Self-Planning for Self-Promotion: A Book Marketing without B.S. Web Workshop

I am doing an in-depth online workshop on self-promotion for all authors and comic creators. This isn't just for the self-published, either. If you're published by any house, big or small, you know how much work falls to you for your own book marketing and publicity. In fact, it's telling that my clients primarily fall in the small-to-medium publisher category, with the next largest being major publishing houses. (And yes, I have a few self-published/owner-created comics clients, too!)

Right now there are two dates: Thursday, March 27th at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and Sunday, April 13th at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (get those tickets here). I will do this again a few times a year as long as there is interest, so if you miss these, let me know what time is good for you and I will take that into consideration when I schedule the next one. (Also, if you can gather 6 or more people interested in the workshop, I'll create another event at a time chosen by your group.)

Here is a tentative course outline:

• Pre-Planning
• Honestly determine your strengths and capabilities
• Choose the right tools for you
• CreateSpace and other print-on-demand vs. traditional printing vs. ebook-only
• Decide whether to create a business entity or publish under your own name
• First Steps
• Plan and Outline
• How far in advance to send review requests?
• How far in advance to hire help if you are going to?
• How to get blurbs?
• Publicity: interviews, guest blogging
• What about traditional media?
• One-sheets for mailed books
• Book trailers and other video
• Details
• How many and what type of targets?
• Get your data right here!
• Review copies: physical vs. electronic
• Keep consistent, good records
• What does return on investment mean in this context?
• Social media: tips, tricks, and useful apps
• Obstacles
• Toughening up to criticism--or how to cope if you can't
• Connections and networking: more important than you think
• Growing too fast: slow follower growth is GOOD
• The importance of honest people
• Self-publishing and industry respect
• Q&A

This should all take between 90 minutes and two hours, depending on how many questions there are--and please do bring questions! Also, feel free to email me questions ahead of time if you don't see them addressed in the outline and I'll do my best to work them into the material.

Buy tickets here:

• Thursday, March 27th at 7 p.m. Eastern Time
• Sunday, April 13th at 1 p.m. Eastern Time

I look forward to meeting with you soon!

How Far in Advance to Hire a Publicist and a Book Marketing Plan Timeline: Book Marketing without B.S. #4

Book Marketing without B.S. is a weekly publicity and marketing advice column for writers and other creators who prefer a realistic, clear, and no-nonsense approach. My goal is to help you cut through the bullshit with direct, understandable advice you won't be embarrassed to follow. Send your questions to beverly@beverlybambury.com.

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Today brings another pair of related questions. The first is "How long before my book comes out should I hire a publicist?"

It depends to a certain degree what you're looking for and on how in-demand the publicist is. My business is relatively young, so six months is plenty of lead time for me, and I can absolutely work with much less if required. I've even done emergency publicity!

Ideally, for prose novels, pre-work work for publicity should start anywhere from 4-6 months before release (for long lead-time review spots such as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Library Journal). It is helpful to give your publicist plenty of time before that to plan and, if necessary, work with your publisher. Graphic novels and comics can work with a bit less lead time.

While this represents the ideal, it's possible to do good work with much less time, too. Just bear in mind that for the biggest and busiest review spots that if you don't give them at least a few months you aren't likely to get reviewed. Other than that, 1-3 months is plenty for most reviewers and for setting up a lot of your publicity.

What if you try it yourself and suddenly realize, right before (or right after) release that you want some help after all? You can get help at the last minute, too, but it's important to understand that many major spots won't accept books that are either close to or post-release. Many excellent reviewers and sites will; however, so all is not lost. Just realize that you're not going to get The New York Times from a book that is already released. Not even John Scalzi's Big Idea, for that matter.

So for you TL;DR types: the best time to contact a publicist (at least for this publicist) is 5-6 months before release, but anything can work (even post-release books) as long as what you expect from your results is realistic.

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The next question is "What timeline should I use to plan my book marketing?"

As  I mentioned above, if your book is eligible to be reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Book Slut, and other long lead-time publications., then send those review copies/galleys out 4-6 months before release date. Send these with a one-sheet, which is important to include with mailed copies.

For the rest, you'll query. (Unless they say it is OK to send a book, of course, then you send the book with a one-sheet or via email/NetGalley, depending on the reviewer's preferences.) A query is just seeing if a blogger or reviewer wants to look at the book and of course an offer to send one. As far as the timing, my assumption is that you've read other websites' and publications' and bloggers' review and publicity submission guidelines. If you have, you'll know how to stagger the rest of the schedule. Some will need to go out 3-5 months, some 1-3 months, some 5-6 weeks. This is one of the more time-consuming things: finding the right targets and making sure that you have them scheduled correctly. Don't be shy about writing these down in order or using an electronic calendar to keep track. 

