So, I’m reading this absurd article on all the things you need to spend money on to market your own book. Oh noz, you have to pay a zillion dollars for a website, for a mailing list, for copy and editing for your website, wtf? I’m not even going to link to article because, seriously, WTF?

Here’s the deal. If you’re willing to put the time in yourself, you can do almost all of your book marketing for free. It may be worth it to you to pay for someone else to do everything- and if you’re in a position to do that, awesome! Go for it! But if you’re not, or if you’d prefer to have strict control over everything, here’s a brief guide to doing it yourself.

Blog/Website: More and more people are using Blog software to host their entire websites. WordPress is fantastically flexible, free and your URL can be an easily memorable yourname.wordpress.com. WordPress has about a zillion free themes so you can customize like whoa, and because it’s an integrated service, it shares your links on other blogs like yours to drive traffic. FOR FREE.

Blogger is another free host and software package that’s easy to use and customize for your needs. And you know what drives even more traffic to websites? Twitter. ALSO FREE.

Graphics: Graphics for your website, your bookmarks, your postcards whatnot- you can create them yourself for free, from the bottom up. Download a copy of GIMP image manipulation software, and play with it.

It’s not hard, and if you’re not design-oriented, download templates from a print shop, look at examples of other people’s bookmarks, and figure out the elements that you like from there.

Printing: If you have a really great printer at home, you can do your own business cards. You probably should pay a printer to make your bookmarks and postcards though. They’re not terribly expensive, especially if you buy in bulk.

Copywriting and Editing: This was possibly the stupidest point in the article. We’re WRITERS. Write your own copy for free- after all, you know your own bio and book better than anybody- and edit it yourself. Have a friend look it over for typos. Post.

Email Marketing: 1) If by e-mail marketing, they mean spamming a bunch of people, don’t do that. It’s annoying. 2) If by e-mail marketing, they mean create a mailing list for your readers– Google Groups and Yahoo! Groups are both functional, easy to use, and free to set up, use and moderate.

Review Copies: An unavoidable expense- even if you get a buttload of author copies, you still have to pay postage.

Publicity: You can post a press release for free on Free Press Release or PRLog, but don’t spend money on pay sites. Why? Because online press releases are an excellent way to beef your Google ranking and that’s about it. You know what else will beef your Google rating? Updating your blog frequently.

Learning: Oh hey look! This is where- if I were trying to make money off of you- I would ask you to send me money so I can send you all of my SPECIAL marketing tips that aren’t available anywhere else. Me, though, I’m going to give you links to my free marketing advice that you can use anytime you want at absolutely no charge to you.

• How to Build a Mailing List: A Simple Guide to Data Mining
• How to Build Your Own Press Kit
• The Art & Craft of Self-Promotion
• Your Bossy Self-Marketing Timeline (I)
• Your Bossy Self-Marketing Timeline (II)
• The “I Have a Life” Marketing Plan

Administrative: If you’re popular enough to need an assistant, you probably don’t need any marketing advice.

I know I sound a bit cranky, but it makes me crazy, crazy, crazy to see people imply that authors can’t possibly do any of this themselves, that authors should spend their entire advance and pawn their cars and firstborn children to promote their books.

It’s ridiculous, and it’s wrong. Yes, as authors, we do have to pay for our own promotion, but we do NOT have to pay for all of it. As you see listed here, you don’t even have to pay for most of it, if you’re willing to invest the time.

Or, more simply- please don’t let somebody selling marketing materials convince you that you need to buy marketing materials.

As authors, we’re pressed to do more and more promotion on our own- and because we love our books best, we’re our own best advocates. Some people will tell you that your own efforts won’t make a difference.

But you can see where your book is being stocked as a direct result of your marketing. You will see the increased and regular traffic added to your website; and you’ll see it when booksellers and librarians you contacted return the favor. And when a house sees the effort you put into marketing, they’re often willing to invest more as well.

We can all raise the visibility of our books, and raising visibility is what marketing is. So let’s get started!

Print publications dwindle, newspaper coverage for books shrinks, and everyone agrees that the Internet is the next new frontier for marketing books. But with such a vast resource, where do you start?

