Talk to Your Local Bookstore:
· You ask them to carry copies of your book (some will order them from your printer while others may necessitate you buying the books to sell, keep that in mind).
· They’re a great place to ask about doing signings, leaving promotional materials like bookmarks and posters.
· A good place to find out about other authors in the area. They can also be a source of info about local promotional and networking opportunities like writer’s groups and artists’ gatherings that could net you great feedback and ways to get the word out.
Visit Your Local Library: Never underestimate the power of the library!
· Donate two copies (or more if they have a few branches and/or bookmobiles) to them for promotion, getting new readers and reviews.
· Set up signings, meet the author gatherings and if you have a relevant topic that locals might be interested in you can build a presentation that you can utilize to introduce yourself and your work to readers.
· You can also ask to leave bookmarks, flyers about signings and posters to promote your work.
· Talking to librarians (especially the ladies in charge of community gatherings and such at the library) and Friends of the Library programs and offering to take part in those library programs can earn you some recommendations from these folks, some Friends of the Library programs even buy books from authors that the library itself may not.
Talk to Newspapers, Radio Stations and Local Businesses: You may not always be successful in getting them interested in your promotion, but many of these services have no problem promoting local success stories and encouraging the area to buy local writer’s work. Here’s a few things to ask about:
· Interviews/Features: Radio stations and newspapers sometimes do promotions for area businesses and as I said before local success stories are a good way to fill empty air time and space in the paper. It never hurts to ask if your book or an author interview might be acceptable. If you do well enough it may lead to continuing interviews or features and opportunities. Be sure to tell that local bookstore about the feature and consider setting up a signing shortly after it so you can mention it during the feature to set both off and garner more interest. You can also mention you’ll do a blurb for the bookstore as a bonus bit of back-patting.
· Articles: Another way to get your name out there is through writing articles of interest to your area at the end of which you can write a one or two sentence blurb for your book. Even better if you can manage to cover a topic that relates to your book in some way or a regular column that does this too.
· Posting Flyers/Buying Ads: Putting an ad in the paper or on the radio is another way to promote your work. If you don’t have the cash for this (and most of us don’t) the other route would be making up flyers, bookmarks and other promotional materials and seeing if local businesses will allow you to post them somewhere in a window , on a bulletin board or some other high traffic area. This works best when you choose a place that caters to people who will be interested in your work. A zomb-poc author might do well at survivalist and gun shows or even a gun shop for instance. Romance authors might do well at ladies night out events or grocery stores.
Make Friends and Share Promotion Space:
· Go to Writer’s Groups: The more you know about what works in your own area the better and there’s a lot of writing info that can be gained from other authors as well. Go, network, absorb.
· Share a Signing/Interview/Ad Space: If you know other authors that work with your press or who share your genre this is a great way to save money and help each other out. It also means the combined effort can net you more ideas, more readers and somebody to entertain you while you wait for people to walk up to your table.
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