I have written my book, the hard work is over … or is it? Marketing and promoting your work. by Chrissy Brown | C.A.A.B Publishing
PRIDE & PUBLISHING
A lot of authors feel that once they have finished writing a novel, they have put in the hard work and now they deserve to sit back and reap the rewards. Yes? Well, no actually.
C.A.A.B PUBLISHING CAAB Publishing Ltd is a traditional, small, indie company helping unknown authors have a voice and inspiring new writers to take that first step into the world of publishing. WWW.CAABPUBLISHING.CO.UK
After a book is written and edited and formatted, and checked, and triple checked, once the cover is designed and agreed on, the back cover piece is written, and added, and the dedication is finished. That is when the hard work really begins. Marketing your book is vital. Even if you have a huge budget and a big hitting publisher behind you, you have to get involved. You must work the circuit, visit the bookstores, sign and smile. You must do interviews and sit for hours in draft filled halls answering potential readers’ questions. No matter how big an author you are, the rules are the same. Promote your work, promote yourself, and get some sales. If you are an unknown author this is even more important. Amazon has on average 7500 new books uploaded to Kindle every day (fact curtesy of justpublishingadvice.com), and yours will get lost in that sea of words. If you have a publisher that is helping with promotion, they can only do so much. Readers do not know that you exist, and you must show them that you are not only an author but a good one, as they have no basis for comparison. You must get your book under their noses, get reviews, get your voice, face and book cover out into the public consciousness. No interview is too small, no blog too unknown. If three people listen to the podcast, it is three people that did not know about you before, and who may talk about you or your book to others.
106
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022
Write a little press release and send it to every local paper, radio or Facebook page. Use every contact that you have, do not be embarrassed
