Book Promotion: Carousel Tides
Saturday, February 6th, 2010 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniAsyouknowBob, in November of this year, Sharon Lee will see her very first fantasy novel published by Baen. Nobody knows that they want this book, though of course, they do and they will, once its existence is made known to them. The trick is -- how to make it known. And, more importantly, how to make it known without pissing people off*.
What I'm doing here is soliciting ideas -- brainstorming if you will -- about ways to promote this novel. Ideally, these ways should be inexpensive of both (my) time and money. I know that I should probably build a website, but what sort of content would be useful to you -- yes, you! -- the reader who does want this book, and who will love it and hug it and call it Kate -- once you know about it?
What other things besides a website would be useful? What sways you as a reader, in search of new things to read? Tell all!
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*What recently pissed me off, for instance, is a recommendation I received on Goodreads, from a fellow Goodreads author -- for her book. Bad form, bad form. It might have been...not quite so annoying, if I had ever met this author or knew her from a bump on a stump. Maybe. No...probably not.
What I'm doing here is soliciting ideas -- brainstorming if you will -- about ways to promote this novel. Ideally, these ways should be inexpensive of both (my) time and money. I know that I should probably build a website, but what sort of content would be useful to you -- yes, you! -- the reader who does want this book, and who will love it and hug it and call it Kate -- once you know about it?
What other things besides a website would be useful? What sways you as a reader, in search of new things to read? Tell all!
-----
*What recently pissed me off, for instance, is a recommendation I received on Goodreads, from a fellow Goodreads author -- for her book. Bad form, bad form. It might have been...not quite so annoying, if I had ever met this author or knew her from a bump on a stump. Maybe. No...probably not.
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 01:24 am (UTC):)
Let the book speak for itself
Date: 2010-02-07 01:37 am (UTC)Nicole
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Date: 2010-02-07 01:43 am (UTC)Write an interview article for the NY Times and Boston Globe?
Isn't promotion of a new book the publisher's job?
Ignorance is bliss, I just buy what I already know I like, (e.i. you guys, murder mysteries, US History, World Culture...).
Good Luck!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 01:57 am (UTC)Is it out in e-ARC already? Do you twitter?
BSP* Ideas
Date: 2010-02-07 02:02 am (UTC)Is there an SF/F equivalent to the DorothyL List? If there is, that would be a good way to announce the availability of Carousel Tides to a wide, diverse audience.
Other techniques I've observed authors of mysteries using: guest blogging about the writing process, using the new book as an example; blog/web site describing the new book with possible sample chapters; and contests (prizes including ARCs, bookmarks, baskets, etc.).
Of course, you could always send all of use free copies - we'd promise to post reviews all over the web!
Mary
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 02:35 am (UTC)The publisher doesn't do it for them, anymore.
As to Ideas for your own promotion: you and Steve are not... unknown... among retailers. Would it be worth your while to create a colorful poster that could be sent to bookstores? One they could show on an easel somewhere in the store? I can see how this might be too expensive, though.
As to the website - I love websites. I do a lot of research and shopping online. But - do people google "new fantasy novels" when they want something new to read?
If they do, I don't know about it.
In short, how do folks, who otherwise are unfamiliar with your work (their undeniable loss), make their way to your website?
I'm afraid I do not know.
I suspect that when people are browsing for a new, unknown read... they either wander among the shelves at a bookstore or library, or they browse among the virtual shelves of Amazon. Some readers may browse other bookstore sites. But you need a way for your book to come up in their search. I'm afraid, that beyond meta tags, I'm clueless as to how this done.
I'm really curious about what Baen is doing for PR. Do they not promote even established authors?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 03:29 am (UTC)Find a couple other places to do the same sort of thing. You can say you're giving away x free copies, to celebrate the release , and tell your shills.. er, lucky winners that you picked THEM, because they clearly deserve it. Which is a hundred percent true, and since they are fans of yours, they won't mind in the least knowing they're helping you promote yourself, they'll be too excited over FREE BOOK, from the AUTHOR, who HANDPICKED *ME*. Whee! And they'll be overjoyed to tell everyone about it.
