Thanks VIKLIT

Now to help with this Friday’s Celebration, here’s something more from Melissa. She’s very generously shared her plan for marketing her book. Take it away, Melissa!

“C. Lee asked me to tell you how I organized my book’s cover reveal and release tours and delivered the info to my blogging friends. Below is my list of tips…

First, you have to have blogging friends. You get them by building a writer’s blog and visiting other writers’ blogs on a regular basis. It seems simple, but you’d be surprised how many writers don’t bother building a social media platform or don’t know how.

By the time I published my debut, I had been blogging for over 2 years and had nearly 2000 followers on Twitter.

Next, a few months before release day, you have to come up with a plan. 

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Timing matters. Ex: Your book cover has to be finished before you can reveal it. Plan your tours (your whole publishing schedule, for that matter) accordingly.  I made a document with weekly tasks for myself and struck them through when they were done.

• Writers have different blogging schedules. If you give them a choice of dates, they’ll be more likely to help you. You also need to take the state of the blogosphere into consideration. (I had to do my cover reveal early to miss AtoZ.)

• Same thing goes for content. I do my promo ‘buffet style.’ I send lots of options (short post, long post, big cover image, small 3D render, sample tweets, sample Facebook posts, etc.) and let my helpers choose what they want.

• Sending out one mass email with images and details is easier than sending 30, 40, 50 individual ones. Create some kind of sign-up form and kill a flock of birds with one stone. 

• BUT get permission from bloggers before contacting them with promo. If you don’t, it’s spam. (All I did to get folks to sign up was post a link to a Google form along with a humble request. Then I BCCd their addresses in the emails to protect their privacy.)

• Create a press page on your blog or website (if you’re to the publishing stage, you should really have a website) so promoters can find all your author stuff in one place. For official bio, links, and head shot, you can simply send them there.

• Prepare guest posts and excerpts ahead of time so, when people request them, you can quickly pull them from a file and attach. Be sure to make note of word count (I include that in the document’s title). Doing both will save you a TON of time.

• Compile a list of bloggers who are posting for you (by date) and mention / link them on your blog. Show your gratitude! Posting promo for them in return is fair play, too. 

If you’re organized and if you make it easy for your writer buddies, they’ll be much more likely to help. :)”

Thanks so much, Melissa. Did her step by step plan help you? Do you have other suggestions to add? Hope you’ll support her release.