Promo From My POV

That Evil Step-Mother, Promotion

I was recently privy to a loop where promotion was discussed in length. Personally, I think the idea of a marketing plan is a good idea. Whenever I have a new release, I'm scrambling to figure out where to advertise and which loops allow promo on which days. It's a headache. And it's hard to know what works and what doesn't, especially since I don't have a lot of time to devote to promo. Because if I'm focused there, I'm not writing. And writing time is invaluable to me. (I think this sentiment applies to most authors.)

That said, my work is primarily electronic. And if I don't throw my name and new book title out there, it's hard to make sales. Yeah, it's easier for me now since I've been marketing "Marie Harte" for the past three years with books published, but the goal is to attract a bigger readership while maintaining the one I have.

Several tips I've found helpful, though a solid marketing plan will definitely make my life a lot easier, are the following:

• Newsletters work. Keep your readers up to date while teasing with new excerpts and upcoming works.


• Advertise on review sites, because many of these are affordable and grant a broader audience


• Guest blogging helps, as does writing articles for different newsletters/posts


• Try to participate in chat loops. I belong to many, so this is difficult for me. But I try to involve myself as often as possible.


• Push for interviews and author spotlights. These can cost money as well, but in the long run it's worth the exposure.

Think about it. We all know Nora Roberts and Sherrilyn Kenyon, but they're print authors. Their books are carried by major booksellers and retailers like WalMart. So people can see their names over and over again. But in the electronic world, an electronically pubbed author really needs to spread her or his own name. I look at it this way. The publishers help, but it's my career, and I've got more invested in it than anyone else does.

So I plan to put my pen to paper, or fingers to the keyboard, and come up with a solid plan to market my work. And I'm going to plug Romance Junkies and The Romance Studio as great sites to promote your work. I've used both, and the costs are low, the readership fairly high. So as soon as I get that marketing plan written, I'm going to jump on those bandwagons. :)

More tomorrow. Chow!

Marie