Marketing and Promotion of your Book/Product: (455 hits)
Marketing and Promotion of your Book/Product: One of the hardest things, or shall I say one of the most time-consuming things to do is market your product. As an independent author, I am finding this out; there is no easy way, quick way, or magic way to get your products out to the public! You have to be willing to put in the work or hire others to do it for you. For now, I prefer to do it myself. Currently, to promote my book; I have taken to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, and of course here (blackwomenconnect.com and hbcuconnect). I am already on these sites anyway! So, I figured why not use them to promote my book and author page. I also realized after playing around with each site, that other authors use these same platforms (whether they are large or small). Just about every day during the week, I promote my book on a social media site, or I try to. Kim’s Social Media Marketing Schedule • Facebook – join like-minded groups for your products. In my case, I joined book clubs and book promotion groups. I was already a member of too many groups, for women’s empowerment lol. I asked the admins of those groups if I could post a link to my book on these pages. I market to Facebook twice a week, by dividing my groups in half. I also share a link to my book on my personal page and friends pages. • Twitter – honestly, I do not care that much for twitter, other than using it for marketing purposes. I tweet twice a week, different days from Facebook. I know I need to tweet more, but I find it hard to do. • Pinterest – I post a picture or a quote from my book once a week or re-share a quote or a picture. I like this site, I always find good recipes, something different on it. • Google+, LinkedIn, and Blackwomenconnect.com – I post content every few weeks or once a month. Besides my social media sites: I keep my information updated on Amazon Author pages and Goodreads. I have also hooked up with other authors who will share your/ my product information, as long as I share their product or information (tradeoff). I cannot say enough about tradeoffs…people open yourselves up and be willing to share another’s work or product. When you look at our communities, what do you not see? Support and the willingness to share and trade each other’s business or products…really I don’t see it! I do see plenty of us sharing and spreading books, products, and quotes by Beyoncé and Jay-z, or any other celebrity that does not live in the neighborhood. To that, I say for real, you can support them (doesn’t have to be money), but you can’t support your neighborhood grocery store, book store or any other black owned business. For sure you can burn it down, bust the windows out, and rob it. Yeah, I just went on a personal rant…but you still get the point? Face to Face – Walking the Pavement Another way that I am marketing and promoting, which is new to me is by attending events, book fairs, workshops…etc. Check with your local libraries about events they have coming up? Search your cities events and festival listings, normally the city will have the information listed on their website. Ask on Facebook if anyone knows about events in your area. Search Facebook for events in your local areas, many groups will post to their Facebook pages. Donate a copy of your book to the local library, cross your fingers that they approve it and place it on the shelves. Talk to your local bookshops, you may have to donate a copy for them to view. However; if they decide to purchase some books, then your investment has paid off. Lastly, I use word of mouth, a signature link in my email, and I text a copy of my link once a month to my contacts (phone). Currently, I am searching for other ways to market my book, as I learn new freeways. Of course, I will share. Note: I have not forgotten what a website can do to help promote your product. I am still researching and figuring that one area out. I do have three in the running; Squarespace, Web.com, or do it yourself (HTML). I will discuss my reasons for those three in a later post. Final thought: My daughter asked me about Urban Fiction and its true definition. Why black Author’s books are labeled urban fiction or urban literature? Instead of labeling them just fiction, science fiction, fantasy, drama and so on… I told her that, I could not answer that because I do not know. I grew up in the world of the original Donald Goines. I believe that Urban has taken on a hold new meaning now. My daughters question made me think about bubbles…also how black literature is labeled. I am coming back with this topic as well!