Make sure that as you query--particularly blogs and media you know accept guest posts and do interviews--ask for what you want from that site. Something along the lines of "If you like the idea or the book enough, I'd love the chance to do a guest blog post for you. I can do it on (sample topic 1) or (sample topic 2), or if you have something you'd like to hear about, I'll gladly write that instead."

2-4 months before release: if you want to set up book signings or readings, now is the time. Note that very popular reading series, such as KGB, may require 6-7 months of lead time. 

3 weeks to release date: handle your correspondence and write guest blog posts as required. If you have an interview or need to finalize any in-person events, make sure you have what you need. If you do book signings/talks, then you'll want a poster of some kind to take with you.

What about those queries? Once it's been 2-3 weeks, it is OK to follow up with people to whom you have sent QUERIES. If you've already sent an actual book (often those long lead time publications from above,) then don't follow up. While we're at it, if you ever send a press release (and usually you do not send those for books,) don't follow up on those, either. Anyway, queries you can follow up, but they should be super polite and low pressure. 

At release time and after: make sure you're meeting your deadlines and following through on commitments. If you get a good review or a guest blog or an interview, share it. Share when your book is released, too. Anything like that is fine. A bit more often on Twitter than on Facebook. Don't forget though: if all you do is push your books, people will stop listening to you.

You may also find it helpful to revisit 5 No-BS Twitter Tips for Authors and 5 Steps to a Quality Blog Tour. 

Anyhow: this is a very rough and basic guideline. Each project will have to be planned based on its own requirements and based the resources of you and your publisher. As always, let me know if you have any questions about your situation.

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That's all for this week. Keep an eye out for the first of the semi-regular calls for submission columns. 

Keep those questions coming, and sign up to get my posts sent directly to your email by clicking here. Thanks for all the support!

The Secret to Contacting Traditional Media for Book Publicity

I haven't contacted as many traditional media outlets as I have websites and bloggers for publicity--if for no other reason than traditional media is on a decline or integrating with online media--but, as it turns out, the secret is that there isn't much of a secret. It still remains connections, politeness, reading directions, and being an all-around good human being.

I go into some of this in my earlier article 5 Steps to a Quality Blog Tour, but here is more info with an eye toward bigger sites/traditional media publicity queries.

Connections
The main difference I've found with my work is that personal connections and networking count for even more with bigger publications, print, television, or otherwise. It's not impossible to get into a major spot without connections; but it's much, much harder. I had a campaign recently that didn't go as well as I'd have liked, because it was outside of my usual industry and I had almost no connections. I got some traction, but it wasn't even close to my usual success rate.

Politeness
I am sad I even have to say this, but horror stories I hear time and time again show me it's still necessary. Say please. Say thank you. Don't be a jerk. Related to politeness:

Empathy
You're hoping for the best, naturally. You may even feel a lot of stress because you put so much of yourself (time and money) into your project. Those are all real and valid things and it's OK to feel them. What you mustn't lose sight of is that each of the people you're querying are also human beings with lives, hectic jobs--and often more than one of those. They are really busy, and you are not even close to the only person querying, so be patient and remember that everyone else's world doesn't revolve around you and your creation, even when you wish it were so.

RTFM
If you don't know what RTFM is, go to Google. I'll wait. For those of us who do know, though, you'll get it. Most places have submission or query guidelines, or at least a note about whether they are even open to hearing from you. Please follow the instructions. If you can't find instructions, they have enough content and aren't specifically looking for more. This is where your connections and networking come in.

Following Up Appropriately
Following up is a tricky one. I see conflicting info out there, but I think it's safe to say that if you send one query and you don't hear back for two to three weeks, it's OK to send a very brief follow-up, but don't send any more if you don't hear back.

An example of a brief follow up might be just asking if a (solicited or accepted post-query!) review copy was received. Don't ask when the review is happening, or if it's happening. That's up to them, not you.

Note: if you send a press release or an unsolicited review copy, don't follow up. With the advice above, I am only talking about emailed queries asking for publicity or asking permission to send a review copy.

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Creators/authors: any experiences or tips that you want to share?

Journalists/bloggers: any thoughts on the way you prefer to be approached--especially with regard to following up?

I'd love to hear from you. You can post in the comments or contact me.

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Also, coming soon, my new column about marketing your book, comic, movie, and (of course) yourself.