Yesterday, a SPAWN member promoted her new book to our online discussion group. The fact that she promoted her book was not unusual, it was the way she did it.
You probably notice that most authors simply talk about their books—“My young adult novel, Baling Wire, is currently for sale at Amazon.com. This is a riveting tale of…blah, blah. Order your copy now!”
This SPAWN member, however, started her post by complimenting the director of the organization. In this case, it was ME! She wrote a little about the benefits of the organization and then she eased into the fact that she has a new book out and told a little about it. She then offered members a free peek into her book—five free chapters. I thought it was a generous, gracious and clever promotional idea. I certainly read the entire spiel, which I may not have had it been straight promotion.
Another effective way to promote through a discussion group or forum is to provide something of value to members. If your book is a self-help or how-to, share something from the book, attempt to start a discussion on a topic related to the topic of your book and also of interest to the group.
In case you don’t notice, let me point out that this post has a couple of messages:
1: Don’t forget to make use of those discussion groups and forums you belong to and/or that relate to the theme/genre of your book.
2: Give something when you promote your book to a group—be gracious and generous. Your post is more likely to be read and remembered if you use compliments, give something away and/or provide some insight into the process of producing your book or the information in your book, for example.