Two Items Needed In Every Author's Book Promotion Tool-Box

Today, we are fortunate to have Karen Harrington, author of the legal thriller Janeology with us today. Karen is a prolific blogger and has experience as an editor and speechwriter. Her fiction has been recognized by the Hemingway Short Story Competition and the Texas Film Institute. Karen and I met through MySpace as authors who had books debuting about the same time and then we found out that we both lived in the Dallas, TX area. She has been a wealth of book marketing experience for me and I know she she can be for you too. It's my pleasure to welcome her to Marketing Tips For Authors as today's guest contributor.

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Thanks to Tony Eldridge for inviting me to his blog to talk book promotion today. I've written a solid article called Tips For Debut Authors, which is relevant to this topic. But today, I want to share two things I think every emerging author should possess in his/her book promotion tool-box.


THING ONE – A Realistic Attitude

If I've told you this story before, stop me. Actually, don't stop me. It bears repeating. Once upon a time, my college writing professor told his students that "Many people have the talent to be good writers, but few have the temperament to make a career of it."

When I first heard this statement, I admit it rankled me. CAREER? We are artists. We are inspired. We don't think of careers, we think of making the world a more beautiful, well-understood place through our art. When the muse comes, we chase it and lovely things happen. Career, you say? Careers are for accountants. I am an arteest!

If you have that attitude, you are already on your way to one-book-wonderdum.

Writing is a discipline, a skill that must be honed and worked at every day like any other. The idea that you actually have to have a work-ethic to both write AND promote a book is lost on many people. In fact, I know writers who think that since their novel is now bound between two covers, people will beat a path to their door to read it. But as someone once said, "How can they beat a path to your door if they cannot find your door?" Especially when there are thousands of books vying for readers' attention.

Which brings me to my next point.


THING TWO – A Blog

Blog. Yes, I said it. Some emerging authors think this is a waste of time. I am not one of them. But I had to become a blog convert, too. At first, I couldn't see the return on investment. And the truth is, there's no real way to gauge book sales to blog posts. But let's go back to THING ONE. You are in this for the long haul and want to make a career of it, right? You know Book One is not going to make you a household name. So you continue to work on future novels while at the same time, creating a platform. So you write a few blog posts a week. Not too difficult. You keep going. You join others who like to do "memes" which are weekly round-robin blog events about certain topics – books, writing, motherhood, etc. There are hundreds. You meet other blog friends. They link to you. Your blog grows. Maybe you ask your readers to help you workshop a fictional idea. Fun! Maybe you have a contest where someone will win your book. More fun!

So what do you have – a platform. On your blog, you connect all the other social networking like MySpace, FaceBook, FaceSpace, In Your Face…oh, who can remember them all, but you get the idea. You link them to your blog and you include your website right on page one (you DO have a website, don’t you?) And voila, your blog platform is THE door through which readers can find you. It is this essential door, my friend, that all publishers are looking for in this tight market. They want to know if you have an ability to share the good news of your future books with other friends. Well, if you have a blog, you do.

I've managed to create a blog that (I think) is a balance of valuable information on writing, journal entries from the life of me, and discussions about books I love. I occasionally do book promotion, but I don't like to whack-a-mole readers with it. I think the fact that I continue to get thousands of hits each month who are viewing a blog that has my book cover, excerpt and info right up front, is an effective marketing tool. I've seen other, over-the-top book promotion blogs that are the on-line equivalent of the department store perfume sales-lady chasing you with cologne. Note to you: Don't be this lady. My particular blog recipe has worked well and reflects the topics I'd talk to you about if we met for lunch today, which is where I'd recommend you begin. Think about talking to your BFF about books, dialogue you overheard, how spring inspired a new writing goal. Find a blog platform that reflects your personality and interests and you will have fun with it. And remember, it is not enough to write posts. You need to go comment on other people's posts for your blog to grow. That's how it's done. A blog's growth is dependent upon participation with other bloggers. Plus, you will soon have that weird pseudo-social experience where you actually believe you KNOW other bloggers and they think they know you, too. Well, in this busy word, there are worse things than being e-connected to strangers in India.

Now here's some fine print that will showcase the other book promotion abilities I possess. Turn back now if you don't like the obnoxious, direct marketing, perfume-lady approach. Are you ready? Okay.

Thanks for inviting me here today, Tony.

Karen Harrington
Author, Janeology
www.karenharringtonbooks.com – Click over here to read an excerpt and watch my haunting book trailer.
www.scobberlotch.blogspot.com – Come over here and follow me or subscribe. It's legal stalking! Plus, I'm having a book promotion marathon throughout the month of April to celebrate the one year anniversary of my debut and hey, you might even win a free book or get a few more bloggy ideas.
www.kunati.com – Pop over here to check out my terrific publisher, who is still accepting submissions from talented authors like YOU.