If
you visit here regularly you already know that my next novel, PYRAMID DECEPTION
will be released November first. If you’re wondering why I’d be talking about
it now, you might be missing out on an important part of getting your books
noticed. Promotion for your novel needs to start long before anyone can buy it.
Most
of this pre-pub promotion is fun for me. The one part that is not is the very
first step. Major reviewers want their Advance Reader Copies 120 days before the
release date. That means that review copies went into the mail before July 1.
Luckily I have a small press behind me so someone else does the really hard
work – build a list, address envelopes, haul books to the post office – but it
will be well worth it when the guys at Publisher’s Weekly finally wise up and
review one of my novels. So far my biggest successes in this arena have been
Library Journal and the local papers.
But I remain optimistic.
Everything
else is getting the attention of actual readers and building anticipation. That
starts 3 months out. I kick it all off with a cover reveal on Facebook and my
web site. Then I leak the story ideas and synopsis. I’m purposely stingy with
details because, just like when they’re reading a mystery novel, fans enjoy the
suspense.
In
September I’ll get help from the characters. I’ll post interviews of Hannibal
and his supporting cast. I might let the characters give some more hints as to
what the book is all about. All this time I’m also chatting with book stores
about staging events around the November release. I’m also bugging bloggers
about visiting their pages at release time. Guest blogs are pretty easy – the cover,
synopsis, a sample chapter and/or one of the interviews I’ve already created
will generally do the job.
I
wait until the month before release to start sharing sample chapters. I post
these on my web site and leave links on Twitter and Facebook to draw people in.
I also plant those links on LinkedIn in the writer and reader groups I’ve
joined. Asking other writers’ opinion of your samples can be exciting or humbling,
but either way it does get engagement.
If
pre-publication marketing interests you, stay tuned. In December Intrigue
Publishing will release its first anthology and, trust me, promoting a book
when you don’t have an author’s brand as your basis is a whole ‘nother thing. But
it might turn out to be even more fun!
