Your book's exposure

Something I never capitalised on with my debut novel - because I was learning how the Publishing industry had changed and adapting - was maximising its exposure at the time of release. Looking back now, I would definitely have a solid marketing strategy in place before the launch date based on the advice I've been sharing in The Publishing Journey blog series.

We spend so much time plotting and writing a book, editing, re-writing, editing, re-writing so it seems criminal that the hype will probably only last for a couple of months after all of that hard work.

Marketing yourself and your book/s has to be scheduled into your writing week unless you can afford to pay someone to do it for you. It's a hell of a lot of work but will ensure you do your work justice and get it in front of as many people as possible on a regular basis.

The point is to keep networking - making new friends / contacts / potential readers and sharing your experiences as a writer. Therefore it stands to reason, much the same as the build up to your book launch, your long term marketing strategy should include some or all of the following:

• Competitions
• Giveaways - Goodreads is an excellent starting point
• Blog tours
• Make sure your book is advertised in your social media profile sections and on your website
• Work on getting as many reviews as you can. Offer incentives. Share these reviews
• Schedule interviews and save them as podcasts
• Visit in person or use Skype if your audience is further afield to talk with book groups and writing circles
• Talk at writing conferences
• Enter your book into competitions for published authors

You know, this does take up a huge amount of your time and could completely overrun any time you have for writing, so don't pressure yourself to do all of these things at once. Pick one from the list and see how you get on. Maybe give yourself two months to accomplish it. If it doesn't work out or you didn't find it useful, pick another and try over. As I so often say, it's all about finding what works for you.

I'll have some tips for networking in my next post.