1. Bloggers

Since the advent of easy-to-use interfaces, bloggers of all sorts have flourished, but none so much as book bloggers. These bloggers have communities- they share not just reviews, but recommendations, actual books, regular features that discuss covers, trends, themes, and so much more. The Romance community is especially rich, and YA boasts a full-bodied community made up not just of adult writers and librarians, but of actual teen reviewers.

Reaching out to bloggers is your first, best step when it comes to promoting your own books. Make it a point to follow lots of blogs. Pay attention to those who read and like books like yours. Make a note of their review policies- and four to six weeks before your launch, query them. This is a business letter like any other- introduce yourself, pitch your book, offer a copy for review.

Be aware that the Internet is global. Though some sites give a bio that will tell you whether you’re mailing to Montgomery or Mumbai, most don’t. So be prepared to pay for international postage. In promoting my book, I’ve sent copies to every single continent except Antarctica.

And remember that even when you buy the book and pay postage, you’re not buying a good review- you’re not buying a review at all. Just because you send a book doesn’t mean they’ll ever read it. Or review it. Or review it positively. You can’t buy a review- but you can try to raise your visibility. That’ll help you keep some center when someone ignores or pans a book you mailed to them.

When: Start 4-6 weeks before your book comes out. Bloggers have big To Be Read piles, and to get your reviews to appear clustered around your launch, you need to start a little early- but not too early!

2. Giveaways

I think giveaways are the most effective tool you have in your Internet arsenal. LibraryThing and Goodreads will run giveaways for you, and many book bloggers will, too. Giveaways are full of so much good, I’m not even sure where to start with the extolling.

They raise visibility, especially when bloggers run them. Bloggers link to each other and many of them have an automatic feature that reposts headlines from other blogs on their sites. Sometimes, they give out extra entries for readers who link back to the contest- remember, the whole point is to raise visibility.

Then, get your book into the hands of actual readers, many of whom are reviewers themselves, or participants on review sites. And again, bad reviews will occur for even the best books. Nevertheless, I’ve seen time and time again people replying to a bad review with something like, “I’ve heard of this, I can’t wait to read it.”

This chill in the face of apparent disaster counts for spoilers, too. Although it makes me wildly crazy to see the ending of my mystery posted everywhere- visibility is visibility. Reinforcing your cover, reinforcing your title- that’s your ultimate goal, and if you get some awesome reviews out of it- that’s extra.

When: Goodreads/LibraryThing- start 4-6 weeks before your book debuts, or when you get author copies. Bloggers, start 2-3 weeks out.

3. Social Networking

This is the most contentious part of being an author online. Should you do it? How much should you do it? Where should you do it? And in the end, I feel like two things are true: social networking should be something you do for yourself, but if you genuinely enjoy it, it can be promotionally helpful.

The people you meet in debut groups and lit loops, on Facebook and Myspace, are also people who can point you toward opportunities you might have otherwise missed. And you can be that same person for other authors as well.

But I don’t want to say join everything! Be a hoover! Because hoovers, frankly, suck. Showing up just to scrape PR off of other people’s hard work and goodwill sucks, and we’ll talk smack about you. But if you find a community you love, where you make genuine friendships- you’re also going to find tons of amazing support and opportunity there.

When: Start when you get your contract, and keep on going.

Again, promotion is all about raising visibility. You probably don’t have the contacts to get into print on your own (if you do, use them!) But you do have the ability to make sure the right people know your book exists. Besides readers, who are the right people?

1) Independent Booksellers.

Indies still account for the major motion in book sales for any author. They’re the pulse of the industry and you’re getting nowhere if you don’t have a pulse.

a) Postcards. While your publisher has a sales staff, they have a lot of books to push. You have one, so make the most of your indie outreach. Send at least 200 postcards to independents- to stores that specialize in your genre, and to general stores in your area. Most importantly, WRITE A NOTE. By hand.

While most postcards probably do get thrown out, you’re achieving two things: raising awareness because your cover is on the front of the postcard, right? And if they do read the note, you’re telling them why your book is ideal for their store. They want to sell books, so help them.

