What’s the first thing you do when you hold your newly published book in your hands?
I will be experiencing this in about a month when Allworth Press releases my latest book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. You can actually see the book posted at amazon.com already.
Of course, I’ve experienced this numerous times before. For those of you who are new to authorship, I have to tell you it’s always a thrill followed by a lot of work. Here’s my to-do list so far:
1: One of my first tasks will be the pleasure of announcing the new book to all of the experts and authors who contributed to it. Yes, around twenty people-in-the-know about authorship and book promotion offer their best tips and techniques throughout this amazing book.
2: I’ll contact my addressbook—friends, colleagues, customers, clients, students, those who downloaded free material from my website, conference leaders, booksellers who sell my current books, etc. and let them know about this book and how to order it.
3: I’ll make an announcement at my facebook page, twitter and here in my blog. Can’t wait to share the news with all of you as this book is going to be valuable and a real asset to your collection of publishing/promotion reference books.
4: I’ll place a member announcement in SPAWNews—by contacting our editor, Sandy, with the news.
5: I’ll post announcements in other newsletters that allow such postings.
6: I’ll add the book and ordering information to my website.
7: I’ll start setting up signings and speaking engagements. I have been speaking at meetings/conferences and attending book festivals several times each year anyway, which I will continue to do. But perhaps I can arrange to return to a many of the venues with fresh material and, of course, a new book to sell.
8: I’ll continue to write and submit articles to writing-related magazines and newsletters and add a new bio at the end which includes information about the new book.
9: I’ll solicit book reviews and ask the reviewers to post them at amazon. I’ll also post them at my website.
10: I’ll contact the most popular reviewers at amazon and attempt to get them to review the book.
And once I’ve done all of this, I’ll repeat those activities that were most successful, perhaps in different venues.
What am I forgetting? Does anyone have any ideas I have neglected to include here? We’d love it if you would share some of your best book promotion ideas.