At least, it's a theory.
As for websites: a description of the book, and a picture of the cover, of course. Extra information is always cool. Author notes and or anecdotes, "This book was inspired by..." Worldbuilding extras. Research materials.
When I was hitting bunches of author websites trying to figure what to do for my own, I discovered I found pages full of "blurbs" all saying how wonderful the book/author was off-putting. So when I went to design my own website (pointless really, because I haven't sold a book yet, but I have fun mucking with it) I put my feedback "blurbs" (my current selection is mostly from betareaders, obviously) into a random quote widget along with quotes from the book, and various other bits and pieces. I thought that way one wouldn't have to waste any really good blurbs, but could avoid the page full of praise thingy.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 03:30 am (UTC)If This was Scalzi, I was planning on trying for the Big Idea. My notion was that there was stuff I could-or-ought-to-be-doing ahead of that, since The Big Idea wants at least an arc. And arcs aren't going to happen, if they happen, until, oh...September?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 03:31 am (UTC)It's pretty early for an eArc for a November book; I'd guess August/September.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 03:37 am (UTC)Baen does some advertising, and they send out arcs (which is a non-trivial expense) to reviewers. And they do the Baen Game at conventions, where they give away arcs and new books to the audience. Fledgling was part of the Amazon VINE program, which was done on Baen's dime. Now, that's what they've done for Lee and Miller, who aren't so much "established" as "old".
What they might be willing to do for a single-shot book from a "new" author, I don't know. Baen doesn't strike me as a complete "just throw it out there and see what happens" house, but there's surely a limit to their budget, and any additional help I can give my book will be to everyone's benefit.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 04:01 am (UTC)Many of those blogs hold giveaway drawings for ARCs, which seems to work well in exciting interest (competition is a powerful motivator; something about "well I could have won this but didn't darn it" seems to create a sense of deprivation with more sticking power than merely hearing about a book the proverbial Somewhere)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 04:10 am (UTC)To drum up readers on Baen's Bar, granted that is a captive audience you can do snippets of the book prior to the samples chapters. I do this for Ringo so he doesn't have to bother and other people do it for other writers as well on the bar and it would take the workload out of your hands.
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Date: 2010-02-07 04:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 04:56 am (UTC)I wouldn't be at all surprised if he gets more requests than he has space for.
Looking forward to the book!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 05:29 am (UTC)1. Free copy of older e-book on Kindle/Nook/iPad (often an author's first book in a series) get hooked on author and buy all the rest of their books. When Kindle offers free books as a promotion like this, it is usually for a limited time, from one week to 1 month, and it gets listed in the Kindle news.
2. Upcoming book release lists from places like Uncle Hugo's or my local Independent book shops.
3. Recommendations from friends on Goodreads or LJ, or GR friends add books to their read/to-read shelves.
4. Newspaper article.
5. Sponsor a webcomic for a day or a week, or every Wed. for a month. something like Unshelved (http://syndicated.livejournal.com/unshelved_comic/689779.html) which is read by a lot of librarians, who either order library books or make recommendations to the librarian who orders. Does Girl Genius do ads?
What I would like to see on a website:
Cover art is nice, back-of book blurb, a sample chapter or other multi-page excerpt. To be honest I read SF and am not so fond of fantasy so I'd really like to read a sample or chapter to see if I'll like it.
I would also suggest adding an entry for Carousel Tides at GoodReads and Librarything and any other book tracking sites, NOW, so that people can add it to their To-Read shelves. They will find it when they look for your books, or when they . That in turn shows up in their updates to their friends, etc.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 05:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 08:20 am (UTC)Other options - crash tackling the Pope whilst waving a copy of the book might be interesting?
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Date: 2010-02-07 12:55 pm (UTC)Willing to help
Date: 2010-02-07 03:28 pm (UTC)Word of mouth is always the best promotional tool and I'll tell all my friends who will then tell their friends but any other suggestions you come up with will be welcome. The goal here is for you and Steve to make enough money in royalties from all sources for you to be able to quit the day job and just WRITE. Of course that also presupposes that we get some sort of viable affordable health care insurance plan so that the day job is no longer a medical insurance as well as a financial necessity!
