Mystery authors have mantras for the tools they use to
market their books. At Killer Nashville 2010, five authors on the panel
"Lightning in a Bottle: Marketing and Promotion" shared their mantras
with the audience.
- Sunny Frazier: Embrace marketing. Learn to love it.
Start marketing when you first write the book.
Susan Whitfield: A professional online presence is
crucial.- Rick Robinson: Does it push people to make a
purchase? - Steven Womack: What really works?
- Matthew Funk: Reverse-engineer your career. Look at
what the author you most resemble is doing. Try to replicate that.
L – R Sunny Frazier, Susan Whitfield, Rick Robinson,
Steven Womack, and Matthew Funk.
How do these authors use social networking?
- Frazier promotes her work with the help of what she calls a
"posse." In addition to using her web site as a promotion tool, she
markets on 35 sites such as book blogs. The site owners generate traffic and
awareness for each other. - Whitfield interviews authors by the hundreds on her blog.
The authors get exposure, and she gets traffic (thus exposure). - Robinson is partial to Facebook and suggests that authors who
have at least 300 friends on a regular page switch to a Fan page. The Fan
page allows authors to generate pay-per-click ads for their works. Also, many
bookstores have a Facebook presence. He encourages authors to
"friend" bookstores. - Womack is skeptical that a Facebook presence really translates
into sales. - Funk advises authors to promote the work of peers far more
than their own work. The concept of creating a core group of supporters who
assist each other and raise awareness for each other's work appeals to him.
What's your marketing mantra? What social networking tools
work for you?
Welcome to the posse! Someone was taking notes in the audience.
Loved meeting you and I’m glad the panel was a help.
I agree with Sunny you have to start marketing before you have even finalized your project. If you don’t get the word out be it on Facebook or Twitter no one else will.
Hi Sunny, thanks for stopping by my blog. I scribbled lots of notes at the panel. Hearing the different approaches that the five of you take toward promotion was quite interesting. We really do have to select the promotion mix with which we’re the most comfortable.
Jack, one creative way I see writers generating pre-publication buzz about themselves is by blogging on a regular basis. When done professionally, this establishes a writer’s credibility and shows the writer’s platform.
As a member of Sunny’s posse, I follow a lot of her promotion suggestions, and believe that however you accomplish it, writers today need an online presence. This is particularly true of writers with indie publishers, because most of our books are not as readily available in stores as they are online.
Readers comfortable with the internet and who spend a lot of time online are more likely to order a book online. This is my audience, and I have to find a way to reach them.
Hi Holli! Thanks for stopping in. Yes, it’s a haul for those of us with indie publishers.
One issue we face is a lack of reviews. Many libraries base purchase decisions on what big reviewers such as Library Journal say. If LJ doesn’t review your book, you’re invisible.
Isn’t it amazing how many publishers still don’t get it about the value of releasing books in eBook format?