Tell them if you’re a local author, that your book is set in their hometown, that your book is perfect for Cat Lovers Books & News because it features tons of cats. Whatever you tell them- have a reason for sending that card that’s beyond simply “I have a book and I want you to sell it.”

If you have no compelling reason why your book fits their inventory, you’re wasting a stamp because they’re not wasting the shelf space.

When: After the catalogue in which your book is available is published. There is NO POINT in contacting booksellers until they can order your book.

b) Review Copies. People often wonder what they should do with the review copies their publishers send them. If you get tons and tons, by all means, have a giveaway. But if you get only a few, take them to your local indies. Introduce yourself, leave your book and leave your contact information. The chain stores take orders from a corporate headquarters, but your local indies are- well, independent.

These are relationships that will be valuable to both of you, and not just on launch. If you have a signing, it will probably be with an indie. If you have a launch party, you’ll want to have it at an indie. If you do school visits or corporate visits and you need someone on point for book sales- yup, that’s your local indie.

When: After the catalogue in which your book is available is published, and you have ARCs in hand.

2) Librarians.

Librarians are the other gatekeepers of the book world, and you can’t afford to ignore them. Libraries are major markets for books, and they’re direct access to readers. Again, always remember that promotion is about raising visibility.

Someone who reads your book at the library can still recommend your book to buying friends and family. They’ll be the ones to ask your library to buy future works by their favorite authors. Don’t ignore the libraries!

a) Postcards. Follow the same rules as you did for sending to indies, though for libraries, it’s a little simpler. Unless you’re independently wealthy, send postcards to all the libraries in your home state, and again, make sure you write a personal note on each one.

For YA and kids’ book authors, I’d also suggest sending postcards to every single school library in your town, in your market. (PB authors, don’t bother high schools. YA authors, forget the elementaries.) When reaching out to school libraries, make a note that you’re a local author and if you’re available for school visits.

When: After the catalogue in which your book is available is published. There is NO POINT in contacting librarians until they can order your book. For school libraries, keep in mind the school year. There’s no point in sending a postcard to an empty building, either!

Outreach is the trickiest part of self-promotion, because it requires you to be canny about your own market. And you’re required to think about your beautiful book as a product. Since every book is different, every outreach attempt must be different. And sometimes, you can’t tell whether they work- until they work. So rather than give you a specific plan, let me give you some general outreach ideas.

Market Outreach: Figure out who your audience is, and give them finished copies of your book. If your book is about martial arts, offer 10 copies to your local dojo, for example. If your book is about zombies, offer 10 copies to a local horror film group. Or, seek out book groups in your area, and offer copies to their members. People who love books enough to join books to talk about them also talk about books when they’re not at the club.

But here’s the pinch: you have to give them your book and walk away. Feel free to include ONE bookmark or ONE postcard with your URL or other information in each copy of the book, but you have to give up the goods and walk away. People don’t like to be pressured; they really dislike it when you’re pushy. Give readers the ability to follow up, but don’t require it.

When: When you get your finished author copies. Don’t use ARCs for this unless you have a metric buttload of ARCs.

Risk Outreach: Risk outreach is the most fun to do, but it’s also the biggest gamble. This is writing a letter to your favorite celebrity, and including it in a copy of your book. Or unstealing your book- leaving it in strange places for people to find. Or guerilla readings- getting up in the middle of the mall and reading from your book just on a whim.

It’s the long shot that you shouldn’t spend a lot of money on, but it’s a lot of fun if it pans out. Please don’t break the law when you do your risk outreach. Jailtime puts a serious crimp on an adrenaline rush. (Although it might get you some print inches…)

When: When you get your finished author copies.

Possibility Outreach: This is the craft of finding opportunity; this is the art of saying YES. Pay attention to the writing community, to your loops, to the trades. When an opportunity arises, say yes. Whenever possible, say yes.

Yes, you will judge a local book contest. Yes, you will write a few lines on what it’s like to be a writer. Yes, you will write a profile for yourself for the State Library.

If a popular blogger is hosting a blogiversary, YES, you will donate a prize. If a ‘zine is doing a theme week, YES, you will guest blog. Anytime, anywhere, that you can be visible, that you can make your book visible, say yes.

