Market Your Work - podcast

Marketing a book event takes effort and a range of materials. Author Doris Washington shares the essentials, including bookmarks, business cards, a website, print flyers and working with local businesses to promote your event. Washington advises authors to dedicate time to brainstorm the message and craft eye-catching materials.
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  • I am sorry. I did not mean to post offensive comment because it was not, and I do not know what offensive comment is about.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Hi Joanne -- that's great news! I'm so glad you are going to be able to have a book event (or two or three!) and I think it's wonderful that you will work with your hospital to sell it in their shop. That is a great example of how to get started... with people we know, with local and regional outlets, and with specialty and non-traditional bookstores. And it is a great example of how to move beyond the book as your product. If your oncologist is asking for a poster then others may want one too. So find an outlet for creating posters, cards, magnets, etc.. with your inspirational poems on them... and sell those items from your website. You can also use them as a great give away on your social sites... maybe have a twitter contest or a FB contest and the winner gets a bookmark and a deck of inspirational cards based on your poems. You can totally do this!
  • Hi Gypsy Spirit, Thank you. Good news was able to afford a smaller number of books so will be able to do an event. Love your other ideas and will look into them. Have spoken with the gift shop in the hospital where I work. They have promoted and sold books for other employees so this is a possibility. My oncologist is asking permission to use one of the poems for a large poster to be placed in the lobby of the cancer center, so am sure this will also help with marketing. Your thoughts and expertise is very much appreciated. Thank you.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Hi Joanne -- Book signings are only one way to market yourself. There are tons of other things you can do. So I'll skip over any kind of author event (signings, readings, workshops) because all of those would benefit from or require you having books to sell. Since you can't order your books right now, focus on the kind of marketing that doesn't require you to have book pre-printed. You might consider a blog tour, trying to get a radio interview at your local station, tapping into social media with twitter or facebook to help build your brand, or even creating a homemade video that you can put on YouTube. If you really want to have an in person event, consider working with your local book store. Any bookstore can fulfill a book order if the book is available through Baker & Taylor (the largest industry book distributors). Perhaps you could structure the event such that you promote it ahead of time and encourage people to pre-order the book pick it up at the book store or post order the book from the store once the signing is over. It's not as ideal as being able to hand them a physical book that they can pay for and leave with right after the event... but it is a compromise approach that might work.
  • Thank you. My main concern now is that I was unable to afford the 500 copies that were to be an investment and of course used for signings, etc. What advise do you have for marketing without that advantage.