Anne in frozen Virginia...we have our own ice cap growing nicely here
Re: Willing to help
Date: 2010-02-07 05:27 pm (UTC)Baen has advertised the books we've done with them so far in Locus, as house promo. We'd talked about advertising Mouse and Dragon in RomanticTimes (since it's the sequel to RomanticTimes Reviewers Choice Winner, Scout's Progress), but came up against the issue of budget - which is Perfectly Valid. We ran ads for several of our Meisha Merlin books in RomanticTimes and they were Beyond Hideously Expensive. And that was with us catching a break because we here at the Confusion Factory can lay out an ad, thanks, and didn't need to have RT do it for us.
Somebody up-thread had mentioned going through Project Wonderful to put ads over sympatico web comics, which is something I should look into. And I also need to get with WBLM, which is a real radio station out of Portland, and which appears several times in Carousel Tides, one of the characters being a Classic Rock freak, and generate a little local buzz there. I'd talk to the Chamber of Commerce of the town Archer's Beach is based on, but I don't think they'd get it :)
The goal here is for you and Steve to make enough money in royalties from all sources for you to be able to quit the day job and just WRITE.
That would be the plan. Alas, we lost a lot of momentum when Meisha Merlin crashed and burned, and it takes a long while to rebuild that. To give you an idea of the inertia that is publishing -- we just this month saw our first royalty statement for Duainfey, which came out in hardcover in September 2008, for the period ending June 2009.
If our career dies again (avert), we probably won't be able to resurrect it again, given the length of time involved.
frozen Virginia...we have our own ice cap growing nicely here
Has it stopped snowing?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 05:33 pm (UTC)Girl Genius is...a member?... of Project Wonderful, which is an advertising service. I'm not certain that Agatha's fans are necessarily future Kate fans, but! There are other comics that might fit well.
Promoting a book through Unshelved is fairly expensive (to an author on a shoestring).
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 05:37 pm (UTC)I recommend snippets on Baen's Bar and maybe livejournal.
Other ideas - mentioned above mostly: Scalzi's big idea. Doing a blog tour on the blogs of authors that you like. Asking other authors to please recommend it on their blog (put up a simple order here banner and link to Amazon or whoever).
Reviews??
Date: 2010-02-07 06:02 pm (UTC)Mary
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Date: 2010-02-07 06:09 pm (UTC)Google "Sharon Lee homepage" should point to a webpage clearly labeled as your homepage. It takes me to korval.com, which is a start. But not all your books are about Korval. And let's say I fell in love with _Barnburner_ and I'm looking for more. I might not have a clue that korval.com is really you. If I were a published author, I'd buy the site, my_name.com.
On said homepage, I want:
Bio including a recent photo of you. (I don't know why I like to know what you look like, but I do!)
Up-comming Events
Bibliography with links to purchase everything in print.
One thing that I've seen authors do with some degree of success is to offer a contest on their blog, offering free book(s) to people who request the new title at their local library. If the libraries buy your book, lots of people will see it.
Adrianne
Re: Reviews??
Date: 2010-02-07 06:19 pm (UTC)RT has in the past reviewed Lee and Miller books -- Scout's Progress even took an RT Reviewers Choice award.
Re: Willing to help
Date: 2010-02-07 07:17 pm (UTC)Adrianne had an excellent idea about having your own dedicated web site using your own name. I do Google authors I have heard of and do go to their websites to check out what books they have written and what's forthcoming. If even I, who am grossly technology challenged, can Google an author's name for information, I would suspect that would be something both you and Steve should check into. You could highlight and promote non-Liaden books and then cross-pollinate to lead the searching reader to the Korval site and SRM site as well. Win-win as they say.
Anne in STILL frozen Virginia, but at least my driveway is plowed out!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 07:39 pm (UTC)Alternative ideas
Date: 2010-02-07 07:51 pm (UTC)Book Trailer - a little mini-video put out on Youtube, which one
can link to in reviews, press releases, etc, etc. If you put a kid
or an intern on this, it's relatively painless/costless.
