You can get your name out for free, or even buy advertising space for reasonable costs. Webcomics, for example, often offer adspace for as little as $2 a day.

Building "net cred" is another excellent way. If you're involved in another online community (other than this one, of course, since we're all fellow writers and of course we'll read your stuff), getting known as a great and creative person is always good.

Having a blog is nice, too. Just make sure that you don't post personal crap, or if you do, keep it privatized. The words you say online can and will come back to haunt you.

Outside the web, there are always ways to get noticed. Take a table at the local Farmer's market with a stack of your books. Parents almost always drag their kids and the kids have nothing to do while the parents shop for organic vegetables and homemade soap.

See if your local paper will take an interest. Someone's responsible for the reviews there. And always, always see what sort of promotion you can do through your local library. They often jump at the chance to have published writers speak for free.

shadowbooks · Post by **shadowbooks** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:01 am

Dear Eleika

I see your point about the perspective myspace has for many - but at last count there were over 86,000,000 members - true the site started off as an emo music site but it now bears only a scant resemblence to the site it once was with only a million users - the good thing with myspace is that you can litterally find any target demographic - all ages, genders and tastes are catered for.

Take care

Darren

Post by **Bmat** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 7:24 am

I agree with Eleika about the reputation of myspace.

HulloKitty202 · Post by **HulloKitty202** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:36 am

To be brutally honest, after checking out MySpace, I've come to the conclusion that I wouldnt want to waste my time or energy on something that, well, eesh, "trashy."

Slasher films and punk bands might do well on that site, but not epic fantasy.

shadowbooks · Post by **shadowbooks** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:55 am

I can certainly see why you might think that, and I respect your opinion, but for instance, there is one fantasy forum with over 40,000 registered users. That's alot for any forum and there are authors with similar numbers of "friends". I myself have approaching 7000 people on my friends list, over 20,000 views of my myspace page and litterally hundrids of messages and comments on my work. If nothing else it allows me to connect with an alternative audience. Authors are the exception rather than the rule but it is the kind of site that allows 'local communities' to shape its own areas. So it may, upon first appraisal, appear to be geared to one group of people, but some indepth searching shows vibrant communities for all genres of everything you could imagine.

It is not for everyone but i would not write off before trying it our

Take care all,

Darren

Bread Butterbeard · Post by **Bread Butterbeard** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:50 pm

While I agree with the others shadowbooks i do agree that it could help you in the long run, but let me ask you,if you were a author or wanting to become one, and someone recommend myspace to you and you already had tried it and found it not to your liking, why would they go back to try and get some people intrested in thier book? its all a matter of percepation im afriad and a willingness to try things over agian.

shadowbooks · Post by **shadowbooks** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:46 pm

Good point - it is just a suggestion and a tool I have found to be very succesful. For many writers, esp self publishers or self promoters all publicity is good publicity

Take care

Magus · Post by **Magus** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:12 pm

I'm not taking any side on the Myspace debate (I don't use it myself, and have for a long time now even abandoned Xanga). I'll only mention that I have quite a number of friends who go to myspace for the sole and expressed purpose of reading Eric Whitacre's blog there and sampling some of his music that he puts up there. He's an example of how he draws in a larger audiance, or more strongly attatches himself to his existing audiance, through Myspace. Just a thought worth mentioning.

I imagine that Wikipedia would be an excellent source to utilize for marketting. Countless people use it daily for either tragetting or general searching. Having a page up would definately help to draw in a larger audiance. Also, I agree about Blogs and connections formed through various online communities. They can be invaluable tools and can help instill you with an initial audiance, if nothing else.