And I know some of you are hyperventilating now, so let me add the caveat: you don’t have to say yes to everything.

My family has limited means and single car- so I have to say no to lots of travel and appearance opportunities. But I can say YES to anything online. If you hate the Internet, you can say yes to events in person. Possibility Outreach is easy- all you have to do is say yes and follow through.

When: Anytime, but you want to concentrate your interviews, your blogs, your visibility in the 2 weeks leading up to your book’s release, and the 6 weeks after.

Finally-

To be honest, all marketing is possibility outreach. While it seems daunting, if you break it down into smaller parts- what can I do online? What can I do offline? What crazy thing can I do just because it might work?- it’s easier to manage.

We have so much lead time in publishing- instead of worrying about when your next revision letter comes, or when your copyedits will come, or when you’ll get news about the next step in the process- be the next step in the process.

I can do this. You can do this. Just say yes.

One of the most basic tools in your PR and marketing portfolio is your press kit. A press kit provides basic biographical information and information about your work, in an easily accessible kit for reviewers and journalists. It makes it easy for people to write about you- always a plus- and it saves work for you, because you can avoid collecting and providing the same information repeatedly- definitely a plus.

There are 5 basic elements in a press kit:

1) Your biography
2) Contact information
3) Your photo
4) A synopsis of your most current work
5) Representative art for your most current work

Biography

Your press kit biography is a chance to present and brand yourself as a particular kind of author. Ideally, you should include a short, medium, and long biography in your press kit- each serves a different purpose.

Short should be no more than 50 words, about what you’d put on a magazine byline. Medium can be about 150 words- ideal for reprinting on websites- use the bio that would be on your jacket flap as an example.

Long can be as long as you like, but one page single-spaced should be more than enough. No one will be reprinting this bio, but this is where you get to brand and present yourself. Include your professional successes, especially ones that you want to emphasize (bestseller status, awards, grants, fellows, MFAs, etc., etc., etc..)

But also include the personal information that makes you interesting- and that you don’t mind being asked about. Consider this document the base of every single profile and human interest story written about you. Hi, I’m Saundra Mitchell- I write books, but I also make paper! I’m a screenwriter, I’ve been a phone psychic, and I do radio shows about urban legends!

Present it in a voice that cultivates the image you want to portray of yourself. I’m a funny writer, I’m a literary writer, I’m an edgy writer- whatever. Take Meg Cabot’s writing vlogs for example– her voice is informative, but she doesn’t take herself at all seriously.

Once you have all three of your biographies written, compile them into a single document. At the top of the document, include your name, your e-mail address, and your URL. Don’t include your mailing address or your phone number, because you’re putting this on your website for any n00b to download.

Then, include your bios under these headers: SHORT BIO (WORD COUNT) MID BIO (WORD COUNT) and then just BIOGRAPHY (no word count required.) Don’t use special formatting (bold, italics, bullets, etc.,) and single-space.

You will want to provide this document (along with any others in the kit) in both Word .doc format, and plain TXT. It’s the standard showing of fealty to Bill Gates, because most people use Microsoft products whether they want to, but also a nod to the fact that some people like to use vi editor in UNIX.

One you have everything in your document, save it as a .doc . I don’t think there’s a single word processing program out there that doesn’t give you the ability to save cross-format into .doc (see abovementioned fealty to Gates,) but if you’ve managed to stumble across the only one that does, then have a friend convert it, and skip to the TXT instructions.

The reason we had no special formatting is because now you need to SAVE AS. Click on SAVE AS instead of SAVE. When you get the dialogue box that lets you put in a filename, keep the same filename (that way you don’t get confused later,) but select ASCII TXT (.txt) from the pulldown menu beneath it to save as text.

It will tell you that you are going to lose special formatting, but you can click okay with impunity because you don’t have any special formatting, right? Right!

Contact Information

No point in making a press kit if the press can’t find you! This is a simple document that should include:

Your name, your e-mail address, your URL: again, anyone can download this, and you don’t want whackadoos with your home address. If you have a PO Box for fan mail, go ahead and include that.

