Let's begin with timing.I always hear folks asking when the best time is to start marketing. Ideally, it's a year out, but who writes a book and waits a year to publish it nowadays? Not me.
You can start six months out, three months out, or one month out, depending on what kind of traffic you're wanting to get.
A six month plan would include teasers and things being shared that far out first. Get people excited about the release so they're foaming at the mouth by the time the book hits the shelves.
My last successful Facebook event, and my bestselling book on release, was planned six months before the book went live. I had over 1k attendees, and a ton of interaction leading up to the release day. It was a LOT of work, but the results were well worth it.
Will I ever start that far out again? I'm not sure. I think a lot of folks were weary of hearing about the book by the time it went live. Do what works best for you. You'll have to test things, play around with dates, and dive in head-first if you want to see results. A failure is just a learning opportunity, after all.
ARC reviewers.
Start looking for them at least three months out, and deliver the book at least a month (some prefer two) ahead of time. They need those hours to get your book read. Why? Well, they have lives, too.
A gentle reminder sent two weeks out is best for getting follow-through.
Sign up more of these than you need reviews. Not everyone will do what they say.
Protect yourself! I give some handy hints on how to nail a pirate here.
Finding your audience.
Let's be honest, my horror and thriller books have a MUCH different audience than my historical fiction or fantasy novels. While some may cross over, chances are most of them won't. I've found my target thriller audience, and I love them to pieces. None of them read other genres. So, where the folks who read erotica hang out, you likely won't have good luck with a gory horror novel.
Where are they hiding? Keep looking. You'll find them!
Cross promotion.
This goes hand-in-hand with the item directly above. Find authors who write in the same genre to do this with. Backmatter inclusions in a YA sci-fi novel of your NA contemporary romance won't do jack. Ask those authors in your genre to also share your stuff on their pages.
RETURN THE FAVOR. Put their previews in YOUR book and share on YOUR page, too. I cannot stress this enough. Be sure and get it all out there a good month in advance.
Now that you have all the things you need to think about, make a list. Start however far out you want, but remember to include tasks and dates for each of the above. Don't rely on social media alone. Go where the readers of your genre are and interact (organically--not just "buy my book" posts).
A sound marketing plan might look like this (you should've already found your readers by this point):
24 Weeks out -
- Schedule author interviews with blogs
- Start posting to social media about what's coming
- Blog about writing the book
- Schedule Facebook party
- Make a landing page for the book on your website
- Finalize list of bloggers willing to help (yeah, they schedule way ahead of time)
- Add the book to Goodreads with a release date
- Find ARC reviewers
- Have cover designed
- Order swag and vehicle imagery (I drive around ATL with huge magnets on my car)
- Contact radio station and local papers
- Contact authors in your genre willing to swap materials
- Send book to ARC reviewers
- Send book to editor
- Schedule other marketing venues (I love NetGalley)
- Prep posts and send HTML to bloggers
- Get book formatted and print book ready to upload
Keep up with this stuff in something like Asana, so you get emails to remind you what's about to happen or what needs doing. I wrote a post on navigating that platform here.
What do you think? Have anything to add? Questions?
Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!
Jo
