Guerilla Marketing: Thinking outside the box to promote your book

By Marilyn Baron

Okay. You’re finally published, whether through the traditional or indie publishing route. If you don’t have a publicist or an army of marketers from your publishing company at your disposal, you’re on your own. Your book is up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords, or in a brick and mortar store, but unless you build an audience or generate buzz, they won’t come.

You’ve peddled the book to your friends and family and anyone else who will listen, but that’s not enough to boost sales beyond an initial influx. What’s an author to do?

Turn to your book for the answers. And think outside the box. At the risk of being accused of shameless promotion, I’m going to use my own new novel, The Edger, as an example.

Location. Location. Location.

First, write a press release and send it to your local newspaper(s). For example, you can begin with Roswell author announces the release of her debut novel, The Edger. The better job you can do writing the release, including quotes from you, tailoring it with specific, salient points local readers would be interested in, the more likely an editor is to use it. Sometimes, the newspaper will publish your release without calling you. Sometimes, you’ll get an interview call. That way, people outside your circle of friends will have an opportunity to find out about the book. Send a JPEG image of the book cover and an author photo with the release.  Make sure you include a paragraph describing the book, identify the genre and provide some background about yourself and your writing credentials—awards and other books or stories you have written—and BUY links to the book. Don’t forget to include your contact information in case a reporter wants to make a follow-up call.
I was successful with the local Roswell papers and the release I submitted to my sister and coauthor’s hometown newspaper.

Next, I sent a release tailored to my alumni association magazine touting the fact that my sister and I are both alumnae of University of Florida.

If your book features a character that knits, send a release to a knitting magazine. If it’s about a chef, place an article in a cooking magazine. There are endless possibilities. The Edger featured two artists as the main characters so one idea would be to send a news release to an art magazine.

Spread the news on social networking platforms

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Have friends retweet your message for maximum coverage. Blog about the book on your own blog or offer to guest blog on someone else’s blog. Go on a blog tour. There’s a lot of good information about social networking and promoting your book in a blog I wrote for Savvy Authors when I interviewed Barbara Vey and Dianna Love.

Are there any recurring themes used throughout the book? In my case, homelessness, unemployment, cheating husbands, art, and the fact that my hero and heroine are older than the typical 20- to-30-somethings.

I’m not aware of any national publications that focus on cheating husbands, but I did submit a release to AARP – The Magazine – which has a huge circulation, with the headline, “Who Says 50 Can’t Be Sexy?” I don’t know if they will use it, but it’s worth a try.  I also tried the Huffington Post’s HUFF/POST50. I will research a national publication that discusses homelessness.

My book mentions Bloomingdale’s department store a lot. I emailed the manager of my local Bloomie’s to see if he’d be interested in a cross-promotion.

Anything unusual about your novel?

In our case, I included the fact that The Edger was co-written with my sister, Sharon Goldman and that our book included illustrations by Sharon, an award-winning artist in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Rave Reviews.

Ask your friends to review the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and Goodreads. The more good reviews the better. And don’t be afraid to ask for a 5-star review if they like the book. A book can live and die on reviews. Anything less than 5 stars will sink the book’s overall rating. And when you get a great review, Tweet about it and mention it on Facebook.

Every time our book got into a newspaper, my sister called me up and said, “You’re the Man.” Well, I’ve got news for you. Being the man is exhausting. Let me warn you, marketing will take its toll on you at the expense of your writing time. However, if you don’t market, you won’t sell the book. Once you stop, you’ll see your sales drop.

Some authors print custom bookmarks and hand them out. Business cards with the book cover and BUY links can also work. Or you can print color flyers. But don’t overspend or you’ll likely eat up your profits.

Offer to speak at your local library or a local bookstore if your book is in hardcover format. I walked into my library right after an article about our book appeared in the local paper and the librarians came rushing up to me. “Was that you in the paper? I told so and so that was our patron in the newspaper.” Are you in a book club? Perhaps your book club would want to discuss your book?

At the very minimum, send an announcement to your friends and ask them to help you spread the word. Include the cover art and provide the buy links to the book.

I wrote a message for one of my nieces to send out asking my nieces and nephews to form a cousins’ guerilla marketing team.

MISSION POSSIBLE

Aunt Marilyn and Aunt Sharon have just released a new novel called The Edger. This novel is dedicated to the memory of Grandpa George. Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to form a cousin’s guerilla marketing team to spread the word with “word-of-mouth” marketing. We’ve attached a flyer to send out to our friends and acquaintances encouraging them to buy the novel and letting them know where they can get it.  

Ask your kids to put it on their Facebook pages. My daughters have a lot more friends on Facebook than I could ever hope to have.

No one is Safe

My brother-in-law sent out this letter to his friends.

Friends and Family,

 Many of you know that Sharon and her sister have been working on a book for the last year and a half. Well, it’s done and no one is safe! Check out the attachment and enjoy the read, just don’t forget that it is fiction! Nothing about the husband is even remotely like me.  Oh, and the twins say they aren’t in the book either.

 He forgot to mention that their rabbit (which looks a lot like Joplin, the rabbit in The Edger, isn’t in the book either).

Here’s some wonderful marketing advice from author James Swain:

• In the Product Description, make sure the reader has a clear understanding of what genre the book falls into. This will help sell the book to future readers.
• You need customer reviews. I’d suggest gifting the book to 15 friends and asking them to read and review. You will get most of your money back from Amazon through the royalty program.
• What categories have you listed the book under? Try to pick categories where you won’t be competing against top writers. Here’s an example. I epublished a book called Wild Card. One of the categories I listed it under was Historical Mystery. I saw that there weren’t many books under this category, and I also saw that Amazon had a Bestseller List devoted to this category (1-100). Many people buy based on these Bestseller Lists, and sure enough, Wild Card got on the Historical Mystery Bestseller List last October, and has been on it most of the time since. You only have to sell 7-10 copies in a day to get your book on some of these lists. Once you get on, you’ll often stay on.
• Last piece of advice. When you e-mail your friends to tell them about the book, stagger the e-mails over a period of a week. A good percentage of your friends will buy the book, and hopefully put your book on a Bestseller List. By staggering your mailing, you’ll ensure that your book stays on the list, which will help sales.

There’s so much more to say about marketing; this blog just scratches the surface. Good luck and feel free to ask questions in the comments section or offer your own marketing advice. One commenter will win a free eBook copy of The Edger.

The Edger is available at Amazon Kindle ASIN: B006Y3P12Y

Barnes & Noble Nook Books and

Smashwords.