Then, include:

Your agent’s name, your agent’s company (if any,) and your agent’s e-mail address. Most people don’t need this information, but certain professional people will- namely, people interested in getting rights clearances for your work, people who want to acquire subsidiary rights, people who want blurbs, etc., etc..

Those folks would generally rather talk to your representation than to you, because all you can do is giggle wildly on the phone and go, “Seriously? You want to know if there are comic book rights left on my contract? WHEEEEEE!”

Don’t lie. You know it’s true.

Anyway, save this as a Word .doc and as ASCII TXT as well.

Your Photograph

Sorry guys. The media likes pictures, so you should include one in your press kit. It doesn’t have to be your official author photo, but if you’re like me, that’s the only photo you dare show the public.

Whichever photo you choose, you’ll want to include a high resolution (at least 1200X1200) version of the photo, suitable for being reprinted in newspapers and magazines.

Then, you’ll want to include a medium resolution version (around 300X400 or thereabouts) that people can use on their website. That’s large enough to let them add any frames or borders they might use for site consistency, or to resize as they need.

Finally, you need a thumbnail version (no bigger than 100X200, and a little smaller would be better.) This is suitable for use on forums, or in very short reviews or blurbs about your work.

Windows and Mac both have native image tools that will allow you to resize a large image file, or you can use online utilities like Shrink Pictures. I believe Flickr and Picasa will also resize for free.

Once you have all three photos, you’ll want to compress them so it doesn’t take 5 hours to download your press kit. Windows and Mac can both do this natively; just right click on your file name and choose compress/zip. You can also drag a file on top of a zip archive, and it will add that file to the archive.

Zip all three files into a single file called portraits.zip, so you can keep track of the file later.

——-Those are the three elements which comprise your base press kit. Your bio, contact info, and photo only change when you want them to, so you can carry them over for each press kit you make. Each? Buh? Yes, you’ll want to keep your press kit current with your career. And that’s why we move on to:

Synopsis of Your Current Work

It’s exactly that- a document that has your name, your e-mail address, and your URL on the header, and then the synopsis of your book. You can write a long or short one- I use one that’s slightly shorter than what would be on the jacket flap. That way, if people just want to print a blurb about the book, they can use it wholesale.

Again, this too should be saved in .doc and TXT format.

Cover Art

Like your author photo, you’ll want to provide your cover art in three resolutions, for the same reasons. Again, you want a large one (at least 1200X12000), a medium one (around 350X400) and a thumbnail (100X200 or smaller.) These are approximate resolutions- each file has its own dimensions, but as long as the first number is around the suggested size, the second number will adjust itself accordingly.

Again, zip these together into a single file, named something like coverart.zip

Compiling Your Press Kit

You will want to compile your press kit into two versions- high bandwidth and low bandwidth.

High Bandwidth: Include all of your files in this one. You should have your biography in .doc and TXT, your contact info in .doc and TXT, your synopsis in .doc and TXT, and two zip files: authorportrait.zip and coverart.zip

Collect all these files and zip them into a single file, called yourname-presskithb.zip . This is suitable for folks on DSL or better to download, which should be most journalists and reviewers.

Low Bandwidth: In this version, include only the document files, leave out the two image files. Even when the images are compressed into zip files of their own, they’re still pretty large, so we’re omitting them.

Zip these files together into a file named yourname-presskitlb.zip . This version of your press kit will download even if somebody’s still on a 7600 baud dial-up Internet connection (or if they don’t need your pictures, just your text. I won’t judge.)

Distributing Your Press Kit

You (or your webmaster) can upload both files to your server, and then create links directly to them. When someone clicks on a .zip link, they will download automatically. You can dump the press kit into a storage site like DropBox if you don’t have your own hosting.

You can also e-mail these press kits, although I would suggest asking if they need a photo before trying to send the high-bandwidth version out.

And that’s how you create your own press kit. Costs you nothing but time, but it’s a great tool to make available to journalists and reviewers. It makes their job easier, which makes you an appealing subject for consideration! Have fun, and happy compiling!

 

(Last updated July 11, 2018)