Your Bossy Self-Marketing Timeline

YOUR BOSSY SELF-MARKETING TIMELINE
By Saundra Mitchell
www.saundramitchell.com

I’ve written several pieces on marketing for authors, but the number one question I get is, “But where do I start?” My answer is usually, “Anywhere, just start somewhere.”

But I understand that marketing is a great big subject, and anywhere is too general. So I’d like to present a self-marketing primer. I’ll tell you exactly what to do, and when to do it. My advice is YA-centric, because that’s what I write, and generally US-based, because that’s where I live. But I think most of it can apply regardless of your genre or location.

Timeline: Signed Your Contract

Congratulations! You sold your book- now you’re going to wait a while for your revision letter. During this time period:

* Buy your domain name. I suggest starting with your own name, because your book can be featured on your author website. Especially because your title can, and may well, change.

* Put together your barebones website, or hire a designer to do it. A blog, a picture of you, your name, name of your book, when it comes out, a nice biography. Start thinking about other content you might want to include. But be searchable early.

* Register your name at Myspace, Facebook and Twitter. Do this even if you don’t want to do Myspace, Facebook or Twitter- because then it prevents someone else from using your name on those platforms.

* Start blogging/Myspacing/Facebooking/Twittering – whichever one you want to do. I suggest Twitter + Blog, but that’s just me. No idea where to start with Twitter? This list of YA authors on Twitter might help. (Built by Mitali Perkins, updated by Alessandra Lee.)

* Start building your mailing lists. Start with all the independent booksellers in your region. Then build a list of independent booksellers in the region where you set your book. Now do the same for public libraries in your region.

Then, if you’re YA or MG, build a list of all the high schools and middle schools in your immediate area. Is your book a well-served genre? Build a list of those genre stores throughout the country. You now have four or five mailing lists, numbering somewhere from 75-300 addresses on each.

* In the US, it will cost you $32.00 to send 100 postcards. It will cost you $1.00 (slow media mail) – $4.95 (faster priority mail) to send one book. Put aside money now just for postage. If you’re on a PC, I highly recommend signing up for stamps.com. The $15.00/mo membership fee is more than worth it because you rarely have to go to the post office.

* Go to the USPS website and order priority mailing supplies. They cost nothing, and I really like to use the padded 9 1/2 x 11in mailers to send out book packages. The regular 8 x 10 cardboard envelopes are great for sending a single book. Both cost $4.95 to mail, which will be more than media mail, but less than first class, due to package dimensions.

* Buy a box of Avery 5160 labels. You’re going to burn through a lot of them.

Timeline: Got Your ARCs

* Buy your book’s title domain name. Redirect it to point to your author website if you don’t want to make a dedicated website for it.

* ARCs are not for your friends and family. Either take these in person to your local indies to introduce yourself, or mail them to your local indies to introduce yourself. You can also give one to your local newspaper and your local librarian.

If you have a metric buttload of ARCs, you might give one or two away on your blog. SAVE THE REST, because invariably, someone will be hosting a contest/charity event/something big and ask you for an ARC. You want to have one available for that. (These are not for reviewer-hosted ARC tours, either. Use author copies for that.)

* Start planning your launch party if you want to have one. Many booksellers need at least six months’ lead time for you to have an event in their store. Make those connections and arrangements now.

* Is your cover art final and public? Are you sure? Once your editor signs off on it, you need to make your cover synonymous with you. It should be your background on Twitter, your avatar everywhere, everything. If you can post somewhere, and there’s an image to identify you, it should be your cover art.

* Start building your press kit. Once it’s complete, upload it to your website. As you get more information, you’ll have to update the kit, but that’s okay. Go into this understanding that, like a resume, the press kit is never actually finished.

* Design, or hire a designer, to create bookmarks and postcards for you. The front of the postcard should simply be your cover. A bookmark front can be more artistic, as long as your cover shows up somewhere. The back of your bookmark and postcard should include:

• Your title
• Your name
• Your house
• Your ISBN 13
• Your URL

If you want to include a synopsis, or blurbs from other authors, or special details, or your photo, that’s fine. But those are extra- it really must feature everything above. Leave room for a personal message on the postcards, because…

* Now is an excellent time to start writing your postcards. Note I say writing. You need to wait until your book is in the house catalog before you send anything to booksellers. So address your postcards, and start writing, BY HAND, a personal message on each.

• Your region postcards: I’m a local author living in X, and I hope you’ll consider my novel Y for (YOUR STORE NAME).
• Setting region postcards: I’m (NAME) and my novel Y is set in Z, and I hope you’ll consider it for (YOUR STORE NAME).
• Public Libraries: Same as region card, only you hope they’ll consider them for their collection.
• Schools: I’m a (YA/MG) author and my YA/MG novel Y is coming out (DATE). I will be available for school visits (DATE).
• Genre Indies: My novel X is (YOUR GENRE) and I hope you’ll consider it for (YOUR STORE NAME).

* Think about (and perhaps order) your schwag. Stickers, rubber bracelets, dog tags, custom candy- whatever you want to give away when you do signings and bookseller mailers, start thinking about it now. Non-perishable items can be ordered now as well.