Facebook - which is free - put an account out for the character and
update once a week (ish) with links to the trailer/webpage/other
stuff.
Podcast - put out the first N chapters where N is the number of
chapters required to 'hook' the reader. I have see this as
effective for Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine, JC Hutchins and PG
Holyfield. This podcast can be stashed on a website/facebook page.
Twitter - but in the character of the protagonist. Or maybe the
antagonist. Link to the book trailer/facebook/website, etc. This
is free but expensive in that you should tweet EVERY DAY. Maybe
once a day?
Get as many reviews as possible - Big Idea is good, so is Locus,
any of your friendly Cons/friends that have blogs, etc. We can
try to get it on the IndieNext list but we need the ARCs sent out
via IndieBound, I think.
ARCs - have you investigated whether it's possible to put out your
own ARCs by printing them on Lulu or something? Or is that a no-no
under your contract?
Lauretta@ConstelaltionBooks
Regarding Fledging
Date: 2010-02-07 08:11 pm (UTC)Reisterstown Library. HOWEVER. With it coming out in pb shortly, I
can (and will) put in a bid to get it on the IndieNext list. They
aren't full reviews, they're blurbs, but they go out to all the
IndieBound bookstores.
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks
Re: Alternative ideas
Date: 2010-02-07 08:15 pm (UTC)*wonders where to find a kid intern*
The Twitter idea is very likely a good one, but I'm not gonna. This is Me (well, OK, actually it's Kate, too, who would rather spit in your eye and dump you into the next universe over rather than tweet); I really am an introvert, and Facebook is 'way, 'way too noisy for me to put up with on a regular basis. Twitter just sounds like...hell.
Podcast also a good idea, but I'm pretty sure Baen has audio rights, so I'd have to check to see if I'd be violating contract.
Get as many reviews as possible - Big Idea is good, so is Locus, any of your friendly Cons/friends that have blogs, etc. We can try to get it on the IndieNext list but we need the ARCs sent out
via IndieBound, I think.
Can you get me the IndieBound info/contact? I can pass it on to Baen.
Printing and mailing my own ARCS is, alas, gonna be out of budget.
Re: Alternative ideas
Date: 2010-02-07 08:41 pm (UTC)who are interested in writing or journalism? Or marketing? The
opportunity for Real Work experience, even if they don't get paid
(or get paid in a book copy) might be enough.
Yeah, twitter is an acquired taste. It seems to hit the 20-60 year
olds. Facebook is a wider range. The authors I know who use them
most effectively do it in the 'voice' of the character.
Baen might be OK with the Podcast as long as it's less than or
equal to the number of chapters they release on-line.
The Baen folks should be pointed to
http://www.bookweb.org/pubpartner/resources.html
It has a FAQ and everything...
Lauretta
Self Promotion
Date: 2010-02-07 10:42 pm (UTC)Barbara in Texas
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 01:26 am (UTC)Melvyn
Re: Self Promotion
Date: 2010-02-08 11:42 am (UTC)I do believe, for example, that if you go to the SFWA site you'll find some promo stuff ... http://www.sfwa.org/ (note .. .as I went to check that the link worked, up came Duainfey as a featured book...)
and then there's:
http://sfnovelists.com/
hmmm....
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 03:05 pm (UTC)http://photo.stamps.com/Store/learn-more/
"From logos to product introductions, special events to memorable corporate gifts, PhotoStamps will build your brand with every piece of mail you send. PhotoStamps from Stamps.com are valid U.S. Postage, based on a technology called PC Postage. Stamps.com, the company behind PhotoStamps, has been a United States Postal Service approved provider of PC postage since 1999... To date, over 45 million PhotoStamps have been sold!"
Cathy
no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 03:14 pm (UTC)Difficulty - putting up pictures of carousels, properly trimmed and formatted.
Reward - lots of traffic
Solution - volunteer webmaster for this site?
Alas, the National Carousel Association's page is regrettably lacking in the locations of some known carousels.
Re: Alternative ideas
Date: 2010-02-15 04:55 am (UTC)