Many of you have asked questions about using social media, Twitter, Facebook and other internet media for creating a powerful author platform and/or publicizing your book successfully.
My friends at Phenix and Phenix Literary Publicists have agreed to guest blog all of next week. These won’t be your typical blog posts, but more like a course:
- Detailed information on various aspects of book publicity
- Quizzes, tip lists and articles for each blog post
- Get your questions answered by posting them in comments
Subjects include:
- Why publicity is important
- How to develop your publicity and platform before you even write or publish your book–and how that can set a foundation for great book sales
- How to develop a PR and platform building strategy
- How the publicity process works
- What goes into a press kit
- How to present yourself on the air (TV and radio)
- How to get invited back after an interview
- How to leverage the internet for PR
- How social media can support buzz for your book–and how not to alienate people by misusing this medium
Please join us all week long for what promises to be a fabulous learning opportunity for any aspiring or published author.
I won’t be available to hop in on this, but I would sure appreciate it if it were possible to get a hard copy of this material. Could you send it to me as an attachment to my email, or are you going to post it on your blog at some future time? I hate to miss such good teaching on a subject so important to authors.
Thanks for any help on this subject.
Sincerely,
Paulette Harris
Please sign me up for this course. Thanks!
Lorena,
Just check at the blog each day and ask your questions as comments. Even better would be to enter your e-mail in the corner of the blog and it will give you an update as soon as a new post is posted.
Each blog entry will include links to quizzes, tip lists, additional articles and more.
Paulette,
You can just come back to the blog when you are ready. Look for publicity week or Feb. 2 posting and go from there.
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Amy Deardon led me here, and it sounds like a terrific series. I look forward to reading and learning.
Thanks!
This blog course sounds very interesting. I will check in each day and participate in the discussion. I hope others do too because it is helpful to see what other authors are thinking about.
How important is a platform for a fiction writer?
I am very excited about this–it sounds as though it will be invaluable. I would like to post a link in my own blog (of very small readership), but didn’t want to without permission–do you mind if I do that?
I also wanted to let you know that I am really enjoying previous entries in your blog as well. They are informative as well as interesting enough to keep my attention around the kids!
Brandie
Jude,
That’s a great question. My specialty is nonfiction and how-to where platform reigns. Platform certainly helps even with fiction, but it’s not as key an ingredient–if a publisher loves a work of fiction and thinks it’s highly marketable, they may be willing to take on a new author without platform. However, developing a platform can only help your cause. I’m going to also ask a few colleagues in fiction to weigh in on this question to get you a more complete answer.
Lisa
Hi, Lisa–
I’m all subscribed and ready to go. This series sounds invaluable and I can’t wait! (Are we sure presenting ourselves on television/radio is strictly required? Can’t we just wave from a distance and leave our books behind? Maybe? ;))
Thanks for offering all of this information!
Laurie
Lisa,
I am greatly encouraged in my writing since I discovered the support for publishing that you offer. My husband and I attended your free mini workshop at All That Matters in Wakefield and he keeps giving me the Universal Greeting: (you know) Swish-Swish!!!
I have decided to attend your Sunday (Feb. 1)workshop to learn more about platforms and other methods of gaining publicity. Chris Keegan, a copy editor for The Westerly Sun edited my book and I am working on those corrections now.
I look forward to learning more about how to take the next steps from your blog. Thanks.
Lisa:
Angie Breidenbach told me about your upcoming Book Publicity Course. Please sign me up. My first book will soon be published and I’m anxious to learn all that I can. Thank you for this great opportunity!
RE Hand
Laurie,
So many new authors share your trepidation over TV appearances. Don’t worry–you can start little by little–start on cable shoes until you get comfortable. Many publicists also offer media training (in fact, I know that at Phenix & Phenix it’s part of the package for all their authors). You can even have friends interview and videotape you to begin.
As you get more comfortable, it will all come together. One of my clients, Pat Hastings, author of Simply a Woman of Faith, recently told me how much she had dreaded having to “market” her book. She confided that marketing has become her new passion–she loves spreading her message of Faith and reaching so many people. She won an annual award for an interview of a local cable show (one of her first) and continues to open herself to new opportunities.
For me, TV interviews got more fun the more experience I had and the more confident I grew. You may surprise yourself!