Timeline: Your Book is in the Catalog

* Mail your postcards.

* Put together bookseller mailings. Your contract should tell you how many author copies you’ll be getting- those aren’t for friends and family, either. Half of those author copies, you’re going to sign. You’re going to put them in an envelope with some bookmarks and some of your schwag, with a personal note, to independent booksellers.

But you don’t actually HAVE your author copies yet. This is working ahead so you don’t feel rushed when they arrive (usually a month before your book comes out.)

Choose stores in your region, or your genre, or that you’ve heard about. Just make sure they’re stores that carry your kind of book, otherwise you’re wasting time and money. Now write a personal note, BY HAND, and introduce yourself and your book to the bookseller. Put the address labels on, and put these aside until your author copies arrive.

* Start contacting book bloggers about interviews, reviews and schwag. They need lead time, too and you want to make sure you contact bloggers whose audience matches yours- and who are available at the time of your release. There’s NO point in doing an interview on a contemporary romance blog if your book is science fiction/horror with no romance. Use this YA Blogger Directory to start your search.

* If you want to have an online giveaway surrounding your book, start planning it now. Start buying the prizes now, as well. You don’t want to have to scramble at the last minute to find things that relate to your book.

* Add your book to the Young Adult Books Central database. You can also upload press releases, news, and other details here.

Timeline: Author Copies

* Take half of those copies and sign them. Put them in the mailers you built earlier, and get them in the mail.

* Depending on how many you have, this is how I would spend the other half of your author copies:

• 1 or 2 for a reviewer-hosted blog tour.
• 1 or 2 for your own giveaway, if you’re hosting one.
• 5+ to a local book club.

That last one is technically marketing, but really, it’s just a nice thing to do. It’s fun to share your book!

* Write up any guest blogs and finish any interview questions from reviewers and bloggers in this month. There seriously will not be time once your book comes out, and you’ll feel like you’re drowning if you try.

* If you’re MG/YA, put your cover up on TeensReadToo.com. It’s 30 dollars for a month, so do it for this month, and the month of your debut.

* Send out invitations to your launch party if you’re having one.

* Write a press release for your launch party. Send it to your local media (print, television, radio,) to relevant groups (if you write romance, your local Romance Readers Club should get one, for example,) and to any available community calendars.

Your house may write a press release for you- if so, just modify theirs to include the date, time and location of your launch party.

Timeline: Debut

* Celebrate. Seriously, if you’ve done all your marketing ahead of time, and prepped all your mailers, all you have to do now is show up at your launch party and signings, and watch everything you put into action unfold.

You’re still going to be wicked busy- interview requests will come in, guest blog requests will come in- but by doing most of your marketing ahead, you will have time in your schedule to say yes to unexpected opportunities.

* Launch your personal giveaway if you planned one.

* Take pictures of your launch parties and signings; make sure to share them.

* If you get an especially good photo from your launch or signing- particularly if you get a photo with more than one author in it- send it to Publisher’s Weekly for their newsletters. There’s no guarantee they will run it, but they definitely won’t if they don’t have it.

Timeline: 3 Months Later

Don’t get upset, but this is about the time when your books will start disappearing from the chain stores unless you’re a bestseller. It’s the natural life cycle of books and it’s nothing personal. However, that doesn’t mean you should stop promoting.

* Shore up your relationships with the indie booksellers, and make some new ones. You can do another round of bookseller mailings, targeting stores you didn’t contact previously. You’ll have to buy the books this time, so think hard about the best way to use those books.

* Host other authors who are debuting. This has nothing to do with marketing, but like giving the books to book clubs, it’s nice to help out. Being part of the community is its own reward.

* Have you been nominated for anything? Has something happened in the news that makes your book topical? Write a press release, and send that sucker out.

Timeline: Holidays, Etc..

* There’s no reason to buy much advertising, but if you want to give it a whack, I suggest buying Google or Myspace ads in the month leading up to, and the months after your book debut. There’s really no point in advertising to people too much before they can actually buy your book.

* If the content of your book ties in nicely to a holiday, host another giveaway. Halloween is a great revival time for paranormal and horror novels, Valentine’s Day for romance, Arbor Day for trees… I mean… well you know what I mean.

* Your book is always an appropriate gift for whichever December holiday people celebrate. Collaborate with another author or two and create a holiday gift pack.

* Your local library (and no doubt many other libraries) probably has summer reading programs. Offer your bookmarks or schwag as prizes.

* I like to send thank you notes and holiday cards to independent booksellers, bloggers, and authors who have supported my novel, and I think it’s a good practice to have. It’s not necessarily marketing, but being grateful and aware is never going to hurt you.

And that’s my bossy self-marketing timeline. And you should know- you don’t have to do all of this. You don’t have to do ANY of it. But if you want to, I hope these guidelines help demystify the process some, and give you somewhere to start. It’s your book- you love it best, and you’ll sell it better than anyone else.

Good luck and happy marketing!

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Marketing for Authors by Saundra Mitchell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Updated February, 2012